Riggs Institute

I have recently been looking through the Riggs Institute curriculum I borrowed from a friend. http://www.riggsinst.org/Default.aspx It was brought about by a mini-crisis in my mind. My two oldest boys, ages 4 and 3 are learning to read and write without my help. I wasn't planning to teach them this for another year or so. I thought, hey, if they can teach themselves, what do I really have to do? I was beginning to think, "Wow, maybe homeschool isn't going to be so hard!"

Reality check. I talked to an older friend, and she said she let her two oldest boys learn this way, but their handwriting is horrible, and they regret it. I asked my husband, and he said, "You can't just not teach them handwriting." Hmph. I hated handwriting in school. Maybe it was because in my mind I already knew how to write, and I wanted to keep doing it my own way. Oh oh. Does this mean if I don't want my kids to ultimately hate handwriting, I should teach them the correct way from the get-go? I'm not ready for this, but maybe it will work with my older son, who is somewhat of a perfectionist.

At any rate, the approach that the Riggs Institute takes (The Writing and Spelling Road to Reading and Thinking) appeals to me because this is what my son already DOES instinctively. He insists he does not want to read, but he loves to isolate the sounds in a word that he wants to write and pick out the corresponding letter/letters and write them. He is also highly concerned with spelling rules. One day he is going to wake up and realize that he can read.

The approach to handwriting also appeals to me, because I am constantly giving my children complex verbal instructions if they need my help while I am perhaps elbow deep in bread dough. They love clocks (the concrete model for giving instructions in this method), and can already tell time for the most part. I guess the only way to find out if this is what we are supposed to be doing right now is to try it and see what happens. Eek!