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If you've used Abeka K5: What is REALLY needed?


MitchellMom
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We are on a tight budget and I am doing Abeka K5 with my 5 year old son because the school he will be attending next year uses Abeka. I have looked at curriculum stores, eBay, and a couple of web sites looking for used curriculum, and I am wondering: What all do I really need? This is my list (I am not doing any other subjects other than these) and the ones with the asterisk* beside them are the ones I'm not sure about (can I accomplish what I need without them?):

 

Parent Kit

Child Kit

Homeschool Phonics Charts and Games*

Homeschool Learning Games*

Homeschool Numbers Charts and Games*

Basic Phonics Flashcards*

Social Studies*

Science*

Mini ABC Bible Memory Cards

 

I'm also using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and my son is on lesson 56, or somewhere thereabouts.

 

I'd appreciate your advice! :)

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I could do it with the Curriculum guides, both phonics and math and "Letters and Sounds" and "Numbers" and a stack of index cards and markers. Seriously. Oh sure, all the bells and whistles are fun. I got a ton of that stuff for free (don't ask me how, long story) all the flashcards and this card and that card and I gotta hand it to A Beka, I love their visuals. But you can make the blend cards and all that with index cards. No, they won't be as pretty, but they'll get the job done. But, IMO, the curriculum guides and the workbooks are the bare bones basics of the programs. I'd probably include in that the mini-alphabet cards, too. Oh, and don't bother with the science and social studies. I'm using them because I got them free, but... no. If you want to do anything along social studies or science for K5 you'd be better served to go to the library because the A Beka books are worthless.

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I could do it with the Curriculum guides, both phonics and math and "Letters and Sounds" and "Numbers" and a stack of index cards and markers. Seriously. Oh sure, all the bells and whistles are fun. I got a ton of that stuff for free (don't ask me how, long story) all the flashcards and this card and that card and I gotta hand it to A Beka, I love their visuals. But you can make the blend cards and all that with index cards. No, they won't be as pretty, but they'll get the job done. But, IMO, the curriculum guides and the workbooks are the bare bones basics of the programs. I'd probably include in that the mini-alphabet cards, too. Oh, and don't bother with the science and social studies. I'm using them because I got them free, but... no. If you want to do anything along social studies or science for K5 you'd be better served to go to the library because the A Beka books are worthless.

 

OK! So you would just do these?

 

K5 Phonics, Reading, and Writing Curriculum (the instructor guide)

K5 Numbers Curriculum (the instructor guide)

Child Kit:

40495 My Blend and Word Book

53686 Basic Phonics Readers Set

26484 Letters and Sounds K

53651 Miniature Alphabet Flashcards

31461 Kindergarten Writing Tablet Cursive

47236 Writing with Phonics K5 Cursive

47333 Numbers Skills K

53929 Numbers Writing Tablet

If I make the phonics blend cards myself, how do I know how they are supposed to look?...

 

My son already knows how to read. I'm just doing the K5 curriculum so he will be learning how to read the way his future classmates are learning how, if that makes sense. What are the mini alphabet cards that you mentioned - the Bible Memory Cards?

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OK! So you would just do these?

 

My son already knows how to read. I'm just doing the K5 curriculum so he will be learning how to read the way his future classmates are learning how, if that makes sense. What are the mini alphabet cards that you mentioned - the Bible Memory Cards?

 

If your son already *knows* how to read, the K5 curriculum will be BORING.

 

I would get:

 

Handbook for Reading instead of the Word & Blend book (blend cards are simply the consonant with the short vowel... ba, be, bi, bo, bu). If he's going to be using Abeka next year in a school, it will be nice to have the handbook at home to use. I also probably wouldn't get the curriculum guide (as it will go step-by-step in teaching to read sounds and recognize letters). You *could* get the 1st grade guide if you really wanted to do formal lessons, and just go slowly, as needed.

 

The main difference between Abeka and other phonics approaches is that they do blending at the beginning of the word, vs. end of word. Think

ra-t vs. r-at.

 

Don't worry about the K5 reader series, I'd get the supplemental readers instead. You will easilly skip the first level, if not the first two complete levels.

 

Do use the K level penmanship (you really don't need the curriculum guide to do this, unless you are unsure how to teach your child to write). Also, find out if the school teaches cursive first, or if they do manuscript. Abeka does both.

 

The Number Skills K is also very basic -- but easy, focuses on number recognition and concepts. Abeka 1 gets into addition of basic addition facts pretty quickly, so I would work up to that as well.

 

I usually get the readiness skills, because it has lots of mazes, simple coloring... fun "work."

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Oh, well, if he already knows how to read.... forget it. Do what LisaK said. My two boys went through the K5 phonics program and did really well. They were the oldest. THen, DD comes along this year, having already taught herself most of her letters and I'm having to start half way through the book, but it's been really tough trying to find where to place her. I thought I'd just start her at the beginning and give her a good review, but she was so bored. Really. "Capital A, little a, a says "a" as in apple!" And you do that for a few days. Then go on to the next letter. A Beka's phonics program is really good, and it is thorough, and I love the graphics, but it is very precise and I'm finding it's kind of hard to implement when you have a kid who already knows a lot. I'm sorry I'm not any more help.

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If your son already *knows* how to read, the K5 curriculum will be BORING.

 

I would get:

 

Handbook for Reading instead of the Word & Blend book (blend cards are simply the consonant with the short vowel... ba, be, bi, bo, bu). If he's going to be using Abeka next year in a school, it will be nice to have the handbook at home to use. I also probably wouldn't get the curriculum guide (as it will go step-by-step in teaching to read sounds and recognize letters). You *could* get the 1st grade guide if you really wanted to do formal lessons, and just go slowly, as needed.

 

The main difference between Abeka and other phonics approaches is that they do blending at the beginning of the word, vs. end of word. Think

ra-t vs. r-at.

 

Don't worry about the K5 reader series, I'd get the supplemental readers instead. You will easilly skip the first level, if not the first two complete levels.

 

Do use the K level penmanship (you really don't need the curriculum guide to do this, unless you are unsure how to teach your child to write). Also, find out if the school teaches cursive first, or if they do manuscript. Abeka does both.

 

The Number Skills K is also very basic -- but easy, focuses on number recognition and concepts. Abeka 1 gets into addition of basic addition facts pretty quickly, so I would work up to that as well.

 

I usually get the readiness skills, because it has lots of mazes, simple coloring... fun "work."

 

Oh, well, if he already knows how to read.... forget it. Do what LisaK said. My two boys went through the K5 phonics program and did really well. They were the oldest. THen, DD comes along this year, having already taught herself most of her letters and I'm having to start half way through the book, but it's been really tough trying to find where to place her. I thought I'd just start her at the beginning and give her a good review, but she was so bored. Really. "Capital A, little a, a says "a" as in apple!" And you do that for a few days. Then go on to the next letter. A Beka's phonics program is really good, and it is thorough, and I love the graphics, but it is very precise and I'm finding it's kind of hard to implement when you have a kid who already knows a lot. I'm sorry I'm not any more help.

 

Thanks for this advice. Now I am feeling overwhelmed! I wanted to do Abeka only because I wanted my ds to be familiar with the material next year. When I homeschooled my dd a couple of years ago, I used a variety of curriculums, experimenting until I found what all worked for her. I'm running out of time now, with my ds. He definitely needs help w/ handwriting, as his penmanship is extremely sloppy. Abeka does cursive so we focus only on cursive writing. I don't mind doing only the basic "bare bones" curriculum. I do not want him to be bored, though. Yet I don't know what else to do. :confused:

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I used Abeka K5 Phonics last year with my dd. She already knew how to read CVC words when we started.

For phonics I Used :

Curriculum Lesson plan guide,

letters and sounds workbook,

K5 writing with phonics (cursive),

K5 readers

handbook for reading.

I used these things along with a whiteboard.

I started in the Letters and sounds at about lesson 60 and moved forward from there. That combination worked really well for us, and she was reading well by the end of the year.

I didn't use the math, so I can't give a suggestion there.

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I used Abeka K5 Phonics last year with my dd. She already knew how to read CVC words when we started.

For phonics I Used :

Curriculum Lesson plan guide,

letters and sounds workbook,

K5 writing with phonics (cursive),

K5 readers

handbook for reading.

I used these things along with a whiteboard.

I started in the Letters and sounds at about lesson 60 and moved forward from there. That combination worked really well for us, and she was reading well by the end of the year.

I didn't use the math, so I can't give a suggestion there.

Thanks! Did you immediately start w/ the first grade reading curriculum when you finished with K5, even though it was during her K5 year?

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