Need K suggestions for math and phonics

[StaceyinLA]

I'm going to be helping my step-grandson's grandmother (that's a mouthful, huh) teach him K. They live in a terrible school district with large classes, and the private school he was at for pre-k is cost-prohibitive for them for K. I suggested she try home schooling since school is not mandatory here until 7yo, and she jumped at it. She does want my help, which I'm glad to offer.

 

To get to the point, I haven't taught K in 15 years, and I'd love some suggestions...

[Slache]

We're planning on SWR & Miquon in K. Miquon, in our case, will be used as a precursor to Ray's for the mental math aspect.

[craftyerin]

We used Singapore Essential Math, Handwriting Without Tears, and Phonics Pathways for K, with a bunch of good read story books.  I'd absolutely use the the same combo again if I had another K student. 

[73349]

I like Logic of English Foundations or Phonics Pathways, and Miquon and/or Singapore Math.

[AimeeM]

We're using PAL Reading (semester 1), PAL Writing (semester 2), Seton and Abeka for handwriting; math is Miquon and CLE. Social studies and science are literature based.

 

PAL Reading is game based, has cut/paste worksheet activities, funny little jingles, and is very appealing for energetic youngsters. PAL Writing isn't something I would use until well into the phonics program, personally. The program is scripted and even gives scheduling help.

[rellybob]

Math: Miquon, Rightstart, Mathematical Reasoning, Singapore Earlybird, Saxon, Horizons,...I know I'm missing a bunch

 

Phonics: Phonics Pathways, Progressive Phonics, The Reading Lesson, All About Reading, Logic of English Foundations,  Bob books... I know there's a bunch more here too

[Syllieann]

For math, definitely right start. For phonics, either all about reading or logic of english foundations, depending on the child's fine motor ability. I like that aar lets them progress regardless of their writing ability. However, if the child is already printing pretty well, logic of english might make more sense.

[Guest Dcjtjones]

SWR OR AAR? I feel a little nervous about SWR but haven't seen the full deal of AAR. I will have a Pre-K and K this school year. Any thoughts? 

[Rachel]

Have you seen the kindergarten in a box from Peace Hill Press? It's fairly new but looks perfect for a kindergartener.

[Chris in VA]

Saxon K or 1st depending on where the child places on the test. It's scripted, and so simple to implement. There's only 3 lessons a week in the K book, and little writing.

 

Phonics Pathways, hands-down. Supplement with Bob Books and Primary Phonics readers until the child can read things like Hop on Pop and Ten Apples and Put Me in the Zoo. (You know the books I mean? They make great segues into "real" books.) Read aloud a ton.

 

Handwriting w/o Tears or just print sheets and practice letters. Use a moveable alphabet if writing is difficult, and practice the PPathways combos that way. (I have dollar store letters--I bought 6 sets and painted them--use spray paint for faster painting--red for vowels, blue for consonants. Store in a sewing box with compartments for each letter.)

[hjffkj]

Phonics pathways has been so helpful for us. Its just open and go, 5 to 10 minutes a day. About once or twice a week I'd skip the book and make a word scavenger hunt with the words for that day and it helped keep it from getting too repetitive for my 5 and 4 year old.

 

Saxon math 1 worked great for us last year with my 5 year old. I allowed him to do the worksheets orally some days because his writing skills aren't ready for daily worksheets

[hjffkj]

You can check your library to see if it has phonics pathways. I got mine from the library and used it for 2 weeks to see if it was a good fit. After the 2 weeks I knew so purchasing made sense

[Guest rlong]

I'm trying to decide between Spell to Write and Read and All About Spelling for my 5yr old twins. I'd appreciate any feedback.

[PagesandFields]

Original Poster, is cost an issue?  Does she need lots of scripting or is she comfortable?  

 

There are so many options these two questions might help pinpoint a good fit.   :)

 

My suggestions might be:

 

(expensive)

Rightstart math, Handwriting without Tears, one of the other phonics suggestions above

 

(cheaper)

Singapore Math, Explode the code (if the kid is workbooky) for a beginning phonics/handwriting plan... or Then Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and Handwriting without Tears 

 

I'm an over-preparer and always love to have lots of materials and curriculum ready... but I'm a firm believer that in K if you just explore, love them, and read read read they'll be fine.  I think it's a really beautiful thing that she's doing.  

 

blessings,Anne

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

We WERE going to do Saxon 1 as we did Saxon K this past year in kindergarten.  However, we had an Abeka preschool workbook sitting on the shelf left over from my oldest's preschool, and my son has loved it and begged me to get that book for math.  After thinking it over a long time this summer, we decided to do it for a few reasons.  He is a box checker, workbook-loving, engineering minded person, and I think this math will click well in his brain.  It's a traditional math.  Its criticisms are in the older grades, but it gives a very solid foundation in the younger grades of math facts and a strong mental math component.  It's colorful and has math games that Saxon's boring b/w pages just weren't offering.  My oldest son (who is a very different child) has struggled with his math facts in Saxon, and I wonder if the way Abeka teaches fact families will organize it better for my son.  We also looked at Horizons, but my son really liked the Abeka, and I didn't feel the Horizons math Teachers Guide offered as much help.  So anyways, that's what we're doing.  HTH

[emyme05]

We have been using The Ordinary Guide to Teaching Reading for phonics, Bob books in the beginning, Horizons math, and Zaner-Bloser handwriting workbook level K.

[kiwik]

I would say it depends mostly on the confidence of the person doing the teaching and where the child is starting.

[Guest wignet]

Do you need the teachers guides for Singapore K math?  Thanks

[Alice]

We use OPGTR. It's cheap and simple. For a newer Ker I type out the lessons on the computer using big font and making it different colors. That only takes a couple of extra minutes and seems to be less intimidating for my kids than looking at a page of type. A white board would serve the same purpose. 

 

I use Singapore Essentials for Math because we also use Singapore later. For my daughter I got Miquon, which I am liking a lot but it's teacher-intensive.

 

Five in a Row for extra fun. 

[ErinE]

I liked what we used for K and I plan on doing the same with my younger two. We used the following for K:

* The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading (OPGTR): I used the book for my education. I taught the lesson on a white board and used phonics readers for practice.

* Phonics readers: I highly recommend Now I'm Reading! series by Nora Gaydos. Colorfully illustrated books start with a simple sentence that builds on itself in the first half and the second half expands the story. Great books. At every level, I rotated through the books until she'd read each four times (at least). BOB books are okay, but not as visually interesting.

* Math: Singapore Essential Mathematics (don't get Earlybird). Miquon might be too out there for someone unused to mathematics instruction, but my dd enjoyed playing with the c-rods.

* Writing: Handwriting Without Tears, if the child doesn't know letters. If the child knows letters, I recommend getting a composition book and creating copywork for the child from phonics readers. I used this composition book (school supply sections should be cheaper). I'd write out a sentence, and the child would carefully copy then draw a picture.

 

For other subjects, we read anything and everything. Every time we went to the library, I encouraged my child to pick one thing she wanted to learn more about and pick a book. I selected books for themed reading. We did Cinderella stories from all over the world, using a map to point out the different countries. We did picture book artist study and associated crafts (my favorites were Eric Carle, Chris Van Allsburg, and Tomie DePaola, but next time, I'd add in Jan Brett or Ezra Jack Keats). Science was nature study with picture books. For more science ideas, I recommend "Picture Perfect Science Lessons" usually found in the reference section of the library.

[calihil]

I have a new K'er. We are using Rod & Staff 1 for math and I really like it so far. It's simple, to the point, and the teacher's guide is easy to navigate (a plus for me because math intimidates me, even this low level lol). For phonics we are using Phonics Pathways and supplementing with ReadingBear.org. For writing we are using Pentime.

[SilverMoon]

I'd do Rod and Staff math 1 and Sing, Spell, Read, and Write K or 1. They both have great TM's, and lay a great foundation.

[hauntedzeppelin]

I've loved The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading so far. It's mostly open and go (completely so if you skip the activities). My husband and I can easily share in teaching it since we just go to the bookmark for the next lesson. My oldest son has really flourished with it and has built his reading skills quite quickly. It is a solid, no-nonsense approach to learning reading through phonics.

 

For math, I like Saxon. It starts out gentle and the spiral approach allows enough variety to keep my novelty-loving son engaged. We did the K level for pre-K and are working in level 1 this year for Kindergarten.

[StaceyinLA]

Thanks everyone! The home schooling didn't pan out with step-grandson, but this is good info for my dds who will be home schooling my grandchildren in the next couple of years.

[SamanthaCarter]

We have been using The Ordinary Guide to Teaching Reading for phonics, Bob books in the beginning, Horizons math, and Zaner-Bloser handwriting workbook level K.

This is us except we are using The Reading Lesson instead of Ordinary Parent's Guide. :) Going great so far.