Should I move on?

[~Sunny~]

DD is doing Abeka K5 now. She is zooming along and in lesson 70 or so. Alot of days lately we do 4 and 5 lessons a day. She is just not having ANY problems and everything she is doing is something she already knows so we just keep going to get in an hour or so of school. If we only do 1 lesson of everything we are done in 15 minutes literally! Anyway I was thinking when she is done with K5 (if she keeps moving at this rate) she will be done in 3 or 4 months so should I go ahead and move to Abeka 1? I am just hoping that she stays ahead and keeps grasping everything so easy and does not slow down and it get really hard. It if fun teaching now since it isn't hard for her. lol

[LisaKinVA]

Honestly, I've never used Abeka K5 for Kindergarten... usually as a pre-school curriculum. Your dd should be just fine with the Abeka 1 curriculum. I've found there is more than enough review in the math to "catch" anything that may have been "missed" in the K5 math.

 

The K reading is also very slowly paced -- so I've always started with the 1st Phonics, and when necessary slow it down.

 

So my vote is "Yes" go forward!

[Aggie]

I found that at 4-8yo, a math curriculum actually can slow a child down and make them think in the box too much. My dc were in 5th grade before we used any math books at all.

 

Would you be comfortable throwing the books away and teaching math on your own? Time, fractions, measurement, operations, patterns, etc, are fairly easy to teach without a book and might let your dd delve deeper into concepts as opposed to working on worksheets.

 

Just a thought, :)

Aggie

[Scuff]

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[~Sunny~]

I found that at 4-8yo, a math curriculum actually can slow a child down and make them think in the box too much. My dc were in 5th grade before we used any math books at all.

 

Would you be comfortable throwing the books away and teaching math on your own? Time, fractions, measurement, operations, patterns, etc, are fairly easy to teach without a book and might let your dd delve deeper into concepts as opposed to working on worksheets.

 

Just a thought, :)

Aggie

 

 

I don't think I would be comfortable doing that. I have to have something to go on myself. I am afraid I would miss something that she really needed.

 

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[sixpence1978]

Are you talking about K5 phonics or math?

 

My DD is doing K5 phonics and we are also at lesson 75 I believe. She is starting to slow down now that we are actually adding in the reading books and that is where she needs practice.

 

Either way, I would just continue to speed through it and then move on to the 1st grade material after that. At the K age, I don't see much of a point to making it hard. A little challenge is great, but you don't want to cause frustration at such a young age.

[~Sunny~]

She is ahead in Phonics and Math both.

[~Sunny~]

Do you think maybe I should move on to 1st grade now or just keep going through K and go into 1st after I am done with K?

[LisaKinVA]

Since you have the K5 things in front of you, I'd go ahead and order the 1st grade materials, and then avoid anything that is overly repetitive (which is a lot, I know).

 

You can spot-check orally, just to make sure concepts were cemented, but you will find Abeka 1 reading covers a lot more, and you'll still probably be able to skip the first 1-2 readers (if you want). Abeka math is still "easy" enough in grade one that my 5yo can figure most things out on his own (well, we're about half way through his book now, so I have to explain something to him every other day, but once we've done that, he's good).

 

It may be "grade 1" materials, but it's certainly not hard. He still enjoys school very much. The only thing he doesn't like is when I insist he hold his pencil correctly (which is the *only* goal for my K year with him!).

 

I want K to be fun and enjoyable, no pressure -- but I also want the child to have a little challenge :D Of course, Josh, when faced with doing something he already knows, sighs and puts his hand on his forehead, then looks at me and says, "but I already KNOW this!" with all the indignation he can muster.:D

[sixpence1978]

I did Abeka 1st grade phonics with my DS last year. He did K5 phonics for Kindergarten.

 

Basically, if your child is reading words with the long vowel sounds (like "cake") and is doing well with some of the consonant blends like br, gr, str, sl, etc... then the 1st grade phonics will probably be fine. First grade was a lot of "special sounds" like "ould" and "igh", etc..., and a ton of circling the special sounds and marking the vowels. You will also get into adding prefixes and suffixes to the words in Letters and Sounds 1. My DS was reading quickly in K and could have probably handled a lot of it toward the second half of that year.

 

There is also more writing of letters involved (though not a ton), so make sure she is writing her letters decently. My DS was reading Charlotte's Web by the end of Kindergarten, but still didn't do Letters and Sounds until 1st grade. There really isn't a problem with helping your DC to read and still taking your time of the worksheets. The Handbook for Reading is great for moving the actual reading of words quicker.

 

As far as math goes, we used BJU for K5 and 1st. But generally 1st graders should be counting to 100, adding and subtracting single digit numbers, recognizing patterns, measuring in inches, and reading time to the hour. That is reviewed again in 1st, but goes deeper from there.

 

I hope that helps some.

[mommyof4DB]

We also us A Beka Math. I used K5 as a preschool math. My 5yo dd got into the late 30s or early 40s in Arithmetic 1 before she felt like it was new stuff! I would just skip straight to Arithmetic 1 if she's not challenged! You don't want her to think math is boring. That's a hard thing to overcome!

[Guest cripykim]

Give her as much as she can handle, if she's really smart / genius, no need to compare with regular kids. Offer her as she demands, not push it to her.

 

smart kid :001_smile:

[Mommyof4ks]

Ditto what others have said!

 

My DD who is 8 now did K5 math and Saxon K math as a 4 year old, and we moved on to first grade when she was in Kindy. She is now in 3rd grade and is finally finding the 'normal' grade stuff difficult (multiplication/division).

 

Keep going until she hits a wall and then you can slow down. That is my favorite part of homeschooling. We breeze through somethings and slow down to really learn others.

 

Wendy - Mommy to 3 munchkins

[~Sunny~]

I decided at this point to stick with what we are doing in K. We do 4 or 5 lessons a day in each subject. She flys through it so we do more than one lesson and move along. When she finishes K I plan to move right into 1st. So she will be in 1st before the summer I am sure since she is about halfway throguh K now and doing so many lessons a day. Of course we may find our area to stump her and challenge her but we haven't hit it yet. I have alot of my 1st grade stuff but not the childs stuff so that is the main reason I am styaing where we are since I can't afford the other right now. she is reviewing so that is fine. She isn't bored which I am thankful. If she was bored then I would find a way to buy the 1st grade and go to it now. I think she thinks it is fun because she is flying through it and thinks school is easy. lol

[nmoira]

 

I decided at this point to stick with what we are doing in K. We do 4 or 5 lessons a day in each subject. She flys through it so we do more than one lesson and move along. When she finishes K I plan to move right into 1st.

Given what I've been reading today in another thread of yours, I would caution you that input and output won't necessarily progress at the same rate. She may be able to understand 4 or 5 lessons worth in a day, but not complete the written work required of her. I still do a significant amount of work orally with my 6yo because she writes like a 6yo. :) Given your frustration, I'd be inclined to cut back (or omit formal K work completely) and do more read alouds, arty projects, and hands-on fun science. It doesn't sound like either of you are getting much out of the program you are using.

[mchel210]

I used K5 last year and my dd blew through the work. I added other books and work as well. I have SL La1 which is wonderful with her. She still does it very fast but I liked it better then abeka.

 

My 6/7yo skipped the abeka 1 and went right to the abeka 2 and had a wonderful year. I would imagine if you skipped ahead now to the 1 you would be fine. I would just make sure you are adding in extra writing or copywork. We didnt do that with the K5 besides the writing it had...and I am happy to add in the writing from Sl.

 

The math in 2 started out very easy and then added some harder material like measurement that was really fun. My dd mastered it...but it can be a lot harder then other programs may be. That may be worth taking your time with once you hit those subjects. If you are ahead already...then you can stop if you get stumped and work a little longer on one subject without falling behind. THat is one thing I loved last year.