Spalding in K, or what?

[knitgrl]

Ds will be my second time around for hs'ing. For his older sister, my sole focus was getting her to read, and as a newbie, recreating "school" as much as possible. :001_rolleyes: Since ds does not appear to be as academically inclined as his big sister, and does not share her love of worksheets, I am thinking his Kindergarten should be a bit more relaxed.  I was thinking about doing the WRTR with him, but it seems like quite a bit of writing -- so do I just do it really slow, or wait until 1st grade and a) focus on the sounds letters make or b) ignore phonics for K? FWIW, he is 4 now, with an August birthday.

[Ann.without.an.e]

Ds will be my second time around for hs'ing. For his older sister, my sole focus was getting her to read, and as a newbie, recreating "school" as much as possible. :001_rolleyes: Since ds does not appear to be as academically inclined as his big sister, and does not share her love of worksheets, I am thinking his Kindergarten should be a bit more relaxed.  I was thinking about doing the WRTR with him, but it seems like quite a bit of writing -- so do I just do it really slow, or wait until 1st grade and a) focus on the sounds letters make or b) ignore phonics for K? FWIW, he is 4 now, with an August birthday.

 

 

 

I don't know anything about Spalding, but for a boy-child that isn't super interested in learning, can I make a suggestion?  Wait on K until he has just turned 6 in August.  Boys in particular can gain so much from being on the older side of a grade level, rather than the younger side.  Maybe spend next year focusing on beefed up pre-k material and use hands on stuff more than worksheets.  Move to Kindergarten work after he has just turned 6?  Just a rambling thought.  

[knitgrl]

I wouldn't characterize him as disinterested in learning. Aside from read alouds, for which he will sit a long time, his attention span is a good deal shorter for more formal lessons (even just messing around with cuisenaire rods) than even his younger sister. I just figure that is a boy thing. My basic plan for next year was to focus on developing a strong number sense, reading lots of picture books, working on fine motor skills with play dough and the like. I'm just not sure about how far to take reading readiness. He hasn't expressed a specific desire to read, but spends a great deal of time looking at any books that have pictures.

[Homebody2]

You can do Spalding for sure. If you don't want to start writing yet, you can have him "write" the phonograms in a salt box, on the ground in chalk, or in the air. Back in the day, I would write the phonograms on the ground in chalk and have my sons pour water over each phonogram I said. There are lots of ways to learn the phonograms without writing them on lined paper.

 

Just to add, I didn't start kindergarten with my kids until they were 6. Just didn't feel a need to rush. We read, played, and just did stuff until then.

[Mommyof1]

There is always Leap Frog videos and Alphablocks/Numberblocks on YouTube.

[Ellie]

Ds will be my second time around for hs'ing. For his older sister, my sole focus was getting her to read, and as a newbie, recreating "school" as much as possible. :001_rolleyes: Since ds does not appear to be as academically inclined as his big sister, and does not share her love of worksheets, I am thinking his Kindergarten should be a bit more relaxed.  I was thinking about doing the WRTR with him, but it seems like quite a bit of writing -- so do I just do it really slow, or wait until 1st grade and a) focus on the sounds letters make or b) ignore phonics for K? FWIW, he is 4 now, with an August birthday.

 

Well, for homeschooled children, their date of birth is irrelevant. :-) He would enter kindergarten in the fall if he were going to school, but that has nothing to do with when you might begin teaching him more formally.

 

I love Spalding. It is infinitely flexible. You can certainly do Spalding with your son; just move at his speed. For example, he can learn to write the phonograms with is finger in the air, or in sand, or in chocolate pudding on the table. :-)  And when he's ready for more, then do more. You'll never have to buy anything else for anything literacy-related, as Spalding teaches children to read by teaching them to spell, and simultaneously does penmanship, capitalization and punctuation, and simple writing. You just need the manual and a set of phonogram cards, and you're good to go.

[knitgrl]

Yes!! Letter Factory and the like are wonderful.

 

What about something like Before Five in a Row and give the formal phonics etc another year or so?

I don't use a whole lot of video in school. It never would have occurred to me to think of one as more than an occasional, optional supplement. But I see they're mentioned a lot around here. Our library has a copy, so I've got it on hold right now.

 

We are already doing BFIAR. The one thing I will keep from the first time around is a fairy tale a week. I picked up several different versions of the same fairy tale (Three Little Pigs, etc) and turned that into a theme.

 

Well, for homeschooled children, their date of birth is irrelevant. :-) He would enter kindergarten in the fall if he were going to school, but that has nothing to do with when you might begin teaching him more formally.

 

I love Spalding. It is infinitely flexible. You can certainly do Spalding with your son; just move at his speed. For example, he can learn to write the phonograms with is finger in the air, or in sand, or in chocolate pudding on the table. :-)  And when he's ready for more, then do more. You'll never have to buy anything else for anything literacy-related, as Spalding teaches children to read by teaching them to spell, and simultaneously does penmanship, capitalization and punctuation, and simple writing. You just need the manual and a set of phonogram cards, and you're good to go.

I know you love Spalding, Ellie. I was hoping you'd chime in. :001_smile: I am on my first read-through of the fourth edition. I am slowly learning how to adapt curriculum to the needs of the kid in front of me. I don't see any reason to not start teaching him phonograms, but I intend to do it as slowly as he needs to. If he's reading at the end of K, great! If not, there's always next year.

[SilverMoon]

I used WRTR with my last two in K. We just worked on the cards and sounds orally, and edged into BOB Books when it seemed like they were ready.

[Syllieann]

I think you can totally do it. Another non traditional writing option is to make the the phonograms out of play doh. Then he would use his finger to squish the play doh down bit by bit while saying the sounds. Have him squish in the direction the letter is formed.

[Ellie]

I know you love Spalding, Ellie. I was hoping you'd chime in. :001_smile: I am on my first read-through of the fourth edition. I am slowly learning how to adapt curriculum to the needs of the kid in front of me. I don't see any reason to not start teaching him phonograms, but I intend to do it as slowly as he needs to. If he's reading at the end of K, great! If not, there's always next year.

 

You can start teaching him the phonograms; I would still recommend some writing with them, even if it's just with his finger in the air. :-) Also, he can begin to learn to write circles and lines in the proper directions, and to hold his pencil/crayon/whatnot correctly. :-)

[Petrichor]

We started Spalding slowly beginning in k (5.5 yo maybe?). We actually started with the flashcards (so, the flashcard road to writing road to reading? :laugh: ) and I would also write a bunch of letters while he watched and ask him to identify the 'a's for example (by erasing them or slashing them).

 

When he started to write, we did it on a whiteboard because it was easier for him that way. He was incredibly resistant to things like writing letters in the air or in the sand. I think he started writing the letters with a pencil and paper at age 7/2nd grade.

Edited February 13, 2018 by Dust

[knitgrl]

We started Spalding slowly beginning in k (5.5 yo maybe?). We actually started with the flashcards (so, the flashcard road to writing road to reading? :laugh: ) and I would also write a bunch of letters while he watched and ask him to identify the 'a's for example (by erasing them or slashing them).

 

When he started to write, we did it on a whiteboard because it was easier for him that way. He was incredibly resistant to things like writing letters in the air or in the sand. I think he started writing the letters with a pencil and paper at age 7/2nd grade.

 

I used WRTR with my last two in K. We just worked on the cards and sounds orally, and edged into BOB Books when it seemed like they were ready.

It is great to hear other people's ideas of things that might possibly be done, but it is especially reassuring to hear from those who actually did it. Thanks for posting - I feel like I can move forward with confidence.

[ElizabethB]

There are a lot of fun things you can do whatever you choose for phonics, here are some ideas:

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=237s&v=_b2HyvcWaZA

[Creekside5]

We are loving the foundation A level  of Logic of English. It has lots of active type of games and really starts at the beginning with phonological/phonemic awareness.  The writing is mixed in, but we just do it in shaving cream or skip it if my twins are in the mood.  It is definitely Spalding based and if you have experience with Spalding, you will immediately see the similarities.  I plan on switching to Spell to Write and Read by second grade, but we will see.  I am pleased at how gentle and fun this curriculum is so far.  My kiddos turn five tomorrow and we are halfway done with book A.  Today my kids played phonogram hopscotch and they acted different animals from me saying the segmented word.  

(c-ow).  Then they segmented an animal for their sibling to guess.  Lots and lots of phonogram, segmenting and blending practice.