Jump to content

Menu

First Grade Planning Help Semi-MP Core


elah
 Share

Recommended Posts

I am working on plans for my DD who will be starting 1st grade soon. I am planning on using Memoria Press for a lot of it. However, I am questioning if I should add WWE 1 and FLL1. I really liked using those with my older kids and am questioning if there is enough of that covered in MP curriculum. I am also wondering if the overall load is to much. Take a look and at what I am planning and give me your honest opinions. Thanks!

 

WW1

FLL1

Memoria Press Phonics and new Traditional spelling

MP Lit (1st grade level)

MP copybook

MP recitations

MP enrichment/ crafts

Rod and Staff math 1

SOTW 1 

Behold and See 1 (science)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not familiar with MP materials so I can't answer much from that perspective.

 

Is your student reading fluently? If not, teach reading (maybe that's MP phonics and spelling?) If so, I'd just let them read. I wouldn't teach spelling until grade 2, and probably not until part way through it. Tried teaching it younger; didn't like it.

 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That does seem like a lot.  WWE would have copy work built in, so that's doubled.  Narrations from WWE would kind of double the questions that come with MP Lit....I'd cut back.  My first grader is using MP Phonics and Traditional Spelling right now, with one sentence of copy work in the morning and no formal grammar.  It's plenty.  SOTW also asks for narrations/comprehension questions, so there's more of the same there...I'm not familiar with your science choice,but it seems like LA is pretty heavy in the line up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It doesn't seem like too much overall to me, as long as you rotate the subjects so your child isn't doing too much of the same skill in one day. We only use Music Enrichment and art cards from MP so I'm not familiar with the specific resources in your list. But my (accelerated) K'er does a similar LA load to what you have planned: copywork/dictation, lit study, grammar, history narrations, plus prompted writing. Lit study and grammar get rotated and this week I'm adding in a writers workshop.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It looks almost identical to my plan for first with my third child next year. My list is below so you can see what's different.

 

WWE 1

FLL 1

MP Phonics and Spelling

MP Lit

MP recitations

MP art cards (I don't do the enrichment, just the cards)

CLE Math 2

SOTW 2

Sonlight Science B

 

If you are going to use MP's Latin and grammar as they schedule it, I would drop FLL. You'll cover all of that through those things on their schedule. We don't start Latin until middle school, so I do use FLL. Also, there is enough writing in the Lit workbooks and WWE that I don't feel a need to do their copybook also. YMMV.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MP has a different sequence than WWE/FLL.

 

Do you plan on continuing the MP track, specifically the Lit and Composition? If yes, I would leave out WWE/FLL. If no, then maybe just FLL. I think most of WWE 1 and 2 can be covered through the MP core (I haven't done WWE 3 to know).

 

I've used pieces of MP these past few years and will be starting my DS8 with their 4th grade core in the fall. Their writing program is thorough, so I wouldn't worry about WWE. I don't love their grammar, and since DS has liked FLL 1-3, we'll continue with FLL 4 next year, though maybe at a slower pace.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks everyone!

This has been really helpful. I think that I will drop WWE for now.  I'm not sure yet if I want to use their grammar/latin program and I really liked using FLL with my older kids. So I am thinking that I will leave it in the line up. I already have it too! I am thinking that just by dropping WWE it will lighten the load enough to make it a good balance. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you are making a wise choice dropping WWE.   It is basically just copywork and narration in first grade which you already have covered.   (So just extra redundancy.)   

 

You might even consider dropping a few more things.  I think you still have a lot of overlap in your subjects that you could clean up.   It is almost like you are trying to do the entire first grade MP plan + the entire "TWTM" first grade plan.   I would rather focus on learning a few things to mastery as opposed to being spread too thin.  

 

I have noticed that whoever plans those MP Core Curriculum guides has really done a nice job planning how much workload can be reasonably completed for each of these ages in a normal day.  :)  Perhaps because they have lots of experience teaching the material to actual first graders?   So you might use that as your guide to schedule around.   If you want to swap something out, try to find something roughly equal to what they have scheduled and make a 1-to-1 switch.

 

Example:

Here are their subjects listed in the schedule:

Opening Recitation-  It sounds like you are going to keep this as is.

Christian Studies-  You could add this or not depending on your viewpoint.

Spelling- as is

Phonics- as is 

Math- as is

Copywork & Memory- as is

Literature- as is

Enrichment-as is

Crafts-as is

 

Things you are adding in addition to that already full day:

FLL (OK, it only takes about 15 minutes so I will give you that one if you really want to do it.  :) :) )  Just be sure you make adjustments to the amount of writing they are doing in their other subjects.  (MP has writing in their cursive practice sheets, copywork, spelling, storytime treasures, etc. etc.)    If you decide to follow the MP plan, you could also just wait and teaching grammar when they start Latin.   

 

SOTW

-and-

Behold and See- 

 

This is going to overlap quite a bit with enrichment.   And both of these subjects have the potential to take a lot of time if you let them.  You might want to pick just one as your focus and add in the others ONLY if you have time.  Or you might want to go really light with SOTW if you plan to do both.  (Maybe *just* listen to it while they are building with legos or before bedtime or something.)   Keep in mind that SOTW is scheduled to be read in the MP plan prior to the start of 5th grade.   So if you skip it this year, you won't miss it completely.   (Although it never hurts to read it twice.)   

 

Concerning science, I also add science to our MP core...so I should talk!   But my kids are slightly older so they have a longer attention span (4th and 5th grade).   Here is some food for thought as you make your decision:  https://www.memoriapress.com/articles/nature-science/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can say that behold and see is very gentle. We pull it out and read a little bit here and there. We don’t usually do the activities. But we don’t do it on a scheduled basis. Mostly, I will be honest, science is covered by watching PBS television shows and with documentaries at bedtime. I’d feel bad, except every time we cover a topic in a text come out like behold a see, the kids tell me they already knew that from PBS.

Edited by ktgrok
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...