Hi all, if you are using or have used the ABeCeDarian reading program in the past, I need some advice. My 6 yo daughter is halfway through 1st grade and we're on unit 4 of B1. The company, now called Sharpen has an online spelling program that is supposed to be used after B1 to round out the 1st grade year. There is no print version available and I highly prefer to do homeschool lessons with paper and pencil as I stare at a computer 10 hours a day for my job. So I'm just wondering if anyone out there who has gone through B1 has gone straight through to B2 or do you take a break to do more reading practice? Also do you do a spelling program after B1 or after B2 or concurrently? I've read on these forums people like apples and pears to go along with abecedarian. I looked into that and like that as well. I should also mention we are doing the I See Sam readers as well and are midway through set 3. Also if anyone has used the online B1 spelling program with Abecedarian/Sharpen and has any thoughts on that I would highly appreciate it.

Oh perfect thanks so much for clarifying! Yes that makes sense. It does seem kind of like busy work. Plus they ask them to read sentences and edit them and such and sometimes she can't even really read the sentences yet because we aren't at that part in our reading program yet. We do those brain quest cards for fun because she loves them and almost always gets the grammar questions correct anyway haha. I love in homeschool how you can really tailor things to meet your child. It's such a wonderful way to learn and experience childhood. Thank you all so so much for allaying my fears. We only have to take a state test in 3rd grade so maybe I'll start the formal writing/grammar at that grade.

I agree I love using the books from literature based curricula although I don't follow the lesson plans exactly. I will look into first language lessons as well! A program that can be done mostly orally would likely be easy to add in with not too much struggle. I love the writing curriculum Clarita recommended above. It seems so nice and gentle as well. Like you could do a page a day without much resistance. The oral punctuation is such a good idea too from HomeAgain! I'm a radiologist and dictate reports so I'm constantly having to say the punctuation at the end of sentences. Maybe some of that is rubbing off on her when she sits by my workstation:) We haven't started level B1 yet but I'm a little worried she will balk at having to read the fables. She very much prefers traditional readers that are in one book without other stories. She hates the all about reading readers because there are multiple stories in one book haha. I have no idea why. We'll see how it goes!

Wow thank you all so so much for your responses and taking the time to let me know your thoughts! I've never really posted anything online before so this was so helpful!! I will just relax and enjoy this time with my girlie knowing I'm doing enough:) I will definitely look into the scott foresman site and the oral punctuation resources as well! Again thank you so so much! We were using Sing, Spell, Read and Write last year and the beginning of this year and switching to Abecedarian felt like we weren't doing enough so this was seriously so so helpful!

Hi there, I'm a new homeschooling mom to my 6 year old, first grade daughter. I've tried every reading program under the sun it seems but we've finally settled on Abecedarian. The lessons are brief, logical and not overly repetitive. My concern is that it's not a complete language arts program and I'm not sure what to add to it to complete first grade language arts. I'm looking for other resources for things like spelling, grammar, writing, reading comprehension etc. I'm using the I See Sam readers along with Abecedarian right now and loving those. My daughter sort of gets tired and distracted after just doing an Abecedarian lesson, a reader and handwriting page. I know many people just focus on reading for the first grade year but I just keep worrying I'm not doing enough.