My friend will be homeschooling her 5 year old next year, and my ds is a year older. She approached me about combining them for something maybe once a week, and I like the idea, but I'm trying to visualize how it would work. Anyone have experience? Thanks!

Shamelessly bumping my own post because surely someone is planning on The Wand next year. Anyone just want to share their plans? :)

I think I may want to use this for ds' first grade year, but I was wondering about a few things. He reads on about a third grade level, so I think it would be appropriate for him. I think we'll also use this for spelling http://www.amazon.com/Words-Their-Way-Pattern-Spellers/dp/013514843X (I was the grad assistant to 1 of the authors long ago in grad school, and I thought it'd be fun to put it into practice.) Of course, he'll be reading aloud to me a ton too. Anyway, I was wondering what else others who will be using the Wand will be doing for Language Arts (if anything else!) Also, I know The Wand is on sale rt now at HSBC. Would it be smart to go ahead and buy it this year while it's on sale (I assume I would have access to all the previous months issues), or should I wait and hope it's still there in the Fall???? Hmm, this seems kind of rambly. :) Thanks if you made it to the end!

lol, I'm sorry I'm not the only one running around like a lunatic trying to squeeze in some learning but I'm glad I'm not the only one running around like a lunatic trying to squeeze in some learning, kwim :) Going back and taking notes to try some of the ideas working (at least somewhat) for others. I can squeeze in about 3 readalouds when the 3 of them are in the tub in the morning, and ds reads to me as baby speed nurses after breakfast. We also started doing math when dh comes home at night. I know it wil all work out. Just...deep breaths!

So, I have a ker, a 3.5 yr old, and my youngest just turned 1. Up until a few months ago, entertaining the 3 year old was my biggest problem. The baby would just play for a bit in her playspace or ride around on my hip. Now, the 3 year old is ok for a while when I set her up with activities, but trying to school with my very loud, very energetic, very needy 12 month old is almost impossible, and I'm getting increasingly nervous about next year! I am by no means attempting a rigorous academic curriculum with my 6 year old (we are pretty relaxed, and plan to be this way next year too), but I do need some semi-quiet time to work on a little math, and have ds read to me. I'd love to use her naptime, but baby has always been a terrible napper--an hour on a good day. I do try and squeeze in what I can during that hour, but I also have meals to cook, laundry to do, etc. Not to mention I'd love just a moment to get dressed and brush my teeth :) I try to feed the baby after everyone else so we can do a little while she eats, but she is not a big eater, so that only buys me about 5 minutes. What I really want to do for next year is read read read, but right now, even getting through 1 book is sometimes a challenge. Suggestions????? **please excuse typos--flailing baby on my lap (of course :)) ***I also just realized the title makes me sound like I am trying to homeschool my 1 yr old :)

When I was a home-based ABA therapist for kids with Autism, 1 of my families had their little boy's bedroom walls totally covered with what I guess was fiber glass. We wrote all of his current targets and mastered items right on the wall with a wipeboard marker. They rubbed rt off when we didn't need them anymore. I wish I could convince dh to do that with our kitchen.:)...Look up from your cereal and there is this week's plan for math! Got an idea for next year while chopping veggies? Just pick up the marker and write it on the wall by the counter... :)

Me!!!! I am so very non-mathy. We have done yr 1A verrry slowly this year, stopping to do money, time, living math stuff, etc. I was planning on switching to something else for first grade cause I couldn't wrap my head around where we were going/if ds was really learning anything. But then. I started to notice that he seemed to suddenly have an excellent grasp of addition, subtraction, etc that he was using in everyday life--and when we did other k level math stuff on the side, he breezed through it. So, I think we'll try some mix of a bit of MEP 1B, miquon, and some type of living math next year. All sorta relaxed and fun-based, like this year...:)

Can you tell me about how this looks at your house. I have a really hard time getting lots of readalouds in with a 3 year old and 1 year old running around. Soaking up suggestions!!!!!!

Thank you all so much! I'm feeling confident I can do this now! Off to explore those book links:)

...what would you include? I love the idea of Math on the Level, and if money were no object, I'd probably snap it up. But. I'm wondering if I could pull my own curriculum together. Has anyone done this? Anyone have any suggestions?

:bigear:

Hey! I like this! Thanks for sharing!!

We're only doing kindy, but I got a ton of teacher planners from Target's Dollar Spot. In 1, I write what I plan to do thiis week, and in the other, I write what actually got done. I hope to plan in bigger chunks for next year, though.

Thanks! I'll check these out. Maybe I will just go back to doing the method in Thogmartin's book and put OPG on the shelf for awhile...

YES!!!

Actually, I already have this, and we do this type of reading/journaling twice a week (OPGTR the other 2 days). I do like it, though ds hates the writing part. Guess I just felt it wasn't "enough".... Wish I'd know I could've downloaded it free, though....:)

ds is 6. He is reading at I guess a second grade level (Nate the Greats are easy for him: the first few Magic Tree House books are just right) We finished a (terrible) phonics program about 9 months ago, but although he was/is progressing in his reading,I didn't feel like he had a firm grasp of phonics. So, I picked up OpGTR and we've been doing lessons to fill in any holes. Two problems: 1. He listens while I read the rule then gets the practice parts fine. But then 10 minutes later, he's forgotten. 2. It's starting to feel sort of ridiculous to me...." ok, sometimes ou says uh and sometimes it says oo and sometimes it says ow...." It all seems so random! My gut is telling me to ditch the lessons and use that time for him to read to me (we have limited time cause we have to squeeze it in between a loud demanding 3 yr old and a very loud short-napping almost-toddler). Thoughts???

Oh my goodness, ds would be thrilled to find this book in our library! :001_smile:

Thanks so much everyone!!!!!!

Thanks so much everyone! I'm actually surprised to see so many of you doing a more relaxed first grade. Sometimes I get intimidated because it seems so many on this forum are doing so much formal schooling with their 5, 6, and 7 year olds! One question, though. For those of you using more than 1 booklist to pull read-alouds from, did you go through and make 1 master list to combine all your sources or do you just hop around? I was thinking it might be fun to just cruise the library shelves and let ds pick whatever catches his eye and branch out from there. Maybe that's too unstructured, though???

could you share what you used/how your day looked/etc. We have been truly enjoying ds' kindy year--now that I have calmed down about box-checking/keeping up with my friends whose kids are in public kindergarten and getting ready for the dreaded FCAT (an hour of homework evey night!!!) and we have found our groove. I'm finding he is learning so much from listening to tons of readalouds a day and going outside/playing at lot. I love it! He loves it! And I'm not on the edge of a nervous breakdown anymore! I want to continue like this for first grade--just unsure of exactly what to do.... Thanks!

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Oh my gosh, I love this!!! Can it really be this easy!!!

Thanks so much! Off to check out that alphabet book and have a look at the blog :)

Aaaah! Makes so much sense! Thank you both!!!