Kindergarten, Ist grade help: TOG, SOTW

[Prose]

I have a five year old daughter that will be six in October, and we are trying to figure out what we are doing for schooling this next year. This year we have done reading lessons in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, and crafts, and such. She's the oldest, with two younger 3 and 1. I thought I had finally settled on TOG year1, but then read that it's best to wait till 3rd grade or so, especially with no older children. What do we do next year? Maybe SOTW, continue reading lessons, math? If she is reading Bob books right now, what grade does she fall into for next year? kindergarten or 1st grade? I heard it's good to wait till the child is reading and writing whole paragraphs to start in TOG? True? Any recommendations? I feel like I need a schedule for next year, because it's been really hard for me to be scheduled with anything. I feel like I need to get my own behind in gear so I can feel confident that I can do this! I'm nervous about not having a plan for next year for her or me. Any help is appreciated!

[MeganW]

I keep reading that you should really focus on reading, writing, and math for K & 1, and if more happens, great, but you have to get those 3 things done.

 

Your child is a little ahead of mine age-wise, but maybe my plan will help some?

 

- we are going to get a little further in 100EZ lessons, then go to OPGTR - when we get through that we will start All About Spelling

- we are using Handwriting Without Tears

- for math, we are doing:

Stage 1 (advanced preschool / beginning kindergarten math):

Singapore EarlyBird Kindergarten Math Textbook A

Math-U-See’s Primer

Mathtacular 1 DVD

 

Stage 2 (advanced kindergarten / beginning 1st grade work):

RightStart Level A (Need starter kit + appendices + for each kid: geoboard, worksheets, abacus)

Singapore Math EarlyBird KB

Math-U-See’s US Alpha

 

Stage 3 (first grade and maybe a little second grade math):

RightStart Level B

Singapore Math Primary Math 1A

Miquon Orange Book & Red Book

Singapore Math Primary Math 1B

Miquon Blue Book & Green Book

Mathtacular 2 DVD

And maybe Math-U-See’s Beta as well

 

 

I also plan to do some sort of geography before getting going on history.

[TheCoffeeChick]

TOG is fine to do in Kindergarten - you'll just have a lot you don't do yet. If you are set on using TOG through all the years, there's no reason you can't start now. But it is a lot for just a Ker (we did TOG 1 last year for K) you have to be able to read through the whole week and realize you can't do everything no matter how awesome it sounds. ;)

[kls126s]

I have seen many, many times people suggest SOTW for the first rotation and then TOG for the Logic and Rhetoric stages, simply because you just won't use much of TOG a this young age and SOTW is so wonderful.

 

:iagree:

 

That's what we are doing. I've always loved the look of TOG and can't wait to get into it, but we are still doing SOTW for our first rotation. It's so great for the younger ages; my kids truly love it. This week my daughter had to do a presentation on her favorite subject and she picked history. She went on and on talking about all the interesting things she's learned and projects she's done - it's all because of SOTW. I say don't get more complicated than you need to, before you need to.

[hopeallgoeswell]

I vote for SOTW 1 with the AG.

 

I am doing that with a 6yo now and it is working well. When I first started, dd was listening to the chapter, doing the mapwork, and coloring the picture. It was a bit boring for her (so much so that I took a few weeks off and tried something else). I decided I needed to go through and choose a picture book and hands-on activity that corresponded with the chapter/topic and add a read-aloud for major topics (all found in the AG). This helped A LOT. I also dropped the Encyclopedia.

 

There are several free plans for SOTW that have added activities/books. One is by the creator of Elemental Science. I'll post the link tomorrow if someone else doesn't do it first;)

 

HTH!

[KerriF]

I've used TOG from 1st grade on with my boys and plan to do that with my two younger ones. My opinion would be if you know that is what you want to use later on then you're spreading out the cost :) and getting more for you money :) I agree with the other posters that said you just have to realize that in K you can't do all of TOG. I think it's great for young kids too.

 

hth

[Dinsfamily]

If she is reading Bob books right now, what grade does she fall into for next year? kindergarten or 1st grade?

 

Which set of Bob books is she reading? By the last set, I would classify them as 1st grade level.

[jenL]

I have seen many, many times people suggest SOTW for the first rotation and then TOG for the Logic and Rhetoric stages, simply because you just won't use much of TOG a this young age and SOTW is so wonderful.

 

This is exactly what the owner of our local homeschool curriculum store suggested to me when I was trying to figure out our first grade year last spring. I went with SOTW, and we are thoroughly enjoying it. Everything else we're doing for 1st is in my signature.

[Prose]

Which set of Bob books is she reading? By the last set, I would classify them as 1st grade level.

 

She's read through all of set 1 many times, could read set two if we had it, and would be ready for set three. First grade? I have no idea what the public school system is like. Her reading seems stronger, but her math could use some work.

[Dinsfamily]

She's read through all of set 1 many times, could read set two if we had it, and would be ready for set three. First grade? I have no idea what the public school system is like. Her reading seems stronger, but her math could use some work.

 

Are these the Costco sets or the regular sets? We have the Costco sets (3 boxes instead of 5) and the first one definitely seems K-level to me. My ds is finishing Sonlight's Readers 1 and the third Costco set would fit about halfway through before they start reading Dr. Seuss. If you are comparing to your local ps, that's a whole 'nother ball game. That would really depend on where you live. If you look at the CLP Nature Reader level 1, Bob books are no where close to that reading level. I wonder if the Nature Readers are considered above grade level these days...

 

I'd love to hear another opinion on this.

[Pata]

I vote for SOTW 1 with the AG.

 

I am doing that with a 6yo now and it is working well. When I first started, dd was listening to the chapter, doing the mapwork, and coloring the picture. It was a bit boring for her (so much so that I took a few weeks off and tried something else). I decided I needed to go through and choose a picture book and hands-on activity that corresponded with the chapter/topic and add a read-aloud for major topics (all found in the AG). This helped A LOT. I also dropped the Encyclopedia.

 

There are several free plans for SOTW that have added activities/books. One is by the creator of Elemental Science. I'll post the link tomorrow if someone else doesn't do it first;)

 

HTH!

 

You can get this schedule at my yahoo group (link below) or here at my blog. Hope that helps.

[~Kirsten~]

You can get this schedule at my yahoo group (link below) or here at my blog. Hope that helps.

 

Wow, Paige, though I'm a member of your Yahoo group, I hadn't found these yet! Wow! Thank you so, so much! :w00t:

 

OP, I can't help with your questions about TOG, so if you decide to go that route, I'd defer to the judgement of those who've used it. BUT, it sounds like you're trying to also decide if your daughter is in K or 1st. Given her birthday, she's probably right past the cutoff, right? So technically, she'd be K next year, but it also sounds like you've been treating this year as a K year. In that case, I'd go ahead and make next year 1st, unless you think she'd really be better of as K for peer reasons.

 

To me, one of the (many) beauties of homeschooling is that you can work with your child, at her level, at any time. So I personally wouldn't use reading as the only standard to judge grade. Plus, you're only halfway through the year, by the public school standards. She might explode in reading this spring, or even next month. So to use reading, right now, as the deciding factor for K or 1st, to me, doesn't seem practical or even fair. ;) If you're ready to jump into ancient history, make next year 1st and go with it (we're doing SOTW, so that'd be my choice). If you want more time to focus on math and reading skills, save SOTW or TOG for the following year, and spend a K year focusing on great read-alouds. We're doing an around-the-world study with lots of picture books and some crafts and foods, and it has been fantastic. As a bonus, we're getting an intro to geography, which I think will help a lot for SOTW.

 

I just thought I'd offer a slightly different perspective. HTH a bit! :001_smile:

[Lovedtodeath]

We also did world geography with a lot of picture books for our K/1st year. For our 1st grade we did Ancients with mostly picture books. You can see them in the link below.

 

We basically had 3 years of K, she was reading way above level from the beginning. You really don't have to choose a grade at this point. I am still not sure if we are just starting 2nd grade as of January, or if we will go ahead and start 3rd in the fall.

[Heather in WI]

I have a five year old daughter that will be six in October, and we are trying to figure out what we are doing for schooling this next year.

 

I think it depends on if you want to call it K5 or 1st grade. If it is K5, I would wait a year before starting history. If it is 1st grade, I would begin with SOTW 1 with the Activity Guide.

 

I would recommend having it be K5 because of her birthday. I really like to start first grade with my boys reading fluently, handwriting skills down, and a solid year of math under their belt.

 

K5 is a super fun year to homeschool!

 

My oldest two covered: Bible; Phonics with a segue into Reading when we finished the Phonics program; Piano; Math; Handwriting; Geography (very gently with Geography Songs by Audio Memory & a children's atlas); and Science (like Geography, very gently with Rod & Staff "God is Good" series along with Christian Liberty Press Nature Reader 1; nature walks, planting gardens, and Butterfly Garden Kit from Home Training Tools).

[Aurelia]

You could go by the cutoff in your state. In Texas, the cutoff is September 1, so she would be in K here, but I think New York is December 1 is the cutoff, so she would be 1st there. Either way, you can work at her level. Ariel is 5 this year and we are doing SOTW and she's really liking it. It fits her learning style well, and we are going slowly, so it may take 1.5 years to get through it, but I'd rather have the good memories than rush through the material.