Tell me if this is too much...

[delaney]

Trying to get my stuff straight for next year so I have time to gather all the books and stuff I need:

DD-5th grade

Math-Saxon 5/4 or Horizons 5 depending on her level

Language Arts-IEW-wordly wise-spelling workout-FLL

History-History Odyssey/SOTW

Science-either HO science or Real science 4 kids(level 1 to integrate 1st grader as well)

once per week Classical Conversations

 

DD 1st grade

Math-probably Saxon grade 2 since she is completing the 1st grade stuff here after school mostly on her own!

LA-IEW-FLL-Spelling workout

History-same as above

Science-same as above

CC once per week

 

Could use some opinions on the science choices

[Jen+4dc]

My only question would be about the 1st grader using IEW. What level IEW did you plan on using? I'm not sure they have anything for a 1st grader. Usually in 1st you're still doing sentences and capitalization and punctuation and spelling, etc. etc. I use the IEW's SWI-B with my 5th and 7th and they love it. With my 2nd grader I use WWE 2. In 1st grade we used WWE 1 and I really liked it.

 

You could easily use IEW SWI-A with a 5th grader as well (5th grade is the borderline so I would think you could choose based on where you think your dc is in writing). Mostly I'm talking about the 1st grader. :) I think the 5th grade plan looks excellent!

 

FWIW!

[StephanieZ]

DD5th: I would drop the vocab and stick with SWO. You can try to do two SWO levels in one year. . . to get "ahead" so you can complete SWO and move on to vocab sooner rather than later.

 

DD1st: I wouldn't try IEW with a 1st grader. I'd stick with the FLL & SWO. I'd add a handwriting program (unless FLL incorporates it??). (I like Zaner Bloser.)

 

How well is she reading?? Unless she is independently reading chapter books (Magic Tree House ++), I'd have a phonics program on board as well. Reading is my absolute focus for that age until/unless it is really mastered (3rd grade reading level or so.)

 

History: Covering the same time periods in history makes perfect sense. But, they'll need very different read-alouds, readers, activities, etc. Personally, I find it easier to just use different programs altogether with that age gap, but covering the same general time/topics is certainly handy if feasible. SOTW itself is great for both. The SOTW AG will be most appropriate for your 1st grader, and will provide plenty of ideas for rich history for the 1st grader. You can use the SOTW tests for the 5th grader. (I wouldn't for the 1st grader.) For the 5th grader, you will need to work harder to stretch the material to be challenging enough. I don't know anything about HO, so maybe that's where you'll pull the challenge for the 5th grader. You could peruse SL Core 6 book lists for good readers for the 5th grader as well.

 

Science:

 

Likewise for science, I think this is too big an age span to truly do *together* and have both of them get much out of it. Ideally, I'd use WTM recommendations for each of them, or whatever. . . There are plenty of options. . . If you follow the WTM recc, I think 1st & 5th are the life sciences years. I'd prioritize choosing something great for the 5th grader. . .

 

Specifics for 1st grader: The 1st grader is much easier, as I find it easy to throw things together for that age. (Let's Read & Find Out level 2 books, or Magic Scool Bus books, Science in a Nutshell Kits, etc, etc, etc. . .) There are some great WTM recc's for Gr 1 Science (My Body from Teacher Created Resources is awesome). . .

 

Specifics for 5th grader: SonLight's Science 5 is mostly biology/human body. Also, I love TOPS books for plant science (Corn & Beans or Radishes) for the 5th grader, but the 1st grader could enjoy tagging along . . . I haven't seen the NOEO science stuff but I'd be very tempted to try it, so that's sth to look into for the 5th grader.

 

HTH