I can't make up my mind!

[Aurelia]

I really cannot make up my mind what to do for next year, so I am posting a poll in the hope that I get some opinions. Ariel will be 6 for most of the next school year, although she works above the grade level she would be if she were in PS.

 

I like the idea of OM because of the nature/craft/art things, but I've already bought nearly everything listed in option 2. I would like schoolwork for next year to take less time than this year, which is somewhere between 2-4 hours a day (although this includes science experiments and history projects), and I want Ariel to enjoy learning, which I feel isn't really happening except for history (because she's being read to), art and science.

 

 

Option 1: Oak Meadow 1 or 2 + various books from lists like Sonlight & AO

Right Start Math

Apples & Pears Spelling, Dancing Bears Reading

Writing With Ease

piano

 

Option 2: Right Start Math

Apples & Pears, WWE, Language Smarts B, Dancing Bears

BFSU

various books from lists like Sonlight & AO, maybe Little Passports

Atelier Art

piano

[Rosie_0801]

Nature and crafts aren't so hard to add to whatever else you want to do. I'd go with option two, since you've already bought everything, but I am on a limited budget...

 

Rosie

[Guest Cindie2dds]

While it is easy to add nature study, art, handicrafts, etc., I didn't do it as much on my own as I would have liked. If you are on a tight budget, you can look for the Syllabus used. We have had so much fun with Oak Meadow this year; we also supplement. My dd loves math and is a great reader, so those bases are already well covered so we can enjoy the gravy.

 

It really depends on how much you think it will stress you out or relieve you during the school year. We are going to combine Ambleside Year 1 with Oak Meadow 1 and continue with the next two Miquon books and MEP.

 

Hope you find something you love and enjoy with your dd. :D

[Closeacademy]

Option 1: Oak Meadow 1 or 2 + various books from lists like Sonlight & AO

Right Start Math

Apples & Pears Spelling, Dancing Bears Reading

Writing With Ease

piano

 

Option 2: Right Start Math

Apples & Pears, WWE, Language Smarts B, Dancing Bears

BFSU

various books from lists like Sonlight & AO, maybe Little Passports

Atelier Art

piano

 

Let's look at the differences in your plans.

 

BFSU, Atelier Art, Language Smarts B verses Oak Meadow

 

So you are looking at using 1 curriculum to replace 3. You say you want things to take less time and be more streamlined. Oak Meadow does this for you in just replacing the 3 programs.

 

Hope this helps.:001_smile:

[ThreeBlessings]

I answered option 2. It sounds like you have what you need and know what you want. :) If you buy Oak Meadow you'll likely feel pressure to use it, yk? What you have planned sounds wonderful. Our library has loads of books on crafts and nature and nature crafts, lol. Maybe you can see what is available at yours? Then you can feel free to be as flexible as you want. 6 is so young! I'd still be planning lots of off time and out and about time, definitely not 2-4 hours of structured learning. But that's just me, I tend to be student led to a point.

[iammommy]

To me the bigger issues is that you said she's not really enjoying learning, except for history. OM really changed things for my son. It's very hands-on, and relaxed. He enjoyed school much more this year. I'd give it a try. I'd try to see some of the other things, maybe keeping WWE.

 

Now you should realize that OM is not seen as *rigorous* by most folks here. You said she's a bright little girl, above grade level. I'd still stick with the grade level she'd be in in public school and not jump ahead. Supplement, if necessary, delving deeper into topics she's interested in.

 

Come join the Oak Meadow social group here, too, if you want answers to questions about the curriculum itself.

 

What ever you do, you have some really nice things lined up for her!

 

Good luck!

 

Nan

[Caribbean Queen]

#2 because you have most of the books already. What is the point of buying a pre-planned, complete program and then switching or adding math, spelling, reading, writing, music, literature and history? What is Oak Meadow for, art? That's an expensive art program. Won't you be tempted to do it all and spend even more than 2-4 hours on school? No, don't overbuy books. Keep it simple.

[SilverMoon]

I voted for the second option. In my experience, if you're already comfortable piecing together your own curriculum a boxed one would probably annoy you. :001_smile: If you really want a change, change up what you have to appeal to her more.

 

"Nature/art/craft" is pretty easy to add in. Give that it's own hole on your schedule so it's not as prone to getting skipped. The SOTW AG or VP's history TG could give you some history related projects to add to the readings you're already doing. A Charlotte Mason style nature notebook is fun to start at that age. There are a few good books out there for the parent who isn't sure how to implement those. Scouting has been a fun way to add some for our family. The scouting programs I'm familiar with for girls start with kindy age.

[TracyR]

Well I've never used Oak Meadow thought it does look like a good curriculum. Anyways, if I were in your shoes and you want things done for you so next year seems easier I would get the already made curriculum. That way you can bounce the ideas when you need to. I wouldn't become a slave to it but look in it and see what you want to do. It may give you ideas you haven't thought of before.

If money is tight do like I do. Get it used.

[lovemykids]

I think the nice thing about OM is that it does give wonderful ideas and a structure, if you will, for proceeding with school in a relaxed, creative manner. Many people struggle with streamlining and providing a truly artistic environment for their naturally creative children. I think OM addresses these two problem areas very nicely. But it still leaves you plenty of time to add in other programs to make it complete and age appropriate.

With all of the materials that you already have, it might be nice to simply buy the Syllabus used, as many have mentioned already. You wouldn’t need the whole shebang.

And you might be able to rotate things like WWE etc. so that you could still keep in the spirit of a relaxed environment. Rotating allows you to relax without delaying your children. We have used a little of WWE, copywork, plus other writing along with some of the OM guide this year in first, as well as various other curricula. I use a lot of curricula in the younger years but I do not ever have school over two or three hours for first grade. I vary the assignments and focus on certain skills for three days a week instead of five. Some things, like reading, math, and storytime will need to be done four to five days a week. This way you can streamline and create a nice environment for your young one so that they can properly develop and enjoy school, as well as have plenty of time for unstructured play, which is so important at this young age.

I think most people on this forum will encourage you to choose your own path, because that is what they do. But you need to decide what will be the best route for you and your child. People’s opinions are not always the best way of doing that. Sometimes you just have to trust your motherly instinct, go against the grain, and try things for your child, albeit not popular. Also, choosing OM does not mean that you will be boxed in. It’s not your typical box.

Whichever you choose, you should be fine as long as you don’t stress about completing every little thing. Really, I am not much help because although voting for OM, I do think that either choice could be a good fit. It depends on you and your teaching style. What do you need to help you to be the best teacher that you can be? A lot of times that’s discovered through trial and error.

Best wishes on your decision.

[Jen+4dc]

#2 because you have most of the books already. What is the point of buying a pre-planned, complete program and then switching or adding math, spelling, reading, writing, music, literature and history? What is Oak Meadow for, art? That's an expensive art program. Won't you be tempted to do it all and spend even more than 2-4 hours on school? No, don't overbuy books. Keep it simple.

:iagree: That would be my problem.

 

 

"Nature/art/craft" is pretty easy to add in. Give that it's own hole on your schedule so it's not as prone to getting skipped. The SOTW AG or VP's history TG could give you some history related projects to add to the readings you're already doing. A Charlotte Mason style nature notebook is fun to start at that age. There are a few good books out there for the parent who isn't sure how to implement those. Scouting has been a fun way to add some for our family. The scouting programs I'm familiar with for girls start with kindy age.

:iagree:

 

I have found the more I have, the more I feel I need to use. The less I have, the less time school takes and the less pressure I feel. The less pressure I feel the happier everyone is!

 

Just my 2 cents.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

..

[Aurelia]

Thanks, everyone. My biggest difficulty is, although I love to plan and do my own thing, it seems like it takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get through all the stuff because we are bouncing from one curriculum to another and while one takes 15 minutes, the next takes 30, another 45 - and by the time it's all said and done what with extra books and experiments and stuff I'm left thinking "where did the day go?" and we never got to art or music or Spanish.

 

I do know I want to stick with RS for math, because I know it works, as does Dancing Bears for learning to read.

 

We did rigorous schooling this year (you can see what we are doing in my signature) and I am trying to plan out next year to be more relaxed. I guess it would help if I were more creative and could teach naturally, but I'm not and I need some direction, though I generally refuse to slavishly follow any one curriculum.

 

I hope that I can get this mentally resolved soon because it's quite literally keeping me up at night.

[KathyBC]

I think the nice thing about OM is that it does give wonderful ideas and a structure, if you will, for proceeding with school in a relaxed, creative manner. Many people struggle with streamlining and providing a truly artistic environment for their naturally creative children. I think OM addresses these two problem areas very nicely. But it still leaves you plenty of time to add in other programs to make it complete and age appropriate.

With all of the materials that you already have, it might be nice to simply buy the Syllabus used, as many have mentioned already. You wouldn’t need the whole shebang.

And you might be able to rotate things like WWE etc. so that you could still keep in the spirit of a relaxed environment. Rotating allows you to relax without delaying your children. We have used a little of WWE, copywork, plus other writing along with some of the OM guide this year in first, as well as various other curricula. I use a lot of curricula in the younger years but I do not ever have school over two or three hours for first grade. I vary the assignments and focus on certain skills for three days a week instead of five. Some things, like reading, math, and storytime will need to be done four to five days a week. This way you can streamline and create a nice environment for your young one so that they can properly develop and enjoy school, as well as have plenty of time for unstructured play, which is so important at this young age.

I think most people on this forum will encourage you to choose your own path, because that is what they do. But you need to decide what will be the best route for you and your child. People’s opinions are not always the best way of doing that. Sometimes you just have to trust your motherly instinct, go against the grain, and try things for your child, albeit not popular. Also, choosing OM does not mean that you will be boxed in. It’s not your typical box.

Whichever you choose, you should be fine as long as you don’t stress about completing every little thing. Really, I am not much help because although voting for OM, I do think that either choice could be a good fit. It depends on you and your teaching style. What do you need to help you to be the best teacher that you can be? A lot of times that’s discovered through trial and error.

Best wishes on your decision.

 

:iagree: Yes, this.

[Rosie_0801]

Thanks, everyone. My biggest difficulty is, although I love to plan and do my own thing, it seems like it takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get through all the stuff because we are bouncing from one curriculum to another and while one takes 15 minutes, the next takes 30, another 45 - and by the time it's all said and done what with extra books and experiments and stuff I'm left thinking "where did the day go?" and we never got to art or music or Spanish.

 

Have you tried workboxes? That might take a bit of the "bounce" out. At the very least, you can look at empty boxes and know you did *something* with your day!

 

Rosie

[PeterPan]

Aurelia, you're probably spending TOO LONG on the subjects you're doing, which is why your day is getting long and exhausting. It's wishful thinking to hope you can get a boxed curriculum to fit a gifted/advanced kid. You might, but that would be a thing of wonder, a dream. More sensible is for you to learn now the big lesson: do the things that fit your kid academically, but do them for the amount of time that fits their age. You had a K5er by age this year. That means your lessons should be 15 minutes. You need to set a timer and STOP anything that goes over that. Just absolutely, positively stop. I guarantee you the same book or lesson, done later with a bit more maturity, will suddenly fly. It's just the magic of maturity. Things take too long, then suddenly BOOM they're easy. I have found with my dd that those jumps come at her 1/2 birthday.

 

Cut those lessons short. Refrain from teaching her like a 1st or 2nd or 3rd grader, just because she's smart and capable. She's still little inside and needs to run and play and have short lessons, even if she is doing calculus. :)

 

Now, on the creativity thing, I'm all for help. I understand getting burnt out! On the other hand, if you shorten those lessons to an age-appropriate amount (15 min. for K5, 20 min. for 1st), then your total load is going to go down to 1 hour a day for math and LA. I did RS, and you CAN do it like that. Ditto for your LA. You do two 20 minute sessions if you have to. So that's one hour, and all the rest is your fun stuff. Then you set up a station, a worktable that gives her a place to do her best thing. That's what she does in all her freetime. My dd was seriously, seriously crafty at that age, and she would spend HOURS making paper crafts, sculpting, etc. I let her listen to good books on tape while she worked. Books on tape do more for their reading skills than long lessons do anyways. Maybe your dd has another interest, but there you go. I would set up a table at her height. You can get adjustable leg tables from the office supply for around $35-50 if you're lucky. I put stacked drawers underneath and filing slots on top to hold pretty papers, etc. It was a regular work zone! Somewhere online are pics of my room when it was like that.

 

Get those lessons shortened, and then you'll know what you want to do. It doesn't matter if you do OM or ecclectic, you still have to figure out how to balance your dc's academic ability with their age, and that's the trick. You have to be ruthless with the timer and a bookmark and just shut it. :)

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I voted for Oak Meadow. My dd is also going to be an advanced first grader next year. Although she obviously needs to move forward in math and language arts, what really produces the spark in her eyes are art, crafts, music, and languages. In other words, the fun, creative stuff. As much as I say to myself, I should be doing this stuff with dd it just doesn't happen very often on it's own. Now it will be scheduled for me.

 

Our plan for next year is:

 

Oak Meadow 1

All About Spelling

Writing With Ease

Singapore Math 1A & 1B

La Clase Divertida

Minimus & Prima Latina, gone through slowly

a little BFSU added in through book/activity baskets

various religion materials

[Bayt ul-Hikmah]

It doesn't matter if you do OM or ecclectic, you still have to figure out how to balance your dc's academic ability with their age, and that's the trick.

 

:iagree:

[ChicoryChick]

I agree with OHElizabeth. Cut down on the time you are doing for each lesson. Also you don't have to do every subject every day, you can alternate days for each subject which would also cut down on your time!