Can you tell me about Oak Meadow 1st and 2nd grade?

[Jumping In Puddles]

and if it would be a good fit for my family?

 

I have been reading the OM threads and looking at samples on the OM site but I'm still wondering if this is the direction I should go in. I want to make school easier on myself so that things actually get done. Right now, I let art and history and science slip to often and they complain to me.

 

Will switching to OM make things easier for me to get it all done? Or do you think I need to simply make a schedule and stick to it?

 

Some background:

 

My dd will be 6 in June, and she needs a LIGHT 1st grade. If I were sending her to public school, she would probably do kinder again.

 

I had planned more ABCeDarian, RightStart A (which she started this year, but was not quite ready and really doesn't get it), WWE 1: but starting in December of 1st grade. SOTW2 with her brother, mostly as a read aloud. Add in Artistic pursuits and maybe recorder and ASL.

 

 

My ds will be in 2nd grade. He loves arts and crafts and wants to learn to sew and loves science and math. He wants school to be more fun. He hates phonics and reading with a passion but likes be read to for hours. He balks at writing one sentence a day even though he has beautiful writing. He has outstanding comprehension grasps difficult concepts easily.

 

My goal is to get him to be a fluent reader. His goal is to have school be more fun with art, field trips and music and read alouds. He loves WWE and math so even with OM, those would stay. I might add in FLL if I don't do OM.

 

:bigear:TIA!

[lovemykids]

From what you are saying, OM 1 sounds like a perfect fit. Perfect! I have to run, but I'll come back later to elaborate.

 

:)

[Jumping In Puddles]

From what you are saying, OM 1 sounds like a perfect fit. Perfect! I have to run, but I'll come back later to elaborate.

 

:)

 

Thank you, I look forward to hearing about it! :)

[....]

Yeah, it sounds like a great fit for you guys. I haven't tried the lower grades, but I am very interested in OM's middle school program.

 

I also like OM because Arts and Crafts get swept under our homeschool rug. The 3rd grade has a Woodworking for Kids book also - in case your son was interested in that kind of thing. It's under the Grade 3 Bookstore page...

[Jumping In Puddles]

Yeah, it sounds like a great fit for you guys. I haven't tried the lower grades, but I am very interested in OM's middle school program.

 

I also like OM because Arts and Crafts get swept under our homeschool rug. The 3rd grade has a Woodworking for Kids book also - in case your son was interested in that kind of thing. It's under the Grade 3 Bookstore page...

 

Thanks for the input. :)

 

DS would love woodworking! He loves making... anything, he is very hands-on.

[lovemykids]

Thank you, I look forward to hearing about it! :)

 

Oh, sorry, I completely missed the part about your son. I just skimmed and read some of the bolded parts and hit reply.

I am going to use OM 3 for my second grade son next year. We are stilling continuing with LLATL Red, (the second half) with some of WWE and maybe even a little more of FLL.

I need to step away from this forum. LOL. I’ll be back later. :lol:

[Jumping In Puddles]

Oh, sorry, I completely missed the part about your son. I just skimmed and read some of the bolded parts and hit reply.

I am going to use OM 3 for my second grade son next year. We are stilling continuing with LLATL Red, (the second half) with some of WWE and maybe even a little more of FLL.

I need to step away from this forum. LOL. I’ll be back later. :lol:

 

Ok, when you come back can you please tell my about OM 2 vs. OM 3?? Thanks (take your time!!)

[Guest Cindie2dds]

We are going to be doing OM 1 with my dd (she turned 6 in January) in August. If you have any specific questions about OM 1, I would love to answer them. You have everything you need in OM 1, especially if you need a light year. We will supplement with Ambleside Year 1 and additional math only when needed. There might be times where OM 1 is all we will do and it will be enough. My dd happens to be an advanced girl in math and reading, but developmentally, she still loves OM K. I couldn't be more pleased with it for our foundation. Anything else we add is just a cherry on top. :D

[Jumping In Puddles]

We are going to be doing OM 1 with my dd (she turned 6 in January) in August. If you have any specific questions about OM 1, I would love to answer them. You have everything you need in OM 1, especially if you need a light year. We will supplement with Ambleside Year 1 and additional math only when needed. There might be times where OM 1 is all we will do and it will be enough. My dd happens to be an advanced girl in math and reading, but developmentally, she still loves OM K. I couldn't be more pleased with it for our foundation. Anything else we add is just a cherry on top. :D

 

Thanks! I'll post back if I have something specific. Right now I'm just gathering information.

 

Does anyone have any experience doing 2 years of OM with 2 children?

 

Is it easy to do that? I found doing my own thing that it is NOT easy to school both kids. I have one sit down and do work, then she takes a break and the other comes. Only read alouds will work for my 2 the way I'm doing it now. I'm thinking about giving them a good education while streamlining the process. (If that's possible, lol)

[sleepymommy]

:bigear:

[abrightmom]

Does anyone have any experience doing 2 years of OM with 2 children?

 

Is it easy to do that? I found doing my own thing that it is NOT easy to school both kids. I have one sit down and do work, then she takes a break and the other comes. Only read alouds will work for my 2 the way I'm doing it now. I'm thinking about giving them a good education while streamlining the process. (If that's possible, lol)

 

:bigear::bigear::bigear: :lurk5:

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Does anyone have any experience doing 2 years of OM with 2 children?

 

Is it easy to do that? I found doing my own thing that it is NOT easy to school both kids. I have one sit down and do work, then she takes a break and the other comes. Only read alouds will work for my 2 the way I'm doing it now. I'm thinking about giving them a good education while streamlining the process. (If that's possible, lol)

 

Well, Martha has 9 kids, maybe she can pop in. You can always pm her, she's a very gracious lady.

 

Closeacademy has 2 kids, OM 2 and OM 5, I believe.

 

Bumping for them.... :D

[NanceXToo]

love, love, love Oak Meadow! And it sounds like your kids will really enjoy it and do well with it too!

 

I can't give specific details about OM2 and OM3 as I haven't used those; we used OM4 this year and will be finishing it up next week.

 

Next year I'll be moving on to OM5 (with TT5) with my daughter, and starting OMK with my son.

 

But I just wanted to put in a vote for the curriculum overall, I adore it :D

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Thanks! I'll post back if I have something specific. Right now I'm just gathering information.

 

Does anyone have any experience doing 2 years of OM with 2 children?

 

Is it easy to do that? I found doing my own thing that it is NOT easy to school both kids. I have one sit down and do work, then she takes a break and the other comes. Only read alouds will work for my 2 the way I'm doing it now. I'm thinking about giving them a good education while streamlining the process. (If that's possible, lol)

 

I don't have any experience yet but I plan on doing OM K and first grade next year, with two kids, plus a tag-along 2.5yo. I'm not sure how this will work yet but I'd like us to do most of the lessons together. Since the oldest two are so close in age they will both get a lot out of each others lessons.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

I don't have any experience yet but I plan on doing OM K and first grade next year, with two kids, plus a tag-along 2.5yo. I'm not sure how this will work yet but I'd like us to do most of the lessons together. Since the oldest two are so close in age they will both get a lot out of each others lessons.

 

I think this is what I've enjoyed about it the most. My 3 year old comes in and out, listens when she wants to and loves the MLB time when we draw or watercolor. I would say she's with us about 75 per cent of the time. She won't be 4 until July, so it will be another year before she starts her own K. I think at that point, Rella will help her little sis with fond memories of what we did.

 

I tried so hard to figure out a way to combine them, but I'm glad that I don't really need to. It's such a natural flow of our day.

 

Lisa ~ I think they will really enjoy each other's lessons. I would suggest going through each Lesson (week) and look at the similarities, MLB time, watercolors, outside time, so they can do it at the same time, just their own project. :) The two grades have enough similarities to the structure of the day that I think it will be fairly easy to do.

[Jumping In Puddles]

The more I read about it, the more I think it will be a good fit for our family. :)

[lovemykids]

Here’s my mini book on the subject of OM. Lol.

Having only used OM 1 and 5 for a relatively short period of time, I can’t go into too many details about it. But I would love to share my experience with it and give you my opinions. :lol:FWIW, and I hope it will prove helpful to you and any one else looking for answers.

Earlier this year, I used some of OM 1 because we enjoy the stories and I also did some of the math with ds last year in K. (I did the same thing years ago- just portions of reading, science and math with a few crafts) OM 1 does not contain phonics instruction but it uses word families for reading instruction instead. (and the sight word method) OM has a natural reading philosophy, but it’s easy to simply skip those portions and or use it for spelling or just extra writing practice. We don’t do the main lesson books; instead we use a notebook as described in WTM, binder style.

Years ago I tried OM and bought several pieces of various levels to use. (I buy used copies so they are not the updated, slightly meatier versions- but I am glad that my versions are lighter) When I realized that OM would not fit my homeschool philosophy, namely things I picked up from WTM and wanted to implement, such as early reading and grammar, I didn’t think I could use it. I wanted phonics instruction, grammar, etc! (who knows why, I had plenty of it elsewhere) We did try a little bit of OM but then I got rid of the idea and just leaned towards a CM/WTM type education instead.

I wish I had just used OM the way I am using it now and the way I plan to use it next year- I will use it as a loose guide and continue on with my other curricula. I believe that it will help to streamline but also keep me on track with creative ideas and stories when I don’t find the time to pull together ideas myself. (it seems that my days are busier now with four children and many responsibilities-including work, helping my dh w/ his business at times, etc.) So, I am finding OM extremely helpful.

My favorite thing about Oak Meadow is how it integrates the whole child; calling to their natural need to play, create things with their hands, and to be told wonderful stories. I also absolutely love the fourth, fifth and sixth grade materials. I bought all three levels recently when trying to decide which levels to use for my girls. I am not disappointed in any of them with this buying spree, this time around. OM is exactly what I have been looking for; something pre-planned and organized with well thought out writing and craft assignments. OM gives the child a choice of assignments, as you may have seen in the samples- and I happen to think that it’s just a great idea. I sometimes do that with my children and I see such a change in attitude. When they get older, or even when they are younger, their attitude toward school is so important; I think kids can really open up and show their true potential when they are more excited about their assignments.

Sorry I can’t address your concerns about OM 2 versus OM 3. The reason that I chose OM 3 is because I wanted to use some of the math and the rest of the curriculum seemed more appropriate for my advanced ds. Like, I said before, we will use many other things (not all at once) to fill in the year.

Nor can I tell you how it is to school more than one using this curriculum for any length of time. Right now, my oldest dd is going through OM 5 at a faster pace for a quick review of US History and mainly for the writing. (She would rather do the assignments in OM than some of the other writing that we have been doing, and that's saying a lot for this hormone overloaded tween.;)) She started this at the end of this year, and she will continue through the summer. So we are not doing the extra reading and she has already used a portion of SL 3+4, so she has completed much of the reading already. Next year, I will have her do OM 6 with about half of LL 7 and various other literature pulled from AO etc.. (we do not use the science at all in the higher levels- I think the science sounds nice, but it’s running way behind for my dd and she would be bored.) OM just feels so natural because many of the science and craft ideas are elements that we already implement; it has a nature loving, exploring, discovery feel to it. Very fun!!

I did try more than one level a few years ago as well, but we didn’t do it for long enough to really give a good answer. My thoughts are that it will not be too hard next year when I do all three levels with my children. The nice thing about OM is that it appears very light in terms of workload, so I don’t think that it will be too difficult. I also imagine that some of the stories and read alouds will naturally cross over and your children will share them. It’s a laid back, no pressure way of schooling. OM actually encourages you to take rabbit trails and use the guide loosely, if need be.

Somewhere on their site I remember reading a newsletter that had experiences of moms with more than one child. Also, as you have found out already, we have an OM social group and there are some awesome moms there that can give you a better description. They have blogs, etc.

Sorry I went on so long, can you tell that I am excited about this curriculum?! HTH a little.

 

[Jumping In Puddles]

Here’s my mini book on the subject of OM. Lol.

 

 

Thank you for that mini book (LOL) it was really helpful!

 

I am going to get OM 1 and 2. I will most likely supplement the second grade curriculum with Right Start C.

 

OM1, I won't do sight words so I'll just keep plugging along with phonics. I was SO hopeful that OM1 would use exclusively phonics.

 

Yay! :D:D I'm getting excited for the new school year!

[Jumping In Puddles]

...and I'm also a little apprehensive. :lol:

 

Can anyone tell me about OM history? Does it have a rhyme or reason or is it just unit studies?

[lovemykids]

...and I'm also a little apprehensive. :lol:

 

Can anyone tell me about OM history? Does it have a rhyme or reason or is it just unit studies?

 

Well, while OM is not a true Waldorf curriculum per say, they do adhere to the underlying philosophical idea that young children should be exposed to many fairy tales in order to build character; while they learn of evil versus good and pure. This helps a child to develop a sense of right and wrong, within themselves, as they contemplate the outcomes of such stories.

 

OM also uses legends, famous people, and some social study themes that help them connect to their community. These are all very nice and done in a light manner, not taking up too much time. So, if you prefer a bit more, it’s very easy to add it in yourself using living books (including good picture books) or using SOTW as a read aloud. You can get some good ideas from AO, SL etc. (unless you already have a plan in mind) D'uAlaire etc. are great for this age group.

 

OM does get more focused after third grade, and really gets much better by fifth grade IMO, by then they are learning a lot about US history and reinforcing it through various books, extra research for reports etc. I also own OM 4, but I have not looked that over extensively yet to see how in depth the history goes- I think they are stepping it up a little in fourth but not much.

 

(Really 5th and up is much better in the history department. )

 

Hope that made sense- busy, busy here!:)

Edited May 12, 2010 by lovemykids

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Somewhere on their site I remember reading a newsletter that had experiences of moms with more than one child.

 

If you order their catalog, you get a copy of the most recent newsletter and it has a two-page article on homeschooling more than one child with Oak Meadow. It's in PDF format on their website also.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Lovemykids ~ loved your book. :)

[Wildwood]

Here's the PDF link to the most recent OM Newsletter that contains an article on homeschooling multiple children...

 

http://www.oakmeadow.com/downloads/jan2010newsletter.pdf