First Grade Questions

[Ohdanigirl]

Just wondering when most of you started WWE1 with your first grader. Did you ease into it later in the year, or start first thing. Was it smooth sailing or rough waters? Also what about SOTW1? How did narrations go for you with a child this young? I have not home schooled 1st grade before, and I am a little nervous. We have already begun Math, Penmanship, and ETC. School officially starts for us at the end of the month. I just don't want to overwhelm our little guy. (He turns 6 on the 19th)

 

Thanks.

 

Danielle

[1GirlTwinBoys]

I started WWE I with my DD the 2nd half of first grade. We started at the beginning of the year. I plan on doing the same for my twin boy's since this is their 1st grade year. This seems perfect for us.

[Guest CarolineUK]

My DS5 will be 6 on 16th of this month! We started doing the first lesson of WWE1 during the last two weeks of the last school year (end of July), mainly because DS9 is doing WWE3 and DS11 has done a bit of WWE4, so he was very keen to be 'one of the boys'. I took it very gently, it's a wonderful program, so I didn't want to put him off by being too serious or demanding. He did just fine and really enjoyed it, I have no reason to expect he'll have any problems when we start back at the beginning of September.

[OleanderRain]

My daughter has a late birthday this month as well. She would be going into 2nd grade but I decided to start late with her and we did K last year instead of 1st. Now this year she is turning 7 and starting 1st and starting WWE 1. I would suggest doing the first week with him and seeing how it goes. You'll be able to tell if he needs more time and if he does you can hold off until the 2nd half of the year. Good luck!

[....]

We also started WWE1 after about 5 months of 1st grade. In fact, he's in 2nd grade now and he's working on the end of it. I think we have 8 weeks left or something... Anyway, I don't think most kids can start that program until they are well on their way with reading.

[Sahamamama]

When we start 1st in a few months, my daughter will have just turned six years old. We will begin Lesson 1 on Day 1, and this will not be a problem. We've been doing homemade copywork and little "narration lessons" all throughout Kindergarten. She does very well with the copywork, so I'm not concerned about any difficulties with the transition to a slightly new format. Our narrations have consisted of me reading aloud a little story (for example, an Aesop's fable, a Bible story), and then asking questions about the story. Or, we look at a picture, and I ask questions about it. Either way, she is required to answer in complete sentences, and I write one or two of those down. Then she reads back what I have written. Sometimes she draws a picture, too. And that's it!

 

Even though our homemade system has worked well, next year I'm adding in twins for Pre-K -- :willy_nilly::willy_nilly:-- so I was happy when my husband said we could afford WWE. What a relief to have it already DONE and filed in my file box.... oh, but that's another thread! :lol:

 

Edited to add: I agree with the poster who mentioned the child's reading level being a factor in when to begin. I hadn't even thought of it, but my daughter is reading very well for her age, so maybe that's why I'm confident in starting WWE with her at the start of first grade. HTH. Have a great year with him! Enjoy!

Edited August 10, 2010 by Sahamamama
Other poster's good point.

[Dinsfamily]

We started WWE 1 just after my ds turned 6 and it's going very well. However, I've heard that it gets a lot harder in WWE 2 so I'll watch for signs that we need to slow down.

 

ETA: I agree with the other posters about reading level. My ds was already reading fluently and writing comfortably. I think I would delay starting if that wasn't the case.

Edited August 10, 2010 by Dinsfamily

[Ali in OR]

We had no difficulty starting at the beginning of 1st when my dd was 6.5 years old. Like others have said, she was reading and writing well and all went smoothly. The difficulty level stays pretty constant...what your child is asked to do at the beginning is pretty much what she or he will still be doing at the end of the year. And for copywork you can choose a shorter sentence or longer sentence for them to copy. We got a little behind by skipping too much during some busy fall days and I found that we could easily do two worksheets in 1 day in spring to catch up. This meant basically doing both a narration and copywork in 1 day.

[KrissiK]

The narrations in WWE1 are very simple... "Tell me one thing you remember about the reading". I started SOTW1 with my first grader and kindergartner last year around Christmastime. My kinder really struggled with the narrations, but I didn't reaquire much from him. My first grader did well. You ease into narrations, teaching the child how to do them. It's not like you expect them to do it perfectly the first day. It takes a while, and it's taking me a while to get the hang of them, too. It's not a perfect science.

[Ohdanigirl]

Thank you everyone. You have all been very helpful. I feel a lot better about beginning WWE in the first few weeks. He has been doing Progressive Phonics Hand writing sheets and reads fairly well. We have always read aloud in our house, so he does well with listening and retention. I guess I was just nervous because it's a first for me. I think I am ready to jump in now.

 

Danielle

[Beth in SW WA]

We started in K5. It's very gentle -- and the stories SWB chose are wonderful and engaging. All writing is done in cursive on our own paper.

[~Kirsten~]

Since all have thoroughly addressed your WWE question, I'll answer the SotW part. :001_smile: We just finished chapter 9 as we begin our official year in May/June, and it's going so, so well. My daughter absolutely loves history, and her retention has been quite surprising so far. I highly recommend the activity guide, in case you don't have it. First, the activities and projects are really great (not that you should or need to do all of them, by any means), and I've found that the coloring pages really help, giving her something to do with her hands while she listens to me read.

 

But second, I've really loved having the review questions, too. It gives me a chance to make sure she's gotten the highlights, and we do those before I ask her for a narration. Her narrations are usually more the details that stuck out to her rather than the neat summaries that are given as examples in the guide, but she then retells what she learns to Daddy over dinner, and all the repetition is really solidifying her knowledge. I do keep the whole review and narration part really low key, though. She likes reading back to me what I've written, but that seems to keep it fun in her mind.

 

Hopefully that's reassuring for you! I think both WWE and SotW are truly age-appropriate resources, especially if you keep the pressure off.

[JESSICAinMD]

I started it the second half of 1st grade.

[Whereneverever]

We started WWE at the beginning of K and found it too easy. I think if a child is able to copy letters and listen well to stories they'll be ready for it.

We started SOTW at the beginning of 1st and it's going really well.

[savoybrwn]

My dd(10) loved SOTW1 when she was in 1st grade, loved the activities and the read aloud narrative was short enough for her at that grade, my ds(6) not so much. He wiggles around and aside from the activities, is really not into it. Will wait until 2nd half of 1st grade to start. Started ds(6) in hw program last year he did well and can't wait for this years to start

 

Hope this helps,