First post... help me think through first grade?

[Spryte]

Hello all. This is my first post, though I've been reading and re-reading here for quite some time. Actually, I've read so much that my eyes begin to feel like the little googly eyes that our kids use for craft projects!

 

I'm fairly new to homeschooling. My kiddo and I did K last year, and had a ball. I over-purchased K materials, tried most of it, scrapped some of it, and then found the WTM. Love at first sight.

 

My son is 6, and though he's reading fairly well, we struggle with writing and any type of seat work. He has a big case of the wigglies. Anything project-based makes him smile, though. :)

 

We have been doing school-light all summer, and are scheduled to start in earnest next week. But suddenly I find that I'm re-thinking everything I'd planned for first grade. Aaaack.

 

I would love some thoughts on 1st grade. Is this enough? Too much? Just right? Am I missing something major?

 

For now, we have:

 

SOTW, Vol. 1

WWE

FLL

HWOT

AAS, Level 1

Finishing up Headsprout

Right Start Math, B

RSO, Life Science

 

He also has music and art lessons, and we do tons of reading aloud. As well as swimming lessons, and sports.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[dcjlkplus3]

It looks good to me.

Has he finished a phonics program already?

We have still been working on phonics at our house in 1st grade (with the middle one we will be working on into 2nd grade also:tongue_smilie:)

Is that what Headsprout is?

[Harriet Vane]

I agree with what the other two posters have said.

 

I will add that it's totally normal for boys to have the wigglies, and I wouldn't worry too hard about training that out of him. Make sure he knows to sit nicely in group settings (scouts or church or whatever). At home, though, you can give him frequent breaks. My own ds has a deeply heartfelt need to move, so he has a lot of short breaks to climb the tree or jump on the trampoline or kick a soccer ball around, etc. As he has grown older, his ability to sit well for longer periods has just naturally evolved.

 

A. Pudewa has a wonderful lecture about boys and learning--it's well worth listening to.

[Spryte]

Thanks, it's very helpful to get some feedback.

 

Headsprout is a phonics-based online program, although I've done a lot of supplemental phonics instruction as well. We're also working our way through OPGTR, although a lot of it we've covered elsewhere, so we are skipping lessons here and there. I've been back and forth on whether we need to add more phonics instruction, so any input here would help! I wondered if perhaps the AAS might solidify any lingering phonics issues?

 

I love the idea of saving something to start in January - that is a good plan! Keeping things light is our best bet, I am convinced. :)

 

Thanks so much.

 

Any more thoughts or input is welcome...

[Mert]

:bigear:

[mathmom]

Your schedule looks great to me!

[Beth in SW WA]

 

Keep things active, keep them light. You can do FLL mostly orally so do it on the swing set in the back yard,

 

We do this! Dds listen to FLL & WWE stories while swinging.

 

Spryte, welcome! Looks like you have a fun year planned. You have received some great advice here.

 

I have a wiggly first'er also. Someone mentioned on another thread about letting them chew gum during seat work. Brilliant! I'm so stealing that idea!

[prairiegirl]

Welcome, Spryte! It looks like you have a great plan. In your list, you have SOTW but it doesn't say whether you will be using the AG or not. If that wasn't part of your plan, I think your ds would love the activities listed in it. If you are planning on using it, then just ignore this post. :D

[charlestonmom03]

One thing that has majorly helped my wiggly boys is to sit on an exercise ball rather than on a chair when we're doing paper/pencil work (we work at a smaller table, so the height works out perfectly). The first couple days they roll right over a few times, but it really improves their posture and they have to keep their feet on the floor to balance. It really helped my oldest son's handwriting a lot. I was just about to go to amazon to order a new ball for this school year - last spring boy #2 decided to see if scissors could go through the ball (they can).

[Spryte]

Ooooh, I love all the ideas for wiggly boys - thanks! Gum - that is such a good idea. And definitely wouldn't fly in PS. :tongue_smilie: ...I love, love, love the exercise ball idea, too - our puppies would probably eat the ball (they are big puppies) but I saw a flatter version of an exercise ball that goes on a seat somewhere in a school supply store... I might go hunt for that, it seemed marketed toward helping the wigglies.

 

And yes - we are doing the SOTW AG. It's the all-time favorite here right now, and if history is not planned for the day, my little guy begs until we come up with a history-related project. My budding history buff.

[*Jessica*]

You're using many of the things that we're using with my first-grader this year, so I think it looks great! The differences in what we're doing are bolded below. We're also doing Song School Latin, composer study, piano lessons, and art.

 

SOTW, Vol. 2 + AG

WWE

FLL

HWOT

AAS, Level 1

no formal phonics (Nik reads at a 4th grade level)

Math Mammoth, Noble Knights of Knowledge, Afterwards: Folk and Fairy Tales with Mathematical Ever Afters

RSO, Earth & Space, unless we decide to go with interest-led studies

 

And yes - we are doing the SOTW AG. It's the all-time favorite here right now, and if history is not planned for the day, my little guy begs until we come up with a history-related project. My budding history buff.

Mine, too! Nik would happily do history for hours every single day if I had the energy to do it! As it is, he reads the history encyclopedia for an hour or two every day, and devours history books from the library. I thought about skipping SOTW since he's naturally interested in history, but he loves it so much that he begged me to buy volume 2.

Edited August 12, 2010 by *Jessica*

[Momof1plustwins]

I think you're plan looks fine too.

 

My twins are starting first grade next week as well. Here's our lineup:

 

Scripture Memory cards

Rod and Staff Math 1

McRuffy (phonics and reading only-not the included spelling or grammar)

McRuffy handwriting assignments supplemented with A Reason for HW

AAS 1

FLL 1

Sonlight Core K

Sonlight K Science

Evan Moor's How to Teach Art to Children

The new Nine Note Recorder Method

[Mama2two]

Looks great. it is very similar to my first grade plans. Except we are doing American History and I decide to wait on FLL and WWE until afer christmas b/c i want to finish OPGTR first.

 

I do think AAS is fantastic for cementing phonics. We are using it, OPGTR and ETC find it to be a great combination.

 

You probably already have a plan for read alouds, but if not we are doing Ambleside Online Year 1 for literature- some great stuff!

Edited August 12, 2010 by Mama2two

[kokotg]

Looks good to me! If it were me, I'd probably do more formal phonics in place of spelling...something like Explode the Code has a good bit of spelling built in.

[Angie in VA]

 

My son is 6, and though he's reading fairly well, we struggle with writing and any type of seat work. He has a big case of the wigglies. Anything project-based makes him smile, though. :)

 

...

 

We have been doing school-light all summer, and are scheduled to start in earnest next week.

 

 

 

Welcome, Spryte! Oh, what fun. Your ds is a baby, really. Mine have grown too fast!

 

My ds is now 11 and he still works faster after some exercise. (Play basketball, jump rope, do the hoola hoop, bounce on the rebounder, a life saver on a rainy day like today!, etc.) He gets more done faster than w/o some exercise. In fact, we're all this way!

 

I use the gum idea too. Love it. Want to try an exercise ball, but I can see him rolling off of it, lol!

 

You've gotten good advice and whatever you choose to add, you can add it slowly since you've done "school light" all summer.

 

Enjoy this process!

[VBoulden]

Where's that smile face with the big ears... :bigear: I am tuning in for this post. We are starting first grade at the end of summer, too. Your lineups look alot like mine. That makes me feel more confident. Thanks!

[Spryte]

Thanks for the big welcome and all the encouragement. :)

 

Sounds like there are a few of us starting first grade - maybe we need a First Grade Buddies coffee klatch.

 

I'm still back and forth on whether to add more phonics instruction - so indecisive.

 

He loves Headsprout, but only has about 30 lessons to go... and where to go after that is up in the air at the moment. Headsprout has been seriously fun for him, and I hate to see it end. Anyone else use Headsprout?

[kbed0849]

We are starting 1st as well. With my dd 5 and ds 6. I have been stewing over curriculum decisions (or lack thereof) for weeks. So, seeing your selections has encouraged me. At the moment, this is our plan:

Read-alouds currently Little House on the Prairie

WWE

MCT Island level

finishing up Discovering Intensive Phonics (mainly for spelling rules) They

are both reading at 2-3rd grade level

Finishing up ( 2nd half) of RightStart math B

Veritas Press OTAE / Genesis-Joshua

Trying to decide btwn Gods Design and Apologia for science

Wondering if we need to do art (I have purchased Artistic Pursuits but never seem to get around to it)

 

For all of you 1st grade moms with wiggly boys.... How do you ever fit it all your "planned" activities in each day???? Do you feel like you HAVE to do electives like art and latin??? I always seem to have things left over that we didn't get to. Which leaves me feeling like we are failing! (i have a 4 and 2 yr. old as well so that complicates the day somewhat )

[charlestonmom03]

kbed0849-

We did 1st last year with our oldest boy (the other boys were 4, 2 and infant) and it was challenging some days to do much of anything. I figured even if we just sat on the couch and read books it was "enough" for that day. It is hard when the baby is fussy or the toddler is into everything or you aren't getting enough sleep at night. I made math, reading and writing our priorities, and if we got to the others stuff it was great - but if we didn't, I didn't let myself feel guilty about it. My boys listened to SOTW vol. 1 on CD (mostly in the car) and we did very few of the activities, but we did get most of the maps done and the coloring pages. Most of our reading came from the suggested books in the activity guide, so even though we didn't spend a lot of time on history, my 1st grader already knows far more history than I knew by the time I got to high school!

 

I didn't do art, it just wasn't realistic for me last year. I am planning to use Child-Sized Masterpieces this year, it seems easy/light enough that we'll enjoy it without it being burdensome. And we didn't even attempt to do any formal Latin in 1st grade. We'll probably start in 3rd. (I have a CD with basic prayers being said in Latin, and he has learned a few prayers just from listening to that with the little guide book it came with. He finds it fascinating.)

 

I wonder if it will always feel like there is so much to get done when starting on a new year? I am feeling that way about 2nd grade now! =)