Our 1st Grade Curriculum - Brilliant or Bonkers?

[Monarch Room]

I believe this may be my very first post even though I've been reading this board since last October. You all have added so much wisdom and insight, and have helped me make so many of my decisions. Thank you so much for that! The problem with these board is that it is at times TOO helpful :)

 

So here's the deal: I have a near 6 y/o ds who I pulled out of pre-school last year mainly because we were down to one car, and not because I ever had any intention of homeschooling. The problem was I began reading about homeschooling (that's usually where I get myself in trouble:) I also have a rising 3rd grader that does not want to homeschool. I've been telling him all summer how fun it would be. I'm hoping to convince him soon, but in the meantime I'm just at home with the little guy.

 

I ended up doing a very relaxed preschool curriculum last year with my younger consisting mostly of FIAR, OPGTR, ETC, HWT and a little MEP. He's been reading since he was 4 which just happened naturally rather than my intentionally setting out to teach him. He's super bright and very eager to learn. Even though he would be in PS as a Kindergartener, I've decided to place him mostly in 1st grade curriculum. Anyway, would you kindly look over my choices? I'm obviously going a little overboard, and wondered if I'm out of my mind to have so many choices. I think that most of this can be accomplished in 2-3 hour days with short lessons. My glass is obviously half full :)

 

FLL 1

WWE 1

AAS 1

HWT - My Printing Book

ETC 1 and 2 (or however far we get)

SOTW and Activity Book

RSO Life

Artistic Pursuits

BSGFAA - I'll do this at night with both kiddos

Some Music Appreciation too :)

 

Here's where it gets bonkers:

 

I could not for the life of me decide on math. It isn't my strength, so I'm paranoid that I'll mess up my sweet kiddo. I have the following:

 

SM 1a and 1b

This was delivered to my door just today. I love this after all the research I have done. Who knows if I will still love it in day to day reality though.

 

RS B

Yeah, I'm feeling like a total weirdo for buying this too. But all the little doo-da manipulatives look so FUN!

 

MM 1a and 1b.

I bought this when it was on sale for the heck of it a few months back. I had it printed at Best Value Copy, and they sent me 2 copies for some reason. Now I have 2 copies of a math I may very likely not use.

 

What in the world would you do if you had all 3 of the above? Return, Sell, keep, use 2? I'm leaning more towards SM, but am wondering if I can incorporate RS somehow. I know a lot of people love MM too. What's a girl to do!?

 

Anyway, is all the above way too ambitious? Am I going to freak my kiddo and myself out with all this, or is it going to be so much fun?! Hopefully the latter. Thanks for reading. Hopefully I'll have more to offer the boards after I put some of this stuff into practice on my own :)

[ByGrace3]

Looks pretty close to my first grade plans...

As for math, just pick one. I would hold onto the other until you have give your first chance a try. That way in case you don't like it, you will have the others to fall back on. That said, I think you could easily add the RS manipulatives into either of the others. We have some of them and plan to add them in as needed/wanted to MM. My kids love the manipulatives and math games so it is a fun balance...

Just remember to to give yourself permission to change as needed. If it gets to be too much, back off without feeling guilty for not sticking to your plan. We had great plans for this summer, but dd was less than thrilled, so I backed off. We still did a little math and reading, but amazingly enough, her reading has taken off this summer and she is actually starting to enjoy it instead of dread it. Who cares that we are still on the same phonics lesson as we were in May. We are adjusting as needed to keep learning enjoyable at this very tender age.

All that to say, you have great curricula choices, just let them mold to your child, be sensitive to his needs and it will be great!

[FairProspects]

I think your HWOT is definitely redundant with all the writing he will be doing in AAS 1, FLL1 & WWE 1. He really shouldn't need any more printing practice.

 

All 3 math programs you have are full programs. I know some people manage to do more than 1, but I have no idea how since we sure can't! I would research the philosophies of the math more closely and pick the 1 that aligns best with your goals.

 

You definitely have more than 2-3 hours of work listed, depending on how many breaks you take (although some of those are once a week programs, right?). Maybe try starting with the 4Rs and adding additional subjects in as you have time in your day. It may take a couple of weeks to get up to full-steam, but it is a good way to get in a groove.

[Aurelia]

I wouldn't use ETC with AAS. It's overkill, IMO. Either do ETC or AAS. I have no idea what BSGFAA is.

 

The math is too much. (Take it from me, we used pieces of RS B, R&S 1, MM1, Miquon and MEP1. :001_huh::lol:) Pick just one or two and alternate them. They're all excellent programs, and if you really love Singapore, use it. You can use RS on Fridays or something, as enrichment. Can you give your copies of MM to a new-to-homeschooling friend? That's what I did the first time I printed MM and decided it wasn't for us. Go figure that's the program we chose to do this year. :tongue_smilie: I'm thinking of adding pieces of MEP 2 or RS C (if I can't manage to sell it, I've been trying for over a year) just for more hands on and mental stretching.

[cmarango]

As for the math portion, I completely understand the desire for multiple curriculums. I would choose Singapore as your main program and then use the geometry lessons and groups of 5 thinking from RS. I'm not sure how to incorporate MM at this point as I haven't looked at my copy much yet.

 

HTH.

[Monarch Room]

"Just remember to to give yourself permission to change as needed. If it gets to be too much, back off without feeling guilty for not sticking to your plan." Beautifully said ByGrace :) My hope is to remain flexible. There is so much to learn to say the very least.

 

"I think your HWOT is definitely redundant with all the writing he will be doing in AAS 1, FLL1 & WWE 1. He really shouldn't need any more printing practice."

 

I didn't even think about this. I guess it is true :)

 

"I wouldn't use ETC with AAS. It's overkill, IMO. Either do ETC or AAS. I have no idea what BSGFAA is." That's good to know too. You guys are cutting out a lot of work for me which is excellent! BSG is Bible Study Guide for All Ages :)

[Monarch Room]

As for the math portion, I completely understand the desire for multiple curriculums. I would choose Singapore as your main program and then use the geometry lessons and groups of 5 thinking from RS. I'm not sure how to incorporate MM at this point as I haven't looked at my copy much yet.

 

HTH.

 

That's kind of what I was thinking. From what I've read I do like that aspect of RS. MM really was more of an impulse buy, but I see so many people who love it. I probably will give one copy to a friend, since I have 2!

[TheCoffeeChick]

It looks pretty close to what we do for 1st grade. (We use MM and Rod & Staff for math.)

 

If it were me and my dc, I'd drop the HWOT (like FairProspects suggested), between ETC and WWE, you'll have plenty of handwriting practice. I'd also drop AAS - mostly because we start spelling in 2nd grade as I feel the spelling tests in ETC are enough for 1st grade. Lastly, even though your little guy has been reading for 2+ years, I'd add in a phonics program, just to solidify his reading skills and to make sure he really is decoding words and not guessing (which is easy to do with beginner readers and early chapter books).

 

Remember that early elementary is the time to make sure you are laying a SOLID foundation for the years to come and that means spending the bulk of your time ensuring your dc have the reading, writing, and arithmetic skills they will need in later grades. All those extra subjects are icing on the cake - fun, but not necessarily required in the early years. (History with SOTW and Science are my ds' absolute favorite subjects, but I know we can skim over some of it without hurting anything.)

 

Oh, and welcome to the boards and the awesome world of homeschooling. :D

 

Wow - lots of responses while I was typing - my advise is mostly redundant. :P

Edited July 8, 2011 by BramFam

[ByGrace3]

Just for another perspective...

We are choosing both HWOT AND WWE for this year... HWOT is such a light and fun program, that I don't think it is too much writing... (but this would very much depend on the child)

We do AAS in addition to phonics as well. Phonics is so important, I don't think using ETC for phonics review would or should be dropped. AAS moves VERY slowly with phonics, so I would hesitate to have this be the only phonics program unless your ds is reading incredibly well. After we complete first grade phonics, our plan is to continue with ETC for review alongside AAS.

[Monarch Room]

It looks pretty close to what we do for 1st grade. (We use MM and Rod & Staff for math.)

 

If it were me and my dc, I'd drop the HWOT (like FairProspects suggested), between ETC and WWE, you'll have plenty of handwriting practice. I'd also drop AAS - mostly because we start spelling in 2nd grade as I feel the spelling tests in ETC are enough for 1st grade. Lastly, even though your little guy has been reading for 2+ years, I'd add in a phonics program, just to solidify his reading skills and to make sure he really is decoding words and not guessing (which is easy to do with beginner readers and early chapter books).

 

Remember that early elementary is the time to make sure you are laying a SOLID foundation for the years to come and that means spending the bulk of your time ensuring your dc have the reading, writing, and arithmetic skills they will need in later grades. All those extra subjects are icing on the cake - fun, but not necessarily required in the early years. (History with SOTW and Science are my ds' absolute favorite subjects, but I know we can skim over some of it without hurting anything.)

 

Oh, and welcome to the boards and the awesome world of homeschooling. :D

 

Wow - lots of responses while I was typing - my advise is mostly redundant. :P

 

You weren't redundant at all! I am still working through OPGTR. We're almost a 3/4 of the way through. Would it work to have gone through that, or do you mean something else as far as phonics goes?

[Monarch Room]

Just for another perspective...

We are choosing both HWOT AND WWE for this year... HWOT is such a light and fun program, that I don't think it is too much writing... (but this would very much depend on the child)

We do AAS in addition to phonics as well. Phonics is so important, I don't think using ETC for phonics review would or should be dropped. AAS moves VERY slowly with phonics, so I would hesitate to have this be the only phonics program unless your ds is reading incredibly well. After we complete first grade phonics, our plan is to continue with ETC for review alongside AAS.

 

This is mostly why I kept all of those choices :) His fine motor skills are still not really there yet. He is reading really well though. He rarely makes mistakes even in the more advanced OPGTR lessons. I'm still making sure he isn't reading by sight though, and reinforcing what he does know as much as possible.

[mskelly]

Your plans look similar to mine. You do have more in your plans than I do, but I usually sprinkle other things (from Core Knowledge) in throughout the week.

 

I thought many people use SM WITH RS B. I don't know about MM yet as we are fairly new to this game. I think you'd be fine with two of the choices though. We started RS B a few weeks ago and it is slow going so far. I have to add in some problem solving for my DS so he doesn't get bored. We do love the games though!

 

I'm using HWOT along with AAS and FLL. My DS really needs the extra practice and is quick and painless for him.

 

Good luck!

[WishboneDawn]

As for the math portion, I completely understand the desire for multiple curriculums. I would choose Singapore as your main program and then use the geometry lessons and groups of 5 thinking from RS. I'm not sure how to incorporate MM at this point as I haven't looked at my copy much yet.

 

HTH.

 

I've found MM to be invaluable for extra practice and alternate explanations for concepts my kids didn't quite get with Singapore. I love the Singapore/MM combo.

[Spryte]

We just finished up a year with those same choices! :) (Except for the Bible study, we didn't do that one.) It was a good year, although we did have a bit of overlap.

 

We did ETC 2 & 3, mostly for review purposes, as I felt my kiddo needed extra practice. But we are dropping it now, as it really does seem like overkill with AAS. We also did HeadSprout, starting in K and finishing up earlier this year, so it really was a bit much. I think if we were to do it over, AAS would be sufficient, and maybe I'd just pull out any ETC pages that seemed to be needed for review.

 

The HWOT and WWE did give a lot of practice writing, but I spaced it so we only did one or the other each day. Or if we did both, I scheduled one of them a bit light. I wanted to make sure he was forming letters properly, and HWOT held my hand through that process.

 

I don't have *quite* as many math programs on the shelf... But we do have both RSB and MM. We started our year with RSB, but switched to MM in April. (We were visited by the stork, and I wanted something less teacher-intensive.) Now we primarily use MM, but we are still working through RS slowly as I love that approach.

 

SOTW1 with the AG, and RSO Life were the big hits of the year though!

[LittleIzumi]

I think you can try each one out & see what he likes, and then sell what he doesn't. For instance, here FLL bombed horribly, but ETC and AAS and HWOT were huge hits. I wouldn't have known until I tried!

[Monarch Room]

I've found MM to be invaluable for extra practice and alternate explanations for concepts my kids didn't quite get with Singapore. I love the Singapore/MM combo.

 

This is why I have them all. Couldn't decide whether the MM/Singapore combo was best or the RS/Singapore was best. I guess either would work. It was that darned 50 percent off sale on MM that threw a wrench in things! I will definitely not do all three, but it helps to hear a bunch of perspectives on what worked best for others in my boat.

[Monarch Room]

We just finished up a year with those same choices! :) (Except for the Bible study, we didn't do that one.) It was a good year, although we did have a bit of overlap.

 

We did ETC 2 & 3, mostly for review purposes, as I felt my kiddo needed extra practice. But we are dropping it now, as it really does seem like overkill with AAS. We also did HeadSprout, starting in K and finishing up earlier this year, so it really was a bit much. I think if we were to do it over, AAS would be sufficient, and maybe I'd just pull out any ETC pages that seemed to be needed for review.

 

The HWOT and WWE did give a lot of practice writing, but I spaced it so we only did one or the other each day. Or if we did both, I scheduled one of them a bit light. I wanted to make sure he was forming letters properly, and HWOT held my hand through that process.

 

I don't have *quite* as many math programs on the shelf... But we do have both RSB and MM. We started our year with RSB, but switched to MM in April. (We were visited by the stork, and I wanted something less teacher-intensive.) Now we primarily use MM, but we are still working through RS slowly as I love that approach.

 

SOTW1 with the AG, and RSO Life were the big hits of the year though!

 

Not *quite* as many lol! Yeah, I know :) A little too much time on here caused me to go quite loopy with indecision. I like that MM is less intensive if for some reason life throws a curve ball at me for some reason.

[Tmhearn]

We just finished 1st grade. We used pretty much the same stuff. We did ETC through book 6. We used SW instead of AAS. We use SM. We also do FIAR.

 

My 2 cents:

 

I use HWOT as instruction for proper formation. I'm not as particular in anything else dd writes.

 

Some people feel that SM is a little light in practice work. So, maybe a 2nd program could be helpful for review. We use Math Whizz on-line for review.

 

We school year-round. I also have a 3 yo DS and an 18 mo dd. I had to take a lot of breaks in the winter. (I know that many people manage multiple children just fine. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. ;-) Schooling year round helps us.

 

I prioritize math and reading. So, those are done first. If we start falling behind, we drop everything else. History and Science come next. Art and Foreign Language are after that.

 

I like ETC for phonics practice. I like to stagger my curriculum so that dd is constantly getting reinforcement and review. We are finished with OPGTR. We are on book 7 in ETC. We are halfway through book B in SW. She is steadily reviewing each phonics rule again.

 

Hope this helps! Good luck!

 

Taryn

[Monarch Room]

We just finished 1st grade. We used pretty much the same stuff. We did ETC through book 6. We used SW instead of AAS. We use SM. We also do FIAR.

 

My 2 cents:

 

I use HWOT as instruction for proper formation. I'm not as particular in anything else dd writes.

 

Some people feel that SM is a little light in practice work. So, maybe a 2nd program could be helpful for review. We use Math Whizz on-line for review.

 

We school year-round. I also have a 3 yo DS and an 18 mo dd. I had to take a lot of breaks in the winter. (I know that many people manage multiple children just fine. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them. ;-) Schooling year round helps us.

 

I prioritize math and reading. So, those are done first. If we start falling behind, we drop everything else. History and Science come next. Art and Foreign Language are after that.

 

I like ETC for phonics practice. I like to stagger my curriculum so that dd is constantly getting reinforcement and review. We are finished with OPGTR. We are on book 7 in ETC. We are halfway through book B in SW. She is steadily reviewing each phonics rule again.

 

Hope this helps! Good luck!

 

Taryn

 

It does help! I like to see how similar choices played out for others. I like your view on HWOT. My little guy leans toward perfectionism, so with the other writing stuff, I plan to not be "particular" as you said as well. I plan to hopefully add my 3rd grader into the mix soon, so I will hopefully have a year round model as well and get the hang of things before he's home.

[MGK]

We used SW instead of AAS.

 

 

 

 

What is SW? Is that Spell to Write and Read? I've been lurking on this thread as I plan our 1st grade year also. :001_smile:

 

Melanie

[FairProspects]

My 2 cents:

 

I use HWOT as instruction for proper formation. I'm not as particular in anything else dd writes.

 

 

See to me, this is the purpose of copywork in WWE & FLL. I use it to check proper letter formation, spacing, and punctuation. For us, since I'm already checking letter stroke formation in sentence copywork at least once a day, twice a day if you count spelling, then it would be overkill to add anymore letter formation work, and since I'm dealing with a seriously hyperactive 6 y.o. who is literally wiggling in his chair throughout our lessons, there is no room in our schedule for redundancy :D.

 

I don't think it really matters how you get the printing practice done, so long as it occurs, but since OP was suggesting she might have too much, that might be one of the areas she could cut.

[Satori]

Looks very close to our first grade year! You've already gotten some great advice, but I couldn't help chiming in.

 

Although I love both RightStart and Singapore, it would be really tough to do them both together. Since you already had some MEP fun, I'd start with Singapore 1A. I've found we can still use the fun manipulatives! If you already have RS B, maybe you could do that this summer and see how you like it... It gives a wonderful foundation. MM is handy to have around if your first choices don't work out, for extra practice, or for those unexpected downtime weeks, but we no longer use MM at all now.

 

From what you've said (him needing the practice), it sounds like HWT would be helpful to keep. We didn't think it was overkill and we used quite a lot (HWT, AAS, ETC). Each one tackled different skills. AAS was particularly beneficial for us, as it allowed my daughter to write and express herself. If you really had to drop one (and his phonics skills are great), maybe drop ETC. Maybe hold off on WWE for awhile if it's still overkill.

 

I don't know what BSGFAA is. Ah, I see now you listed what it is, but I have no experience with it. Everything else we use/used though!

 

Have fun this year! I think it looks brilliant. :)

[Monarch Room]

What is SW? Is that Spell to Write and Read? I've been lurking on this thread as I plan our 1st grade year also. :001_smile:

 

Melanie

 

I think she means Spelling Workout :)

[MGK]

I think she means Spelling Workout :)

 

Thanks! I'm off to research (yet another) spelling program, lol.

[Monarch Room]

Looks very close to our first grade year! You've already gotten some great advice, but I couldn't help chiming in.

 

Although I love both RightStart and Singapore, it would be really tough to do them both together. Since you already had some MEP fun, I'd start with Singapore 1A. I've found we can still use the fun manipulatives! If you already have RS B, maybe you could do that this summer and see how you like it... It gives a wonderful foundation. MM is handy to have around if your first choices don't work out, for extra practice, or for those unexpected downtime weeks, but we no longer use MM at all now.

 

From what you've said (him needing the practice), it sounds like HWT would be helpful to keep. We didn't think it was overkill and we used quite a lot (HWT, AAS, ETC). Each one tackled different skills. AAS was particularly beneficial for us, as it allowed my daughter to write and express herself. If you really had to drop one (and his phonics skills are great), maybe drop ETC. Maybe hold off on WWE for awhile if it's still overkill.

 

I don't know what BSGFAA is. Ah, I see now you listed what it is, but I have no experience with it. Everything else we use/used though!

 

Have fun this year! I think it looks brilliant. :)

 

Your blog is actually one of my very favorites :) It has been a HUGE help to me. If not for all your reviews I'd certainly be scratching my head even more with indecision. I definitely want to keep AAS. I really like how it is set up. I drank a huge cup of coffee one night and cut out all my little tiles. I'm not giving that one up for sure! That's a great idea about starting with RS this summer. I was planning on holding off till late August because we have family in from out of town. When I told him we weren't starting school until AUG 22 he cried. Poor guy. We've been finishing up some of his old ETC workbooks just so he has something to work with.

[LittleIzumi]

See to me, this is the purpose of copywork in WWE & FLL. I use it to check proper letter formation, spacing, and punctuation. For us, since I'm already checking letter stroke formation in sentence copywork at least once a day, twice a day if you count spelling, then it would be overkill to add anymore letter formation work, and since I'm dealing with a seriously hyperactive 6 y.o. who is literally wiggling in his chair throughout our lessons, there is no room in our schedule for redundancy :D.

 

I don't think it really matters how you get the printing practice done, so long as it occurs, but since OP was suggesting she might have too much, that might be one of the areas she could cut.

 

Dd taught herself how to write the letters but did NOT like copywork because she wasn't really forming them correctly, and she would reverse them often & have trouble forming them correctly. A quick run through HWoT is really helping her, and she is much happier about doing copywork when she can write the letters without frustration.

[MeganW]

My kiddos are a tad older, but not much. We started 3 weeks ago. My advice:

- figure out what is MOST important to you, and do that first! There have been more days than I expected when we didn't get nearly everything done that I had hoped. But since I have stacked phonics, handwriting & math first, I don't count the day for a loss if we quit early. As long as we get those 3 done, if we don't get to piano, history, science, etc., life goes on.

- alternate locations/activities. We do a "morning meeting" sitting in a circle on the rug, then move to the table, then move back to the rug, then back to the table. In the middle, we have "exercises" (a dance of the week, stretching, etc.). Without moving around some, my kids would go bananas.

- set bathroom/water/stretch times. I prompt each time we move from rug to table to rug "if anyone needs to get a drink or go to the potty, now is the time!"

[Monarch Room]

My kiddos are a tad older, but not much. We started 3 weeks ago. My advice:

- figure out what is MOST important to you, and do that first! There have been more days than I expected when we didn't get nearly everything done that I had hoped. But since I have stacked phonics, handwriting & math first, I don't count the day for a loss if we quit early. As long as we get those 3 done, if we don't get to piano, history, science, etc., life goes on.

- alternate locations/activities. We do a "morning meeting" sitting in a circle on the rug, then move to the table, then move back to the rug, then back to the table. In the middle, we have "exercises" (a dance of the week, stretching, etc.). Without moving around some, my kids would go bananas.

- set bathroom/water/stretch times. I prompt each time we move from rug to table to rug "if anyone needs to get a drink or go to the potty, now is the time!"

 

This is ALL really great advice. The physical side is so important especially to little boys. I like your way of moving through different stations. It would certainly break up the monotony. You guys are so helpful and kind to offer all this wisdom :)

[isitnaptime]

One other thought is that since he is technically k age, you have a lot of time for math. As in, decide if you want him to get way ahead in math or not.

I have a daughter who will be an old first grade and loves math. I have decided to do a few programs so she has a stronger base even though she won't be "ahead" age wise. As opposed to just getting through one program and moving on to second grade. Just an idea. If we did just MM, we would be done with 1a and 1b probably by Christmas if not earlier. She also frustrates easily and I want math to remain "fun" for her as long as possible.

 

We are going to do Right Start B as the main program with MM as extra. I don't know how much MM we will do, maybe a page a day? Maybe 2 pages on the weekend? We are also planning on doing a Miquon "Math Lab" one day a week.

[FairProspects]

Oh, and this may be kind of a "Doh!" point, but if you can find people on the boards who have a similar type of learner to yours and weight their advice, that is probably the most helpful.

 

I love watching what Angela & Satori are doing :001_wub:and her blog is absolutely AMAZING, but we have COMPLETELY opposite learners. There is no way what she uses would work for us, no matter how brilliantly it worked for them (with the exception of some content subjects like science & history).

 

On the other hand, SWB clearly had crazy boys that are much like mine and all of her curriculum has worked SPOT ON for us by age recommendation. Not one of the PHP items we've tried has been either too fast or too slow, too much repetition or too boring. I sometimes think little boys have a short circuit in their brain which requires a lot of repetition :lol: and SWB & JW clearly have experienced and understand this.

 

Sometimes it helps to remember that people have very different types of learners and take that into account with their responses.

[MeganW]

Oh, one more thing. I have one kid who can EITHER sit still and look at me, OR pay attention. I run a pretty tight ship, and so she will sit nicely if told to do so, but it takes all her focus to do that. And if she is focusing on sitting nicely, she is NOT paying one iota of attention to the lesson.

 

I have finally, grudgingly, adapted. She sits at the end of the semicircle, on a beach towel. (That way she isn't distracting everyone else.) As long as she is quiet and stays on her beach towel, it doesn't matter what she is doing. That means that sometimes she is standing on her head calling out answers. Sometimes she is laying on her back. Sometimes her hiney is up in the air and she is looking through her legs. And while she is in these crazy positions, she is about 200% ahead of everyone else. When sitting nicely, she is frustrated and lost and mute.

 

It is more important for her to be learning than for her to be sitting perfectly. (I have to repeat this to myself 800 times a day!)

 

Be prepared to relax some, and go with the flow. It's kind of hard to let your perfect ideals go, but learning is the most important thing, even if it is a little unconventional!

[FairProspects]

- alternate locations/activities. We do a "morning meeting" sitting in a circle on the rug, then move to the table, then move back to the rug, then back to the table. In the middle, we have "exercises" (a dance of the week, stretching, etc.). Without moving around some, my kids would go bananas.

 

 

I'm chatty on this thread tonight! Feel free to ignore me, if I'm driving you crazy. ;)

 

:iagree:totally. Our rule is "there are only 2 times when you must be seated properly at the table, when writing and when eating". Moving around is key!

 

We start at the table for writing, move to the floor for spelling, break for Legos, switch to the couch for reading & grammar, back to the table for grammar copywork, break for trampoline jumping, back to the table for math, back to the couch for history, outside for lunch & recess, etc.

[Satori]

We've been doing this more too - moving around. We do our main seatwork on the same table, but often move to the floor for spelling. We do our reading and WWE in the reading room, and art/crafts elsewhere also. In the summer, we love to do work outside or in the playhouse. We split our day into three parts and try to get some physical activity and lots of playtime.

[TheCoffeeChick]

You weren't redundant at all! I am still working through OPGTR. We're almost a 3/4 of the way through. Would it work to have gone through that, or do you mean something else as far as phonics goes?

 

 

 

OPGTR is exactly what I had in mind :) Nothing more necessary. It is very thorough.

 

Another thought, I think if you've gone that far in OPG, your ds might be bored with ETC 1 & 2. My dd is only on lesson 85 in OPG and is about 1/4 of the way through book 3. You can look at the samples of the ETC books on cbd.com and see where it would match up with what your ds' level is. At minimum, I'd start at book 3 with long vowels. There are quite a few people who skip book 4 all together as it just covers syllabification (I didn't with ds and don't plan on skipping it with dd either). Book 5 covers a bunch of different word families (like those ending with all and alk), 3-letter blends, and the sounds of -ed.

[Monarch Room]

OPGTR is exactly what I had in mind :) Nothing more necessary. It is very thorough.

 

Another thought, I think if you've gone that far in OPG, your ds might be bored with ETC 1 & 2. My dd is only on lesson 85 in OPG and is about 1/4 of the way through book 3. You can look at the samples of the ETC books on cbd.com and see where it would match up with what your ds' level is. At minimum, I'd start at book 3 with long vowels. There are quite a few people who skip book 4 all together as it just covers syllabification (I didn't with ds and don't plan on skipping it with dd either). Book 5 covers a bunch of different word families (like those ending with all and alk), 3-letter blends, and the sounds of -ed.

 

I was wondering about where to start with ETC. We finished the A, B and C books last year, and then took a long break because I didn't know if we'd be HS'ing this year for sure. He's such a sweet kid. It's hard to tell if he's bored with stuff. He does most stuff so cheerfully. Maybe I'll let him work through 1 and 2 over the next few months since he's dying to start school since I already have them, and we're not doing anything else until we do start :)

[Monarch Room]

I'm chatty on this thread tonight! Feel free to ignore me, if I'm driving you crazy. ;)

 

:iagree:totally. Our rule is "there are only 2 times when you must be seated properly at the table, when writing and when eating". Moving around is key!

 

We start at the table for writing, move to the floor for spelling, break for Legos, switch to the couch for reading & grammar, back to the table for grammar copywork, break for trampoline jumping, back to the table for math, back to the couch for history, outside for lunch & recess, etc.

 

Thank you for being chatty :) It is a great help to me! I need to buy some new legos. I did a terrible job of keeping them all in one place this summer!

[TheCoffeeChick]

I was wondering about where to start with ETC. We finished the A, B and C books last year, and then took a long break because I didn't know if we'd be HS'ing this year for sure. He's such a sweet kid. It's hard to tell if he's bored with stuff. He does most stuff so cheerfully. Maybe I'll let him work through 1 and 2 over the next few months since he's dying to start school since I already have them, and we're not doing anything else until we do start :)

 

 

I think letting him do the books over the rest of the summer is a grand idea!

[Monarch Room]

Oh, and this may be kind of a "Doh!" point, but if you can find people on the boards who have a similar type of learner to yours and weight their advice, that is probably the most helpful.

 

I love watching what Angela & Satori are doing :001_wub:and her blog is absolutely AMAZING, but we have COMPLETELY opposite learners. There is no way what she uses would work for us, no matter how brilliantly it worked for them (with the exception of some content subjects like science & history).

 

On the other hand, SWB clearly had crazy boys that are much like mine and all of her curriculum has worked SPOT ON for us by age recommendation. Not one of the PHP items we've tried has been either too fast or too slow, too much repetition or too boring. I sometimes think little boys have a short circuit in their brain which requires a lot of repetition :lol: and SWB & JW clearly have experienced and understand this.

 

Sometimes it helps to remember that people have very different types of learners and take that into account with their responses.

 

It is interesting reading other blogs about different kinds of teachers and learners. My youngest is very much a verbal learner, but does loves all the hands on stuff too. He's driving me nuts about a little bean doll that's in Green Thumbs that he wants to make. "Have you found a large lima bean yet?" I don't think the same choices would work for my older son at all. He's a Boy-Boy if there ever was one. We'll see how it plays out :) I love what you said about SWB and JW. That is true! They did have boys, and that is reassuring :)