Guest starbuck22 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 DS will be 5 in August and we will be starting K this fall. We've used Rod and Staff 4-5 this summer to get geared up for homeschooling since he was in a pre-k program two days a week last year. Here are my thoughts for our K HOD Little hearts Reason for Handwriting or HWOT OPGTTR or ETC Right Start A or Essentials Of course some things might change once we get going, but does this look ok? Too much? Not enough? He really wants to learn, and with him I know a low key Kindy will not fly. My other issue is that I am due with our 3rd in November. Will what I have picked out be way to much during that transition? Will it hurt to take a few weeks off if I get overwhelmed? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. A Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I can't help you much with regards to what you're thinking of curriculum-wise. We are doing a very low key kindy because DS can't handle more, but with regards to taking time off school when the baby arrives- DONT FEEL BAD about taking a break!!!! I can't stress that enough. I know that when my third dc arrived I was not doing any type of school, but I still had to go into "survival mode", which meant only doing what needed to be done in order to feed the family and keep the house from totally falling apart mess-wise. One thing that I noticed though was that the transition from 2-3 kids was muh smoother than the transition from 1-2. I also know that for me the first couple months are the easiest with regards to the baby not needing much from me aside from nursing. I just wore her in a wrap continuously for the first few months and was able to accomplish a lot with her sleeping. from about 4-7 months has always been the hardest time period with each of my kids, and had I been schooling at the time, that's probably when I would have really had to step back and take more time off from school. I don't know how it will be for you, but just don't be afraid to just adjust to having 3 and put school on the back burner for awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 It looks fine. If you're worried about it being too much, just do phonics and handwriting. Maybe a little math. The most important part of K is to start teaching the child to read. Take off as much time as you need and don't feel bad about it. Kindergarten isn't mandatory. Even if you accomplish nothing this year, he'll do just fine in first grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PentecostalMom Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Your schedule looks great! I am expecting this fall as well, and we will take some time off. I will probably get her to read to me while I am nursing, and her math she can do with only verbal instruction so we may work on some of that. However, if you cannot do it, then let it go. We are continuing with some subject through the summer anyway, as we school year-round, so dd will be fine, as will yours! BTW, my dd is headed into first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhapsody Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Here are my thoughts for our K HOD Little hearts Reason for Handwriting or HWOT OPGTTR or ETC Right Start A or Essentials Of course some things might change once we get going, but does this look ok? Too much? Not enough? He really wants to learn, and with him I know a low key Kindy will not fly. My other issue is that I am due with our 3rd in November. Will what I have picked out be way to much during that transition? Will it hurt to take a few weeks off if I get overwhelmed? HOD: Not familiar with HWT: I loved HWOT with first son. Plan to use in fall with next son (5.5 yo) LA: I use OPGTTR and ETC. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE OPGTTR! I cannot say enough good things about it. SO parent/user friendly. Both my boys learned to read easily with it. My 5.5 yo is about a 1/3 of the way through it now. It is very comprehensive and I feel I have covered most of the "rules". I approached ETC as spelling and writing practice. ETC also gave my son exposure to some phonics rules. It does not teach your child to read the way OPGTTR does though. Pick OPGTTR if you have to choose. Math: Not familiar with the ones you chose, but I've heard good things. I use and love Singapore. Read Alouds: READ, READ, READ to your son. Have your baby. Put the workbooks and curriculum plans away for awhile and just read, read, read while you are enjoying baby and surviving transition. When you re-surface, then you can go back to your plans. So "no" it won't hurt to take a few weeks off and if I were you, I would plan on it. I use "Honey for A Child's Heart" and "1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up." I got them both from the library. Order some books from these books from the library and cuddle up with your babies and READ! : ) (I think I'll take some of my own advise and do that too this year! lol) Enjoy your first year teaching and be gentile with yourself. It's hard to "mess it up." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest starbuck22 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Thanks for the encouragement! I know it really will be okay, it's just daunting nonetheless. My plan is definitely to wrap and nurse the noob all day early on. I have very enthusiastic nursers. I have a vision of sitting at the table with the kids doing their school and holding the baby. Maybe it will work, maybe it wont. It will still beat getting all three around and heading out in freezing temps at the crack of dawn to take him to private school. :tongue_smilie: DH will be a big help when he gets home in the afternoons. Also, I see a lot of you use OPGTTR and ETC together. I'm considering it. He knows all of his letters and their sounds and can read some Bob Books. Should I start with book 1 in ETC? How long does a book "last"? Should I get 1 1/2 and 2 also? I figured I would probably buy Get Ready, Get Set, and Go regardless so I have them around for DD if he doesn't use them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I bought all of the ETC books from Get Ready to 2 (including 1 1/2). We use OPGtTR for phonics and ETC as an intro to writing/supplement. Luke loved doing Get Ready, Get Set and Go. Even though he already knew his letters and basic sounds it was good for him to have some extra practice. EtC 1 is a whole different ball game :p and it's helping him to think about letters/reading in a different way. OPGtTR taught him to read, ETC is teaching him to hear the letters in the word... If you know what I mean :D We just added in Zaner-Bloser handwriting, because ETC (what I was originally using for hw as well) doesn't emphasize how to write the letters as well as Luke needs it emphasized. All that and... your schedule looks fabulous. Luke and I take vacations all the time. He doesn't see school as a Mon-Fri thing (like his older siblings) and that helps a lot. He is just as happy to do math or reading on Sunday as he is any other day of the week. Also, when Luke wants to work ahead (more math, please!) we do. I don't make him stop working :lol: That has given us a lot more wiggle room as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Hello, I have children of similar ages and am expecting a third in December! Our experience with ETC was that books 1 and 2 flew by- we did four pages a day, no problem. They are entirely short vowel books. Book 3 is much more difficult, as it introduces long vowels as well as vowel combinations. We have slowed WAY down on book 3, and have actually set it aside for a bit to do some other work and then come back to it. RS A is good, but I don't like it personally because I can't stand spiral math programs. :-) I am going to combine some of the ideas and a lot of abacus work and RS games with Miquon. I do think RS is a good program though. Handwriting is on hold for us until my son's fine motor skills improve. Except reading, everything else is done very informally, but we will start more formally in the fall. My son just misses the cut-off for K this year, so I'm not sure if I will do two years of K type work or advance him a grade. It'll probably depend on how he does with some of the other subjects as we add them in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom24boys Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I think it looks great. We love HOD here. Perfect to add in some reading, math, and Handwriting at his level. Sounds like fun to me. Enough school for him, but enough fun too! :D I agree with pp that if you have to pick one phonics/reading program, pick OPGTR because it is a full phonics program. If you are looking for workbook type supplements and he likes those, then throw in the ETC for learning fun. We use mastery type math (MUS) but I have heard great things about Rightstart. And finally, HWT should be great (I think a lot of this has to do with font preferences). You are good to go! :auto: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhapsody Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I started with ETC Book 1 in K and my son did all 8 books by the end of 2nd grade. I never did and of the 1/2 books. My son did not need the extra practice. I suggest don' buy now and see if he needs it later. In fact I am about to sell 1 1/2! :lol: Someone gave it to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Jen* Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I agree with other posters to do ETC and OPGTR. My son was sounding out CVC and CVCC words before we ever started OPGTR so we were able to skip ahead to where he was at in OPG and then use ETC as practice until we got to about halfway through book 3. I also added a new little on at the beginning of K for my son. I found that the few weeks after the baby was born it was easy to keep going keep our normal routine. It was actually when the baby was about 8-11 weeks that we took a break because I was so sleep deprived and couldn't think enough to sit down with DS and work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SorrelZG Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I started LHfHG a couple weeks ago and it really doesn't take too much time. You should be just fine and you have plenty of room for taking a break when you need to. Congrats on your new addition!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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