re-tweaking our first grade plan....

[jillian]

Before I had this plan:

Math: Singapore 1a/1b and practice problems

Science: Mr. Q Classic Life Science

History: CHOW and Elemental History with Odyssey, Illiad and Egyptian Gods and Goddesses read-alouds

Spanish: Usborne First 1,001, Read alouds (Go, Dog, Go. Good Night Moon), Rosetta Stone

Handwriting: Spelling for Young Orthodox (using it mainly for handwriting but will approach simple spelling once she's reading)

Phonics: ETC (trying this out since nothing else is working to get her over this little "reluctance" hump)

Religion: An Orthodox program

Good Books: several we've picked out together--The Hobbit. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. A Wrinkle in Time. The Cricket in Times Square. Some E.B. White

Fine Arts: Introduction to music and art.

 

However, we started using SM 1a instead of finishing with Right Start A because dd was bored out of her mind. We only have the length and weight chapters left in 1a and then will move forward to 1b. I foresee a bit of a wall being hit when we get to multiplication and division sections but we will probably move through it by the end of this school year or beginning of next. I figure we will just go on to 2a/2b. Is this what you'd recommend? DD is 4 now and turns 5 in Dec. So far everything else is staying the same. Once she begins reading we will add in some grammar via KISS. I have the Basher Basics Grammar book for an introduction to grammar that we begin using tomorrow.

[blondeviolin]

Are you doing the CWP/IP with SM? You might consider, adding in a supplementary math program to give her different ways to approach a concept. MEP or Miquon might fill in nicely there. Sometimes it can be nice to really dig into a topic, especially if she's enjoying it.

[serendipitous journey]

Moving forward in Singapore according at her pace, since she & you seem to like the program, makes good sense; you might want to add daily math fact drill, maybe a set of facts or work up to 5 minutes or something like that, using your preferred modality. We like Calculadder right now but also have used math songs, the Wrap-ups, Kumon workbook pages, homemade pages, etc.

 

I have seen that many people do math with this triad: a main program, drills, and then a fun supplement like Life of Fred, Family Math, Zaccaro's Primary Grade Challenge Math, or livingmath.net resources. Or a combination.

 

... more off-topic, I'm curious about your first grade start -- is it next fall, and she will still be 4? If you can share your thinking about grade level, even briefly, I would love to hear it; it's been on my mind lately.

 

ETA: now that I've seen the 2nd post on the thread, will second MEP as a possible supplement: we are really enjoying it.

[cmarango]

My 4 year old dd (5 in May) is doing 1st grade as well. For math, we use RS level B as our spine now with some Miquon, CSMP, and LOF thrown in for fun each week. I started with Singapore, but didn't really love how they treated place value so we switched to RS.

 

I foresee us finishing with first grade math around the time that she turns 5. But, you never know. :)

[jillian]

My 4 year old dd (5 in May) is doing 1st grade as well. For math, we use RS level B as our spine now with some Miquon, CSMP, and LOF thrown in for fun each week. I started with Singapore, but didn't really love how they treated place value so we switched to RS.

 

I foresee us finishing with first grade math around the time that she turns 5. But, you never know. :)

I liked using RS to help her "think" about numbers but we were soooooo bored with it. Glad to know I'm not the only one who has a very young first grader. We started our k/1 year when she was 3.5

[Carpe]

My son is the same age as your daughter. I haven't BTDT yet, but I can tell you what we're currently doing.

 

Because I don't want to send him off to college early, and he's not going to be officially K age until this fall, we've opted to go really wide and deep.

 

We're doing MEP, Miquon and random c-rod play, occasionally MM or CSMP, math games, and living math. If that stops being enough and/or when he finishes MM2, we're going to add in the singapore IP and CWP.

 

If multiplication is actually an issue, I highly recommend cuisenaire rods. Seeing that 3x6=18 (or 10+8, or 2x9, or 6x3, or 9x2) is very easy with the rods.

 

We like ETC here. He's done 1 through 3 and Beyond the Code 1. We started Beyond the Code 2, but he's not into it. He can read already though, much better than I expected. And I'm a little twitchy about DS2 (who is 2) picking up reading from wanting to sit in on ETC. Things at my house are getting interesting.

 

I let him read whatever he likes. We go to the library once a week. And he picks out some books that I can guarantee are twaddle. I also pick up books based on a number of lists: Ambleside Online Year 0 or 1, Caldecott or Newberry Medal winners and nominees, FIAR, Sonlight Preschool/Kindergarten lists, and a few others.

 

Science is mostly experiments. If he wants more depth, I explain why/how things are happening. If that's not enough then we get some library books. He also does nature study in the loosest sense of the term. I send him outside and tell him to find something interesting to tell me about. Sometimes he comes back with stories about birds, or trees, a few times it was poop :lol:

 

Hopefully seeing what another family is doing is somewhat helpful.

[Tanikit]

My DD, 4 years old, is also doing Singapore 1a/b though I have no idea what grade level we are doing as she is all over the place and is reading at a second or third grade reading level but has only just begun to form letters and science we take from all sorts of programmes for any of the elementary grades. I usually just see how she is coping and decide things on the spur of the moment depending what is working - so whether we will move to Singapore 2a/b I will probably only decide as she reaches the end of book 1b, but I have also been using Horizons K with Singapore 1a (I know its an odd combination but it works for her because she needed a lot of practice writing the numbers) so I would also advise maybe using two curricula.

[jillian]

We practice writing/using numbers within our normal copywork. DD isn't reading yet...though she can sound out words if she feel so inclined, and she knows all her letters and likes to learn how to "spell" words, ask me how to spell [insert word] and then she will write it....we play this game in the shower (she spells it with her bubbles or whatever). We finished 1a today, we will be doing the review when she feels a bit better (we've been really sick but are on the upswing) so probably tomorrow.

 

eta: thank you Carpe. I appreciate seeing what y'all are doing. With the exception of the basics right now we are doing a lot of interest led....she's very into learning how things work and helping daddy do stuff around the house (dh is a Nuclear Electrician for the Navy) so she helps him and learns when he changes the switches in the house, or does something with his computer or something like that. She also loves animals and learning about venomous vs. non-venomous animals....I can quote some of the animal shows on Netflix by heart lol.

 

My library system is atrocious so I will be paying for a membership to the next county over library so we can have access to a much better library system.

 

We will beginning ETC 1 and 2 and working through them and see if that gets us over this stubborn hump of not wanting to learn reading.

Edited February 2, 2012 by jillian

[Rbsmrter]

We practice writing/using numbers within our normal copywork. DD isn't reading yet...though she can sound out words if she feel so inclined, and she knows all her letters and likes to learn how to "spell" words, ask me how to spell [insert word] and then she will write it....we play this game in the shower (she spells it with her bubbles or whatever). We finished 1a today, we will be doing the review when she feels a bit better (we've been really sick but are on the upswing) so probably tomorrow.

 

eta: thank you Carpe. I appreciate seeing what y'all are doing. With the exception of the basics right now we are doing a lot of interest led....she's very into learning how things work and helping daddy do stuff around the house (dh is a Nuclear Electrician for the Navy) so she helps him and learns when he changes the switches in the house, or does something with his computer or something like that. She also loves animals and learning about venomous vs. non-venomous animals....I can quote some of the animal shows on Netflix by heart lol.

 

My library system is atrocious so I will be paying for a membership to the next county over library so we can have access to a much better library system.

 

We will beginning ETC 1 and 2 and working through them and see if that gets us over this stubborn hump of not wanting to learn reading.

 

Our DDs sound just alike. We started Singapore right around 3.5. She was flying through it and I just didn't feel like we were going deep enough to build a good foundation. Yet if I tried to spend anytime reviewing she would act bored. I've supplemented with MEP and Miquon and that really seems to be helping. Each program approaches similiar problems in different ways. Luckily that prevents her from feeling like she's doing anything repetitive. I'm also thinking about trying to use MM for the areas where Singapore feels weak (namely time and money).

 

We're in the same spot with reading. She's been reading CVC words for what seems like forever and can easily figure out words I've never taught rules for, yet she doesn't seem motivated to go beyond that. We've been doing ETC, and while she loves it, I don't see huge improvement. Although we are still on the lower levels, so it hasn't really challenged her yet (which is why I'm guessing she likes it :001_smile:). She also really enjoys AAS, but we are still working through the first level, so it hasn't really introduced anything new yet. Let me know if you find a miracle worker! I'm guessing it's just an issue of control and independence, so I think I just need to embrace the stubborness!

[Runningmom80]

We just started 1b with my 5 year old. We also do miquon and elementary LOF. There is a chance he will go to school next year, so I'll probably drag out 1B just in case.

[jillian]

Our DDs sound just alike. We started Singapore right around 3.5. She was flying through it and I just didn't feel like we were going deep enough to build a good foundation. Yet if I tried to spend anytime reviewing she would act bored. I've supplemented with MEP and Miquon and that really seems to be helping. Each program approaches similiar problems in different ways. Luckily that prevents her from feeling like she's doing anything repetitive. I'm also thinking about trying to use MM for the areas where Singapore feels weak (namely time and money).

 

We're in the same spot with reading. She's been reading CVC words for what seems like forever and can easily figure out words I've never taught rules for, yet she doesn't seem motivated to go beyond that. We've been doing ETC, and while she loves it, I don't see huge improvement. Although we are still on the lower levels, so it hasn't really challenged her yet (which is why I'm guessing she likes it :001_smile:). She also really enjoys AAS, but we are still working through the first level, so it hasn't really introduced anything new yet. Let me know if you find a miracle worker! I'm guessing it's just an issue of control and independence, so I think I just need to embrace the stubborness!

lol I think a big part of dd's stubbornness is because she just wants to read for information, and all of that but not learn how to do it.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

We practice writing/using numbers within our normal copywork. DD isn't reading yet...though she can sound out words if she feel so inclined, and she knows all her letters and likes to learn how to "spell" words, ask me how to spell [insert word] and then she will write it....we play this game in the shower (she spells it with her bubbles or whatever).

 

We will beginning ETC 1 and 2 and working through them and see if that gets us over this stubborn hump of not wanting to learn reading.

 

As far as reading goes, the same thing happened with my oldest (and is currently happening with my 5yo). They seemed to have all of the pieces but just couldn't put it together. Both of them could spell (sound out and build words, like in AAS) simple words but trying to sound out words was just painful. It hasn't happened yet for ds, but for dd one day everything clicked. She went from slowly sounding out one word at a time to reading a whole book overnight. So, as hard as it is to just wait, it sounds like you/she are just waiting for everything to click, and then she'll be reading.