5Bmom Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 I really really want to use Oak Meadow for my kids. It is my #1 choice and I keep coming back to it. My issue is placement. DS will be 5 in the fall. He would do perfectly in the 1st grade program, although he is already ahead in the LA. No biggie. But I worry about placing him a year ahead, even though he is ahead of most of his peers. Also, DD will be 4 in the Fall. She would be perfect for the LA in 1st and I am 90% sure she could keep up elsewhere. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T'smom Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 No advice, but I wanted to bump this for you. I'm in a similar boat, I have a ds that will be 5 in the fall. If we were sending him to school, he'd go to K next year. I want to do TOG- but I don't want to start until he's in 1st. But what to do next year?!? I hear so many good things about MFW and other programs- but it seems like they're mostly teaching the alphabet. Ds isn't reading yet- but he's known his letters and sounds for quite awhile. I can't see spending $200+ on something that is going to teach him things he already knows! But it seems crazy to get a 1st grade program.....I'm not really that familiar with what the "average" Ker or 1st grader knows- but I don't think he's THAT far ahead! I'll be watching to see what advice you get!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5Bmom Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 No advice' date=' but I wanted to bump this for you. I'm in a similar boat, I have a ds that will be 5 in the fall. If we were sending him to school, he'd go to K next year. I want to do TOG- but I don't want to start until he's in 1st. But what to do next year?!? I hear so many good things about MFW and other programs- but it seems like they're mostly teaching the alphabet. Ds isn't reading yet- but he's known his letters and sounds for quite awhile. I can't see spending $200+ on something that is going to teach him things he already knows! But it seems crazy to get a 1st grade program.....I'm not really that familiar with what the "average" Ker or 1st grader knows- but I don't think he's THAT far ahead! I'll be watching to see what advice you get!!![/quote'] I understand. I don't think DS is super ahead...i just know HOD LHFHG, MFW K, FIAR, Etc... Ars would all be remedial at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unity Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 I'd say to just get 1st for your ds and tagalong dd. OM 1 is very easy, and OM in general doesn't start to get challenging for quite a few years down the road. 3 and 4 were still pretty light, whereas 6 involved a lot of writing and surprised me with how challenging it was. Even that, though, could conceivably be done a year ahead. Anyway, at this point I discourage people from making curriculum choices now based on what they think might happen in 5 years. One thing I've learned is that most people hop around curricula all the time, even if they've planned it out from PreK-12th grade. In a few years, you may have completely different needs. If you think 1st grade OM will work, go for it. It's likely OM 2 and 3 will also work for you (they are not terribly hard or a big jump), and you can figure out the upper grades when you get there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Hi, I always intended to use OM, but could never figure out what grade level to get, either. I guess it depends on how long you plan to use OM. If your student works too far ahead, you might run into problems in the middle school years. OM is supposed to have a LOT of writing at that stage. Look at the middle school samples and see where your student would be working and what age. OTOH, not working at *where* your student is at can be awful, too. I have one kid who needs to be challenged with schoolwork or we have behavior problems, attitude, frustration, etc. :glare: Anyhoo, that was always my OM dilemma. We've been eyeing the high school photography class for later, tho. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 No advice' date=' but I wanted to bump this for you. I'm in a similar boat, I have a ds that will be 5 in the fall. If we were sending him to school, he'd go to K next year. I want to do TOG- but I don't want to start until he's in 1st. But what to do next year?!? I hear so many good things about MFW and other programs- but it seems like they're mostly teaching the alphabet. Ds isn't reading yet- but he's known his letters and sounds for quite awhile. I can't see spending $200+ on something that is going to teach him things he already knows! But it seems crazy to get a 1st grade program.....I'm not really that familiar with what the "average" Ker or 1st grader knows- but I don't think he's THAT far ahead! I'll be watching to see what advice you get!!![/quote'] You could go without a boxed curriculum right now. I've found that they're expensive, I end up tweaking everything anyway and it's hard to fit my kids into a level. You could spend some time at the library, do lots of read-alouds, buy some science kits, buy a scale and weights and put together a measurement unit...watch science videos online...build a volcano :tongue_smilie: (can you tell we did this)...do all those laid-back projects that you've always wanted to do without the stress of falling behind in a program. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 I'd go with first grade. Ariel did second grade while she was first-grade-aged and had no problem with it, in fact I had to supplement the math and LA because they were below her level. I had even originally bought the first grade syllabus because the advice I got was not to skip ahead since it gets so much more challenging later, but after reading through it, knew it was going to be way too easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssavings Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 OM seems like such a gentle program for the first few years. I'd not hesitate to jump a level ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 (edited) I really really want to use Oak Meadow for my kids. It is my #1 choice and I keep coming back to it. My issue is placement. DS will be 5 in the fall. He would do perfectly in the 1st grade program, although he is already ahead in the LA. No biggie. But I worry about placing him a year ahead, even though he is ahead of most of his peers. Also, DD will be 4 in the Fall. She would be perfect for the LA in 1st and I am 90% sure she could keep up elsewhere. Thoughts? Here's my thought process on Oak Meadow. They have this specific philosophy of "involving the whole child" and the child as "more than just an intellect" and how "childhood is a valuable period and there is nothing to be gained by rushing through it" and so on and so forth. Therefore, their earliest years are very purposefully very gentle. So, almost any of us with young kids are probably going to find their K, maybe 1st grade program and so on pretty "easy." However, I've now used OM for K (with my son), and 4th, 5th, and 6th (with my daughter) and I've noticed that in upper elementary they require a LOT of writing and *I* personally think that a lot of parents who grade-skip in the early years thinking that it's "too easy" for their kids are going to get to the later elementary years and find themselves going "Wow, they're supposed to do all that writing?" or find themselves thinking, "My kid may have gotten more out of this reading/writing/research with that extra year or so of age/maturity." And while I haven't seen the 7th, 8th, etc packages yet, I've read threads that imply this is even more the case then. Then there's the fact that by skipping the earliest years you're missing out on really sweet activities and just doing fun things with your kids, and you *might* be missing part of the point of not rushing them and the gentle approach and the child as more than just an intellect etc that is a big part of the OM philosophy. You may disagree with me, of course, this is just some food for thought. When my son started OMK this year, he did not yet know how to read, but he did already know all those capital letters of the alphabet they were "introducing." I just did it with him anyway figuring we'd still enjoy the crafts, stories, activities, gentle pace, spending time together etc. You could always supplement a bit too if you really wanted to and/or just do things on your own outside of the curriculum for fun, learning etc. I've always done an eclectic mix of things, although OM was always our main curriculum and I never went nuts with adding other stuff on. This way you don't miss out on things the curriculum has to offer, and you don't get to 4th, 5th, 6th grade and be sitting there with a kid who is much younger than they would have been in those grades going "He's not really ready for all this writing, what do I do now?" So those are my thoughts! Edited March 6, 2012 by NanceXToo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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