Critique my 1st grade plans

[lanabug]

Phonics: OPGTR and ETC Book 3 and 4

 

Grammar: FLL

 

Writing: WWE

 

Spelling: AAS or Spelling Workout (waiting to decide until I see these at convention)

 

Handwriting: A Reason For Handwriting

 

Math: Singapore 1A/B (may possibly switch to CLE)

 

Science: RSO Life

 

History: SOTW, Vol. 1

 

Geography: Galloping the Globe and Expedition Earth

 

Bible: BSGFAA

 

Art: Harmony Fine Arts

 

Music: voice/piano lessons

 

DD will be 7 in October, so she'll be an older 1st grader. She is already reading well but struggles with handwriting. What do you think? Does this look about right? Anything you would add or remove?

 

Lana

[lanabug]

Should also add, we won't do everything everyday. History, Science, and Geography will probably be 2x/week. Art and music once a week.

 

Lana

[SorrelZG]

I have no criticisms. Seems both thorough and very reasonable. I haven't heard of Harmony Fine Arts before but that looks really good.

[Five More Minutes]

It looks fabulous to me: thorough, but do-able.

[Aurelia]

If she's reading well, I'd drop ETC. Doing two phonics programs plus spelling will likely be too much. I would avoid CLE if you have a student with handwriting difficulties unless you intend to write for her, it's quite a few pages of worksheets per day.

[Farrar]

Yeah, I'd not do both ETC and AAS.

[mamaeast]

I will also have a first grader who is a strong reader. I used Spelling Workout A with him this year and it was a good fit. But I have been looking at AAS. I was hoping to look at it some more at the convention in a few weeks. I see you are debating between the same two. What are your thoughts?

[ALB]

Sounds wonderful! I agree that ETC isn't necessary with AAS and OPGTR, but some kids like doing so much that you might want to have it handy for some independent work.

[Ecclecticmum]

ETC is good to have as a backup for areas that need review, but its not really something I would schedule in. ETC really (to me) combines phonics, spelling and handwriting. So I would either use it as the base, or as a supplement, or sell it on.

 

GTG Chaos is living up to his name

[chepyl]

Whenbyou say she struggles with writing, is it stamina or formation of letters. My son struggles with stamina. If that is the problem, I would not do a heavy dictation/copywork program and a separate handwriting program. My son would not he able to complete both. I had copy work for handwriting and dictation for spelling/punctuation at the.begining of the year. We were both miserable. I dropped the handwriting sheets and kept the dictation and his writing improved, plus we had success with dictation.

 

If the problem is letter formation, you may still need bot. But if stamina is the problem, I would carefully evaluate how much writing you have planned per day. Reduce the handwriting required and get colored pencils for the maps and color sheets in SOTW AG. He will color with pencils all day, O find that has increased his hand strength and stamina more than making him write was. But he did not think of it that way. It is harder to get a good solid color with pencils than crayons or markers, but the end result is cleaner so it is satisfying.

[lanabug]

Thanks so much for the input, ladies! I had planned to use ETC as review, but I think I'll go ahead and drop it.

 

As far as handwriting goes, she knows how to form the letters, but doesn't enjoy writing and tends to get sloppy and rushed.

 

Lana

[chepyl]

Thanks so much for the input, ladies! I had planned to use ETC as review, but I think I'll go ahead and drop it.

 

As far as handwriting goes, she knows how to form the letters, but doesn't enjoy writing and tends to get sloppy and rushed.

 

Lana

 

That is how my son is, cutting back has proved the best remedy. The less he writes, the better he writes. Two sentences of dictation and I get beautiful writing, a writing worksheets and dictation, I got sloppy work. He is building good writing habits with smaller daily writing.