What Kinder LA program did you love? Maybe advanced K.

[freemanfamilyof6]

My 3rd will be Kinder next school year. She is mildly advanced for her age. She will be 5 in September, so I am starting her a litle early but she is reading early readers with short vowels and 3-4 letter words well. She just started to learn long vowels but hasn't quite got it down yet.

 

What kinder LA program did you LOVE??? I want to love the program for her, and want it to be fun. She will be doing FIAR with her older two sisters so mainly needing LA. She will be doing handwriting from A Reason for Handwriting too K level. She is patient and a good learner.

 

I was considering LLATL blue level (even though it says 1st grade). Does this program cover all LA areas? Is there enough phonics? I do have HOP already but not sure I LOVE it and it does leave an average learner with some phonics gaps.

[Aurelia]

I never came across an English program for kindergarten that I loved, but I was very intrigued by Winter Promise's LA. They have an advanced version as well as "standard".

[Dinsfamily]

See my siggy...This is my 2nd time around using pretty much the same stuff for K and I can't wait to do it again in a year. Both of my older boys are pretty advanced and we had such a fun year. I did customize it depending on their strengths. Ds1 was advanced in math so he did a lot of it that year from Horizons K through Horizons 2/Singapore 2A. Ds2 is more language-oriented so I've added FLL1,SL Readers 2, and he's tagging along with SSL. Ds3 doesn't seem advanced so far but tends more toward mathy stuff. We'll see what happens next year (Summer 2013).

 

I do LOVE SWR for K but it's not everyone's cuppa.

[chepyl]

Once we finished 100 easy lessons and the Bob Books we did a few phonics books I picked up at Mardel. Then we just read together. This year, we reviewed with some phonics flashcards.

[freemanfamilyof6]

Remind me what SWR is?

[edeemarie]

We are using PAL writing and loving it! If your daughter is reading she is probably beyond PAL reading. The writing program also includes AAS, which we love too!

[Jpoy85]

For K we are using Rod & Staff and Horizons K (phonics/math). The R&S is just to get her ready for Horizons. Im happy with both tbh.

[Tanikit]

My DD is also turning 5 in September so we have also started early - I think it depends what you want out of LA at this stage as mostly it is about reading - my DD is reading long vowels and we just keep moving through OPGTR (I suspect we will finish before the end of the year) and she is reading aloud to me daily.

 

I do not have a LA programme because I never know where my DD will be - we started WWE1 but intend on taking it very slowly depending how she does with it and I am using this for copywork. I'd make sure any Ker is doing handwriting in some form. Grammar/punctuation is just what is coming up in WWE. And I suspect I will start a spelling programme once my DD is writing better. Literature is just read alouds for now - I use the Sonlight lists, FIAR lists and then classical children's literature from Britain (since we are not American and I want her getting literature from multiple sources)

 

I'd say phonics and reading are the most important in K - move on only once that is going well.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I teach spelling (AAS), handwriting, and, if they are ready, copywork, in kindergarten. I use spelling to teach my kids to read, so it's in place of phonics. We also play various reading games, and once they are ready I have them read easy readers.

[JadenCalebMom]

I have used and disliked Horizons k phonics, SWR (Spell to Write and Read). We are starting this year as a first grader with Phonics Road to Reading. I really liked Horizons Math, just not thei phonics.

[mandymom]

My ds and I absolutely love Phonics Road! It's not always "fun", but he did have fun with it. And he loves the fact that he can read AND write down his thoughts now. I can't wait to start level 2 with him in the fall. And it is a complete language arts program...spelling, reading, writing, and handwriting with a touch of grammar. Level two adds grammar and lit analysis. I think cursive is introduced in level three (maybe end of level 2) and Latin is introduced in level 4. I haven't really looked much at level 3 and 4 (although I have them already).

Edited May 8, 2012 by mandymom

[Random]

We have enjoyed Memoria Press's Kindergarten package this year.

[Punks in Ontario]

I used CLE LA and learning to read with my last 2. One started at 5 and blasted through it. He didn't do every page esp. in the early lessons. We also paced it slower whenever he started looking tired. I used to say grade 1 at a kindergarten pace.

 

My younger was also kindy age, but 6. He had a rough start to life and seemed to need the extra time. Both got a good solid foundation and liked the reading.

[LMD]

My DS turns 5 in august and we started his K year this January. We are using and enjoying LLATL blue (I consider it to be K material myself), though if your DD is already reading early readers then half of it will probably be review, it starts from the very beginning of teaching to read. The writing is not too much (IMO) and my DS can handle it no problems.

 

We are really enjoying Blue (we're a little over half way through now), it's lovely, simple, open and go, activities, the books are great. My DS is now reading at about the same level you describe your DD at. If you have a specific question I can try to answer you.

Edited May 9, 2012 by LMD

[MeganW]

We used:

Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading

Handwriting Without Tears

Explode the Code

readalouds from Sonlight P4/5

memory work from Memoria Press K & Classical Conversations

 

I guess that covers everything you would normally label "Language Arts"?

[ErinE]

I would be cautious about using a first grade LA curriculum as the writing expectations may be too difficult for a younger child.

 

We are finishing up our K year and we did:

Phonics: OPGTR. This has been a great program and I can see her spelling skills developing as we progress through the lessons. When she writes independently, I can hear her sounding out the word.

Reading: Now I'm Reading! by Nora Gaydos and BOB Books. She really likes the NIR! books and tolerates the BOB books. If your child is an advanced reader, I recommend The Frog and Toad books.

Read Alouds: Theme based picture book read alouds. I would look up in the library's catalog and then find similar books using Amazon and tags on the catalog's entry. We would read a classic picture book, like Cinderella, and then read variations on the theme. Cinder Edna was one of our favorites. Another unit was based on bears, so we read Goldilocks and the Three Bears plus variations and then we read books about bears and the Eric Carle-illustrated books Baby Bear, Brown Bear, and Panda Bear books.

Writing: DD used HWT K last year which I highly recommend. Now I pick a sentence from her reading and she copies it. We started with 3-word sentences and have moved to 5-6 longer word sentences. I sit right next to her and coax her through her letter formation.

Grammar: We just started adding in grammar and it's all discussion based. DD writes her sentence, and we recite the FLL definitions for nouns, verbs, and adjectives. She points them out in her sentence and likes to write the abbreviations above the words (n., v., adj.). Very gentle and not forced at all.

Library Skills: Every time we go to the library, my kids are expected to pick one subject they want to learn more about. They are not allowed to pick free readers until they've researched their subject and pulled their books. For dd, I incorporate them into her daily reading with me reading them to her. Some subjects dd has studied this year: cheetahs, squirrels, horses, planets, bears, etc.

[tiffanieh]

Loved loved loved Little Hearts For His Glory which is from Heart of Dakota. LOVED it. Some of my most found mommy/child memories stem from that curriculum.

[sagira]

We used and enjoyed:

 

Peak With Books

Tanglewood Really Reading Program

Getty Dubay Italic Handwriting Book A

[LillyMama]

I would be cautious about using a first grade LA curriculum as the writing expectations may be too difficult for a younger child.

 

:iagree:

 

My daughter turned 5 in November and had already finished OPGTR and the BOB books and was writing easily in September, so I thought we'd be able to jump right into WWE and FLL. I thought for sure SWB and TWTM was just wrong, and that my daughter would be the exception in being able to do all that writing before she turned 6. Nope. Not at all. She can read all she wants, but the sitting and listening and comprehension and attention span- yeah, we're not there still.

 

We have really loved ETC. Someone bought us "seats" for the online program, and the book + computer combination has been awesome. Each of those pairs well with AAS. Other than that, we're just reading and doing occasional narrations along with her older brother.

[mcmama]

Thanks for this thread! Trying to figure out to do with my late-birthday almost-5 year old this year. He's already reading some, too. I don't think I'm going to use PR with him, though, even though it was good for my 7-y/o. He just can't sit still well enough!