The Blue Book - for first grade???

[racheline]

My son's ES has suggested trying an all in one LA program this next year called: "The Blue Book - First Grade Skills for beginning readers". I'm looking to find those who've tried or used or are familiar with this curriculum.

 

We tried FIAR (I thought my son would be into the cool books with airplanes and steam engines - nope) and I had a terrible time just spending so much time organizing and planning things and making them fun only to have my son hate it.

 

Then we tried Zoo phonics, which my son felt was too "baby-ish". He'd just roll his eyes while my younger children were so delighted in it. He DID like using the flash cards to play spelling games with but that's about all we used from the whole package!

 

I'm trying to find something that is short, low pressure, "gentle" on this little guy because his interest right now is just NOT in language arts. He can hardly sit still very long and just has a hard time focusing on school in general, really. He does have sensory issues sometimes so there may be a special education type thing going on here too but mostly I just feel like he is simply not ready for full-on "school" (sit for long period of time and write/read/etc.) yet.

 

We have the biscuit books but again - he's not much into them. He does like these scholastic Clifford books my aunt gave me and he likes Dick and Jane book we have. I had his ES pre-order the next book in the "handwriting w/out tears" series, which I think he did quite well with this past year. He's also doing Math U See - that one is working out well too.

 

I was asking about that specific curriculum because it is one the things available (paid for) through his charter school program (homeschool program) and because his ES thought it might work out well with me expecting a baby in Sept and not having much time for lesson planning.

 

I'd really like to focus mainly on the writing (handwriting w/out tears) and on reading with him and to him. I don't know what is in this curriculum or how difficult it is for little ones just starting out and if the lessons are in short enough spurts and will hold his interest. How can I find something "serious" enough for his personality (not "baby") but also still FUN? This has been a tough 1.5 years of K trying to figure out how this little guy learns and where/how to start with him.

[MomatHWTK]

If the book is available at no cost to you, get it and keep it in your inventory. ;) Meanwhile, take a look at Don Potter's website of free phonics resources to get a feel for what does suit your DS' personality.

 

My kids have all enjoyed Starfall.com at varying points in their career. It is very fun and game oriented, but I don't think the kids felt it was baby-ish. We have purchased the full subscription this year as my 2 y.o. loves it (that does make it sound baby-ish I guess.) You'll have to have a look for yourself. :)

 

All my littles so far have started out with HWOT, then moved on to Happy Scribe or other downloadable handwriting resources. There are lots of good options for downloading worksheets using the CVC and other words the child is learning in phonics. (Starfall, TeacherspayTeachers and abcteach all have good resources for this.)

 

New baby advice- get a lapboard for both you and DS, dry erase boards and markers, and plan on doing a lot of your work snuggled up on the bed with baby nearby. (That's how my new baby year went.)

[thefragile7393]

This program could be a good fit for him, considering what you just wrote. There isn't a lot of writing work in it but it does seem like it could work. I am going to do this with my son and it is short and has fun but has cool literaure pieces in it too.