sweetpea3829 Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 I need some help. Or a smack upside the head and encouragement to drop some of what I've got. And I'm sorry in advance...this is long! DH broke his leg earlier this year and was out of work for 7 months. Money was tight, and we did not have the resources to continue to purchase the language arts curriculum we needed. So we began to use the free Progressive Phonics and kind of make up what we needed as we went. It was ok, but not ideal. Here's where my oldest two are: DS5: Reads pretty well. Completed HOP K, 1 and 2. I did not like HOP, once we got to level 1...it just did not give enough practice/explanation. He just completed Progressive Phonics Advanced Book 2 and is starting Book 3 tomorrow. DD6: She is a struggling reader, but she is not far behind grade level, if she even is. She completed HOP K and 1. She just completed Progressive Phonics Intermediate Book 4 and starts Book 5. DH returned to work and I have been able to purchase some additional language arts. Here's what we've got: WWE1: Both kids are working together through this, and are on Week 5. FLL1: Both kids are working through this together and are on lesson 23. ETC: I just purchased the complete set, including the pre-ETC and Beyond the Code. After flipping through all of the books, I can tell you that my kids phonics skills are all over the place in the ETC curriculum. There's stuff in Book 3 that we haven't done yet, and stuff in book 7 that we have done. Spectrum: I have 1st grade Language Arts, 1st grade Reading; 2nd grade Language Arts, Phonics and Reading; and 3rd grade Language Arts, Phonics and Reading. All About Spelling: Both kids are working through Level 2 and are on Step 6 Help me fit it all together! I just can't seem to figure out how to incorporate it all and/or what sequence to go through! I'm not even sure if I want to keep FLL (holy cow, does it really take 40+ lessons to learn what a noun is?). Our weeks rotate. This week, we have a 1/2 hour block for DS for Phonics/Reading on MTW. On TR and F, he'll do math during that 1/2 hour block. Next week, he'll have Math on MTW for that 1/2 hour and then Phonics/Reading on TR and F. Same rotation for DD. Up until now, I have just read with them from their Progressive Phonics during that 1/2 hour for Phonics. But it definitely didn't feel like enough practice and review. Up until now, we would do FLL on M, T, and F. And WWE on T, W, TR, and F. Every day, both kiddos have a folder with worksheets, and practice sheets for them to be working on while I work one on one with one of their siblings (I also have a 4 and 3 yr old to contend with). Usually, if it's a "math week", I'll add extra language arts practice to their daily folders, and those worksheets will review the new material they learned in the previous week...so they've had worksheets for identifying nouns, etc. Finding phonics sheets online that correlated with the Progressive Phonics lessons proved to be a bit harder and more time-consuming, and not for nothing, but they've had how many lessons of nouns and FLL isn't going to be getting into any "new" material anytime soon! Any suggestions on how to rework this language arts curriculum of mine? Drop something? Just use the Spectrum stuff for practice? Just use ETC for practice? Drop Progressive Phonics? I don't know what to do!!! Please help!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 (edited) Wow, you have a lot of LA programs there! Ok, so they're K and 1st grade, essentially? You don't HAVE to have grammar right now. FLL1 is plenty though. There really isn't that much to 1st grade grammar. I found it a bit pointless before 3rd grade, and FLL and many other programs reteach *everything* in grades 2, 3, and 4. So you could start in FLL3 in third grade and be just fine (and I think there was ONE lesson about common vs. proper nouns there, with one or two review lessons :D). WWE is great. Keep up with it. Pick ONE phonics program, and set the other phonics/spelling programs aside for now. AAS could easily be used later (my son was reading at a 4th grade level when we used it). I don't think you need the Spectrum books at all, unless you're just wanting busywork for them. Same goes for other reinforcement worksheets. Everything doesn't have to be learned right this second. You have years and years to cover nouns again and again. Spend more time on library books (free!), reading to your children, having them read to you, and tag teaming the reading with them (you read some, they read some). So my suggestion would be: Grammar: FLL1 or nix it completely (though FLL1 takes like 5 minutes, and the poetry and address/phone number memorization is nice) Writing: WWE1 Phonics: Progressive Phonics Reading: Library books That's really all you need, and again, grammar is optional. Don't be afraid to skip lessons in FLL1. If your children know what a common vs. proper noun is, you don't need to do 45 lessons on it. I think we did one, and then I breezed through everything else. We finished FLL1 in about 3 weeks. ;) ETA: I just realized you're already in level 2 of AAS. In that case, keep AAS, I guess. I don't think you need ETC on top of Progressive Phonics AND AAS though. Edited October 1, 2012 by boscopup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 Wow, you have a lot of LA programs there! I know!!! I went from not having enough (and sitting there after a lesson of Progressive Phonics, wondering how to reinforce and practice what was just taught) to having too much! DH is going to kill me when I tell him I bought too much...lol! As for grade level, I think this is part of my problem...both kids are all over the place! Our language arts has been so haphazard, that I can't really pin them to a specific grade level. Age-wise, yes, they are K and 1st. As for ability, DS is more like 2nd-3rd for reading level and phonics, 1st for grammar, 1st for writing. DD is more like end of K-1st for reading and phonics and 1st for grammar and 1st for writing. So drop the FLL, then? I was thinking along those lines...and just keeping the poem memorizations and picture narrations, because I do like those. Thanks for "givine me permission" to skip the 40+ lessons of nouns. Holy cow, talk about redundant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 I just switched from FLL for the bolded reason above. My dd was beginning to sigh heavily, as was I at the repetition. I have concluded that it may be more useful to a child who hasn't heard a lot of good literature or who is very slow to learn to read. Others may have different opinions! :) I started out trying to supplement with Spectrum LA, but then switched to a workbook (which I thought I'd never use, but she likes and completes easily without complaint). I think AAS and ETC are probably redundant, although I haven't used the higher levels of either. I approached phonics and spelling differently: got my dd reading well, then introduced spelling. The two skills are separate. I have to admit...I'M starting to sigh when it's time for a FLL lesson. Regarding the workbooks and busywork...I never wanted to use this either, but I do find that my kiddos retain more if they write what they're learning, and having printables/worksheets has given them something to practice on and review while I work independently with one of the four. I'll probably use ETC to reinforce AAS, then. If the two are pretty redundant. I like AAS, but up until now, I have found retention to be prettty low, and I think it's because they haven't really PRACTICED the skills outside of AAS, because we're not doing a lot of actual writing yet in WWE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 I'm a big AlphaPhonics advocate. I'd spend the $20 on it and go through it with each kid sequentially and beef up thier weak spots. I'd do it with ETC if you wanted (we did- but without FLL and WWE- I love them both). I'd do WWe if they are liking it- but I'd get de-coding down first before jumping into writing/ grammar. Seconding the reading TONS, books on tape, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 I'm a big AlphaPhonics advocate. I'd spend the $20 on it and go through it with each kid sequentially and beef up thier weak spots. I'd do it with ETC if you wanted (we did- but without FLL and WWE- I love them both). I'd do WWe if they are liking it- but I'd get de-coding down first before jumping into writing/ grammar. Seconding the reading TONS, books on tape, etc. I think my husband will have a coronary if I tell him I want to buy another LA program, lol! I was hoping ETC would help me fill in any gaps that we have from skipping around so much. Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement everyone!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 I like to keep it simple, especially with littles. :) So my vote would be for both dc to go through ETC and AAS together, and to drop the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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