1st grade "lite" for a 5 year old? Critique our schedule

[neveryoumindthere]

I have a just-turned 5 year old who has been reading since she was 4.

I *just* got my copy of WTM last night and while reading the recommendations I already decided I'd wait for all that until next year(ie. history/geog. recommendations) . It seems like much for now. That being said, I had already come up with a schedule for this year that doesn't really look like a lot of the K recommendations I've seen around here. Ours looks more like 1st grade "lite", I think.

 

Here's what our schedule looks like:

 

Circle Time (daily)-songs, I read 2 books to them, arabic vocab (5-6 words), reviewing short verses of scripture for memorization ~15-20 min

 

Copywork/Handwriting (daily) - one line per day from verses (within a week her printing improved so much with this copywork!) ~5-10 min.

 

Read Aloud/Narration (daily) - her reading to me ~5-10min

 

Religious Studies (daily)-just basics; we just talk about it,colour in pages etc ~5-10 min.

 

Math (2X per week) - Singapore Primary 1A/B for this year (did the Early Bird series in less than 2 months the beginning of last year), Sum Swamp board game and possibly supplement with Math-U-See once in a while, goal of 6-8 pages per week (she sometimes does about 8 pgs in one sitting)

 

Language Arts (2X per week)- reading in general as well as Explode the Code 3 (she did 1 and 2 last year), goal of about 2-4 pgs per week (she usually does that much in one sitting though)

 

Science (2X per week)- was going to do NOEO, but after reading WTM, perhaps not until next year..opinions? Suggestions welcome!! She wants to do science-y stuff but I want something that's laid out for me, NOEO looks like a good fit but I dont want to spend the money when I will likely do it next year instead when she's a little more mature--is there something out there online free that won't be repeated with NOEO next year?

 

Art/Crafts (1X per week)- whatever comes up..I'm not into this at all, but had to schedule it or else we'll never do it (dd likes to do cut/paste projects once in a while)

 

"Home Ec"(1X per week) -fun stuff like cooking/baking together, learning to knit, sew (she does sew a bit on my machine already), crochet

 

History (1X per week with Dad)- read-aloud by dad, one story a week

 

 

What do you all think? At her reading level should I just go all out and do the WTM recommendations or do you think this is overboard or "just right"?

 

Thanks all :)

 

Happy homeschooling. I'm sooooooooooooo over the top excited about officially 'starting' (we did 'start' a little over a week ago just to see if the schedule will work out)

[Kathleen in VA]

I think it looks just right - not too much, not too little - just right.

[phathui5]

Math is something that I would do more often. Maybe even the same number of pages per week (more if she wants to), but short lessons 4-5 days a week rather than 2x a week.

 

For science, maybe you could come up with (or google) some Magic School Bus until studies. You could start the week with a MSB book, read a couple books or explore nature about the topic in the book and then end the week's lesson with the corresponding Magic School Bus video. One bonus is that you can use the library to pull it off for free.

[sagira]

My schedule looks similar to yours, except there's no circle time as such, Spanish and Papiamento instead of Arabic, and no History. We're doing Science with the Building Foundations in Scientific Understanding.

 

And I'm teaching ds how to read, he only knows a few words (he's going to be five in two months).

[kalanamak]

Math (2X per week) - Singapore Primary 1A/B for this year (did the Early Bird series in less than 2 months the beginning of last year), Sum Swamp board game and possibly supplement with Math-U-See once in a while, goal of 6-8 pages per week (she sometimes does about 8 pgs in one sitting)

 

Language Arts (2X per week)- reading in general as well as Explode the Code 3 (she did 1 and 2 last year), goal of about 2-4 pgs per week (she usually does that much in one sitting though)

 

Science (2X per week)- was going to do NOEO, but after reading WTM, perhaps not until next year..opinions? Suggestions welcome!! She wants to do science-y stuff but I want something that's laid out for me, NOEO looks like a good fit but I dont want to spend the money when I will likely do it next year instead when she's a little more mature--is there something out there online free that won't be repeated with NOEO next year?

History (1X per week with Dad)- read-aloud by dad, one story a week

 

 

 

I did first grade "lite" last year. For math, I did it 6 or 7 days a week 15 and then 20 minutes a session, and did the games in the HIG and extra practice books. We ended up finishing EB and getting most of the way through 1A. I tried to NEVER make math painful. We did some miquon, too. He has not memorized all his addition facts. I was more interested in him understanding the language of math...i.e. how to turn "how many more green beads than blue beads do you have" into a subtraction sentence.

 

Regarding the history, some of the 1st grade books...like the one about Cyclops, the Zeman trio on Gilgamesh, and Cerasini's 12 Labours of Hercules are great read alouds to a child that young. Since I rounded up all these resources used, I had them on hand, or they trickled in as the year passed. If you do this, you can just bring out the ones age appropriate.

 

The cave paintings were a big hit here, too.

 

For science, I tried to expose kiddo to every live animal I could find. There are lots of great animal readalouds out there. We are up to Briscoe's 1960's series for read alouds (Ruff the Wolf, Thor the Moose, etc.). Tantoo Cardinal's audiobook of Island of the Blue Dolphin is very, very well done and kiddo has listened to it over and over. Lots of animals in it. A huge hit has been David Attenborough's Trials of Life videos. I haven't seen his newer stuff.....I was afraid it would be a little more glitzy.

We also did some simple "magical" hands on stuff, like putting a few raisins in vinegar water and adding baking soda....the raisins go up and down on the bubbles.

The body books in WTM for first grade were all basic enough for my guy at K5.

 

Don't forget music. I started in K3 with Peter and the Wolf with narration, and played various "best of" CDs in the car. From that he would pick "play the blue disk, number 13". He loved the 1812 Overture, much of the MEssiah, The William Tell overture, Tales from the Vienna woods, and oh, whose that guy that made Russian dance tunes into Classical music? And the Nutcracker. I used The Toy Castle on DVD to introduce him further to ballet.

 

I really enjoyed 1st grade "lite". We have gone through all of Old Earth, and through the Ice Ages, and am ready, 1 August, to start on early farmers.

 

I'll see if I can find a link to some good David Attenborough so you can see what he's like. His language is very precise and his passion shines, shines, shines.

 

Try this:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=david%20attenborough&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv#

 

If it doesn't work, google (video) attenborough lyrebird

 

and listen to a bird imitate a camera shutter and a car alarm!

[LadyAberlin]

We are using Living Learning Books for science it covers plants, animals and the human body. We check out all the books from the library. It is inexpensive and someone on here is selling it used. I'm using it with a prek.

[neveryoumindthere]

We love Attenborough around here!

We have 'The Blue Planet' which is absolutely breathtaking. Really.

and also Life of Mammals.

 

Thanks for reminding me I could use those as science too!

 

I think I will increase Math to 4 times a week (Wednesdays are our day 'off')..I too was worried about having too much time in between, but I was just worried about her getting bored.

[Aletheia Academy]

We have a similar schedule planned for our K year for our 5 yo ds. I agree with the other posters who suggest doing math more frequently. I would also say that some type of LA/phonics should be done @ 4x/week as well. Even 5-10 min/day would be fine. We are also doing Song Scool Latin.

[WTMindy]

If you think your dd is ready, you could start SOTW 1. I did with my kids and I was really happy to have 5 years to cover the first rotation. My kids loved history and the LOVED SOTW even when she was in K (and my ds loved it and he was 3.5). It certainly isn't mandatory to start, but if you feel that your dd is ready, I say take it slow and have fun, but go ahead and start. If you plan on using SOTW it is nice to have a little extra time built in. Some of my favorite things to look back on are my dd's narrations from that year. She would write a few sentences and illustrate a picture for each chapter and we would do several projects. It was very fun!

[kalanamak]

We love Attenborough around here!

We have 'The Blue Planet' which is absolutely breathtaking. Really.

and also Life of Mammals.

 

Thanks for reminding me I could use those as science too!

 

I think I will increase Math to 4 times a week (Wednesdays are our day 'off')..I too was worried about having too much time in between, but I was just worried about her getting bored.

 

It is true my boy is rather wiggly, but frequent but short has done the best with math. For the most part, I do "two pages", and when he sits down, he can see a finite amount and keep his concentration....just what worked for us.

 

I haven't seen any David A. beyond "Trials of Life", but there is real science in there, and I watch it with him, usually, and will do things like watch it with a globe or world map and point out where he is, or discuss things like "is it tropical or temperate" or "does this place get a lot of rainfall?" Most of the time, it is he who is asking all the questions.

 

Two other DVDs to think about are both silent movies from the '20's. One is Nanook of the North, which has entered our culture as some sort of joke ("You're dressed like Nanook of the North") but is a tender documentary showing the family kayaking, building a shelter, teaching the child how to show a bow and arrow, etc. It is a real "hunter-gatherer" (but nothing to gather, really) life.

The other is Grass: A Nations Battle for Survival (not the movie about M.J. in the 70's). This will make your hair stand up. 40,000 Nomadic herders make their spring journey to the summer grazing area with their 400,000 animals and you will simply NOT believe what they humanly do to get there.

If you google, you can find 1960's clips on native Australians as they make a wooden tool for digging out tubers, etc.

Again, I watch these with kiddo, and ask the occ. pithy question to make him think.

[kailuamom]

I think it looks good. We are doing similar stuff over here, with my ds (5 next month). We are actually doing stuff now, and will just add some new stuff come the new year.

 

Just one thing, though -- ds flew through the Earlybird math, too, like your dd. He actually few through both sets (the 4 Earlybird and then the 2 new K books that Singapore put out this year) and he loved them. He is about half-way through 1A now. BUT, it is slower going. The jump from the K books to 1A is rather pronounced, at least to a 4/5 yo. The workbook is not as "fun" (i.e., no colors, no big pictures) and he can get a bit bogged down by the assignments. Not that they are particulary hard for him, just that he is not as into doing them. And, I have not wanted to really push him because I want it to remain fun for as long as possible, kwim? We are going to shoot for an exercise section a day, but if a particular exercise is really long, I will split it up.

 

Just wanted to share our experience. Good luck!

[Quiver0f10]

I thnk it looks great except I would do math every day instead of 2 times a week.

[kalanamak]

.

 

Just one thing, though -- ds flew through the Earlybird math, too, like your dd. He actually few through both sets (the 4 Earlybird and then the 2 new K books that Singapore put out this year) and he loved them. He is about half-way through 1A now. BUT, it is slower going. The jump from the K books to 1A is rather pronounced, at least to a 4/5 yo.!

 

 

This was my experience as well.

[HomesteadMommy]

I did a similar K program with my oldest last year. She learned to read at age 4 to. So for K (age 4/5) we did

MUS primer

some FIAR

a study on the animal kingdom

a little SOTW

SWO A

FLL

and lots of readers

 

Normaly we did a page a day for any work book type thing.

[Mommy22alyns]

I suggest Living Learning Life Science too. It's easily adaptable to whatever grade level you want to make it. :001_smile:

 

I know just what you mean about being excited about starting homeschooling!

[StephanieZ]

1) Doing math daily. Just one or two pages (15 min or so) each time. Include daily fact drill for 3 min or so.

 

2) More Mudpies & Magnets for science. Totally easy to do and fun and kids love it. Also, buy or borrow Lets Read and Find Out Science books. My littles love them and they even have simple to do experiment suggestions sometimes. A wide array of LR&FO books plys MM&M will keep you with plenty of lovely science to do all year.

 

3) Consider to ETC daily. It only takes a few minutes.

 

In general, I find that my littles do best with several short subjects each day rather than a few longer ones.

 

FWIW, my 5 yo has been happily doing ETC, handwriting, reading, Singapore Math, Miquon math, plus violin every day. The reading usually takes 20 - 30 min, the maths, ETC & HW all sum up to maybe another 30 min. So, that's under an hour daily of all the core subjects. The violin is another 30 min or so and then extras such as art, history, science etc are in addition but are "optional" for both child and me!

 

Everything else looks perfect to me. If it ever seems to be too much, know you can definitely drop formal LA, history & science! All that really matters at that age is reading, writing (simple letters/words) and a touch of math. Beyond that, I think the most important thing is to foster a love of learning and a love of each other. If you can do that, you'll be in great shape!

[muffinmom]

is geography---such a good base for the history to come. I've heard lots of great geography programs out there. A lot of people on here have mentioned Galloping the Globe.

[EricaB]

I think it looks good. We are doing similar stuff over here, with my ds (5 next month). We are actually doing stuff now, and will just add some new stuff come the new year.

 

Just one thing, though -- ds flew through the Earlybird math, too, like your dd. He actually few through both sets (the 4 Earlybird and then the 2 new K books that Singapore put out this year) and he loved them. He is about half-way through 1A now. BUT, it is slower going. The jump from the K books to 1A is rather pronounced, at least to a 4/5 yo. The workbook is not as "fun" (i.e., no colors, no big pictures) and he can get a bit bogged down by the assignments. Not that they are particulary hard for him, just that he is not as into doing them. And, I have not wanted to really push him because I want it to remain fun for as long as possible, kwim? We are going to shoot for an exercise section a day, but if a particular exercise is really long, I will split it up.

 

Just wanted to share our experience. Good luck!

 

My DS is almost to Earlybird 2A. I did notice the K books but it just looked like they put Earlybird 1A/2A and made it the first K book and Earlybird 2A/2B the second K book. This is just what I gathered from the samples. Is this not the case. I was planning on starting him on their 1st grade math next and not the K books.

 

I second Magic School bus. I thought these would be over my DS's head, but he loves both the books and DVD's and his sister wakes up everyday from her nap asking for it. I would not have guessed that they would have liked it as much. Also, Scholastic also puts out science kits to go along with several of these. You can go to their website or find them for cheaper at Rainbow Resource. I will be getting the human body one for my son's birthday.

 

ERica

 

Erica

[kailuamom]

My DS is almost to Earlybird 2A. I did notice the K books but it just looked like they put Earlybird 1A/2A and made it the first K book and Earlybird 2A/2B the second K book. This is just what I gathered from the samples. Is this not the case. I was planning on starting him on their 1st grade math next and not the K books.

 

 

Yes, the two K books they put out this year were made for the public schools in CA, I believe, and they are basically the A/B books in one (i.e., Earlybird 1A/1B = the first K book). My ds just really liked doing them and I figured the practice would not hurt. He was barely 4.5 years old and I didn't want to start 1A yet.