Starting 1st in the spring? Should I?

[Mommie_Jen]

I have been pondering this while the forum was down and I dealt with some major modem issues lately. We are on track to hit our 180 days of kindergarten in April. I am planning on school year round, from July to end of May with June off. I could start our first grade then (MFW) or hold off on that until July and do fun stuff in the meantime.

 

He will be ready for the first gr. material in the spring. Just not sure.

[Beth in TN]

We school year round beginning in January taking off the week of Thanksgiving to the first week of January. This is when we break from our core curriculum (Sonlight) to so Christmas School. We take breaks during the rest is the year when my Army husband is on leave. We start new curriculum as we finish the old. We always end up with more than the 180 days we need. Works well for us. :)

[lea1]

I would probably go ahead and start and plan your studies for a break in June. We school year round also and we will be starting 2nd grade in January. Last summer we took off about 6 weeks in the summer and, in retrospect, it was too long especially for one of my sons. He forgot a lot of what he had learned in cursive and both of my sons forgot some math. It definitely made me rethink how we will take time off in the future. I'm sure it is different for each child and also somewhat age dependent. For the upcoming summer, I think we will at least do three days a week of math and writing, or something like that, and I will make sure we hit the library often so they are reading a lot.

[Ellie]

I think you should just keep working with him. If anyone asks, though, he'd be "in" first grade in September. It will just keep things tidier when you're talking to non-homeschoolers (grandparents, Sunday school teachers, sports groups, etc.) if you do it that way. :-)

[sleeplessnights]

I voted that you should continue. Reading and math at that level really need to be done every day to improve. My youngers still read out loud every day, even on our vacations days so that they don't backtrack. Plus, school at that age only takes an hour anyway, so you might as well continue. My kids like the routine.

[Mommie_Jen]

Sounds like that's my plan then, kick off 1st grade in the spring! And thanks, Ellie, I was thinking of not declaring him a first grader until fall. Thanks for cementing that. :)

[SilverMoon]

Start the new book whenever the old one gets finished. Don't formally change grades until the other kids do too (usually summer). And I only wear socks when it's too cold for flipflops. :tongue_smilie:

[Tranquility7]

Sounds like that's my plan then, kick off 1st grade in the spring!

 

I think that is a great plan :)

We school year-round and start new curriculum whenever we finish the previous book, no matter what subject or time of year. It works great for us, since it reinforces our schooling lifestyle, but we can also take breaks whenever we need to as life happens, and we still end up with WAY more school getting done than any actual school would. Also, I really enjoy having new curriculum start at staggered times throughout the year, rather than all at once in the fall (that would be overwhelming to me then, and become too boring later in the year).

[boscopup]

Another vote for keep going, but call it first grade in the fall. That's what I do with my kids. They're not in just one grade level in all subjects anyway, so we start the next level for each subject when we finish the old one. I do take breaks from Sonlight now and then, and I plan for the Sonlight cores to end at the end of May, but skills subjects keep going when we have Sonlight breaks, so they won't end at the same time.

[sassenach]

I vote to keep going. You never know when you'll need an unexpected break, and it feels so much better to be ahead of the curve rather than behind. Just keep swimming and take those breaks when he seems to really need them. If at some point he is really struggling with a concept and you can feel the frustration creeping up in one or both of you, THAT'S the time to back off and do fun stuff for a few weeks.

[ChandlerMom]

I agree as far as when to start the new curric? when your dc is ready.What to report? keep grade level promotions progressing in Sept "as normal" with the state/grandparents/extracurriculars/neighbors.

[Another Lynn]

I vote to keep going. You never know when you'll need an unexpected break, and it feels so much better to be ahead of the curve rather than behind. Just keep swimming and take those breaks when he seems to really need them. If at some point he is really struggling with a concept and you can feel the frustration creeping up in one or both of you, THAT'S the time to back off and do fun stuff for a few weeks.

 

While I agree that getting ahead of the curve is very practical and helpful, the only caveat I would add is this: will you want to jump back into the same materials after a break? Sometimes I started new materials towards the end of the year and after our break I wanted something new and shiny again. :tongue_smilie:

[Ellie]

Another vote for keep going, but call it first grade in the fall. That's what I do with my kids. They're not in just one grade level in all subjects anyway, so we start the next level for each subject when we finish the old one.

Exactly.

[Jerico]

We're doing year around as well. We will start 1st june ish. :) I remember when I was in school and I'd say that I was in 2nd grade the day after 1st grade ended, I figured we could say that for my son to keep it easier and more "normal" for my MIL but give us the schedule we want.

[Walking-Iris]

I agree with everyone else about just declaring him 1st later and possibly continuing. I voted for the doing science until then however. This is just my personal preference. But when we finish something, I like to add a different subject. Or appraoch it from a different angle. So for my Kinder he may finish his math soon but I don't plan on jumping into a 1st grade math with him. I'll continue to make sure he doesn't forget by supplementing with other things and reviewing. But I like to take that extra time that isn't devoted to something we just finished to beef up on things that may have been pushed aside. And that's usually science, history, etc. I school from August to the end of June with July off. The days of t-giving and a week for Christmas and a week for Easter are the only other breaks. My oldest likes that month in summer off. He likes knowing here's when I'm done and here's when I start. I also plan on some things being done by Christmas and starting something new for the spring semester. I like variety and I like finishing things. I couldn't keep marching on like that.

[Amy Jo]

For schooling, I think you should do what YOU want to do. What is easiest? Do you want to follow interests and relax, or will everything go crazy without some kind of routine?

 

And I wanted to say I love the socks question, it should be in more polls. I think socks are a necessary evil brought on by that thing called "winter". :p

[BatmansWife]

Well, you know which one I had to choose. April/May. ;)