Scheduling First Language Lessons 1 and 2

[mom2bee]

So, I got a hold of First Language Lessons 1 and 2 and while I love the idea, I am sorely dissapointed with the books especially level 1. (45 lessons on nouns. Really?) I'm all for going slow, but not that slow. and by the end of level 2, you haven't finished the 8 parts of speech though it looks like a student would have a very thorough understanding of few grammar points that are covered.

***EDIT: You do cover them all, I over looked it!***

 

I would like to compound the books into a span of months, rather than a couple of years. Is there a schedule online where someone has already done this? I'll be aiming the lessons at 2nd and 3rd graders who have had exposure to grammar before, but not in as thourough sense or as complete of a sense and come new years we will be using a completely different program anyway.

 

Is it okay to accellerate thorugh the program that quickly? I don't want to be bogged down in 50 lessons on nouns and such, but there is value in the program and I have it for free, I'd really like to use it.

[LEK]

We are doing FLL1 atm and i think we will get through it in under 6 months (1st grade), i would move quicker if she was older. We are half way through.

I combine quite a few lessons as i find often 2 lessons in a row are very similar, she does not need that much repitition (and I have skipped some as well). We will end up getting through the 100 lessons in about 60 days ish, at about 4 lessons a week that will not take us long to finish.

My rule of thumb, if i know she already knows that content well (I scan the lesson before starting) then I either combine it with the next lesson or skip it entirely. If it is something she is not so sure on we take our time.

 

But, it is a great program, DD loves it, i mean loves it! It is her favorite subject lol. I like that it is gentle and well set out but I would not say I love it but she really does and she is really learning well from it. She is so proud to be able to recite her poems and she has a very thorough understanding of a noun now :)

[El...]

We just started and are breezing through FLL 1, around lesson 35. We skip things here and there. Does the pace pick up later?

[Mandylubug]

I suppose it depends on the child and what your long term goals are. My girls need TONS or repetition. We are taking it slow and easy. They have just memorized their second poem and thoroughly enjoy the book. I'm not interested in accelerating the books because honestly there will be plenty of time for that. It will be ground into them in upper elementary, middle school and then high school.... There are only so many parts to grammar and there is plenty of time to learn it all.

 

That is my two cents on the method. For some it is way too slow and laid back and they skip ahead... Us, we are just grinning and lounging around in our pjs, enjoying it with no pressure to tackle too much at once :)

[Mélie]

With older kids, I would skip level 1 and just use level 2. Everything from level 1 is reviewed in level 2 at a faster pace. I went through level 1 with my 6yo in about 4 months (1-2 lessons per day, he didn't mind the repetition), then skipped ahead to level 3 without any issues.

[IrishMum]

I'm using it with 2nd and 4th grade kids. It is way too repetitive for us, so we just do it for 15 minutes, and keep moving ahead with a little less repetition. We like it, and might have used it as written if my boys were younger. They are remembering everything from it, so the repetition works.

[amyrobynne]

My kids are in 1st and 3rd and are first year homeschoolers. My 1st grader learned about capitalizing the beginning of a sentence and end punctuation in kindergarten. I plan to go straight to FLL2 with him next year. This year we talked about nouns while writing AAS dictations and occasionally mentioned other parts of speech. After looking at FLL1, I decided I could pretty much cover the same things without formally using FLL1.

 

My 3rd grader had covered nouns and verbs in 2nd grade and maybe a little bit of other things. I waited until 2nd semester to do any grammar, focusing on a writing program for the 1st half of the year, and have been doing FLL3 since then. We've used it about 4 days a week and I skip a lesson here and there when it feels really repetitive. I'm planning to finish it and then start MCT Island with him.

 

I'll probably have my middle son cover FLL2 and FLL3 before moving him to MCT Island. But starting mid-program with slightly older kids seems fine to me. All the parts of speech are covered, just faster.

[Mom2TheTeam]

We do FLL 1 with my 1st grader and tag along K'ers. We don't do it daily, just whenever we get to it. We added it toward the end of the year. We like it. My kids enjoy doing it. I like the repetition because I think it will stick better with young kids. My 1st grader should probably be using level 2 though. He is 7.5 and just about done with 1st grade. It's a little too much repetition for him. So, I may start doing level 2 with him when we start our 2nd grade curriculum.

 

For 2nd and 3rd graders, I would skip level 1 completely even if they have had no former grammar teaching. It is designed to be started on grade level. I would start with level 2 in your situation. :)

[tm_burriss]

I agree that with older kids I would start with Level 2. We do at least one lesson a day sometimes two so we could do two Levels in one year. We don't really watch years though. I just finish a level and move to the next.

[kiwik]

I was going to skip FLL1 and go on to FFL2 at the end of the year. But since my grammar is fairly rudimentary I decided to just do FLL1 at whatever speed works.

[EmilyGF]

I hated FLL1 and skipped it, then started my 2nd grader in FLL2. It hasn't been a problem at all. Not in the slightest.

 

We do about 3 FLL2 lessons per week, and we're doing WWE2 at double-time because we started it in February.

 

Emily

[boscopup]

Start the kids at grade level. Believe it or not, these books are relatively advanced for the ages their written for. There just isn't much to first and second grade grammar, and most programs do not teach all 8 parts of speech that early (I can't think of one that does). If you want all 8, I'd probably do something like Grammarland.

[MeganW]

I started FLL Level 1 in late March with my kids who were finishing 1st grade & kindergarten. We usually do a few lessons per day a few times per week. Yes, it's repetitive, but my kids need a lot of repetition to retain long-term, so although *I* think it's painful, they like it and it's worth doing. :)

[MeganW]

So, I got a hold of First Language Lessons 1 and 2 and while I love the idea, I am sorely dissapointed with the books especially level 1. (45 lessons on nouns. Really?) I'm all for going slow, but not that slow. and by the end of level 2, you haven't finished the 8 parts of speech though it looks like a student would have a very thorough understanding of few grammar points that are covered.

All 8 parts of speech are covered by the time you are 2/3 of the way through FLL Level 2.

[MrsBanjoClown]

We started FLL 1 this spring and my 6yo is on lesson 45. He will get through lesson 50 before we stop for the year. For first grade, he will continue level 1 four days a week until it is finished, and then start working through FLL2. I haven't decided if I am doing level 3 yet or not.

[warneral]

Last year I put my 2nd and 3rd graders in FLL3 after previously being In public school where only nouns, verbs, adj and punctuation had been covered and my two had no problem doing it. This year my 3 & 4 graders did R&S English 4 with no problems. My younger dd is 2 years younger but advanced in language arts.

 

What I'm trying to say is, drop FLL1 if it bugs you. They can even start at fll3 with diagramming when they are old enough. The instruction is clear and at that level, prior knowledge isn't necessary

[mom2bee]

All 8 parts of speech are covered by the time you are 2/3 of the way through FLL Level 2.

 

I stand corrected. After checking again, I realized that they do cover all 8 parts of speech within the first two levels. Thank you for pointing this out.