First Language Lessons

[Guest Frizbee28]

For those of you using First Language Lessons, what age and/or grade level did you start off with? Is it something that can be used early in a kindergarten setting or should it really wait for the first grade level?

[texasmama]

I used FLL1 in kindy, as it is gentle and mostly oral.

[Mom2TheTeam]

My K'ers are tagging along with my 1st grader in it...however, my first grader is done with first and moving onto second grade. I have not decided if we will start FFL2 or keep going with FLL1 for now. I'm thinking we are going to keep going, but quickly. So, we'll see. Either way, they will probably tag along, but I probably will not keep FLL1 just for them. I will wait for 1st to do it because I don't think it's needed in K. :)

[anabelneri]

I could've done it in K with my daughter (it's definitely gentle enough), but looking back I don't know that it was even necessary in 1st. I'm not planning on starting grammar with my youngers in K; it's not really needed until later. It might just be that my kids have strong verbal skills, so YMMV.

 

:)

[violamama]

My boys do it together. The 5 yo totally keeps up with the 7 yo and is very verbal. We'll probably just plow ahead with book 2 when we finish 1 (which should be within the week). We do all the supplemental/additional stuff but my 5 yo doesn't write much yet so I often write for him and he traces it. Or he does a short version of any writing.

 

He memorized all the poetry almost as easily as his older brother, but he's a bit more shy about reciting it.

[Rasa]

We started in FLL1 Kindy, and my son finished FLL4 at around the time he turned 8. I did not regret it at all. As we progressed through the series, we started splitting the lessons to more manageable pieces to accomodate shorter attention span of a younger child. The scripted nature for FLL worked great for us in younger grades, but as time went by, my son wanted to work more independently and "to get it done". I was glad that we had finished the whole FLL series around that time. I am planning to start FLL1 with my 5-year-old this fall, and move forward at my daughter's pace.

[boscopup]

Many K'ers could certainly do it, as it's quite easy. The problem is that accelerating grammar a lot doesn't really get you that far. There is soooooo much repetition in the early grades. I'm using FLL1 for the 2nd time. The first time was with a child who was reading well and had a good, natural grasp of grammar. He picks up grammar topics very easily and needs very little repetition. He finished FLL1 in 3 weeks of 1st grade, then proceeded to do FLL2. I found that it was better, but still very slow for him. Turns out that he really needed to wait and start a 3rd grade program, where the topics start to get somewhat interesting. The child I'm currently using FLL1 with is not reading independently yet, and he has had speech and oral grammar issues from early on, so I am using it with him. We've only done 3 lessons so far, but even for him, I think it will be very easy. My third child is very languagey, so I'll probably just start him at 3rd grade level in 2nd grade. He won't need FLL1 and 2. Then he can do Latin in 3rd grade, already having a basic 3rd grade level of English grammar under his belt.

[craftyerin]

I could've done it in K with my daughter (it's definitely gentle enough), but looking back I don't know that it was even necessary in 1st. I'm not planning on starting grammar with my youngers in K; it's not really needed until later. It might just be that my kids have strong verbal skills, so YMMV.

 

:)

 

:iagree: I'm not one for early grammar, so even though I *could* use it with my Kers, I'm choosing to delay to 1st grade at the earliest and probably not until 2nd or 3rd. I really try to limit how many subjects my Kers are required to do.

[Walking-Iris]

I'm going to use it with my 1st grader. I've actually kind of started it. I've discovered that sitting down and reading it with him beside me causes snores...so I pre-read the lesson and then just bring it up during our day in a more natural and organic conversational way rather than making it a lesson. Does that make sense? The first time I sat down with him and read that script, including repeating the noun definition 3 times, he looked at me like I was crazy. I felt crazy and wanted to chuck the book right then.

 

I hate scripted stuff (ugh-who talks like that?), so I don't really know why I even chose to do FLL. But pre-reading it and making it a normal conversation is working.

 

It could be done with a Kinder, but why? I agree with pp that accelerating grammar isn't really going to get anyone anywhere. 3rd grade is when I like to start "formal" grammar lessons. I chose FLL (I have the FLL1 and 2 combo book), since it is oral and gentle and easy to just stop if it's not really helpful.

[Uff Da!]

nm

[Heatherwith4]

We started in first grade.

[Staceyshoe]

My oldest did FLL 1 & 2 at age 5. It was doable--gentle and age-appropriate. It's also very easy to skip lessons or slow them down as needed. With my youngest, I am choosing to skip FLL 1 & 2 and wait until 3rd grade-ish to do FLL 3. Everything covered in 1 & 2 is also in 3, and I ended up feeling like ds1 could have used the time we spent on 1 & 2 for playtime because it didn't really accomplish much in the big picture.

[musicianmom]

I am doing FLL with all my kids as part of circle time, though it's a review for dd8. I'm mainly treating it as memory work, not as a way to try to get ahead in grammar. Ds3 has just hit that sponge stage where memorizing is a fun game, so I'm taking advantage of his enthusiasm, lol.

[sewingmama]

1st grade. However my Ker is tagging along and doing it as well. He is doing 1st grade work though. So my opinion is that it would be ok for SOME Kers. My DD definitely could not have done it in K.