Start 1st grade math halfway through kindergarten or review with a different curriculum?

[Teneo]

T has been doing well with RightStart A (2nd edition).

Assuming he shows mastery (if there's not we stop and revies until he does) during the final assessments in the next few weeks he'll finish level A before Christmas. The latest I could see is January if he needs any review. That means we could begin RS level B next month.

 

Yet I'm hesitant beginning first grade RS halfway through kindergarten. Keep thinking about further down the road. What if we're progressing too fast at this end?

 

Would it make more sense to use the second half of k to make sure he understands how to apply things using a different program like Singapore or Miquon or MathMammoth? Or even from a different approach entirely (my much dreaded Saxon 1 or something else)? Then begin B in 1st (he's also getting ready to begin Foundations C in January, so it's not just math, and we're also working through Rod&Staff 1) instead of halfway through kindergarten.

 

Or would you advance him to second edition RightStart B in January and just slow down later if he ever needed it?

[Syllieann]

Start RS B. If you need to slow down later you can. Three is no point in slowing down just to slow down. If there was new material outside the standard S&S that you could do, it might be interesting to do that, but there are more of those things available when you reach 3-4th grade math. The choices you listed to slow down would not teach anything new. It would be redundant busywork. If you don't want to advance to B, you could just play games to make the math facts more automatic.

[momacacia]

Especially with RS, I would not slow down if he's getting all the concepts. And definitely continue with games fir the math facts.

 

ETA, before we switched to MM, I started 5-almost-6-year-old on RS B, no problem. I skipped A, which I know some people do and because of my experience with dd1 in RS I thought would be a good choice for us. Just FYI.

[73349]

The grade level labels on books are pretty arbitrary and don't necessarily apply to every kid. If he's ready, move on.

[desertflower]

If you are worried that he's not getting it, can you do a review every now and then?

We use Singapore math. And I use the IP book about a half a year behind. So, for example he's in 2A now so I use IP 1B.

 

I don't know if Right Start has anything like that?

[Jackie]

I also vote move on. My daughter is working ahead of "grade level" in RightStart. The head start makes me feel completely relaxed when we do hit something that takes her more time, like remembering math facts, to stop and just play games for a while.

 

We also reinforce and add to the math with living math books, fun conceptual books like Penrose the Cat, Dragonbox apps, and additional math games to the ones contained in RS. When we hit level C, I'll probably mix in Singapore's Challenging Word Problems and/or Zaccaro's Primary Grade Challenge Math as well. While it's not my intention, all these extras do probably end up slowing down our pace of progress in RS. If the current pace is something that truly worries you, you can consider mixing it up and doing something fun and not RS every few days. I really don't see a benefit to adding an entire second curriculum, though.

[sweetpea3829]

I gave my own DS a choice at that age.  He finished Singapore K (A) very early.  Looking ahead into K (B), I could see that the material would be covered again in 1A/B, so I gave him the choice.  Told him he could move on to 1st grade but it would be a bit harder.  Or he could stay and finish K.  He chose to move on.

 

DS is very mathy, though.  Currently, he's a grade and a half ahead.  The only reason he isn't further ahead is because I've stalled him a bit, not wanting him to get TOO far ahead.  

[MotherOfBoys]

I have learned the expensive way that a second curriculum is a waste, usually. There are so many cheap supplements. Try Verbal Math from your interlibrary loan system. Khan Academy online is free. The first level is k-2. My son loves to earn new badges and change his guy. Zaccaro Primary Challenge Math from interlibrary loan is great but I would use it after first grade. My son also loves Tux of Math Command game. It's a free downloadable game. He likes to dance like the Penguin at the end.

 

We started with Saxon k, 1 and 2 at age 5. Then we went to MM1-2. This is cheap for a kid that is flying through math. Now we are doing Beast 3. I regret doing Saxon and MM but I was new and thought I must be doing something wrong if this is so easy for him. I didn't want holes. It was expensive.

 

Stick with what works (RS) and add supplements for depth. I've learned word problems from different publishers are worded differently. If you want to know if the child has the concept then give word problems from a different supplement.

 

 

[wendyroo]

Peter is pretty far ahead in math.  We use Singapore, and he did the Kindy Essentials book for P3 (book A) and the first half of P4 (book B).  Then we moved right into 1A which he finished before he officially started kindergarten.  To slow us down a bit and make sure he was internalizing the concepts, we paused at that point and did the first half of Challenging Word Problems 1.  He started 1B in September and finished it last month, so now we are working through the second half of Challenging Word Problems 1, before we move on to 2A (probably right after the New Year).

 

Wendy

[Ellie]

It isn't that you would be starting first grade math "in the middle of kindergarten." Homeschooled children are not in grades, right? We teach the children according to their abilities, not their "grade levels," right?

 

The problem with moving to the next level is that it might not be developmentally appropriate. I don't see the point in "reviewing" with another publisher if you plan to continue with the same one. What would you be "reviewing"? :confused1:

 

Can you expand on what you're doing now with added games or something? (I'm not familiar with RightStart). Or can you move into the next one slowly? 

[FromA2Z]

This was the exact place I was on last year. We continued on to B and it has been great. We skipped a lot of the beginning redundant lessons. B (1st edition) gives a chart of lessons that can be skipped if you do A.We do about 2 lessons a week. I keep lessons about 20 minutes and We school 4 days. We are currently 20 lessons from finishing. We are taking a break and playing math games until the New Year. We also played math games during a 5 week summer break. I took that break just before the "trouble spot" some have in B. We got through with no issues.

 

It really has been great watching my ds blossom in his math understanding (me too.). So I say go for it. It has been nice to take our time, take extended breaks to play games and to still be on target. It will have taken us just over a year to finish B. We're starting C in Feb!

[RoundAbout]

Definitely move forward. Especially with RS which already has tons of review and built in ways to slow down with added games. If you hit a wall later there are tons of resources for older grades to go sideways and do interesting math (Life of Fred, Singapore Challenging Word Problems, Beast Academy, etc.). Agree with Ellie that ignoring the grade level on books and going at the child's pace is a main advantage to homeschooling.

[Kiara.I]

Agree, move forward.

I have a Grade 2 who just finished up level B in October and is *racing* through Level C, and a K who will be finished A before the end of the year and will start Level B.

 

Do like you always do with Rightstart: move ahead at the child's pace.  If you hit a wall, back off and play more games for a while.  Remember, games ARE a large part of the curriculum, so if you want review, break out that games book!  You don't need to get different curriculum unless you really, really want to.

[IsabelC]

Move on if your child is ready. Broaden out with free games and fun activities if he isn't developmentally ready.

Don't bore him with unnecessary repetition of content he has already thoroughly mastered.

He's not in school, so he doesn't have to be 'on grade level' with everything. He can be up to where he's up to. (My 6yo K student is about to start 2nd grade math even though she can't form all her letters correctly in handwriting, and that's OK.)

[Ausmumof3]

We started Singapore first grade this year for kindy. We are just going slowly and taking heaps of time to play with cuisenaire rods and do other fun maths.

[carriede]

My Ker is doing MM1. No biggie.

[lexi]

This happened with my son. We moved on to B. He did great. Sometimes we took 2 days for lessons to move at his pace. He will finish B very soon and will move into C by the middle of 1st grade.

My dd is in K and will finish A next week. We'll just move to B and work at her pace.

Moving on to the next level has worked well here. I also add in IXL for extra practice.

[boscopup]

None of my kids work at grade level in math (they're all ahead). I haven't run into any problems. I find it pretty easy to just meet the kid where he is. If we ever need to slow down, that's easy enough to do. When we got to Prealgebra with my oldest, I chose a sufficiently difficult curriculum that slows him down enough to not hit calculus super early.

[mohop]

One of the greatest things about homeschooling is the flexiblity to teach your child at his individual pace.  Take advantage of that :) 

 

My DD did half a year's worth 1st grade math in KG last year.  I figure she may get ahead, but she may also need a break from her math curriculum periodically, and it will probably work out in the end.  If she stays ahead, I don't necessarily see a problem in that.  

[Teneo]

Thanks! You'd think as a 2nd generation homeschooler I wouldn't have these sort of questions. Monday I'd ordered level B and then started the what if game. He's ready for it now but what if down the road, or what if I had to put him in school etc. Anyway I'll just deal with things as there come and carry on! Thanks again!

[Mommy_of_4]

I would move forward. My 6yr old is in her "k" year and she started 1st grade math a month ago and she is moving on to completey first grade work in Jan.

[Desert Strawberry]

Move on at your child's pace, not the book's. If he needs review now or later, you can add that. But if he's progressing well, just keep going. 

[Kiara.I]

Thanks! You'd think as a 2nd generation homeschooler I wouldn't have these sort of questions. Monday I'd ordered level B and then started the what if game. He's ready for it now but what if down the road, or what if I had to put him in school etc. Anyway I'll just deal with things as there come and carry on! Thanks again!

 

What if down the road....you take a break and play games for a month.  ;)

 

And what if you had to put him in school...he'd be about three grades ahead.  But...wasn't the point of homeschooling to give him work that was suitable for him, rather than giving him what the grade-level expectation was?  It sounds like in his case for math that will land him well ahead of grade level.  But there's really no point in holding him back so that he might fit in better in a classroom...

 

By the way, finishing level B (grade 1) meets ALL of the Grade 2 learning outcomes in my area except for subtraction.  One, tiny point, and otherwise Rightstart is a full grade (at least) ahead of school.  Oh well!

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

My K started Abeka 1 math a month ago. :thumbup1: