Help me plan for 2nd and 1st grades!

[TyraTooters]

I need to plan my 2nd grade line up before I work on 1st grade but I figured I would just put it all in one post. 

 

My 7 year old is getting close to the end of his first grade year with Abeka. He's done really well with it, and could probably be doing much, if not all, of the second grade stuff but we took some time off and I didn't want to skip too much just in case we missed something valuable. Shortly after the first of the year he will be at the end of his Abeka first grade books/workbooks. I had already bought Abeka 2nd grade but decided it wouldnt work for us again so I bought WWE2, FLL2 and Story of the World vol 1. I'm looking at Horizons or CLE for math, he really needs something spiral. I just haven't decided. Here is where I could use some help. His reading is great and very rarely needs any help sounding things out, I think the last time we did the reading level test he was at a 3.5-4, but his interest in books that hight are slim still. If we were to continue with Abeka he would still be doing some phonics. What I'm wondering is, do I or should I still continue with some sort of phonics? And if so, what would you suggest? And what about spelling? He's pretty good at it, just forgets the actual rules (I think he just memorizes how to spell) and lacks confidence. 

 

And now to the 1st grade stuff. Right now the 6 year old is using Abkea for phonics and math. We are kind of lax on the writing part as it is cursive and he just can't get the hang of it just yet. So we just kind of do our own thing right now. I can't decide if I want to just use the 1st grade Abeka that I already have and am familiar with (just need to buy the new consumables) or start him in first grade with FFL1/WWE1. And then what about phonics? He's picking up reading fairly easy, as long as there are no pictures. When he has a picture that illustrates what the words say then he just tries guessing. 

[Kiara.I]

I expect you'll be doing SOTW with both together?

 

Grade 2:  I have a grade 2 right now too.  If his reading is great, I'm not sure I'd bother with phonics at this point.  Maybe have him read out loud to you a couple of times a week and correct whatever needs correcting?  Or, if you've already purchased the Grade 2 Abeka, could you just use the phonics from it and skip everything else?

Spelling: We just picked up Spelling Workout.  So far so good (3 or so weeks in.  It's relatively cheap, anyway, so if you find you hate it, it wouldn't have been a big investment.)  Alternately you could just find spelling lists online and do them yourself.

 

Math, I don't know, we use Righstart.  I'm not familiar with most of the other programs out there.

Science?  Were you doing something for that?

 

Grade 1: If it's cursive only and that's not working, would adding some manuscript practice be good?   We found WWE 1 worked well.  I didn't start FLL until this year (Gr 2) with my older, so we're doing FLL1 for him.  But the kindergartner is following right along with it.  For working on reading, maybe Progressive Phonics (online, and free)?