Language Arts Plan

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

Warning: I am very Type-A. I fully realize that things may not work out, adjustments may be needed or I may not follow the plan... but I need the plan nonetheless.

 

DS 3.5 is moving quickly through our Reading curriculum (LOE Foundations) & will likely finish it this spring. This will put him at approximately a 2nd grade reading level.

 

Next year for K we are doing a year-long Continents & Cultures study. I will assign easy readers about relevant people / animals / landmarks & include a fairy tale from each continent to use with Brave Writer's Jot it Down format. Making the fairytale books will be handwriting practice.

 

For 1st grade we will use Quiver of Arrows along with the rest of the Jot it Down prompts while covering Ancient History.

 

In 2nd grade we'll transition to Michael Clay Thompson's Island Level over the summer once we have finished Ancient History (I want to cover the Romans prior to beginning Caesar's English).

 

Are read-alouds, some levelled readers & a little dictation enough Language Arts for K?

 

Do JiD + Arrow create a complete Language Arts for a 1st Grader who is independently reading? If not, what would you add?

 

Is MCT going to be too much for a 2nd grader? I suppose that I could add in another year of BraveWriter; I just liked the flow of beginning CE after studying Rome.

[mathmarm]

Warning: I am very Type-A. I fully realize that things may not work out, adjustments may be needed or I may not follow the plan... but I need the plan nonetheless. I understand completely! That's me!

 

DS 3.5 is moving quickly through our Reading curriculum (LOE Foundations) & will likely finish it this spring. This will put him at approximately a 2nd grade reading level.

 

Next year for K we are doing a year-long Continents & Cultures study. I will assign easy readers about relevant people / animals / landmarks & include a fairy tale from each continent to use with Brave Writer's Jot it Down format. Making the fairytale books will be handwriting practice.

 

For 1st grade we will use Quiver of Arrows along with the rest of the Jot it Down prompts while covering Ancient History.

 

In 2nd grade we'll transition to Michael Clay Thompson's Island Level over the summer once we have finished Ancient History (I want to cover the Romans prior to beginning Caesar's English).

 

Are read-alouds, some levelled readers & a little dictation enough Language Arts for K?

 

Do JiD + Arrow create a complete Language Arts for a 1st Grader who is independently reading? If not, what would you add?

 

Is MCT going to be too much for a 2nd grader? I suppose that I could add in another year of BraveWriter; I just liked the flow of beginning CE after studying Rome.

I don't know anything about the different LA options that you mentioned but I know that read-alouds and levelled readers and a little dictation is enough for a K student. :).

 

This year, for PreK that is what we are doing--phonics, levelled readers and counting our ears off. We will continue on this "relaxed" not too organized path as he gets older. Honestly I'd like to keep him in play based PReK and maybe even private, play based K too.

 

Oh, but my boy loves to write so I'm going to be teaching formal handwriting during K but I don't anticipate doing more than reading and handwriting with him in K. But I'm not an English-y sorta gal anyway. :)

 

 

[Slache]

Bump. Worst case scenario you buy MCT and wait a year to use it. I've heard that Island is very gentle and has little writing. I'll probably buy it for 2nd as well.

[Jackie]

I think it is plenty enough for LA, yes.

 

My daughter's strength is definitely language, but she happily did Grammar Island at age 4 and the rest of Island at age 5. I almost shelved Town level when it arrived because parts of it looked like such a major jump up, but gave it a shot and she's still flying through all of it except Paragraph Town, which I did end up shelving.

 

Caesar's English doesn't start until Town level, so less of a concern with getting through Ancient Rome before starting Island level.

[SeaConquest]

I can tell you that Island level is fine for an accelerated learner for 2nd. We did it in first, and it was fine for my STEM kid. I will mention, though, that CE is in the Town level, not Island.

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

Yes, sorry - I meant Building Language. Looking at the sample it really focuses on Roman architecture & describes all the word work in relation to it. I figure that will sink in much better if he has had experience with columns, aqueducts, etc. in history.

[SeaConquest]

Yes, sorry - I meant Building Language. Looking at the sample it really focuses on Roman architecture & describes all the word work in relation to it. I figure that will sink in much better if he has had experience with columns, aqueducts, etc. in history.

 

Coming from an overthinker (who also needs a plan for a security blanket, so I say this gently and in all type-A solidarity), I think you are overthinking this.

 

You really don't need to tie your history period into grammar. Just go at your son's pace, and seize the interesting rabbit trails as the opportunities present themselves.You are going to touch on this stuff over and over again. And while I understand that you want your DS to see all these great connections, it doesn't have to be bundled up neatly in the first pass.

 

One final thought. I think there are very few Kers for whom dictation would be appropriate -- at least, dictation as we have done it in WWE2/3. I attempted spelling (AAS1) with my son when he was 4.5. He could do it, but it just wasn't a productive use of our time, so we stopped. At 4.5, he was still learning to form his letters with automaticity. Throw in learning to spell on top of it, and it was a lot of stress to his executive functioning skills. Again, he could have done AAS1 had I pushed, but in hindsight, I can see that we made the right decision in stopping. At 7.5, he has blossomed into a pretty decent natural speller simply from all the advanced level reading.

 

We started doing dictation towards the middle of WWE2. He was 7. By that point, he could form letters in manuscript with automaticity, he could hold sentences in his head without difficulty, and he could spell and punctuate almost all the sentences without too much help from me. He is now in WWE3 (in 2nd grade), and I am shocked by how well it is going. I can hand him a 2-page lit passage, have him read it, give me a narration, and then write a dictation without any stress.

 

My two cents is to do HWT K, or some other handwriting program. Once he can form his letters with automaticity, move on to copywork in WWE1, ELTL, etc. As you can tell, I am a big fan of the incremental skill building in the WWE series. ELTL is even more incremental IME. 

Edited September 9, 2016 by SeaConquest

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

Coming from an overthinker (who also needs a plan for a security blanket, so I say this gently and in all type-A solidarity), I think you are overthinking this.

Most likely - LOL 😂

 

One final thought. I think there are very few Kers for whom dictation would be appropriate -- at least, dictation as we have done it in WWE2/3. I attempted spelling (AAS1) with my son when he was 4.5. He could do it, but it just wasn't a productive use of our time, so we stopped. At 4.5, he was still learning to form his letters with automaticity. Throw in learning to spell on top of it, and it was a lot of stress to his executive functioning skills...

 

The "dictation" I was referring to is HIM dictating to ME - summarizing the folk stories for Jot it Down. I would be scribing 😉 He is writing, but only individual words. His handwriting practice next year will be copywork sentences & the final drafts of his JID fairy tales.

[SeaConquest]

Most likely - LOL 😂

 

 

The "dictation" I was referring to is HIM dictating to ME - summarizing the folk stories for Jot it Down. I would be scribing 😉 He is writing, but only individual words. His handwriting practice next year will be copywork sentences & the final drafts of his JID fairy tales.

 

Gotcha. Yes, I scribe when Sacha narrates. But, in the middle of WWE2, they also add in dictation. That's what I was thinking. Thanks for clarifying.

[Runningmom80]

just adding my 2 cents:

 

There's very little you can plan with these kids. The only thing consistent with my GT kid is change.

 

We loved MCT in second, he understood the nuances in the language and really blossomed with that program.

[Sarah0000]

You don't need to completely cover Roman history before starting Building Language. If he has a basic understanding of the passage of time and a very general familiarity with ancient history he'll understand the book just fine. We are doing Music of the Hemispheres and Building Language for DS' transitional kindergarten year and it hasn't been too difficult at all, and I don't consider DS particularly gifted in LA.

[boscopup]

I think MCT Island would be fine for a 2nd grader. We borrowed it for a bit when my 3rd kid was 4, and even he understood some of the grammar (language arts is his strength). The deal breaker for my older two kids was definitely the writing. They could not do the writing involved at that age. My 4th grader still couldn't (he's still at the copywork stage and a small amount of dictation). My 2nd grader, with his mad writing skillz, could probably do it no problem. He's sooooo different from the others in the writing department. He LIKED writing early on. He had excellent fine motor skills at a young age. And it just all comes together for him. He's a young 7 and can hand write a paragraph in cursive or typing. My oldest was not able to do that in manuscript until really 4th grade.

 

But I'll also say that you should be mentally prepared to completely scrap your plans 5 times and go in different directions. :lol:

 

In my 7th year of homeschooling, I've finally learned not to do long term planning to that detail. For example, my 7th grader will be in high school in two years. I have absolutely NO IDEA what curriculum I'll use for the different subjects. I research a lot and have a few in mind usually, but I don't write it all down and say, "This is what we'll use," when it's still two years away, because those long range curriculum plans NEVER happen. Never ever. Ask me how many planning spreadsheets I have like that that don't look at all like what we're doing this year. ;) At the moment, I think I have an inkling of what we'll do NEXT year, but even that could change up until the end of next year. Yes, I've changed curriculum in the middle of the year... many times.