ELemenoP Posted April 15, 2018 Share Posted April 15, 2018 I am planning on using Adventures in America with my (now) first-grader in the fall. I am trying to figure out how many of the supplemental readers I should buy- my library has about 60% of the readers, and I can buy the remaining ones for about $50-60. Are they necessary or extra? The book isn't clear, except to say "possible readers." Also, for those who have used this curriculum in the past, my youngest will be in pre-K next year (we do just a very loose and basic pre-K, play based), but is very interested in workbooks and "school work." She will be a very mature four when we start the school year. Do you think that it would be okay to include her in most lessons and activities, or would she just be too young to understand any of it? Obviously, she won't be able to write things in the student notebook, but she's a huge "wrench" in our sit-down school day, and I'm wondering if it might be easier to just include her. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixpix5 Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 I found the books useful for assigning reading to my DD who is 8 but I didn't assign them to my 6 year olds. We basically read the text book section and then the assigned chapters in the main books (Pocahontas, Squanto, Lion to Guard Us and so forth). Totally perfect introduction for a 1st grader but pre-k probably is going to be a stretch. What I would do is print theme appropriate coloring pages or letter tracing etc pages for your pre-k student to work on while you read and then let her take part in the crafts. For the more challenging crafts/activities you can easily find a substitute craft to go along with the theme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SereneHome Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 I wouldn't buy anything until you actually start using it. I thought I was going to love it, but it just didn't work at all for us. So I would suggest to try out few weeks first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixpix5 Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 27 minutes ago, SereneHome said: I wouldn't buy anything until you actually start using it. I thought I was going to love it, but it just didn't work at all for us. So I would suggest to try out few weeks first. This was us too unfortunately. It just felt lacking. We read most of the chapter books aloud for fun and switched back to SOTW/BP and VP self paced combo. For a first grader and pre-k though it might work ok if OP is looking for something kind of light and tweaked it a bit. The same issue I had with Elemental Science is the same issue I had with this curriculum. We just learned it wasn't our jam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SereneHome Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 38 minutes ago, nixpix5 said: This was us too unfortunately. It just felt lacking. We read most of the chapter books aloud for fun and switched back to SOTW/BP and VP self paced combo. For a first grader and pre-k though it might work ok if OP is looking for something kind of light and tweaked it a bit. The same issue I had with Elemental Science is the same issue I had with this curriculum. We just learned it wasn't our jam. Oh no!!! I JUST ordered Elemental Science - I hope it works for us. But I thought Adventures in America was just not.....detailed enough? Or skipping too much?? I don't know.....Like there was no fluidity to it. The book recommendations were good, but for my kids some of them were too much when they were K-1.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 I loved Adventures in America! My son was way ahead of their suggested readers, so I used a lot of the Who Was books to supplement. AiA is a great spine; you really don't need it TOO comprehensive in first grade, and it's a good highlight reel of American History with stories that are more likely to be remembered. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixpix5 Posted April 16, 2018 Share Posted April 16, 2018 10 hours ago, SereneHome said: Oh no!!! I JUST ordered Elemental Science - I hope it works for us. But I thought Adventures in America was just not.....detailed enough? Or skipping too much?? I don't know.....Like there was no fluidity to it. The book recommendations were good, but for my kids some of them were too much when they were K-1.... I wouldn't worry about Elemental. Many people really like it. We are just weird :) I am probably just pickier than I need to be. It has alot of crafts and notebooking but it is easy enough to adjust if need be. I think because I already know how to gather library books on topics and figure out experiments to do that I preferrd my resource choices and didn't love the book they used for the experiments. Again though, I am a super picky science snob and that is more my issue and not the curriculums ;) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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