Age 7 curriculum - 2nd grade and some 1st? HELP

[Sensoryspirals]

First post here 🙂

I'll preface with both DS 6 and I are autistic.  DS is more of a sensory seeking, clothing freakout, overwhelmed easily type.  I like quiet and researching and noise gets to me fast.  We are a pair! And we have my DD 3 running around wreaking havoc.  We do "formal" work Tuesday/Thursday/Friday because I'm in school Mon/Wed.  I want to get a plan together for next year and the ending part of this year because we hit a handful of snags and can't seem to get back into a groove.

Currently: 

McRuffy Language Arts 1, we started this late and it's working well for us, I don't do all the workbook things because some is busy work and he hates that.  

Math is a mash up with some problems from Primary, some from math mammoth, and others from some teachers pay teachers pages.  The thing with math is he will not play games, or use manipulatives, and he WILL NOT look at the actual book - I have to copy the problems to a whiteboard or into a plain notebook.  I pushed too hard with math in the beginning because he was loving it and breezing through math mammoth and then there was just one day where he crashed and now the idea of a workbook makes him slither to the floor.  Now, I'm ok with taking time off from math but he isn't!  He wants to do math everyday and learn more but it would be so much easier if I could show him the pages!

So I was considering starting MEP and getting him gently into math and maybe getting miquon with the rods?  I want him to back up and find the fun again and at the same time make sure he has a firm grasp on the basics.  

 

Next year - 

I don't think we can do second grade McRuffy LA because the books get much longer and he is going to panic so I'm eyeing Reading Street or and then just planning on a ton of readers and library books.  Any experience with Reading Street?  Basically I want to read aloud and have guidance with the critical thinking type questions.

Math - Horizons, MEP, or MCP,

Science - probably nancy larson 1 

History - SoTW read aloud and the Maps/Maps Activity Book

Writing - this is where I have absolutely no idea.  He hates to write so I want something that will spark his creativity... like a story starter but one that doesn't look overwhelming...writeshop?

 

I need to get a strong idea of what next year will look like because there's a very good chance I will be in a PA program and won't be able to plan and prep once that begins.

[HomeAgain]

Do you really want to do writing? 

I only ask because up until about 3rd it's much easier to focus on copywork.  My kids always found it hard to be creative and focus on the act of writing at the same time - it was overload.  Doing daily copywork built up the lessons of sentence/paragraph structure, spelling, and grammar before tackling individual writing.

I had a manipulative hater, too.  I sat down with him and did the math selector quiz when we left MEP, and from the ones he scored high on I let him pick.  However, the rods are now intriguing him (he's 8yo) after I showed him a youtube video of Mr. Gattegno using them with 6yos and doing more than addition/subtraction.  He just had no use for manipulatives when he worked at the beginning.  Now, they are starting to mean something to him.

[Sensoryspirals]

@HomeAgain do you think MEP might work for us? And maybe I’ll offer him the math selector quiz. 

He loathes copywork. It’s easier to get him to write something original and then tell him to copy it well.

[Syllieann]

For math you could try doing math mammoth on the tablet.  If you bought the download you can use it as a fillable document.  But I do think mep is a fine choice as well.  For writing you might be interested in bravewriter or perhaps some of the Evan moor writing workbooks if you need something more laid out than bravewriter.  The "draw then write" book might be something he would like.

[Momto6inIN]

What if he narrated to you a few sentences (about history or science or lit or whatever) and you write them down and then he copied his own words? That's what I'm planning for my 2nd grader next year. She narrates really well but probably couldn't come up with all those thoughts *and* think about forming and spelling the words at the same time. 

[HomeAgain]

16 hours ago, Sensoryspirals said:

@HomeAgain do you think MEP might work for us? And maybe I’ll offer him the math selector quiz. 

He loathes copywork. It’s easier to get him to write something original and then tell him to copy it well.

I think it would.  It's one of those programs where I could offer the manipulatives to my kid but not require them to be used.  I will say one thing he did use with that program was number tiles.  Some of the puzzles he was afraid to write down initial thoughts because he might have to erase.  The number tiles let him plug in the numbers and rearrange as he thought it through.

[Moncha]

My son is very leary of writing too, I picked up a book called Games for Writing by Peggy Kaye and have found that it has some fun ideas that are not so "boring" as the copywork I normally do. My currently bookmarked page is making a story map.... another one I saw was making a menu for a monster cafe... it's more like getting them used to the idea of writing being part of their world and contributing to their story making and play. We have had some fun with Rory's Story Cubes too.