Abeka K vs TGTB K vs. Little Seedlings Press

[Ting Tang]

Me again! I posted how my youngest isn’t making the expected progress with Abeka as outlined in the lesson plans— he’s moving slower. I know it all gets reviewed in 1st. I know it’s a good program. But at this point, I’m considering just doing something else. There are a lot of moving parts, and everything works together, yet we’re not doing everything. Does anyone know if TGTB is as intense for K? I’ve looked at samples. I’m just wondering if I’d have to shuffle between a gazillion different books, card sets, charts, etc? I am also thinking about the gentle Little Seedlings Press curriculum that was recommended here.  TGTB is a bit more colorful, though. Thoughts? Did anyone use TGTB for K? 

[Clarita]

For my kids and reading, keep in mind both my kids are 6 and under, they just needed to marinade for a while in parts of reading. For oldest he spent a long time in the sounding out everything stage. My youngest has learned all her letters and the sounds they make for months and just today slightly figured out that words are made up of different sounds. So if you aren't totally unhappy with Abeka I might just pause next lessons from there and let him marinade in the things that he knows occasionally throwing a tidbit over there of the things he doesn't know (aka casually mentioning/teaching).

www.progressivephonics.com is free so you can grab some resources there if you need extra practice material or just using the past Abeka lessons probably works too (just see the activities or things it has him doing and do more of the same). 

[HomeAgain]

Maybe it's time to step all the way back to the drawing board.  Have you considered making an outline of skills and then just using that to create your own lesson plans?  You sit there with one skill for as long as it takes, occasionally using pieces of what you have and filling in other days with ideas from online.  Sometimes, no matter what we use the progress doesn't match a company's hypothetical child.  You can gain a lot more freedom and relaxation by just doing what the next step is, when it's time for your own real child.

[sweet2ndchance]

TGTB just updated their language arts recently. To me, it does seem like a lot of moving part with the new reading cards and the reader and the worktext. Not overwhelming but still, a lot of parts to keep together for a lesson. It is free even for the kindergarten level now though so it might be worth checking out just for a change of pace if necessary.

I'd never heard of Little Seedling Press so I looked it up. It looks ok for a child that grasps concepts quickly as one of their selling points is that they don't include a lot of repetition. But a child who is moving more slowly into reading usually NEEDS that repetition. To me, it doesn't seem like a good fit for the child you described.

[countrymum]

I used little Seedlings press 1st book. It is super slow with like 6-7? Pages per letter and only going into short vowel words even by the end. Their 2nd book is fast. It is thinner than the 1st book and covers EVERYTHING else. We went from little Seedlings press 1st book to Abeka 1st grade and it has worked well. My ds was not ready for anything beyond short vowles last year and benefited from the ear and tongue training little Seedlings press included. Yes I could have done it myself but not with everything else on my plate now.

[Nm.]

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Edited December 2, 2022 by Lovinglife123

[Ting Tang]

22 hours ago, Clarita said:

For my kids and reading, keep in mind both my kids are 6 and under, they just needed to marinade for a while in parts of reading. For oldest he spent a long time in the sounding out everything stage. My youngest has learned all her letters and the sounds they make for months and just today slightly figured out that words are made up of different sounds. So if you aren't totally unhappy with Abeka I might just pause next lessons from there and let him marinade in the things that he knows occasionally throwing a tidbit over there of the things he doesn't know (aka casually mentioning/teaching).

www.progressivephonics.com is free so you can grab some resources there if you need extra practice material or just using the past Abeka lessons probably works too (just see the activities or things it has him doing and do more of the same). 

I’ll check out this resource, thank you! He is 5, and I truly believe it’s a maturity issue. We already cut back, and I just wonder if we both need something different. However, today he was excited to start a blend book that goes over the easier concepts. 

[Ting Tang]

15 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

Maybe it's time to step all the way back to the drawing board.  Have you considered making an outline of skills and then just using that to create your own lesson plans?  You sit there with one skill for as long as it takes, occasionally using pieces of what you have and filling in other days with ideas from online.  Sometimes, no matter what we use the progress doesn't match a company's hypothetical child.  You can gain a lot more freedom and relaxation by just doing what the next step is, when it's time for your own real child.

Thank you so much. I’m afraid I’ll fail or fall short, but I do think he just needs time and needs to mature a bit. 

[Ting Tang]

13 hours ago, sweet2ndchance said:

TGTB just updated their language arts recently. To me, it does seem like a lot of moving part with the new reading cards and the reader and the worktext. Not overwhelming but still, a lot of parts to keep together for a lesson. It is free even for the kindergarten level now though so it might be worth checking out just for a change of pace if necessary.

I'd never heard of Little Seedling Press so I looked it up. It looks ok for a child that grasps concepts quickly as one of their selling points is that they don't include a lot of repetition. But a child who is moving more slowly into reading usually NEEDS that repetition. To me, it doesn't seem like a good fit for the child you described.

I’m thinking it might be too tricky to implement TGTB then. That’s a great point about Little Seedlings. He does seem to need a lot of repetition. I feel like he gets confused the more we add. Thank you! 

[Ting Tang]

8 hours ago, countrymum said:

I used little Seedlings press 1st book. It is super slow with like 6-7? Pages per letter and only going into short vowel words even by the end. Their 2nd book is fast. It is thinner than the 1st book and covers EVERYTHING else. We went from little Seedlings press 1st book to Abeka 1st grade and it has worked well. My ds was not ready for anything beyond short vowles last year and benefited from the ear and tongue training little Seedlings press included. Yes I could have done it myself but not with everything else on my plate now.

Thank you so much for sharing. You might have suggested it? He seems to need repetition, but Abeka just has so much and moves quickly. I am now thinking TGTB wouldn’t be great for us. 

[Ting Tang]

8 hours ago, Lovinglife123 said:

For tongue and ear training I started using underthehome.org and love it.. you can print out the lessons, very short, simple and fun.  Helped both of mine (6&9).  No other program I used had the ear and tongue training!  Then we could move forward with our phonics programs.  I also am one who pulls from a few resources, but have a spine I work from.

Thank you! I’m going to check this out. He’s getting better with phonemic awareness, but things are just going so fast. 

[Nm.]

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Edited December 2, 2022 by Lovinglife123

[HomeAgain]

8 hours ago, Ting Tang said:

Thank you so much. I’m afraid I’ll fail or fall short, but I do think he just needs time and needs to mature a bit. 

I get that.

Have you considered the free Foundational Skills program from TN DOE to pull from?  There are not a lot of moving parts and the first level (pre-K) is focused on sounds only. https://openedx.tneducation.net/courses/course-v1:TDOE+fs101+2020YL/about?mc_cid=cd5ab51d2c&mc_eid=ce1578ed6c&mc_cid=0e04cb86a4&mc_eid=502f6811d6

[Ting Tang]

11 hours ago, Lovinglife123 said:

He just needs time.  Lots of read alouds.  My newly 6yr old would beg for more lessons from under the home, so it went quickly.  I know you have Phonics pathways, that is an easy resource to take out once a day and have him read & spell from.  That would help you gauge where he’s at. 

Yes, we have that. 🙂  He isn't too excited for it, but it is easy to use! 

7 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

I get that.

Have you considered the free Foundational Skills program from TN DOE to pull from?  There are not a lot of moving parts and the first level (pre-K) is focused on sounds only. https://openedx.tneducation.net/courses/course-v1:TDOE+fs101+2020YL/about?mc_cid=cd5ab51d2c&mc_eid=ce1578ed6c&mc_cid=0e04cb86a4&mc_eid=502f6811d6

I will take a look, thank you so much!

[Nm.]

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Edited December 2, 2022 by Lovinglife123

[Ting Tang]

Thank you everyone! I decided to get the Little Seedlings Press Book One, and hopefully we can move onto Book Two in due time.  I am a bit fatiqued after 2 1/2 years of the Abeka phonics curriculum, too, so I think this will be a good move for both of us.  I am also somewhat interested in trying Reading Eggs online.

[seemesew]

I am currently using TGAB Kindergarten with my youngest and have used Abeka in the past with my older kids. I can honestly say we love tgab ❤️ It is easy for me to navigate and my daughter loves it! It takes no more than 15 minutes for her and we only do 1-2 booster cards a time so its not overwhelming at all. There are fun teaching videos for various subjects and audio stories (not every lesson or even every week), there are art projects, and crafts, again these are not every day but are interspersed enough to be exciting all without being hard for this non crafty mom. I highly recommend it! A big bonus is you can download the whole program (pdf) completely free before buying to see if you like it :0)

[seemesew]

On 11/30/2022 at 7:58 AM, sweet2ndchance said:

TGTB just updated their language arts recently. To me, it does seem like a lot of moving part with the new reading cards and the reader and the worktext. Not overwhelming but still, a lot of parts to keep together for a lesson. It is free even for the kindergarten level now though so it might be worth checking out just for a change of pace if necessary.

 

It is not a lot of moving parts at all. There is only 3 things to have for the whole program 😉 I've used others that were less but ended up being more with all the "extras" I ended up needing at various times. and others that were more because they had all kinds of parts, lol! I think its a really good balance.

 

Edited December 4, 2022 by seemesew

[Ting Tang]

3 hours ago, seemesew said:

It is not a lot of moving parts at all. There is only 3 things to have for the whole program 😉 I've used others that were less but ended up being more with all the "extras" I ended up needing at various times. and others that were more because they had all kinds of parts, lol! I think its a really good balance.

 

Thank you for sharing your experience!  I already purchased the other book, but I will keep in mind we can download the level if need be.