reynakimmi Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 I'm just looking into some insight. Our kids go to a small private school that uses only abeka curriculum. I understand that it's designed for combination classes. My question is, does it make sense to have a 5th grader doing mostly 6th grade subjects especially the spelling. I know there is a significant difference between 5th and 6th grade spelling. Her math is 5th grade and so is her language. I'm just really concerned because now I feel like she's gonna go back and forth between grades. I'm just trying to make logical sense on how having her do subjects in a higher grade will prepare her for the following year when their plan is to just go backwards and teach 5th grade. The only 2 subjects that she will be taking in the right grade are math and language obviously. But I'm just so confused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathmarm Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 It sounds like the school has a particular system worked out for how they use Abeka materials. You should really speak with the school. IF they've placed her in the 6th grade level of certain subjects, talk with them and find out what is their stated plan for next year and the rationale for that plan. Abeka publishes materials for up to the 12th grade for many subjects so it is possible that a student could just be advanced a year in some of the subjects outside of the 3Rs. Definitely talk to the school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reynakimmi Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 1 hour ago, mathmarm said: It sounds like the school has a particular system worked out for how they use Abeka materials. You should really speak with the school. IF they've placed her in the 6th grade level of certain subjects, talk with them and find out what is their stated plan for next year and the rationale for that plan. Abeka publishes materials for up to the 12th grade for many subjects so it is possible that a student could just be advanced a year in some of the subjects outside of the 3Rs. Definitely talk to the school. Thank you for your response. I am definitely planning on talking with the school no doubt about that. And I already know they have plans to teach her 5th grade next year. But as I said her math and language would stay at her normal grade level. I'm just trying to make sense from other people who know the curriculum. Trying to make sense of going back and forth with the grades. And the biggest problem is they never discussed with us in the first place that this was the plan for this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nm. Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 So she’s doing 6th this year and 5th next year? Strange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ting Tang Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 3 hours ago, reynakimmi said: I'm just looking into some insight. Our kids go to a small private school that uses only abeka curriculum. I understand that it's designed for combination classes. My question is, does it make sense to have a 5th grader doing mostly 6th grade subjects especially the spelling. I know there is a significant difference between 5th and 6th grade spelling. Her math is 5th grade and so is her language. I'm just really concerned because now I feel like she's gonna go back and forth between grades. I'm just trying to make logical sense on how having her do subjects in a higher grade will prepare her for the following year when their plan is to just go backwards and teach 5th grade. The only 2 subjects that she will be taking in the right grade are math and language obviously. But I'm just so confused. Abeka is a packaged curriculum, so the subjects coordinate with each other in each grade level. Aside from history, I do not understand why they'd have a student go from using 6th grade to 5th grade materials. If she is managing the work just fine, then she should advance to 7th grade. Very strange indeed! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reynakimmi Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 1 minute ago, Ting Tang said: Abeka is a packaged curriculum, so the subjects coordinate with each other in each grade level. Aside from history, I do not understand why they'd have a student go from using 6th grade to 5th grade materials. If she is managing the work just fine, then she should advance to 7th grade. Very strange indeed! Right, I feel like it doesn't make logical sense. The only 2 subjects that would remain the same for her true grade is math and language. I do want to clarify that she is in a 5th 6th grade combined class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ting Tang Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 26 minutes ago, reynakimmi said: Right, I feel like it doesn't make logical sense. The only 2 subjects that would remain the same for her true grade is math and language. I do want to clarify that she is in a 5th 6th grade combined class. That is good about the math and language arts. Those are core subjects. History is doable. As for science, doesn't Abeka just add to the same topics, as in, go deeper and build? That would not make sense to me. Handwriting and spelling also see a bit odd. I haven't looked that far ahead as the highest Abeka grade we used was 3rd. We actually have public schools in my area combining grades. I am not sure how they handle it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneGG Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 This was done at the private school I taught at. We did not combine core subjects. If the student was in 5th grade, they were taught 5th grade arithmetic and language arts, including spelling. There was some combing with composition. Bible, science and social studies we would take into consideration what the majority of the class had used the previous year. So in a 5th/6th class where the majority was 6th grade and had completed 5th grade science/bible/history we would either transition to BJU 5 or 6 for those subjects that year OR decide to use Abeka 6 for the whole class and then transition to BJU 6 the following year for incoming 6th graders. Obviously you’ll want to speak with admin about the curriculum map. If they are operating the 5/6 combo as a cohort that’s one thing. They would all be doing 7th grade content subjects together next year. But I would be disappointed if my 5th grader was doing 6th grade work this year and then essentially repeating 5th grade next year. I have heard of some schools that use Abeka using their videos in combo classes. Are they doing that in your daughter’s class? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Lamb Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 I don't know the Abeka curriculum, but I have certainly heard of small schools with combined grades using two years of curriculum in alternate years for all the kids in a combined classroom without problems in the content areas. It seems to work well as long as the two years don't build on each other. For example, one year might be life science topics and US history, the other might be earth science topics and ancient history. That would not cause a problem doing them out of the original order. The teacher might assign some extra output for the older students, but any text, workbook or group projects could easily be identical. Skills must be taught sequentially, although an advanced child could skip books, particularly if there is lots of review built into the program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 21 hours ago, reynakimmi said: I'm just looking into some insight. Our kids go to a small private school that uses only abeka curriculum. I understand that it's designed for combination classes. My question is, does it make sense to have a 5th grader doing mostly 6th grade subjects especially the spelling. I know there is a significant difference between 5th and 6th grade spelling. Her math is 5th grade and so is her language. I'm just really concerned because now I feel like she's gonna go back and forth between grades. I'm just trying to make logical sense on how having her do subjects in a higher grade will prepare her for the following year when their plan is to just go backwards and teach 5th grade. The only 2 subjects that she will be taking in the right grade are math and language obviously. But I'm just so confused. She isn't going to go back and forth between grades. She's going to be learning things that are closer to her abilities. If she is capable of doing 6th grade-level work, why should she do 5th grade level? Kudos to the school for doing that. FTR, I have never heard that it is designed for combination classes. But yes, if the school is doing that, more power to them, and yes, it makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patches Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 it is possible that the school is thinking this way: Skill subjects like math and language arts are sequenced with one level building on the last one. Teaching in order is important. Content subjects like Bible, history, and science are less sequenced. These can be taught out of order. Looking at the Scope and sequence for 5th / 6th grades: History: World History in 5th Grade New World History in 6th grade. Science 5th: insects & plants, Mammals, energy:light, Geology, Oceanology, Energy and Engines, Astronomy, Weather, Vertebrates Science 6th: Plants, Invertebrates, Geology, University / Space, Matter and chemistry. Bible is probably similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarita Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 I did a 4th/5th combo as a 5th grader. So for subjects like math the teacher splits the class according to ability. Even in a normal single grade class teachers will split students into smaller groups because not all kids have the same skills. Some subjects are combined and the teacher may just expect a different level of output work from the 6th graders vs the 5th graders, even though the lesson was the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reynakimmi Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 7 hours ago, Ellie said: She isn't going to go back and forth between grades. She's going to be learning things that are closer to her abilities. If she is capable of doing 6th grade-level work, why should she do 5th grade level? Kudos to the school for doing that. FTR, I have never heard that it is designed for combination classes. But yes, if the school is doing that, more power to them, and yes, it makes sense. I guessed you missed the part about her taking 5th grade work next year. So going from 6th to 5th makes sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nm. Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 (edited) Only if it’s content areas… if you’re talking skill areas then that is strange. I looked at the spelling for abeka and from what I can tell it’s 34 word lists per grade level, poems, vocabulary. My guess is there’s not a big jump in levels and they’ll be learning different word lists, different poems, different vocabulary.. so should be fine. Edited January 17, 2023 by Lovinglife123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reynakimmi Posted January 18, 2023 Author Share Posted January 18, 2023 On 1/16/2023 at 10:13 AM, Patches said: it is possible that the school is thinking this way: Skill subjects like math and language arts are sequenced with one level building on the last one. Teaching in order is important. Content subjects like Bible, history, and science are less sequenced. These can be taught out of order. Looking at the Scope and sequence for 5th / 6th grades: History: World History in 5th Grade New World History in 6th grade. Science 5th: insects & plants, Mammals, energy:light, Geology, Oceanology, Energy and Engines, Astronomy, Weather, Vertebrates Science 6th: Plants, Invertebrates, Geology, University / Space, Matter and chemistry. Bible is probably similar. The history and science make total sense. What are your thoughts on spelling? Does it make sense to do 6th grade spelling then go to 5th grade spelling? After looking at both lists, 6th grade is definitely harder in difficulty then the 5th grade lists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nm. Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 It makes sense that they are trying to keep everything simple and streamlined. Perhaps they don’t have enough children enrolled to do separate classes. What are your other options? Ideally you’d teach her 5th then 6th. Homeschooling has its own set of pros and cons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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