What to use with Abecedarian reading program

[wrenmom]

Hi there, I'm a new homeschooling mom to my 6 year old, first grade daughter. I've tried every reading program under the sun it seems but we've finally settled on Abecedarian. The lessons are brief, logical and not overly repetitive. My concern is that it's not a complete language arts program and I'm not sure what to add to it to complete first grade language arts. I'm looking for other resources for things like spelling, grammar, writing, reading comprehension etc. I'm using the I See Sam readers along with Abecedarian right now and loving those. 

My daughter sort of gets tired and distracted after just doing an Abecedarian lesson, a reader and handwriting page. I know many people just focus on reading for the first grade year but I just keep worrying I'm not doing enough. 

[HomeAgain]

You are doing enough.

1. Grammar is lovely, but whatever a child gets out of first grade grammar they will get out of it in second.  You'll notice a lot here use First Language Lessons for four years and follow it up with Grammar for the Well Trained Mind.  And many will tell you that GFTWTM isn't really that appropriate for a 5th grader.  Delaying grammar a year or two won't hurt your child, and may help them absorb it better later.

2. Spelling and writing either come in conjunction with learning to read, reinforcing the same lessons, or after, when a child can begin to learn new rules.

3. Reading comprehension comes from rereading the text and conversations with you. IIRC, I See Sam has a few small questions in the back

 

You are doing just fine.

If you want to add in something informally, I like the idea of bringing attention to how a sentence is formed with Oral Punctuation.  It's a cute way to reinforce sentence parts each day before writing independently.

[bensonduck]

I used AbCeDarian and did not do grammar for first grade. We barely even did handwriting, there’s a lot of writing in the program IIRC. I did try to read aloud a few good picture books every day and we would talk informally about the books.

[Clarita]

You are doing enough. However I'm in the same boat where I constantly wonder if there's more I should be doing, especially since for my family the language arts stuff isn't just going to organically happen. 

https://freelyeducate.com/2017/06/free-scott-foresman-grammar-writing-curriculum-for-elementary-grades.html is a free grammar/writing curriculum. This has helped me be satisfied with the grammar/writing piece being enough because I can see what is typically covered for the grade levels. Also provides some worksheets if you want. 

For reading comprehension, we read aloud well written books. More specifically, we've started reading chapter books so everyday I would ask what happened last time. If a "wrong" answer or a "I don't know" answer comes up then I might curiously ask some guiding questions, but I try to leave this open ended. You can also just talk curiously with them about their TV shows, podcasts whatever; honestly you don't have to be a stickler about right or wrong just listen to them talk about what they are interested in. They naturally want to communicate to you clearly and correctly the things they are excited about. 

 

[wrenmom]

Wow thank you all so so much for your responses and taking the time to let me know your thoughts! I've never really posted anything online before so this was so helpful!! I will just relax and enjoy this time with my girlie knowing I'm doing enough:) I will definitely look into the scott foresman site and the oral punctuation resources as well! Again thank you so so much! We were using Sing, Spell, Read and Write last year and the beginning of this year and switching to Abecedarian felt like we weren't doing enough so this was seriously so so helpful! 

[Nm.]

K-2 are gentle years here. I try to soak up their youth as much as possible.  Solid phonics/spelling instruction, math, and read alouds (I like curriculum for guidance on books but never follow it exactly).  I do like first language lessons original combined 1/2 starting after reading is going well.  It’s something sweet you can do on the couch before other read alouds. Or squeeze in whenever.

[wrenmom]

I agree I love using the books from literature based curricula although I don't follow the lesson plans exactly. I will look into first language lessons as well! A program that can be done mostly orally would likely be easy to add in with not too much struggle. 

 

I love the writing curriculum Clarita recommended above. It seems so nice and gentle as well. Like you could do a page a day without much resistance. 

 

The oral punctuation is such a good idea too from HomeAgain! I'm a radiologist and dictate reports so I'm constantly having to say the punctuation at the end of sentences. Maybe some of that is rubbing off on her when she sits by my workstation:)

 

We haven't started level B1 yet but I'm a little worried she will balk at having to read the fables. She very much prefers traditional readers that are in one book without other stories. She hates the all about reading readers because there are multiple stories in one book haha. I have no idea why. We'll see how it goes!

 

[Nm.]

I don’t think Clarita uses the worksheets… just gives her an idea of what to expect (from what I understood).  Our library has first language lessons so I was able to see and try it first.  I would really hesitate to give a worksheet for grammar/writing @ 6yo.  DD7 started FLL in the middle of first grade and has never complained- she likes it for the most part.

[Clarita]

14 hours ago, wrenmom said:

I love the writing curriculum Clarita recommended above. It seems so nice and gentle as well. Like you could do a page a day without much resistance. 

 

5 hours ago, Nm. said:

I don’t think Clarita uses the worksheets… just gives her an idea of what to expect (from what I understood).

Yes, doing it everyday would be a bunch of busywork. It just gives me that "I'm doing enough" feeling by looking at it and knowing what could be expected and something I could follow to talk about. Maybe occasionally I'd use a worksheet because I have to turn in work samples for my charter school, but if it weren't for that I wouldn't. 

[wrenmom]

Oh perfect thanks so much for clarifying! Yes that makes sense. It does seem kind of like busy work. Plus they ask them to read sentences and edit them and such and sometimes she can't even really read the sentences yet because we aren't at that part in our reading program yet.

 

We do those brain quest cards for fun because she loves them and almost always gets the grammar questions correct anyway haha. I love in homeschool how you can really tailor things to meet your child. It's such a wonderful way to learn and experience childhood. 

 

Thank you all so so much for allaying my fears. We only have to take a state test in 3rd grade so maybe I'll start the formal writing/grammar at that grade. 

[Nm.]

I’ve waited until 3rd/4th and that was fine too.