non religious reading program?

[LadyAberlin]

I'm trying to find something for my son for 1st grade. The only thing that I can come up with is Sonlight's readers and calvert's discoveries in Reading. He will be in K next yr, but he is reading the reader's 1 schedule right now. There really isn't much to the comprehension questions now. Does anyone know if the older schedules get more into analysis of the books like a traditional reading program? Also I think Discoveries in reading looks really good except I don't really recognize the titles that they have the kids reading and I don't want twaddle. Has anyone used this and liked it? Any other suggestions?

[Lovedtodeath]

I have Harcourt's and McGraw Hill's PS text. They have whole (picture) books in them and I think they are great!

[SonshineLearner]

I don't know if you'd go for it, but it's not twaddle...I've started reading all the Greg Tang's books for my son. There are many at our library, but if you have to order them....Scholastics has the best price. I'm also reading the Cindy Neuschwander's books including the Sir Cumference books. They are really nice books and they are "living math" books... Just a thought for some nice reading...

Carrie:-)

[Alicia]

You may find that it is worth your time to take a look at both of these.

I have used the mcruffy series from K to 3rd, I now have the revised color and they look even better than the originals. Mcruffy DOES have religious content BUT there is a public school version that has that content only removed leaving the rest intact. Just make sure you order the correct one. Take a look at the scope and sequence as well as the sample chapters. The customer service is outstanding!!! I use the science as well as my children wanted to know about so many things and I feel that k-4 is a time of exploration in science. There is lots of time to focus on one topic at a time later. I bring it up in a reading discussion as he tries to incorporate language arts skills/goals/objectives in the science program.

 

http://www.mcruffy.com/1P.htm

 

Most people here seem to use the "What Your Grader...Know". This is a VERY small part of what Core Knowledge has to offer. Please look at their "Teacher Handbook Series". It is not scripted like Mcruffy but gives lots of background information as well as step by step activies, vocab, spelling, writing prompts ect for its language arts and actually the whole curriculum. Download the samples you might be pleasantly surprised. They have a yearly reading list of stores, poetry, and idioms that the child should learn that year. The background and activities to do so are in the Handbook. They are written for public school teachers in classical Core Knowledge schools who may not have the background to teach the material. It reminds me of the Sonlight or Tapestry of Grace guides.

"Reading Instruction" on that page will take you to their new reading program that I am not at all familiar with. It used graded readers like McRuffy not "real" literature and poetry as you will find in the Teacher Handbook Series from them. If you find that you want them PLEASE join the yahoo! group and get them used, they are priced for public school budgets. If you want it scheduled check out the planners. Get those used as well.

 

http://www.coreknowledge.org/bookstore/index.php

 

 

Hope that gives you some options. I am happy to help more if I can.

 

Alicia in New Zealand

[Stacy in NJ]

I would sugget just reading the books in the Early Reading section of your library. I don't really think comprehension questions are necessary at the first grade level. You can ask your ds to narrate the story back to you after reading it, though. Our library had a large section of books like; Henry and Mudge, Frog and Toad, and Mr. Putter and Tabby. Best of all, they're free.

[melissel]

We are very much enjoying going through the books in Suppose the Wolf Were an Octopus. It's not exactly a comprehension program, more of a guide to light analysis, but it's exactly what I'm looking for right now, and I can gauge her comprehension as we talk through the questions. We've been struggling with school, time-wise, over the last few months (for various reasons), and this is one thing that was easy to keep up.

[Laura Corin]

I wouldn't worry about comprehension questions at this stage - there's plenty of time for that when your child is older. Just make sure that comprehension is good by doing some reading out loud and gentle discussion, and you'll be fine.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

[LadyAberlin]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll look into them:)

[EKS]

Have you looked at K12?

[Shasta Mom]

We're big fans of the Elson Readers, especially through 3rd grade. They supply a daily reading selection, and there is an optional teacher's manual with exercises. My ds looks forward to his daily read. We rarely use the teacher's manual, but discuss what he reads. It's all old classic literature. There are very limited religious selections, but God is mentioned in others as well. We educated secularly and haven't had any problem with any of it. As a matter of fact, we still read the religious selections and have great discussions. I think the readers are free (on google?), but we've always bought the book hard copy.......hth

[LadyAberlin]

I had never even looked at the Elson readers. I think I was getting them confused with something else. I thought they were Christian. I don't mind if it talks about God. I just didn't want something that was pushing certain denominational viewpoints.

[Tiramisu]

We are using Calvert 1st and 3rd grade VERY LOOSELY. Our supplements became our core very quickly. Calvert uses the Houghton-Mifflin readers. I don't really like the idea of readers in general, but the stories in this series have been good. My children enjoy them. There are about 5 or 6 comprehension-type questions at the end of each story. I would not recommend buying Calvert because it's just too expensive, but you could buy the readers for the grade level you need used on Amazon.com or another site. You can check the Calvert website for the titles you would need for each grade.

 

There is also something called "Phonics Library." These are blackline masters of phonics based very short stories coordinated with the stories in the actual Houghton-Mifflin readers. They would be a great supplement and help with a little more systematic presentation. Not all kids would need these though. Also, the publisher has some kind of practice book to practice the concepts presented reading and do some writing. Again, not necessary but some people might like it.

 

Sonlight is another option. (Yes, I know it's a Christian company.) We have used their reading schedule/guide for a couple of grades (3-5) I think. I do not recall that they push any relgion or even talk about God. If you get the schedule which costs about $5, you can even get the books out of the library. Our library system had nearly all the books on the lists except the few that were published by Christian publishers. The guide has one or two questions per chapter for each book.

 

Just another idea to drive you crazy with! :D