Sonlight LA K and other early programs

[Karen in CO]

I am missing my oldest. I know I am compensating by wanting to add my youngest into school. So with that given.....

 

I am really happy with what I am doing with dd8 so I don't want something with a history focus, and I don't want to schedule or plan something for dd4. I want something planned that will give me a structured way to make sure I include her in the school work. I also want something that I can put away for later when I come back to my senses. ;)

 

I am opposed to teaching kids to read so I figured it would be the perfect thing for me to add. She knows her letters and knows many letter sounds thanks to LeapFrog videos, but I don't know that I can handle the amount of repetition of those videos that the older dd enjoyed.

 

I was looking at Sonlight LA K. I like that it does one letter at a time. I like that it has copywork. I like that it doesn't do all the phonographs at one time - I prefer to start with cvc words and move up instead of starting with all of the sounds of A. We already have the ETC primers. I have already done PP with one child. I don't want something that is just a reading lesson. I've done some SL a few times with the oldest and have most of the books from the lower cores already but I'm not interested in doing a core and just having the books scheduled.

 

I do want something planned so that I can open up my lttle teacher book and have something planned to do with the little dear.

 

Another thing I was looking at was maybe WP AW. Animals are very concrete and great to do at this age. We visit the zoo frequently already. She would love doing the crafts with me, and the older would probably sneak in also because she loves animals and can't resist a craft project.

 

I don't like WP's phonics program because it is vertical. I like OakMeadow K, but that is too much to spend on a syllabus especially since I am pretty sure I will ditch the program in a few months once I get used to my ds being gone. I don't want something like MFW because I think it is probably too religious for me - the SL is a known for me because I know where they put their relgious stuff and I know how to work around it.

 

Any opinions on the SL LA K? How about opionions on WP Animal Worlds for a young student? Any good, scheduled programs I should look at?

 

Thanks

[Michelle My Bell]

Have you seen Moving beyond the Page? You can buy it in small chunks.

 

Michelle

[melopher]

I am doing SL LA K with my 4yo dd, and I like how gentle and adaptable it is--while at the same time it's actually scheduled so I actually get it done. I'm not using much of the Language and Thinking book, or at least not as scheduled, since it's more of a reference book imo. My dd loves workbooks, so the schedule of ETC hasn't been hard at all for her (they schedule about 4 pages a day, 4 days/week). I do adjust what we do for copywork sometimes, depending on how it's going (we spent more time on her full name than they did). One thing I like about the copywork is that they provide lined paper with traditional spacing on one side (with the middle dashed line,) and HWT spacing on the other side. I also don't do things strictly by the schedule...sometimes we'll do double, then skip a few days.

 

In addition to SL LA K, we also occasionally work on RS A, and Building Thinking Skills. My dd is always begging for "assignments", so it's forced me to get a little more creative...but I'm somehow more able to do that since I have the framework of the LA schedule.

[siloam]

You are asking for the 4yo, right?

 

I am still using SL LA K I bought for my oldest in 2002. Now for my ds 6. It meets all your criteria. If she isn't writing well you can use Scrabble pieces to do the dictation with.

 

AW...that one I am more iffy on. The Encyclopedia readings are pretty meaty, but if you were OK with doing it, but just reading the introductory paragraph, then I think it would work (shhh that is all I did with my crew-even the older kids :001_huh: ). But I also had my oldest doing lapbooks on the different habitats. I would suggest you look at the one small square books before you buy it and the Encyclopedia to make sure they would work for your dd.

 

Oh and you can use AW with SL LA K. :D My 3rd dd did the two together.

 

Other programs....hmmmm none that I have used. I do a loose SL Pre-k at those ages. No schedule just read a story a day. I use RS math and HWT pre-K book. Have you looked at Heart of Dakota? Is it overly Christian?

 

Heather

[Karen in CO]

Yep -it is the 4yo I am asking for. I'll look at the Encyclopedia and the One Small square books this week - hopefully the bookstore has them. I bought the One Small Square Backyard and my older dd didn't like it much. I'll make sure that if I find them that dd4 looks at them with me.

 

I am leaning toward getting the Sonlight LA K and working with that before I get something else. Hopefully, just having the SL weekly checklist and her at the table with us will be enough for now. I have RS math and HWT for dd4 too. Thanks for the suggestion about the Scrabble peices. She writes letters but not more than one to three letters a day right now. I am pretty sure that she will appreciate another way to do her practice.

[Lovedtodeath]

What about WP I'm Ready to Learn? It sounds really great. I am determined not to miss this one with DS because it sounds just like what DD did in pre-school. There are unit studies and one is on the farm. Someone mentioned reading Charlotte's Web outloud when doing the farm study. There is more information on the WP forums here: I'm Ready to Learn IRTL or AW?

[Terabith]

I didn't like WP I'm Ready to Learn. On the plus side, however, I have it if you would like it....... It was very heavy on the crafts, and a bad fit for us. Was hard to do some of the games/ activities without a bunch of kids, and the math was way, way too easy and the reading moved too fast.

 

I think the SL LA K would probably be a good fit for you, although I haven't seen it. You could also do something like a subscription to Headsprout, if she enjoys computer stuff.