We're gearing up to start school again on Monday. Normally we don't take a large chunk of time off in the summer, but with dh leaving to work out west this spring, we ended up taking all of June and the first two weeks of July off. I feel like I'm still missing something, though? Particularly for my 1st grader (Asher). My oldest (Josh) is starting 4th grade. Here's what I have so far: Josh: -LA: Words on the Vine and Learning LA Through Literature -Math: Math Makes Sense (local public school text, mental math) -Social Studies: Provincial Unit Studies Both kids together: -Science: Finishing up Apologia Astrology, then moving on to Apologia Botony -History: Mystery of History Vol. 1 -Music: Stories of the Great Composers Asher: -Reading: Finishing HOP Kindergarten, then moving on to Leap Frog Phonics -Math: Hands on learning, no texts/workbooks, based on local public school's Math Makes Sense curriculum. (My SIL is the math coordinator for the district) -Handwriting Without Tears I think, I feel like I'm missing something with Asher when it comes to Language Arts. Josh was/is a very advanced reader, it came very naturally to him. He was reading chapter books by the time he was 6, so when he was in 1st grade, we'd already moved on to LA workbooks dealing with reading comprehension, grammar, beginning parts of speech, etc. Is it pretty standard to still be just focusing on phonics/reading and handwriting in 1st grade? Or is there something I'm missing I should be adding? Do you think the overall curriculum looks good for both boys? I don't know why I'm questioning myself so much this year!
I won't comment on your fourth grader, because I have one going in as well For my youngest though, we just finished first. And I would say, with her, there was very little LA beyond exactly what you stated: phonics and reading to master that, and handwriting. We worked on a few other things for LA occasionally: beg/mid/end of a story, character/plot/setting, and we talked about punctuation. She also dictated a poem to me. I considered that stuff gravy though- until she really cements her reading, the rest is just too hard and for my dd, with a word phobia, it's important for us to concentrate on READING before we worry about other things. Not sure how others handle it... my dd was a special case when it came to reading.
I would probably focus on phonics, reading, and handwriting. When he is able to compose a simple sentence I would start some basic instruction on things like capitals and periods. If you want to introduce grammar at some point in the school year, Mad Libs are a fun way to introduce different parts of speech. The only thing I think I would add if you aren't already doing it is reading aloud.
Thank you, both of you I think I'll leave it the way it is, for now, and see how we get on before worrying about adding anything more advanced.
