Practical Review: Creative Alphabet For Preschool and Kindergarten

Marie Picard's  Creative Alphabet For Preschool and Kindergarten site description:
A great help for the parent to make a reading and writing readiness program for preschool and kindergarten. Includes a printing page at 1 1/2" size character for each letter of the alphabet, each with a word and a line drawing to color. Next to each printing page is a full list of words to choose from, for vocabulary, for an alphabet scrapbook, and for activities perhaps to do and talk about during the time your child is doing a particular letter. Other little siblings can benefit at the same time as they can see and hear and perhaps do at their level what the older child is drawing or colouring. The results should show that your student knows the sound and shape of each letter of the alphabet. After this book your child might practice in Book B. Check out our sample pages for both Book A and Book B.


My Thoughts:
This book is really intended to be a jumping off point for learning letter sounds.  According to the instructions in the front, it is only secondarily a handwriting book.  It has the parent teach the letters and sounds in alphabetical order.  For each letter, there is instructions on how to form it, several to trace, a couple of words to trace starting with that letter and then an extensive list of art projects, saints, scripture, songs, sports, food, toys and chores that all start with that letter sound.  It is intended that the parent spend several days on each letter and it's sound, using the list to generate activities or scrapbook ideas, and once the child has it mastered, the parent reviews the previous letters and sounds already learned.  I think this text would be especially helpful to a preschooler's mother who wishes to give him a head start without formal lessons with heavily scripted activities.  There are SO many letter sound categories and suggestions that a parent can choose whatever they have on hand that week to reinforce the sounds.  


My one criticism is the arrangement of letters learned.   A child would be most of the way through the year before he could read  Mat sat. Sam sat.  However, since this text doesn't build on itself, you can teach the letters in any arrangement you like.  If someone were using this text for preschool language instruction, I would suggest getting a set of Bob Books and teaching the letter sounds in the order they appear in that series.


MODG Families:
This text is used for MODG Kindergarten handwriting.  It not necessary to teach the letter sounds, as it is only intended for handwriting practice.  One page is taught per week, spending a little time each day forming the letters and tracing the words.  The syllabus follows the text by teaching the letters in alphabetical order.  


My Recommendations:
We found that it works best for us to teach the letters of the child's name first.  Then, the child learns the letters in a similar order as the phonics text.  


This is especially helpful if you were to be requiring actual WRITING for the "sound writing" activity at the tail end of the phonics lesson.  Early in the year, while we're learning to write our name, we often use sandpaper letters for that task in the phonics text (there's no M in Zach, so he wouldn't know that one yet), eliminating the pencil skill.  But once we're ready to move onto other letters, I chose the pages for handwriting that we'd be "sound writing" at the end of the week.  


For the phonics lesson, we are naming the lower case letter only by sound.  For handwriting I call it by name.  The child himself may notice that he knows the sound of that letter from his phonics text, but I don't point it out until the sound writing activity at the end of the week. That way the child can practice all week on the form and then connect it to the sound after the fine motor isn't such a chore.  


Conclusion:
If used as written, I feel this text would be very helpful for a Catholic preschooler's mother who wants to teach letter sounds, forms, and doesn't want to go out buying supplies for scripted activities.  One week she could use saints, another week using food examples.  It's unlikely that, given the extent of the list, she would need to shop at all to provide hands on examples.  Additionally, she won't have to think them up herself.  That alone makes it worth the $8.  Just look down the list and see what you have on hand.  However, I wouldn't recommend following the internal order of the book.  ABC order is not the best way to teach letter sounds as it is such a long time before the child gets to connect his skills to actual words.  M and S are too far down the alphabet!  


As a MODG handwriting book alone, it's sweet, but out of order for the phonics text which means the "sound writing" exercises at the end of the phonics lessons will need to NOT be actual writing.  Additionally, if a family is strapped for cash, as a handwriting text alone, it doesn't add anything that a parent couldn't provide with pencil and paper.  


However, if you are going to follow MODG's "one lesson a week" pace (generally 10 tasks per lesson) for the phonics text, and like me, concentrates that effort in twice a week sessions, the (really adorably Catholic) letter sound list would be sufficient for a parent to come up with a letter sound review activity on the fly for the off days from the phonics text.  I am BANANAS when it comes to manipulatives, but someone else might just want to review the letter sounds using cans from the pantry or the faces of saints in her stack of holy cards.  This text will have that list already ready for you. 

Practical Review: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

Book Description from Publisher:
Is your child halfway through first grade and still unable to read? Is your preschooler bored with coloring and ready for reading? Do you want to help your child read, but are afraid you'll do something wrong?

SRAs DISTAR® is the most successful beginning reading program available to schools across the country. Research has proven that children taught by the DISTAR® method outperform their peers who receive instruction from other programs. Now for the first time, this program has been adapted for parent and child to use at home. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is a complete, step-by-step program that shows patents simply and clearly how to teach their children to read.

Twenty minutes a day is all you need, and within 100 teaching days your child will be reading on a solid second-grade reading level. It's a sensible, easy-to-follow, and enjoyable way to help your child gain the essential skills of reading. Everything you need is here -- no paste, no scissors, no flash cards, no complicated directions -- just you and your child learning together. One hundred lessons, fully illustrated and color-coded for clarity, give your child the basic and more advanced skills needed to become a good reader.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons will bring you and your child closer together, while giving your child the reading skills needed now, for a better chance at tomorrow.

My Thoughts:

This book is a one-stop shop for learning to read.  There's writing, sounds, rhyming, blending, comprehension.  There's no need for any supplemental material, if you use it as written.

I find that this book works great on the "20 minutes a day" schedule it advertises for Lessons 1-20.  This will cover ALL the reading, writing, grammar and language work a parent could want.  

However, for lessons 20-100, I will repeat what another homeschool mom said about it:  The lessons aren't 20 minutes, they aren't "easy", and there's way more than 100 of them.  

The text doesn't change at that point, rather, the child starts really having to work.  Sentences are longer by that point, there's enough sounds to review that this takes some effort, and generally, my kids start to HATE it.  

That being said...I highly recommend it.   This program is effective, efficient, and cuts out all of the fat.  I would have a terrible time strong arming my kid into doing busywork, but there is NO busywork in this program.  It gets the job done!  Just be forewarned that if your child doesn't like to work hard (like most kids), you will need a backbone after Lesson 20 to make this happen.

MODG FAMILIES: 

MODG's Kindergarten and First Grade lesson plans have you do about one Lesson per week (not per day as the book advertises).  


I have found that we breeze ahead in the syllabus for Lessons 1-20, but slow down to that "one Lesson a week" rate from then on.  Rather than doing 1-2 tasks a day, as it recommends in the syllabus (there are 9-10 tasks per Lesson), we find that we can do half a lesson in a sitting, twice a week.  (There's a tantrum when the book comes out, and I can only work myself up to that a couple of times a week, so I get out of them what I can in each sitting before they go boneless and refuse to work.)  

Now, because of this slower pace (whether that happens at Lesson 1 or Lesson 20 for your family), they aren't getting the level of writing practice (and possibly sound review) that they need to keep from backsliding.  Once a week writing isn't enough. So, MODG uses a separate writing curriculum Writing Can Help Series, Book A: A Creative Alphabet (Marie Picard).


My Recommendations:
The MODG syllabus has you follow the internal order of the writing curriculum.  If you are going to follow that plan, I would not require the child to actually WRITE on the "sound writing" task in the text.  If he hasn't practiced making those letters yet, this will be REALLY frustrating.  So, on those weeks that we didn't practice those letters in writing, I let them finger-trace sandpaper letters instead.


Another alternative is to not follow the internal order of the writing book and instead practice all week on the pages in that book containing the letters from the "sound writing" task in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  For example, if you're working on Lesson 29 this week, practice ALL WEEK writing on the N and U pages in the writing workbook, since that's what they'll be asked to "sound write" at the end of the week. I don't make them say the sound as they write until we reach that task in the reading text, unless they quickly master making the letters. 

You may be a tougher mom than me and get those kids to do that recommended couple of tasks a day, but if you're like me and only force them to do the text twice a week, half a Lesson at a time, then they aren't seeing the sounds DAILY.  I, therefore, supplement with made up sound review activities. On our off days, we read Bob Books, or play "build a nonsense word" game with the known sounds from our Alphabet rocks, or practice sorting objects by letter sound under the correct sandpaper letter.  This is totally unnecessary if you follow the lesson plans, as they will see the sounds daily.  

Conclusion:
This is a great language text.  It's a one-stop shop for all your reading, writing needs.  However if you, like me, find that after Lesson 20 you are going much slower than the text recommends, you will need to make up the writing and possibly sound practice to get enough repetition each week.

Our School: Second Grade Curriculum

We are enrolled in Mother of Divine Grace homeschool. MODG is a CLASSICAL curriculum.  I am enrolled in their school, but that enrollment allows me some flexibility in curriculum choices if I keep to the school standards.  I definitely organize the school day in my mind differently than they, but the essence is the same.

Here's the original:

Religion:
St. Joseph’s Baltimore Catechism No. 1
St. Joseph's First Communion Catechism
Any Lives of the Saints book

Math
(Option 1): Arithmetic 2 (www.abeka.com)
Arithmetic 2 Tests & Speed Drills (www.abeka.com)
Math-It Set (E.W. Brooks) (www.rainbowresource.com)
(Option 2):
Saxon Math 2 Homeschool Kit (www.saxonhomeschool.com)

Reading/Phonics:
Sound Beginnings: Parent/Teacher Manual (J. Fogassy) (www.ourfathershouse.biz)
The Harp and Laurel Wreath (ed. Berquist)

Handwriting:
Writing Can Help, Book 1: Introducing Printing and Handwriting (M. Picard)
composition notebook

Poetry:
The Harp and Laurel Wreath (ed. Berquist)
blank book

History:
Paul Revere’s Ride (H.W. Longfellow, ill. Rand)
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims (C.R. Bulla)
blank book for Family History (same book used in Geography)
various historical biographies – see Supplementary Materials – These can also be found in
libraries

Geography:
United States Coloring Book (W. Adam, pub. Dover)
The United States of America: A State by State Guide (www.amazon.com)
States & Capitals Flashcards
blank book for maps (same book used in History)

Science:
Science with Plants (pub. Usborne)
Seasons and Living Things (pub. Milliken)
blank book

Art:
Child-Size Masterpieces: Mommy, It’s a Renoir! - Text (Aline D. Wolf)
Child-Size Masterpieces: Mommy, It’s a Renoir! - Advanced Steps 1-3
Discover Crochet Kit (or any How to Crochet Book)
Tissue Paper Flowers (pub. Klutz) OP
Wooden Rosary Holder: Immaculate Heart of Mary
Jesse Tree Kit
First Communion Banner Kit
First Communion Invitation Card Kit (www.illuminatedink.com)
First Communion Thank-You Card Kit (www.illuminatedink.com)
Wooden Rosary Holder: Sacred Heart of Jesus

Music:
First Book of the Recorder Kit
Let’s Learn Music #1
Music Masters Series (choose any 8)
36 Traditional Roman Catholic Hymns


How it shook out for our family:

Religion:
We follow the syllabus, with the addition of a reading about the saint of the day.

Poetry:
We follow the syllabus except we don't copy and illustrate the poem at the end of the whole thing as recommended.  The verse for the week has become her handwriting/copywork.  She traces it twice (www.handwritingworksheets.com) and then copies it into her notebook.  At the end of the week she illustrates that stanza.


Reading:  
Writing Road to Reading and Starting a Spelling Notebook.  We use Option 4 for lesson plans.  If someone has never used Sound Beginnings, I highly recommend it.  There are a few things that I will always teach the Sound Beginnings way, though I use WRTR now for second grade.

I just personally found it super-difficult to get in any practice reading with Sound Beginnings.  The lessons were SO INVOLVED that I didn't have much "do this or else" left in me.  Now, each day, we just go over phonograms, maybe add a couple more, dictate 6-10 words in WRTR, and then split our time between the Faith and Freedom readers from Seton and Dr Seuss easy readers in the evening.  She gets at least 30 minutes a day of practice reading aloud to me. 

Writing:

We follow the syllabus, but if the child is anxious for cursive, we skip the first half of the book.  Even before they know ALL their letters in cursive, though, we start tracing our poetry stanza in cursive two days a week, then copying it into our poetry notebooks to be illustrated on the last day.

'Rithmetic
I followed the syllabus, using Abeka for the first half of the year, but the Abeka style just doesn't work for my kids once the math gets harder.  I should have thought to do Saxon, but I forgot it was recommended.  Currently, we use Math Mammoth, following the internal order.  

Geography
We followed the syllabus for the first half of the year, but all those states coloring pages finally wore on my daughter (who adores coloring, btw).  And, I have yet to ever get to that end of the year history literature.  Doesn't seem to matter, though, since you read them all again next year.  We are elaborating on the family history and mapping projects, looking at google earth maps where family members lived and spending more time investigating the time period.    We do, however, do the states and capitals memorization religiously.

Art, Music
We follow the syllabus for music, minus the Catholic hymns and recorder.  They sing in the church choir, so that covers the hymns and we'll do that recorder thing when they can read well enough to do it all in a room far away from me.  For art, we follow the syllabus, minus a few of the art projects.  We have lots of handwork like weaving, stenciling, braiding, and stitch boards on our busy shelf.  I also add a weekly informal drawing lesson using Kistler's books.

Science
We follow the syllabus for the worksheets, but we garden and keep a nature notebook instead of doing Science with Plants.  Also, our literature readings have LOTS of natural history in them.

30 Minutes of DAILY Reading

Our school recommends 30 minutes a day of read-aloud time.  I do all three kids together.  We split our time between Burgess and Holling C. Holling stories, The Book of Virtues, tall tales and fairy tales, picture books, and the occasional Eggleston history book.  

Kindergarten Curriculum

We use Mother of Divine Grace for our curriculum.  I am enrolled in their school, but that enrollment allows me some flexibility in curriculum choices if I keep to the school standards.  I definitely organize the school day in my mind differently than they, but the essence is the same.

Here's the original:
Religion:
The Golden Children’s Bible (Golden Press)

Math:
Golden Step Ahead Workbooks: I Know Numbers (ed. Kathleen A. Cole)
Golden Step Ahead Workbooks: Numbers 1-10 (Lois Bottoni)
Golden Step Ahead Number Flashcards

Reading/Phonics:
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (Siegfried Engelmann)

Handwriting:
Writing Can Help Series, Book A: A Creative Alphabet (Marie Picard)
blank composition book

Poetry:
The Harp and Laurel Wreath (ed. Laura M. Berquist)

Art/Music:
Child-Size Masterpieces: Mommy, It’s a Renoir! - Text (Aline D. Wolf)
Child-Size Masterpieces: Mommy, It’s a Renoir! - Easy Steps 1-3
36 Traditional Roman Catholic Hymns: A Book for Singing with Accompanying CD Recordings
St. Michael Wooden Rosary Holder
Olive Wood Rosary Kit
Rosary Case Lacing Project
Lourdes Marian Grotto Kit
Spiritual Bouquet Card Kit (www.illuminatedink.com)

Literature:
Free choice from classic children's literature, liturgical year recommendations, and selections from The Book of Virtues.


My Real Curriculum:  

Poetry:  
We follow the syllabus except I add address, phone number, birthday, and songs about ABC's, days of the week, states, books of the NT, and months of the year to his memorization.

Reading:  

We follow the syllabus, except we generally get way ahead for lessons 1-20 and then switch to twice a week sessions when it gets hard, but we still cover the recommended one Lesson a week.  The only adaptation is the "sound writing" task at the end of each lesson is often a Sandpaper Letters task instead of pencil work, as he usually hasn't learned to write those letters yet.  On the off days when he just can't bear to do this book, we make up nonsense words with the sounds he knows using Phonogram Rocks or we sort objects by first letter sound.  Also, he takes a turn reading Bob Books to us at night when the other kids are doing their easy-reader read aloud time.

Writing:

We follow the syllabus pace, but we do the letters out of order so that the child first learns the letters in his first name and then we follow the same general order of the phonics text.  Alternatively, we use these notebooking pages for more practice or for variety if he's getting tired of the book. For extra pencil practice, he does Walmart workbook mazes (voluntarily...loads of them) while the other kids work.

'Rithmetic
We followed the syllabus until the Golden Books got too writing intensive.  He found writing the numbers really difficult, so we quickly did the rest of the non-number-writing activities and then switched to other things.  I used a lot of the activities from Montessori at Home to teach 1-9, the teens, and the tens, but aside from playing the Exchange Game, he wants "big boy" math, which means worksheets.  Go figure.  I use hers, because the number writing builds up slowly.  But there's weirdly advanced stuff in there, so I skip some things, like the less-than-greater-than puzzles.  Also, I already have an Abeka 1 workbook.  We might play in there too.

Religion
The Golden Bible is TOO HARD for my kids.  I already had to fight him for phonics and writing, I didn't want to fight him for Bible too!  It wasn't just "challenging", it was impossible for him to understand.  I might as well read the New York Times business section to him.  We like Lovasik's Children's Picture Bible mixed with the very cartoony, Catholic Bible Stories for Children for review and easier retelling. We go much faster than the syllabus, since I like to get through one Testament or the other in a year.  All the kids listen to the saint of the day and he tells me something he remembers from the story.

Art and Music Friday
We follow the syllabus for Art, but not music.  We sing songs together and he hears the older kids Music Masters on Friday.  Well, that's not true completely.  I don't do all of the crafts.  We have other handcrafts, like weaving looms, stitch boards, and art insets on our busy shelf. 

30 Minutes of Reading
Our school recommends 30 minutes a day of read-aloud time.  I do all three kids together.  We split our time between Burgess and Holling C. Holling stories, The Book of Virtues, tall tales and fairy tales, picture books, and the occasional Eggleston history book.

Our School: Third Grade Curriculum

We are enrolled in Mother of Divine Grace homeschool. MODG is a CLASSICAL curriculum.  I am enrolled in their school, but that enrollment allows me some flexibility in curriculum choices if I keep to the school standards.  I definitely organize the school day in my mind differently than they, but the essence is the same.  My additions are in italics.

The GRAMMAR stage of the Classical curriculum is about memorizing all kinds of relevant facts and whatnot that are helpful in navigating the planet and life.  In the next stage, these facts will be used for detecting logic and truth and later debating these thing to establish a pattern for life, but in these early stages, it's more about acquiring the building blocks.  

Example:  Latin.  Dorothy Sayers famous said that learning Latin is important because it cuts the effort in learning any other subject in half.  My kid has no idea what all this Latin stuff is about, but his brain absorbs it like a sponge and later it will be golden. 




Here's the Original:



Religion:
St. Joseph’s Baltimore Catechism No. 1 
Child’s Bible History (F.J. Knecht) 
blank sketchbook 


Math 
(Option 1): Recommended in Syllabus
Arithmetic 3 (www.abeka.com)
Arithmetic 3 Tests & Drills (www.abeka.com) 
(Option 2):
Saxon Math 3 Homeschool Kit (www.saxonhomeschool.com) 


Reading/Writing:
Primary Language Lessons (E. Serl) 


Spelling:
Writing Road to Reading (R. Spalding) 
Starting a Spelling Notebook: A Nuts and Bolts Guide to The Writing Road to Reading (M.
McAlister)


Poetry:
The Harp and Laurel Wreath (ed. Berquist)


History 
(Option 1):
How Our Nation Began (P. Furlong)
Leif the Lucky (D’Aulaire) 
(Option 2):
Our American Heritage (www.abeka.com) 
Our American Heritage Tests & Quizzes (www.abeka.com) 
Our American Heritage Tests & Quizzes Key (www.abeka.com) 
The Boston Tea Party by Steven Kroll 
Gold Fever (V. Kay) 
Little House on the Prairie (www.amazon.com) 


History (Options 1 and 2 – some are either/or in Option 2):
Christopher Columbus (D’Aulaire) 
Three Ships Come Sailing (G. Waring)
Pocahontas (D’Aulaire) 
If You Sailed on the Mayflower (A. McGovern) 
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims (C.R. Bulla) 
Visiting a Village (B. Kalman) 
Life in a Colonial Town (S. Senzell Isaacs) 
If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Days (B. Brenner) 
The Courage of Sarah Noble (A. Dalgliesh) 
The Bears on Hemlock Mountain (A. Dalgliesh) 
Paul Revere’s Ride (H.W. Longfellow, ill. Rand) 
George Washington (D’Aulaire) 
Meet Thomas Jefferson (M. Barrett) 
Benjamin Franklin (D’Aulaire)
George the Drummer Boy (N. Benchley) (I Can Read series)
Sam the Minuteman (N. Benchley) (I Can Read series) 
The Boston Coffee Party (I Can Read series) 
If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution (K. Moore) 
If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon (E. Levine) 
Sarah, Plain and Tall (P. MacLachlan) 
The Josephina Story Quilt (I Can Read series) 
The Drinking Gourd (I Can Read series) 
Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie (Roop) 
Abraham Lincoln (D’Aulaire) 
If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad (E. Levine) 
Robert E Lee: Young Confederate (H.A. Monsell) (Childhood of Famous Americans series)
Clara Barton (A. Stevenson) (Childhood of Famous Americans series) 
Little House in the Big Woods (L.I. Wilder – 1st in Series of 9 Books) 


Geography 
(Option 1):
Our American Heritage Map Study Skills (www.abeka.com) 
States and Capitals Flashcards
(Option 2):
atlas along with a standard map skills book
States and Capitals Flashcards 


Science:
Exploring God’s World (www.abeka.com)
Exploring God’s World Student Quiz, Test & Worksheet Book (www.abeka.com)
Exploring God’s World Quiz, Test & Worksheet Key (www.abeka.com)


Latin:
English from the Roots Up, Volume I Word Cards 


Art:
Child-Size Masterpieces: Mommy, it’s a Renoir! – Text (Aline D. Wolf) 
Child-size Masterpieces: Mommy, It’s a Renoir! – Step 4 
Child-size Masterpieces: Mommy, It’s a Renoir! – Step 5 


Music:
Let’s Learn Music #2 (pub. Hayes) 
Music Masters, set 3 (Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Strauss, Verdi, Berlioz, & Foster/Sousa)


Reading:  
30 minutes/day





How it Shakes out for my Family:


Religion:

We begin the day with a prayer and a group retelling about the saint of the day.  We follow the syllabus, though we do it all together so that the younger kids hear the questions a million times before they have to memorize them.  And the older kids, hear the younger kids doing the earlier questions, so we can double dip on the review.  


Math 
We did option 1 for half the year, but my son is really distracted by the Abeka worksheet style once things get challenging.  And all that drill on things he already knew was busywork for him.  He wasn't losing skills if he left them alone for a week or two, so we switched to Math Mammoth.  I totally forgot that Saxon was the recommended alternative since it's not got lesson plans in the syllabus.  


Reading/Writing:
We follow the syllabus.  MODG does a wonderful job of turning the mountains of busywork in this sweet, old book into doable, applicable activities.  For example, instead of all the copywork on fake letters, they have you write a real letter and send it to your relatives.  And they skip all the Aesop's retellings and copywork since we did SO MANY of those in previous years.  Some Charlotte Mason schools spend two years on this book, but since it's so streamlined by the MODG syllabus, we get it done in one.


For reading, we use the Faith and Freedom readers.  He reads and retells them to me.  Also, we read easy readers in the evening for more practice.


Spelling:
I dictate six words a day and orally test the previous 18.  


Poetry:
We follow the syllabus, except that instead of writing the whole poem after it's memorized, we trace the weekly stanza twice and then copy it into the poetry notebook and illustrate it on Friday.  


History 
We use Option 1 according to the syllabus...EXCEPT...and this is the only time you'll ever hear me say this, the history assignments are unrealistic!  It's not too much to get done in a year, just the way it's scheduled is NOT GOOD.  We have weeks of no supplemental reading and then BOOM, we're supposed to read Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims in a day!  I've had to rework the schedule a lot to spread out the reading and get it off that one day.  Also, we don't usually do the study lessons at the back of the chapter.   My son isn't a strong enough reader for that yet, so we do notebooking pages instead for each chapter and reading selection.


Geography 
We follow the syllabus, but generally end up doing the workbook orally.  We also use my Montessori United States puzzle for reviewing states and capitals.  We play games with the puzzle too, trying to tell the states with our eyes closed and feeling the edges, putting the puzzle back together without the frame, etc.  In fact, this was so effective, that the last ten pages or more of the workbook were irrelevant.  He already knew all the state locations.


Science:
We follow the syllabus, minus the tests.  


Latin:
We follow the syllabus.


Art:
We follow the syllabus.


Music:
We follow the syllabus, but use Hayes#1 since we didn't do it last year.



30 Minutes of DAILY Reading

Our school recommends 30 minutes a day of read-aloud time.  I do all three kids together.  We split our time between nature stories, tall tales, picture books, and the occasional liturgical year story.  I also dabble in Baldwin and Eggleston history books and Holling C Holling geography.  Chapter books happen on car trips.

Our School: First Grade Curriculum

I don't have a first grader this year, though I've already taught it twice and have one next year, so I think I can tell you how it goes for us.

The Original:

Religion:
St. Joseph’s First Communion Catechism
Any Lives of the Saints Book

Math:
(Option 1): Recommended in Syllabus
Arithmetic 1 (www.abeka.com)
Arithmetic 1: Tests & Speed Drills (www.abeka.com)
(Option 2):
Saxon Math 1 Homeschool Kit (www.saxonhomeschool.com)

Reading/Phonics:
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (Siegfried Engelmann)

Handwriting:
Writing Can Help Series, Book B: Manuscript Practice (Marie Picard)
blank composition book

Poetry:
The Harp and Laurel Wreath (ed. Laura M. Berquist)
A Child’s Garden of Verses (R.L. Stevenson)

Art:
Child-Size Masterpieces: Mommy, it’s a Renoir! - Text (Aline D. Wolf)
Child-Size Masterpieces: Mommy, it’s a Renoir! - Intermediate Steps
Aesop's Fables
Our Lady of Guadalupe Marian Grotto Kit
Advent Candles Kit (www.illuminatedink.com)
O Antiphon Christmas Card Kit
Stations of the Cross Grotto Kit (www.illuminatedink.com)

Music:
36 Traditional Roman Catholic Hymns: A Book for Singing with Acc. CD Recordings
Peter and the Wolf (narrated by Janet Schulman) with CD (www.amazon.com)
Carnival of the Animals (comm. by B.C. Turner) with CD
Bach's Goldberg Variations (A.H. Celenza) with CD
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (A.H. Celenza) with CD
The Farewell Symphony (A.H. Celenza) with CD

How it Shakes Out for Us:


Religion:
We follow the syllabus with the addition of daily saint reading.

Math:
Will likely use Abeka 1.  At this level, the math is easy enough that we don't find it distracting.

Reading/Phonics:
We will likely follow the syllabus, but start out ahead in the lesson numbers.

Handwriting:
We will likely trace our poetry stanza for the week and then copy it into our notebooks to illustrate on Friday.

Poetry:
Follow the syllabus, except with the change mentioned above.

Art:
Follow the syllabus, minus some of the art projects.

Music:
We well likely continue our Music Masters rotations.  We also read the hilarious, "Lives of the Musicians" , color a page in our notebooks, and do a retelling.

































FIRST GRADE


I don't have anyone in first grade this year, bubasically how I would, if I did.


Recitation
Poems from Child's Garden of Verses by Stevenson (2-4 lines/wk)
Catechism prayers and questions

Reading
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (2+ lessons/wk)


Writing
Handwriting Without Tears  (2+ pages/week)
Whatever copy work I could get them to do daily from poem
Chalkboard or review sheets for all the letters and numbers


'Rithmetic
Math Mammoth (2 pages/day)


Religion
St. Joseph First Communion Catechism  (1 lesson/2wks)