Placement and such

[robinbird79]

Hello! I'm seriously considering Beyond for my upcoming 1st grader in the fall if I pull him from public school but I have a few questions (of course lol!).

1. He has a late birthday (Sept 13) and in the state of Georgia he had to wait a year before starting Kindergarten so he'll turn 7 right after the school year starts in the fall. He's a very smart little boy and seems to be ahead of most of his present Kindergarten class. He is very good with his phonics and sounding out his words and loves to read but I'm worried that some of the books listed in the Emerging Reader set will still be above his reading level. Should I go ahead and get the books anyway since he will obviously grow in his reading skills as the year goes along? I feel that he does not need to have one of the phonics books.

2. I had him take the free placement tests on the Singapore Math site for 1A/1B. He passed 1A but did not pass 1B. What should I order? All of level 1 or maybe 1B and 2A? Also, if I do that will it be fairly easy to find where to begin his math lessons in the guide book?

3. Is there much art involved in the daily lesson plans? He loves to be creative and I want to make sure he has plenty to enjoy.

4. Does anyone incorporate lapbooking and notebooking into their daily or weekly plans?

5. He loves the weather. He stated last year he wants to be a weatherman and chase tornados so he can help make better warning systems (yes, he's watched the Twister movie lol!). Would it be easy to work in some weather lessons into the curriculum?

Thanks so much for any help offered!

[Nealewill]

I think Beyond would be a wonderful year for you and your son. My son is 7 now and my dd is 6 and they both have enjoyed Beyond immensely. As for reading, I would buy one of the phonics program recommended by HOD. I think if you son does that, he will get a great review of many of the phonics sounds and then he will definitely be ready for the early reader set. My kids have thoroughly enjoyed the books from that set!

For math, yes, I personally would order the books 1B and 2A for next year. Beyond does schedule some hands on activities that go along with 1A & 1B though. So you will want to start on the lessons plans in the math box where the lessons start with 1B. After that, I don't think they schedule any more hands on activities. And the books are very easy to tell where to start and stop for the day. Once you get the hang of how HOD schedules 1B, you could easily move forward the 2A and not use a schedule. However, if you want the schedule, then you could order the next manual up and you can follow the math from that manual.

There is an "art" activity at least once per week. But there are also games and other activities that the kids do every day of the plans.

I personally never add to the guide. Some like to do so but I have 3 kids and we are busy! We don't add LOL. I have heard others will add in notebooking and lapbooking because they love it. You can definitely do something with the weather if you wanted as well. With Beyond, HOD estimates your day will last 2.5 hours a day. You can easily still pursue any other interests that you have with this type of schedule.

[StephanieU]

On the phonics vs Emerging Readers, would he be okay reading the first few books - Beginner's Bible, Owl at Home, Frog and Toad? If so, I think you are okay starting there. You will notice that the books get harder basically every week. But, in the guide, there are also supplemental titles if you need to slow down a little (one per week). Our library has most of the ER books as well as the supplemental titles, so I only bought one book - the nature reader (we owned the Beginner's Bible already). But, also check with his school to see what phonics he has learned and if they think it is complete. He should have been exposed to basically all of the rules. For example, the soft g, silent g and k, all of the y sounds, etc. Often times these aren't taught until 1st or 2nd grade. So, if that is the case, I would buy The Reading Lesson as well. Maybe do the ER books 2-3 days a week and TRL 2-3 days a week. You can "fly" through the beginning of TRL and then slow down when you get to the more complicated rules.

With his age, I would think Beyond would be perfect. He will love it. I would recommend starting it as written. The only thing I would "change" would be the math where you would jump to Unit 15 Day 5 for 1B activities. Then, if after a few weeks, you think he needs more, search the web for notebooking papers. Wonderful HOD moms have created them for history and science.

[Gwenny]

You will love Beyond and it sounds like it will be perfect for your guy!

You should order the emerging readers now, they can grow quickly in their skills. Just have him reading and reading to you in easy readers, either that you own or from the library. The emerging readers are great books.

You could definitely start with 1B unless you think he needs a review. The activities for 2A are in the Bigger guide though. It's easy to use another marker in the guide for where you are in math.

There are some really neat art and activities in the guide. Some people also use the Draw Write Now books to correspond to the history lessons to do some more art. Those are great books.

I've never added any lapbooking. I feel that the guide is plenty.

[robinbird79]

On the phonics vs Emerging Readers, would he be okay reading the first few books - Beginner's Bible, Owl at Home, Frog and Toad? If so, I think you are okay starting there. You will notice that the books get harder basically every week. But, in the guide, there are also supplemental titles if you need to slow down a little (one per week).

Yes, I think he would be okay with the first books. He will read to me now out of what we have here (mainly level 1 I think). His teacher started him on the 1st grade reading/sight words, etc before Christmas.

[MomtoJGJE]

For math I would personally get 1A, 1B, and 2A, but let him work through 1A at his own pace... just to get the feel and flow of SM.

For ERs if they are too advanced you can start out with him reading a page and you reading a page to help him learn the flow. I did that with one of my girls and they were reading the whole section before we got out of the Beginners Bible. Another option is to get both Bibles and have him go through both of them with the easier one first.