Placement help!! 1st grade!

[ashfaye19852005]

My son is 1st grade ready. This will be our first experience homeschooling. He was in Kindergarten in Public Schools last year. I have sent an email and have tried calling to get help, but I can not get a response. I thought maybe I could get help quick on here as I am looking to purchase a curriculum ASAP.

I know he will be in Beyond Little Hearts.... the question I have is about the math and phonics.

I am not sure if the 1A/1B math is what he needs or the 2A/2B. What "grade level" are those considered? He has already completed, as I said before, all Kindergarten level math.

I am also not sure if he is considered a beginning reader or an emerging reader. He can read over 200 sight words (is already on a first grade reading level), but still needs help with more complex words. Do we need to do the phonics or need to buy the emerging reader set? If he needs the phonics, which one is best for the 1st grade level?

Thanks advance for your time and help!

[mom23]

I think you can find placement help on Singapore's website for math. In general, though, Singapore gets really advanced really fast, and I'd really say to stick with the 1A and 1B for a 1st grader. Take it at his pace, if it's easy at first maybe you could do a couple pages a day until it's not review anymore, but I really think you'll have better success with Singapore over the long haul if you can start it from the beginning. They just have a different way of presenting things and thinking about math that can be difficult for even "mathy" kids to dive into in later levels. Another huge key, I think, in Singapore success is using the daily activities written into your guide (another reason to stick with 1A/1B for Beyond). Those really help to cement things that Singapore workbooks alone don't necessarily accomplish.

As far as your reading question goes, from your description I'd probably recommend you try the emerging readers list with him. I think the phonics HOD uses is supposed to leave them somewhere around a 2nd grade reading level. When I started my 1st grade boy with HOD I bought the first couple of books from the Emerging Readers, tried them for a few weeks, and found he wasn't ready for them yet, so we dropped back and re-did all the phonics. I went ahead and started from the beginning with him, using the first few lessons very quickly, until they got to be harder for him. I'm really glad I did that with my son, but every kid will be different; it sounds like your son is more advanced at reading than my 1st grader was coming home from ps Kindy.

And, finally, welcome to HOD!!! I hope it will be as big a blessing to your home as it has been to ours.

[StephanieU]

On the phonics, one thing you could do is see if the library has one of the first books in the list. That will let you know if he is ready for them or not. We have the Beginner's Bible, which is what I used to decide where to place my daughter.

[luv2homeschool]

Singapore math has its own placement test that you can use:
http://www.singaporemath.com/Placement_s/12.htm

I would suggest using 1A/1B, though, because of the excellent activities scheduled in Beyond to correspond with the lessons.

He sounds like an emerging reader to me.