heartofdakota.com

Hi everyone!

My daughter is six and about to begin 1st grade. We are about 1/3 of the way through the left side of Little Hearts and will continue using it for her first grade year, 4 days a week. I have the 1st grade recs for handwriting and motor skills all ready to go, but have some questions about spelling and math.

We only made it through Singapore Earlybird 2A for Kindergarten, as we were also using Horizons K. This year we will only use Singapore. Should I begin 1st grade with Earlybird 2B or Singapore Primary 1A? The work in 1A looks doable, but I'm concerned about getting to 1B too soon as it looks more challenging. If I use 1A and 1B this year, should I order the Beyond guide for the hands on suggestions?

My next question is about spelling. She is about 2/3 through The Reading Lesson. I kind of thought I should finish phonics before starting spelling, but am unsure. Should I wait until she is finished with phonics and then start the HOD spelling lists? Or should I begin the spelling lists when she starts 1st grade? Or do I wait until we start Beyond in 2nd grade?
I have the Bigger guide for my boys, are the spelling lists the same as in the Beyond guide?

Also, should I begin the Emergent Readers as soon as she is done with the phonics book, or wait until we start Beyond?

Thanks for any help you can give. I'm sure I am overthinking this....

Allison

bump

anyone?

I'll try to answer all your Questions quickly. Finish the Reading lesson before doing spelling. Move right into the emerging readers after finishing the Reading lesson. I would finish Earlybird 2b before moving to 1A to make sure you don't miss any important concepts. You could look through it and see what she already knows and then go from there scheduling it. On using 1A this year you could get the Beyond guide or buy the Singapore Textbook but you should use some hands on activities with it. If you know you will do beyond next year then just go ahead and get it. ( I think the guides get even better each year-my personal opinion! )
Spelling is not all that important at 1st grade level-so don't panic over not doing spelling. I really didn't push my son in spelling but just did the spelling words with him and if he didn't get a few right that's okay. If you look on Simplycharlottemason.com they don't even recommend spelling until about 4th grade. I haven't compared the spelling lists between beyond and bigger.

Hope this helps some.

I am in the same situation with my son...who is 6 in Sept. I agree with Amy and plan to do the same thing.

Question...which Science program are you using...K or 1st grade option?

Are you following the storytime option or something different?

Getting excited to start 1st grade with LHFHG!!

Kirstin

Kristin- We just finished LHFHG with my twin dds for K. They turned 6 in December and did very well. We used the K option for Science and loved it. I "heard" that it is better compared to the 1st grade. I don't think it will be too much of a difference if you used the K book instead of the 1st grade. In fact, we are moving up into Beyond for 1st and it uses the 2nd grade book for Science. We won't even be using the 1st grade Science option.

I think you will be pleased with the books used for Storytime. At first, my girls could only sit still for a short time, but it was very soon that they developed better listening skills and could sit longer for the readings. They LOVED the books and were very disappointed when we finished up for the year. They really identified with the characters, they so love animals. Definitely give the storytime a go. I don't think you or your son will be disappointed. Good luck and have fun with LHFHG! We sure did!

Thanks Amy. That sounds like a good plan.

Kristin, I am going to continue using the Kinder book for science. I love the science portion of Little Hearts. I'm also going to continue with the Burgess books for storytime. My daughter loves them.

Allison