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Hi,
We are in Beyond with my just-turned 7 year old. He is only technically in the first grade, as he was in K last year in a Christian school, but I have quizzed him on over half the spelling words in the Beyond 2nd grade list, and he already knows how to spell them!

What should I do? Should I keep quizzing him until I come to a list he doesn't know or just make him write down the ones he misses?

He also wants to read 4 chapters a day in the Early Reader's Bible so he can get through it faster. He reads it all aloud to me and answers all the questions. At this rate we are going to be through these Emergent readers before half the year is over! What should I do? He is also doing like 4 or 5 pages of the Singapore 1 each day as well, mostly with no help from me! Actually, he does mostly all of his work independently!

It's funny. I feel like my 7 year old needs more, but I want to slow him down a little, and my 9 year old doesn't want any more, but I feel like he needs more! What is going on with me?

Blessings,
Tina

I can't really speak to the spelling because we are using All About Spelling. In regards to the emergent readers why not get the suggested supplementary readers also. My ds is 7 and I am adding in many of the supplemental titles as well as a few other historical readers I've found. My ds had already read some of the first emergent readers last year before we came to HOD(ie frog and toad, owl at home, CLP nature reader 1, Amelia Bedelia). He is also reading CLP nature reader 2 in place of 1. Just a thought, but be sure and add them in the order suggested as they increase in difficulty. As far as the math the beggining of the books are generally easier, and I'm sure he will want to slow down when it gets harder. I like going by the book, so I make the kids follow the schedule for math, and if they want more we do games, or MEP maths.

My 7-year old son is also doing Beyond this year and he's doing just fine with the 2nd grade spelling list. So if your son is doing well with that list, I'd say just stick with that. As far as him reading ahead and doing more math, I would probably slow him down and stick with the schedule so he doesn't get ahead of himself, if that makes any sense. You could always add in other readers for him to read at a faster pace if he wants. But that's just me.

Thank you for your thoughts. I think you are right with the spelling list... it's just when my son says, "Mom, I already know ALL these!" it's kind of hard to know what to do. He is also only in Singapore 1, so I think that is why he is doing so many pages at once.

We are trying to go to the library every week, so I will make sure he gets a big stock of other readers there. I will look at the supplementary list and see if they have them. Thanks so much!

Tina

I didn't realize you said SM 1a. My ds is doing 2a right now. 1a is pretty basic, but once he hits 1b he will probably slow down.

My son enjoys reading the supplemental titles of the Emerging Readers too. Some I give him to read at bedtime and some he reads with me. All of them are excellent!
We also enjoy using MEP Math along with Singapore. It's free and something my kids enjoy doing together.
Congratulations! You seem to have a "natural speller"!

Not to be disrespectful, but I cringe when I hear someone say to slow a kid down on the math just to stay on schedule! Isn't one of the great benefits of homeschooling to be able to teach you kids at their own pace? Slowing down a kid who is zipping through math is asking for him to be bored. The schedule is great, but I don't think it's meant to be law. It's all about flexibility. When he needs to slow down, slow down. When he needs to speed up, speed up. If he zips through the math book (or half of the math book), get him the next one. Check his placement to see if he can skip more. We skipped all of Singapore 1A and just went straight to 1B. Right now at the end of week 2 in Bigger, my dd is halfway through 3A. I have to choose which lesson to assign next, but that only adds a minute or two to my day. Games are great to supplement with, but holding them back in something as basic as math is like telling them not to run yet! What kid wants to walk when he can run? Nurture that talent!

Pam
DD 7 in Bigger
DS 3.75 wishing he could go to preschool like all his friends

Thanks Pam. And thanks to all for your wonderful help. I do feel led to just let my son fly with his math. And as far as reading, once he gets through all of his emerging readers, we will just get more. Not to worried about that either.

What is MEP math? Just wondering. Thank you!

Oh dear, I didn't realize I was giving just terrible advice! I guess my point is that I like to stick to the schedule largely because I like to keep in line with the CM philosophy of short lessons. Now, if my child wants more of a certain subject, then I will certainly add more! Some people like schedules, some people don't. If you feel led to speed things up, then go for it! There really is no right or wrong way to homeschool, just different. That is the beauty of homeschooling. Do what works for you!

No, I thank you for your advice! It wasn't terrible! I understand doing the short lessons, totally. I like that too. It's just when you have one that is just doing more because he wants to do it, I don't really want to pull him back on it. When we are going through the spelling words, he says, "Mom, I already know those!" I'm like, "Okay Little Einstein!" LOL

Maybe you could give your ds a time limit each day - 30 minutes of math, etc. My ds has been through CLE LA 1, so MUCH of what we are doing in Singapore 1A right now is review and is very basic. However, we take time to play the games and my son loves that one on one time with me as much as anything else. Maybe it is a matter that you need to have your son take the placement test for Singapore and do another level with him so that he is challenged. For reading, if he is reading that well, maybe he can skip some of the emerging readers and get to the harder ones...or maybe even just start DITHR 2/3. I would definitely not hold him back and I would make sure to challenge him at his level as long as he is ready and it is not you pushing (I have to be careful of this...I tend to push sometimes). If he is challenged, then you can slow down and he will also slow down. While i would not suggest holding a child back when he is ready to go, I would also not allow a child to rush through curriculum just to get it done as "fast as possible." That has its down sides too. My older son did this with reading when he was small and now we are seeing the true gaps that were left by that "rushing."

Also, considering that HOD is a Charlotte Mason program, I would do some reading and see what CM says about this sort of rushing through - it may be worthwhile.

Best of luck to you!

We are using Beyond this year as well and I was very concerned in the beginning about the spelling lists. I thought my daughter would fly through them and she did complain a bit about the first few weeks because she "already knew those". However, I did see her making some mistakes as we went through the daily exercises. So I graciously told her that this was for practice even if she already "knows" it. I feel like long term it is better to repeat, repeat, repeat, especially for something like spelling. There are so many adults that can't spell!
For the reading, I agree that you could maybe add some more readers. For math, we do the short lessons by the schedule, and then we play games. My daughter is very bright when it comes to math but following the Charlotte Mason philosophy, I want to keep the instruction gentle and not rushed. So if I feel like she already has a good grasp on it and will likely fly through the workbook pages, we will do the additional activities that Carrie suggests in the guide for an extended period of time. She LOVES those! If he has any other siblings, this is also a lot of fun for them to "teach" the younger ones. There's an extra bonus there! Most days she does her workbook pages independently, and I check it behind her. We also got the Rainbow Rock CD that goes along with Singapore Math. She will play that some days for reinforcement.

Hope that helps!

Mary

Tina,

I'm so glad that your child will get a chance to use Beyond this year! We pray that it may truly be a blessing to you!

As far as your 7 year old goes, it sounds like he is a strong learner, which is truly a wonderful thing to behold. With that being said, I'm going to give you some tried and true advice that stems from over 20 years of teaching experience (and from my own personal experience in our own home these past 10 years with more than one very academically strong student)!

First of all, I'd definitely slow down on the math lessons to a pace of one lesson a day. Make sure that you are doing the hands-on activities with it, as they are essential to understanding the Singapore way of thinking. The math lessons in 1A/1B seem deceptively simple, and in all honesty a strong math student could complete a whole workbook in a short time if it was done without the hands-on lessons to accompany it. But, at that point you're truly missing the Singapore way of thinking and also rushing a process of gently building one concept upon another that is so necessary for the upper levels of Singapore that will come much too quickly and be too advanced should you rush.

In K and grade 1, Singapore seems almost easy, but as I'm going through it the second time around with my third son in line, I can truly begin to see the beauty of the program and the foundation being laid in those first important years. I can also truly say that even with a very mathy child, you won't want to rush to get to the higher levels of Singapore too soon, or your child will not have the maturity to think through the algebraic type concepts already contained within 4B on up. Singapore math is a way of thinking mathematically. It is so much more than simply completing the workbook lessons.

Next, as far as the spelling lists go, if you have a natural speller praise the Lord for it! It is a true gift! With that being said, the goal of the spelling lists in Beyond is to make sure that your child has the frequently used words that are contained in List 1 and 2 clearly memorized. These will be needed as your child heads into studied dictation. My own kiddos rarely missed a word on the lists all year, yet I was glad we went through them as we headed into studied dictation the next year. Another goal of the spelling lists in Beyond is to train kiddos to visualize a word in their mind. This is a very important skill to practice prior to studied dictation. Last, Beyond also helps a child learn some basic grammar, punctuation, usage, etc. that is also necessary prior to studied dictation. So, I wouldn't rush ahead in spelling but enjoy the year spent practicing needed skills. Knowing the words is just one part of the overall plan within Beyond. It is truly the process that is more important than the test. We are looking at spelling in a much different way.

Last, as far as the Emerging Reader Set goes, I would also slow down the pace, not doing more than one (or two) lessons in a day. This is because the purpose of the Emerging Reader's Set is to teach kiddos to read aloud well, to answer questions about what they have read, and to "live with" a book for a period of time so that they can make better predictions about what is to come. We are working on slower, more thoughtful reading in preparation for Drawn into the Heart of Reading. This is a different type of reading, with a different set of skills than those skills required to devour a book quickly. I allow my avid reading boys to devour as many books as they like in their own free-time, but for school we keep a slower throughtful pace to work on a different set of goals. Getting the optional extra book listed each week in the Emerging Reader's Schedule is an easy way to increase the reading. We have done that and enjoyed it with each of our kiddos. They also read plenty on their own just for fun.

My oldest son who is a freshman this year is amazing in his academic abilities in all areas and always has done everything early. So, by the time he was in third grade, we had allowed him to rush ahead in so many areas that he was feeling overwhelmed and stressed with his school day. It took several years to undo that feeling, and it was at that time that I began reading much on Charlotte Mason. With that in mind, I will tell you that some things in a child's day need to be easy. Everything should not be challenging your child to the hilt in all areas all of the time. Good spellers, readers, and mathematicians will remain strong in those areas whether you're challenging them all of the time or not. However, if you overdo you will have a different set of problems to deal with that can actually hurt the child later. With my second very academically strong son (who is a sixth grader this year), we've taken a different path (using the HOD guides as written each year), and we are enjoying our school days much more. Yet, my second son tests and performs just as well as my oldest son always has.

Enjoy Beyond and all it has to offer. As the years pass, the school days will get longer and much more challenging all too soon!

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie wrote:First of all, I'd definitely slow down on the math lessons to a pace of one lesson a day. Make sure that you are doing the hands-on activities with it, as they are essential to understanding the Singapore way of thinking.

A question of clarification for you, Carrie. I agree about not doing more than one math lesson a day, but are you suggesting that a child should stay with the guide as far as which math lesson they do? For instance, my 7 yo dd and I are in Bigger, week 3, but for math she is doing Singapore 3A Exercise 16. Would that worry you?

No worries there! It isn't uncommon to not be on the exact same math day as the rest of the guide, especially for those who have come from another curriculum previously, or may be slowing down a guide, or may be switching from another math program to Singapore. As long as it doesn't bother you to keep track of it, that is fine. Typically a sticky note or flag that can be moved just for math works well. I will say though that as I've added more kiddos (and grades) to my homeschooling platter the last few years, for simplicity's sake, I have tried to stay on a day within a day for all areas though.

Blessings,
Carrie