Weekly Report, Week Four

Things are going along swimmingly. I'm afraid that might change. I need to add in spelling at some point. And I need to add in the first grade A Beka readers at the appropriate time, but I have to check the teacher's manual and see when that is.

All of that is the least of my worries, though.

See, way back when I was thinking and planning Kindergarten I came up with a great idea. My great idea was to use Explode the Code as a supplement to OPGTR. I figured I could possibly skip spelling for Kindergarten and pick up the second grade level Rod and Staff spelling for first grade. As much as I liked A Beka's handwriting style, I would go out and find something else that taught cursive first. I knew I had a couple of options. That left arithmetic as the only thing I would be using from A Beka, unless I decided to buy their readers and have my son go through them.

This was a really good plan. But, I never wrote it down, and that was a big mistake.

[pulling out hair]

[giving myself 20 lashes with a wet noodle]

[pause] [deep breath]

When it came time to actually begin purchasing Kindergarten materials I became flustered and lost my bearings. My stepmother offered me her hand-me-downs of first grade A Beka stuff and I kind of lost my head. It seemed like a great deal that would save me a bunch of money. In the end I had a whole lot of A Beka stuff to order because I was using the Kindergarten handwriting program and the First Grade phonics/reading/spelling program.

Oh, vey! did I break the bank. I'm not very proud of myself. But, I'm resolved. I'm pulling myself up by my middle-class bootstraps and I'm going to get what I can out of what I have.

I've diligently looked over the teacher's manual for the first grade phonics/spelling/reading. I have to ditch the whole 'phonics instruction' part. I am not one to advocate not using a teacher's manual, but in this instance it's for the best. I don't need to teach my son phonics, I just need to reinforce and review his phonics. And A Beka teaches phonics in a way that is different enough from OPGTR that I would literally be teaching it all over again. That isn't necessary, and it could be confusing.

The Letters and Sounds worksheets are useable, as are the Language 1 worksheets - at least for now. I haven't looked at more than just the first twenty pages of the workbooks. They might be unusable later on. But, for now, they'll provide the written review I was looking for. The Handbook for Reading and A Beka readers will provide sufficient reinforcement of decoding skills.

The handwriting is fine, and, to be honest, I'm not sure I actually could have gotten a program any cheaper. But, I bought a book I was already having handed down to me. [sigh] I told you I lost my head.

I blame baby brain. Yeah, that's it.

I might be able to salvage the flashcards and posters to use with my daughters as they learn to read. Or I might decide to off-load them to the highest bidder. I've put off making a decision.

Now, I just want to say that A Beka is a wonderful reading curriculum. It produces readers when used as directed (with all the parts and pieces). However, it is intended to be used as a whole language arts curriculum, not divided up. Trying to extract the phonics from it unravels the threads. So, for me, it aintagonna work.

Ah, well. You live and learn, right?

_____________
Nitty Gritty:
Bible: Sunday School Review, Grapevine Lesson 6 parts 3 and 4, Genesis 1:1-2
Reading Instruction: OPGTR Lessons 101-103, L&S/L1 Lessons 6 and 7
Readers: Handbook pgs 10-15, 3 Bob Books
Penmanship: Wipe-off book, Writing Lesson 11
Arithmetic: Lessons 11 and 12
Read Alouds: Library books
Art: none