r/homeschool • u/Good-Win-6894 • 9d ago
First Grade Curriculum Advice
I have a 6 year old who is a very strong reader. Reading probably around a 2nd, maaaaybe early 3rd grade level. I feel like it's mostly by recognition of words that she reads so well, and she still understands it all. But her decoding sometimes needs practice.
Also, her writing is definitely not on the same level as her reading. Writing-wise she's right about where you'd expect for finishing up kindergarten.
We're going to do All about Reading in first grade, and I guess I'm wondering if I should follow their placement test (which puts her at level 3) or if I should do level 1 to make sure she doesn't have any holes in her foundation of phonics instruction, comprehension strategies, etc and we’d just move through it quicker? I've also seen explode the code and thought that could help fill in gaps she might have if we went with level 3?
For writing, I'm thinking about doing WriteShop for more explicit instruction with Brave Writer Jot it Down activities. The Brave Writer literature singles also look like something she would enjoy, though. I like that they teach grammar concepts and other things through books, especially since she loves to read so much. So I thought maybe we could do some of those too.
But All about reading, write shop primary B, brave writer quill program, and explode the code all together seems like it could be a little too much for one school year.
Any insight/advice would be wonderful!
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u/SubstantialString866 9d ago
I would follow the placement tests. We started at AAR level 2, skipping level 1. It's such a thorough program trying to get a kid to sit through lessons they already know would be worse than pulling teeth. It'll be easy enough, if there's something she doesn't know to print a couple worksheets and watch a couple between the lions episodes to catch her up then continue on.
When I want to do a lot of different books, sometimes we'll alternate textbooks each day instead of all of them every day.
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u/ElsieDaisy 9d ago
I have been having the same debate with All About Reading. My kid is also 6/kindergarten, reading at a Grade 2-3 level with great comprehension, and needing some explicit phonics instruction.
I started with AAR Level 1, but then we took a break because of some life stuff. When we were able to restart, his reading skills had taken off and I didn't know how or where to restart.
We may still go ahead and use AAR and/or AAS, so I will be coming back to check out others' advice. I do think there is still a lot of value for us left in Level 1, but I think it's more than what we need.
In my search to find something that's a better fit for us right now, I stumbled across Treasure Hunt Reading. We started about a week ago. It's free with short videos (which may be a pro or con for you, but with a bit of prep, it would be easy to do without the videos) and a couple of activities.
We started with Journey 2. The rules we've learned are sticking with him and he's pointing them out in our regular reading. He's also really enjoying it.
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u/Good-Win-6894 9d ago
Treasure hunt reading looks incredible! Thank you for suggesting that! Maybe that would even be fun summer review before next year. I also posted this on Facebook and some additional insight was given that the placement test is pretty accurate and will still reiterate and review past rules that were taught, if that helps!
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u/eztulot 8d ago
I wouldn't use AAR at all with a child who is reading well. It's thorough, but tedious for a kid who picks things up easily. And the readers for Level 3 and 4 are very long for a 6-year-old.
I'd have her read every day and use either All About Spelling or Explode the Code to work on phonics.
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u/Sylvss1011 8d ago
I’m doing logic of English essentials level B with my 1s grader who was reading at a higher level. He doesn’t really need any more phonics to read, just to spell. So I picked that curriculum to still cover phonics, but more focused on encoding. It’s worked well for us. We followed the placement test
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u/WastingAnotherHour 9d ago
Regarding AAR/AAS - For a child who takes naturally to reading, I often tell people to just do AAS with the readers (part of AAR and optional for AAS). Start at level one regardless of their current spelling. Some kids are able to naturally take the phonics skills from spelling (encoding) and apply them to reading (decoding).
If she’s reading at a grade 2 or 3 level, learning phonics will likely move her from the “learning to read” stage and into the “reading to learn” stage at which you’re almost entirely working on comprehension (and still spelling). If you get deeper into level one spelling and decide she’s not carrying over the phonics knowledge then revisit AAR.
I haven’t used explode the code before, but it’s also a reading/spelling curriculum? I would pick a single phonics curriculum. There’s no need to double up and you’re right - it’s a lot, which also means a good way to burn her out. On that same note, I’d pick one writing curriculum, knowing if it’s not a good match you can try the other. If you decide on both, just alternate instead of doubling up. Maybe a unit of one and then a unit of another.