Where should I start?

[rebeccabillington]

Not sure where to start. My son is coming home. He is 6 (not 7 until August). He reads ok, but slow. He could probably read "Little Bear" but it would be challenging. But K level readers look way too easy for him.

The SRA 2 phonics book looks about the right level for him.

What about writing? How does this curriculum promote good writing? Are assignments for that laid out for me?

My son does use inventive spelling when he is doing his own writing, but score highly in spelling tests.

Should we work through First Start Reading anyway? I am sure it would be very easy for him, but I am sure he would still learn from it, and increase his fluencey

thanks
-rebecca-

[Renee in FL]

Would the American Language books be too easy for him? The Fun in the Sun is short vowels, Scamp and Tramp is blends, and Soft and White is long vowels. You might try having him read through those before starting the 1st grade books.

[tanya]

Rebecca,

I apologize for my delayed response to your email. I have been at the Midsouth Homeschool Convention in Memphis, and it is difficult to access my email while traveling.

I think that it would be a good plan for you to work through SRA1 to continue your son's phonics work for kindergarten. It sounds like he is well on the way to being able to read Little Bear this fall, especially if you continue to work on phonics. You might want to consider Classical Phonics as a resource also. It is very helpful to pull out those word lists to go along with whatever concept you are working on in SRA. If he is reading already, FSR will probably be too basic for him because it mainly covers short vowels. There is a lot of writing in it, though, if you wanted to work on writing while reinforcing phonics.

We do lay out a total lesson plan for you, including writing. We do a lot of writing in K-2nd. Every day, your student will have copy work to do from our copybooks, and there is daily writing in StoryTime Treasures.

Our lesson plans give you a list of spelling words for each week that are tied to the SRA2 concepts they are working on. This sounds like a good plan for your son.

And I agree with Renee that the American Language books are a good stepping stone into the books that are in our StoryTime curriculum.

Let us know if you have further questions. We are always glad to help.

Regards,

Tanya Charlton

[rebeccabillington]

thanks to both of you!

The program sounds wonderful!

-rebecca-