2nd grader - Adapting

[Julie in MN]

Hello, our oldest daughter will turn 7 in August, and she's finishing ADV this year, with ECC coming next. Has anyone had success (or not) with a brand-new 7yo doing ECC? We were concerned that some of the subject matter (missionary stories of martyrdom) or the increased quantity of time required for ECC might be "too much" for a child that age. By the way, our other daughter is 4 and not yet being formally schooled.

Thanks for any advice or feedback anyone might have!

There may be some more ideas on the ECC ideas board as well as this thread, as far as making it fun for a littler one: http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1174

In a more general conversation, is there a way you can do ECC at a slower pace? I think the concern is the years ahead. It may become harder and harder to adapt for her age, unless she is one of those really academic types. At age 7, often "social studies" and "science" is really just minimal awareness of the world, such as a visit to the fire department and zoo, so taking your time won't hurt

Julie

[rebeccal2002]

I assume she's already done the 1st grade program? My 7 y.o. is tagging along with older siblings for ECC, but he's also doing 1st grade too. You might want to seriously slow it down and take maybe 2 school years to complete ECC. The content is doable (not overly complex), just take it really slow and do lots of other things (field trips, crafts, etc.)

Hope this helps.

Rebecca

[tiffany]

I had a 6 year old go through ECC with older sibs. He had completed his reading program at 5, and was already reading at a pretty high level. He really enjoyed ECC and CTG. My son was able to use all the resources except the World Geography book. He even did a few pages from that, at his request. By the time we got to RTR his young age was more noticeable, but we made it work for him, since he has older siblings. You are certainly able to adjust things for each child when you're teaching different ages.

I think Julie's idea of taking ECC at a slower pace is a good one, especially since she is your oldest. I would keep math and language arts on track for age and ability and spread ECC over 2 years. We actually spread RTR over 2 years, because of poor health on my part. We joined a co-op the 2nd year of that because we had the time to do it. You could certainly take extra field trips.

We had a 4 year old too when we did ECC. He actually liked doing some of the coloring and craft activities along with us. It is a great year to include younger sibling in. You guys are going to have fun!

[MelissaM]

I agree with Julie - I would probably spread ECC over 2 years with a child that age. My dd is 9, 4th grade, and our days are VERY full with ECC. I think you could make each week into 2 - maybe doing geography one week and science the next...or do all the reading in one week and do all the science experiments and projects the next...hmmm...I wish I had time to spread this out, now that I think about it. But my dd is not even going to get through the whole cycle before high school as it is. If I had the luxury of that time, though...yeah, that's what I'd do.

[1974girl]

My 7 year old is just finishing up ECC. She will be 8 the end of this month when we finally finish. She did just fine. I did tweak it a bit like some others say. We did not do the World Geography reports since the cover says 5th grade. (I really didn't even do them with my 4th grader! I will save it for next time around) Properties of Ecosystems mostly goes over her head but we read it anyway. I just don't expect her to know all the terms. She gets most of her science from the Usborne book that comes in the set.

And let me tell you....she will beat her sister on the geography game. She has a memory like an elephant. I really wasn't expecting much as far as that was concerned but she has amazed me.

I would recommend ordering the Animal book that they sell for 2nd-3rd graders. It is optional and you have to add it when you buy. But she has really enjoyed those worksheets and we pick animals from the continent we are studying. So I would recommend adding that to your package. It also comes in handy when she finishes her math and my 4th grader is still working. I will say "Go get an animal worksheet." There are enough animals in there to continue doing NEXT year!

[lisaha]

Like LeAnn, we did ECC with a 7 and 9 year old too-even my 5, 3 and 2 year olds listened in! We didn't do the county reports with any of the children and only a few of the advanced things with my 4 year old. I tweeked some with the 7 year old (no dictation, no advanced work, he wrote only 2 or 3 sentences for the flag info.) Not major tweeking. In the Book of animals, I had my 7 year old do the pages with my 9 year old until his reading got better mid year, then he was on his own. It's very duable with a 7 year old. I didn't get the readalouds other then kingdom tales, and I read other books, but they all love hero tales and my 7 year old is very sensitive (he gets scared watching Veggie Tales), but he didn't get scared in Hero Tales, even for those who were martyered for their faith.

My 5 year old listened to everything and colored flags, drew pictures of the things in Geography A-Z (7 year old only wrote out 1 per week in that book and drew pictures, 9 year old did the two a week in the book, but we read both to all of the children.), and drew pictures of biomes. My 7 and 9 year old play the geography game and my 5 year old watches.
Lisa
Abigail 9
Joshua 7
James 5
Toby 3
Levi 2
Emma 4 months!

[cbollin]

Casey,

My piece of the puzzle here...

When my oldest was starting 2nd grade, ADV had not yet been written. So we did ECC in 2nd grade. So, my kiddo was 7.5 turning 8 when we started. Don't do the advanced assignments. blushing here, but I really thought this at the time.. "well, my daughter is advanced, so she's supposed to do those". no no no no no..... "advanced" means "advanced in age/grade" not for 2nd grader.

Focus on the parts of ECC that are ok to do with 2nd grader or 7 year old.
If you feel she isn't ready for the read alouds, those are in the deluxe package, so it's ok to not do them. Others on this thread gave great suggestions - try them, or use the younger poetic versions, or read the summaries of it. My experiences on that: it worked ok for us. I left out some details while reading.

Get the younger stuff for ECC (great animal search, complete book of animals).

do more crafts. enjoy the foods, or at least enjoy the process of cooking them. let her do the cooking and cleaning of those projects.

Encourage her to enjoy the God Speaks Nummangang book and maybe your family can find ways to help with that or keep prayer focus on there while also praying from window on world.
http://www.gwftn.org/#projects

don't get bogged down the first couple of weeks in ECC.

But since she's done 1st and ADV already, just realize that the ECC manual isn't written as tightly for a specific grade level. Look for the things that are supposed to be skipped by youngest students and really focus on the things for her age.

oh yeah, Prop. of Ecosystems: read the youngest text. do the projects. enjoy the pictures. and dont' worry if it takes more time to gel with those vocab words. Teach from the book.

hope something helps there.

-crystal

[SandKsmama]

Depends on the 7 year old:-). I've done it this year with a 7 year old, but she's the 3rd child, not at ALL sensitive, and pretty precocious. She absolutely LOVES the missionary bios - she begs for them first when we sit down to read. Like a previous poster, I don't have her do the World Geography packets, and sometimes I summarize the information from Properties of Ecosystems, as it's kind of over her head at times. Other than that, she does it as written and loves it!

[DaddyOfTwo]

To all who answered my thread, thank you so much for taking the time to share your advice and comments. It speaks volumes to my wife and I. Thanks so much.

[TriciaMR]

Ok, question..... we have played this geography game all year and now I have to give the test based on a different map. I know my 2nd grader will have a hard time. I know the map has colors and numbers but would there be anything wrong with using that for the final? My daughter has made up rhymes to help her remember where goes what. Now she won't be able to use those at all. So should I give this black and white globe looking test for the final or can I use the game and just tell her to label what goes where. One is in 2nd and one is in 4th.

I wouldn't test the 2nd grader. She'll get it again in 7th grade...

But, it's your school, do what you think is best. Maybe have her tell you the countries on the game, then show her how those fit on the big globe map.

-Trish

[cbollin]

I'd adjust for your 2nd grader. oral test. game... whatever. It's just to see that from the beginning of the year that you learned more than you knew.

maybe, she'd enjoy trying the black and white one with her rhyme to see if she can color it in as she goes along? Or give it a try to see if she can do it?

It's not a "graded" test like that.. it's a fun way to measure that "hooray! I learned these!" take a picture and enjoy!

-crystal

[Mexmarr]

I'm still in ADV, so I have not done ECC, but I do have a 2nd grader. My vote is to make it fun for her! Set her up for success. That will go a long way for her!

There is no curriculum judge looking over your shoulder to make sure you did it "right." If she used rhymes and color to learn the countries, than she did amazing. THat should so be able to count for her test! Sheshould be able to be proud of what she learned and have a sense of accomplishment.

[Julie in MN]

I'd do it in a way that made her feel successful. And I'd stop in the middle if she was done.

After that, you can do it another way, too, if you're curious about comparing to the test they took at the beginning of the year. Or not.
Julie

[momtogc]

I would give the 4th grader the black and white test to start with. She has been looking at the other black and white continent maps (the ones they color and put flags on) all year and might surprise you with what she knows. Definitely I would let the younger one use the map she is most familiar with.

[TriciaMR]

My oldest child will be in 4th grade next year. He will do Exploring Countries and Cultures for the first time. My second child will be in 2nd grade next year. I'm trying to decide whether to have him tag-along and do Exploring Countries and Cultures with his older brother or have him use the stand-alone 2nd grade curriculum. He will not yet quite be an independent reader and has some dyslexia issues. Pros/Cons??? Thoughts???

Your 2nd grader will do his own level of Phonics/Reading, Spelling, Math and English. Do NOT try to do two full programs (Adventures is considered a full program). Don't expect him to do any of the World Geography worksheets. Let him enjoy the science experiments and such. Remember, he'll repeat it in 7th grade, so he'll get what he misses the 2nd time around.

-Trish

[Mexmarr]

I would definitely have a 2nd grader tag along ECC. My oldest is just in 3rd, and ECC is going great. #2 is only 11 months younger, so 2nd grade age. She tags along for everything except some of the writing aspects, and it is going very well. I go over everything with her verbally. She is learning nearly as much as her sister. You would also want to get him his own student sheets. There will be plenty that he can do. Mine colors all the flags and such and colors map stuff that I label for her. She even holds her own in the geography game, though I help her out a little. I also have her do the vocab words. She just writes the word and draws the picture, while her sister does the definition and picture. It is working out great!

He would need his own math and language art for his own level.

I definitely would NOT do adventures and ECC.

[Mallorie]

My 2nd grader is tagging along with her brothers in 5th and 8th. Some things that "make" it for her are the book basket, there are a LOT of really good books for her to read in the book basket.

For things like the Living World Encyclopedia, where the boys are to read, illustrate and summarize, I print out lapbooks for her from homeschoolshare on an animal from the region we are studying and she does those. I would say out of everything, that was my surprise "ticket". Reading the tidbits in the lapbook and having small lined areas for her to add in her own information that she has learned has inspired her to dig deeper. So when we go to the library, she looks for more books on that animal and becomes so proud about what she's found out. I will sit and cut out the booklets with her, and I got lucky and found file folders that are more than one page so the books aren't as tedious as some.

Cooking is a hit. We don't get to this nearly as often as i'd like, but I am trying to make it more of a priority. Crafts and music as well, she is the only one of my kids who likes the "Wee sing".

The geography game... another big surprise. She does pretty well at memorizing where the countries are. Outside of MFW, I would not bother teaching her world geography at this age, as I don't think they have as good a concept of space, their peripheral just isn't developed. However, tying it in with the study of cultures, prayer, animal regions, however, gives her a much better understanding of our big world.

Planet Earth DVD's. I just got them, should have gotten them sooner. WOW!

I have come full-circle with my fondness of PLL. When I read what others are doing, I kind of freak out that we aren't doing enough. But then I realize that she is comprehending what we are doing, whereas to sit with some of the other grammar, she memorizes but has no clue what we're talking about. I spoke to a vendor at convention about this book, and her words were: "it gives them an understanding of how to USE language". I agree with that.

I think I have finally relaxed enough to believe that at 2nd grade, our goals are to progress through math concepts, do lots of reading and discussion about what we've read, hands on projects, and learn how the world around us functions. Roll all of that into a ball and tuck it inside a case of wonderment that the Lord God made it all.

[far above rubies]

I have a 4th grader in ECC and a 2nd grader who is "tagging along." He has Dysgraphia and Asperger's, and the written word is incredibly difficult for him.

We approach things differently for him than we do our 4th grader. After reading, I just have him tell me two or three things about what he learned.

He does the passport and some of the worksheets, but definitely not all of them. He enjoys the hands-on experiments, art, and such.

He does his own math (CLE) and English (ACE) and I just have him do as much writing as he's comfortable. So when we do copy work or dictation, he doesn't feel the pressure of getting things just right.

We also do Spelling by Sound and Structure and he reads a page from The Complete Book of Animals for some extra Science, as well as looks through the pages of The Great Animal Search.

So for him, he's mainly focused on sharpening his reading/writing/math skills while enjoying science and geography as he's able.

And yeah, ADV is a whole different program--he did that last year as well and there's no way we could do both programs together. I think it's much more doable to just tweak the five year cycle as needed, especially since I know he'll get it again in 7th grade, but then it'll be much more intense with the 7th/8th grade supplements and extra work.

[1974girl]

We did this last year! I had a 4th and 2nd. There was one geography workbook that said 5th grade and up (or was it 6th?) But I didn't do it with either of my kids. My 2nd grader loved the Book of Animals. In fact, we still are using pages out of it for THIS year in 3rd grade. Properties of Ecosystems was too hard for her. She always sat in and listened and like someone else said "If she got 2 or 3 things out of it", I was ok. But do not follow the urge to let him skip the geography game. My 2nd grader apparently has a memory like an elephant and would beat us all!

[Mommy22alyns]

My girls will be using ECC next year in grades 2 and 4 as well. Like others have said, I wouldn't try ECC and Adventures together. We're doing Adventures this year (including my first grader) and it's pretty full!

[MelissaB]

Hi, Mama,

All of these responses are wonderful. I have to especially ditto LeeAnn: invest in the Book of Animals. While it's specifically for the 2nd grader, both of our children enjoyed it so much.

Enjoy ECC! It's a wonderful year.