2nd grade and RTR

[scmlg]

I have a question regarding my 1st/2nd grader (7 yob). He is still working on his first grade phonics and Bible Notebook. It will take us another semester at least to finish, although he is really starting to take off in reading. So as far as the history notebook, I think I will not have him write summaries. My ds also has some math to really work on and finish. Am I crazy even TRYING to put him in the mix yet with science and history?

Are there some simple coloring sheets or other activities he could do for a simple history notebook? I would love some ideas if you know of any. He doesn't like to color very much unless someone colors the page with him.

I don't think he is ready to learn all about reproduction either. Should I just "skip it" for him when we get there?
Eve

I say go at your son's pace, whatever that is.

All you need to know as teacher is "is he getting this?" So, in which way does he communicate best? Can he just draw you a picture of what he learned? Can he dictate a paragraph to you while you type it for his notebook? Can he clip pics from magazine to get his point across to you? Can he make up a silly song to include all that he learned from the lesson, and you could write it up for him?

I say just go with it. Go with the level you were going to do next, but just completely tailor it to him, along with adding extra work to help encourage his writing and phonics without frustrating him. Maybe just with readers from the library, he'll start picking up on more words.

You know him best, so I'm sure you are doing great!

[cbollin]

The reproduction unit lasts for 2 weeks worth of science. You can skip it with your 7 y.o. if you wish because you know your child. Or you don’t have to go into all of the details. My 2nd kid was in 1st grade when oldest did RTR. The book MFW uses Wonderful Way Babies are Made has 2 levels of reading. My 1st grader glanced through the pictures and said “awww… how cute it’s a baby just like Mrs. Smith at church is having.” That was that.

As far as what to do with the other subjects, I recommend that you just keep working on the 3 R’s and from time to time it will be in the context of some history and some science. My 1st grader loved doing the rest of the science in RTR. She was busy with 1st grade program and ignored lots of the history.

But you’ll have a 1st/2nd grader. There are some of the student pages from the appendix that the younger student can work on while you read history with older student. They don’t have to color in the whole thing. You can have them find 3 cool things that they want to color in on the page.

There will be some games and fun things to do in RTR that younger student will like. Book basket too. Some weeks book basket may not be all about history for the younger child. Toss in some fun books. Then, who knows, maybe he'll like a book about Roman Arches, or castles, or The Globe Theatre.

And you won’t be all that worried because like the others have said, you’ll cycle back around to this point in history teaching and they’ll get it later.

Hope some of that encourages you a bit. I was concerned too when it came to my 2nd child in 2nd grade but it worked out just fine to fold her into the family program.

--crystal

[MJ in IL]

I had a 2nd grader (8ds) in CtG this year. He really did quite well...better than I expected. I am learning each year to go with what works!

He loved EFTRU...I hadn't planned on including him...but he simply wrote the root, definition, copied a word with def., and we worked out a sentence together. He knows them well!

Against my initial plan, he also did art with us...but he didn't get much out of the readings.

He memorized the Scriptures with the best of them. He did well with the read-aloud and most of the history readings. He zoned a bit with the Streams reading but colored along while I read. I had the Greek Dover coloring book from my older dd and occasionally used calvarychapel for their pages that went along with the Bible reading. He also liked a line design book we had and, Legos or K'Nex, of course.

He loved science... it was mostly experiments!

I would just let your son try and not push it. My son sat in on ECC with 1st and mainly traced maps. I had almost no expectations but he learned quite a bit of geography.

I like the book used for the reproduction portion. I don't know what I will do when I get to that part. My boys have a fair amount of practical info. as it relates to our animals, but not relationally for people. I'm not sure he (or is it me?) will be ready for that.

Just one more thought...in talking with David regarding my plans for last year, he made a simple comment that gave me a lot of peace. Whatever my child does in Hx for the 2nd and 3rd grades will be repeated in 7th and 8th. They will get this information again at a deeper level. Hope that helps some. I'm sure someone has more specific information for RtR but wanted to add my experience.

[kellybell]

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:38 am

We did RTR with a second grader (and he listened in and learned a lot from CTG when he was a first grader) and it worked just fine. You just have to adjust expectations for such a little guy and remember he'll get all the information in a few years when you cycle back around. Next year, we're on schedule to do 1850-Mod with a second grader. No problem there. I'll just have her do what she can.

Go for it. It's really no big deal at all!

[SandKsmama]

Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 10:17 am

I did RTR this year with an 11 year old and a 7 year old, and yes, it really did work to do it together! :-) We did the Bible, history and science together - I mostly read it aloud to both of them, which they LOVED. Then my 11 year old did math, English, Latin (what we do for foreign language), Art/Music, and Vocabulary on her own while I worked with my 2 younger ones. It was kind of the best of both worlds - she was independent, but still got some time with mom too.

Both my kids that did RTR absolutely enjoyed this year -they loved the science and learned SO much, and the history and Bible as well. I say this every year, but this year was my favorite so far:-)

Amanda

Posted Tue Apr 27, 2010 9:24 pm by SandKsmama
I have found with my 3rd-born that it *really* helps if I do her "one-on-one" school stuff FIRST, and make sure I have a read aloud JUST for her. Somehow, that fills her tank or something, and she is fine to join in with everybody else after that.

I'd give it a shot, just because for me, the ability to combine is SO nice!

[SandKsmama]

This is our second year using MFW. My 2nd grader has now joined my 7th grader in Rome to the Reformation. The biggest problem is that my 2nd grader cannot pay attention to the History reading. So far, I've been leaving him out and trying to paraphrase every couple of weeks. How do I teach this to him?

Science is another question. My 7th grader is doing the Apologia General Science while my 1st and 2nd graders are following the RTR science. Even this, I must shorten lessons and keep very simple. Am I doing this right?
Sandi

When I did RTR with my just-turned 7 year old and 11 year old last year, we had a similar experience. I think remembering that they will have this again as you cycle back around, and obviously at *that* point will get it all in depth, helped me stay really relaxed about it. I let him get what he could get, and mostly experience RTR in a fun way. If he chose to stay in the room during history reading, great - sometimes he would build Legos while I was doing history with my older dd, sometimes he would color....sometimes he was just done, and I let him go play elsewhere.

I did find that as the year went on, he was coming in more and more, especially during read alouds (he LOVED Dangerous Journey and Door in the wall!!). And often at dinner time, I'd be amazed at how much he actually "got", when I didn't think he was listening in at all.

I think you're doing fine. Keep it up!

[HSmommi2mine]

I am totally skipping ACW with dd and the science we are sort of doing free form. We are mostly focusing on "the Roman world" and the Usborne books. She will get it again so I am ok with this arraignment. She is still learning a lot and doing all of the projects with us.

I think you are doing fine. Just go with your instincts on this stuff.

[Mtdrew]

Thanks for the information and encouragement! I think being new at this is fueling my anxiety. I'll just relax and hope something sinks in. Thanks again. Sandi

[Tracey in ME]

Ah yes, putting a 2nd grader into the mix is a gradual thing around here, too. Of course, my oldest child LOVES to be read to, so she sat still for books EVEN AT 6 MONTHS OLD! I mean, I could read 3 whole Dr. Seuss books to her as a baby! Of course, with the first child, that is what we do, right? David Hazel can attest to that! :o)

Anyway, along comes my tom-boy daughter, and she hardly stayed in the room at 2nd grade during ECC, only stayed in for easy books last year for 3rd grade doing CTG, but now she stays the whole time (and doesn't complain!) for 4th grade and RTR. I am so thankful for that. At the 2nd grade level with her, I thought that was how it would always be. What a relief!

I still have 3 boys to teach, too, so perhaps having my "tom boy" girl just before them will give me a good...oh what's the world I am looking for...preview?

[HSmommi2mine]

I am asking this question a bit sheepishly b/c I should know how to do this by now. But honestly, last time around, I pushed ds waaaay to much, and ended up having to backtrack. I want to do it right this time.

I am getting that ADV does a lot of handholding for the teaching parent in terms of telling me how to help my ds make this transition. I know all you veterans are thinking I should just tweak RTR and that is what I have been doing and it is okay... but my problem is that I feel like I missed learning how to blend a barely independent reader/writer into the mix with the others. In other words, I need to be taught. Make sense?

I have a second grader, a fifth grader (working at a 3rd grade level) and a sixth grader all in R2R.

The second grader will get it all again so I am more worried about he enjoying it than remembering everything.

My 2nd grader and 6th grader have different ways of learning and completely different personalities. The 6th grader is very independent and joins us for art, hands on projects and a *little bit* of the reading. We are still doing Rome. I read Streams and use that information while discussing things with the kids but I don't read it to the young ones. Dd listens to The Roman World and some of ACW, but not all. Before the fifth grader joined us I was completely separating dd and ds. The only thing we did together was art. Now with J around to bridge the academic and personality gap we can do a little more all together. When it dawned on me that it was ok to separate them it was so freeing!

For my second grader, her main jobs are math and language arts. If she doesn't get much out of history that is just fine. She will do it again in a few years. That mindset is saving me from overkill with her.

When the TM assigns the kids to write a notebook page about Augustus Caesar my second grader wrote 2 sentences. I actually wrote them for her and she copied them. The fifth grader had to write a paragraph that I helped with extensively and he recopied. The 6th grader is a good writer. He was told to write 3/4 of a page and got a few helpful hints from me. They all did the same assignment with differing levels of difficulty and at their own level.

The kids did these assignments at different times so that I was available to help. With writing and maps the younger two need so much more help! My saving grace this year has been their notebooks and meetings. Each week I fill a notebook that has daily tabs. It has their spelling page, handwriting, math drill and a logic puzzle. It is all stuff they can do more or less on their own. When I am busy with someone else they do their notebook work. Each morning I have a "meeting" with each of them. This is when I go over math, a new grammar concept, make sure they understand their independent work and core subjects basically.

Maybe you can use some of the ideas and concepts from Adventures and apply them to R2R. Ultimately you have to do what is best for your family though.

[Jenn in NC]

The second grader will get it all again so I am more worried about he enjoying it than remembering everything.

You are right! I have to continually remind myself of this.

Interesting what you said about not keeping your dc together and how freeing that has been for you. I have been trying to keep mine together as much as possible. It may be better sometimes to separate them... ?? Have to think about that.

I have been scaling back the history summaries, etc, based on age/ability... maybe that is all I really need to do. In that case I suppose it is going better than I thought.

I love your notebook idea with independent activities! I think I am going to do that. Thanks for your thoughtful response!

[cbollin]

This year my 7yo ds is doing 1st grade and his older brother is doing CTG. Younger DS has not been sitting in with older in CTG. What do I need to do/What can I do to prepare younger ds to join older ds next year in RTR???

Debbie

When my oldest did RTR my middle child was in 1st. She only sat in on fun stuff like science and a few fun activities. Now, it's not exactly the same situation as your situation, because my middle child was going into EX1850.

Here are some ideas to get the conversation started:

*keep the timeline up. Try to tell your now 1st grader that he'll be helping to make more pieces on it for next year. Focus around 750 BC ish and tell him (next year, when we study Rome, that will be a starting place.) At end of 1st grade, how about adding first grade Old Testament pieces to the CTG timeline?

*let him look through older siblings notebook pages.

*as your child reads the New testament parts of the 1st grade reader and begin to say "next year, we'll learn some more stuff about the places and events that happened during these stories and we'll read more about the NT."

I have the feeling that he has been preparing in just the right ways by using 1st grade this year.

-crystal

[cbollin]

This year my two oldest did ECC and my 5 year old did K. So... should I have my current K kid join the cycle when the olders are doing Rom to Ref? Or fill in that extra year with something else? He will be 7 at that time. My concern is that it will be over his head/ he will not have the context the others have as he would miss ECC and Cre to Greeks the first time through. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I think you're ok and don't need a gap year at all.

when I have taught ECC and K -- I found that even though I taught the K program to my kindy daughter, she was still included in some things that we did as a family. MFW K has a lot of K age appropriate geography in it. So, they aren't missing out. And please invite the kindy kid to play the geography game or at least be near the other kids while they are playing. No one is missing anything and no one is getting dragged along either.

K and 1st are the age appropriate versions of ECC and CTG. So, that child is perfectly poised to enter into RTR in 2nd grade based on Bible and history done thus far. I also believe that if a child does K, 1st and then folds in at CTG -- they are ready even if some of it is slightly repeated in CTG year because even though the history frame is close, it is just a very different program. And if a child does K and 1st and then is folded into EX1850 -- get the younger supplement for EX1850, because it is from ADV program. works great no matter which year in 2nd grade the rest of the family is.

So.... whichever program you fold them into .... remember these factors with folding the 2nd grader in:

*they will do Bible with the family. if they can't do all of the copywork, that's ok -- they can do 2nd grade amounts. Work on memory work.

*history -- start with the assignments that are for everyone, then allow your 2nd grader to go do book basket for a few minutes, while the older children are hearing the advanced assignments. No child is "dragged along" and once they are done with the "for everyone assignments", they have usually had adequate for their age history lessons. They aren't "gleaning leftovers" of history. You start with the right assignments, let the youngest go do book basket or other "independent" style work for 15 minutes or so (do a chore or whatever) while you finish with the older kids with advanced readings. Think One Room Schoolhouse!

*follow the advice in RTR manual for the book Augustus Caesar World. much of that book will not be needed in full for 2nd grader, but they do get some benefit from hearing some small sections of "above their reading level" in read alouds.

*let the 2nd grader participate in the hands on projects. Those are "everyone assignments".

*enjoy the science -- again, think one room school house on some of those readings from the Apologia elementary books or the Answers in genesis books.

-crystal

[jasntas]

I don't think I saw this mentioned but if it is, sorry for the repeat. Remember that when your now K'er is in 2nd doing RTR he will also repeat RTR in 7th (I think). Knowing that, I think I would let the 2nd grader join in where appropriate and remember that anything he misses he will catch the next time around. I haven't done it myself yet but HTH.

[my3sons]

I don't think I saw this mentioned but if it is, sorry for the repeat. Remember that when your now K'er is in 2nd doing RTR he will also repeat RTR in 7th (I think). Knowing that, I think I would let the 2nd grader join in where appropriate and remember that anything he misses he will catch the next time around. I haven't done it myself yet but HTH.

I like this mindset... then with more core subjects like math and language arts just fill in as MFW recommends (i.e. start with Singapore math and PLL). Sounds good.

[SandKsmama]

Just wanted to say that I did RTR with a little one (he was 6/1st grade) joining in, and it went very well for us. He had his own phonics and math, and he listened in on the read alouds (he kind of came and went through the history readings - or played Legos nearby LOL), and joined in on the science and fun activities. I think it's workable for sure!

[my3boys]

Just wondering what to do with my upcoming second grader next year.
I was so looking forward to her joining her sister in RtoR, but she has never been one to enjoy listening to me read much.
I've noticed lately that she would rather have me to herself for a time.
Has anyone else had this delimma?
I also have a upcoming Ker, who loves to participate in whatever she can and who really would love to catch up with the 7yodd in her reading. And I will have a very active 14 mods at the beginning of next school year.
Any thoughts?
Nicole

I will have two second graders and a sixth grader in RtR in the fall. My two youngest just finished First and since then I have been having them listen in on Bible from CtG and then I read them a read-aloud for the younger set. I allow them to build with legos and whatnot while I read - the rule is they have to play it by themselves and be quiet - this seems to be working for them. I'm not sure how much they will get out of RtR, but they will be having their own LA and readers, their own math, their own art, and I will try to gear the family read-alouds more towards them and allow my sixth grader to read the harder books himself (or with me alone). I also have a play-mobile castle and a lincoln log castle and some stuff like that, so I plan on setting those up with them and sparking some interest. And they are all jazzed about learning and playing Robin Hood, King Arthur, Fairy Tales, etc.

[baileymom]

I would have her "double" join in. With all the fun stuff to do in K, and all the great books to read (by herself this time) in K, that should cover the wiggles/boredom part.

And, coloring pages do wonders to help my boys sit still while we read...and they've listened in on ALL the RtR reading this year (except Streams) with little problem. Have you considered buying SOTW 2's Activity Book...that would add a lot more coloring pages, hands on activities, and map work (that would be more fitting for a 2nd grader). We have it, and it's been a nice addition.

Also agreeing, that she'll really like RtR's Science (human body and astronomy...beefed up (down) with some Magic School Bus, of course)

[Ariasarias]

Thank you so much!!
I am encouraged. I'll keep going!!
I have to be reminded that her interest will come.
It is true that I need to make sure I read with her by herself. She just told me this week that she really likes when I read to her by herself.
I probably need to find more that interests her so that she will enjoy the process.
I am praying God will show me exactly what she needs for this precious time in her life.
Thanks for your encouragement!!
Nicole

[Poohbee]

My son is 7.5, will be 8 in Jan. We'll start school in Aug. He's a kid that I have flip-flopped for the entire last year about whether to have him evaluated for some kind of learning difference.

1st grade was rough for us, both because he didn't progress at the speed I had expected him to (based on how he did in Kindy), and because he just plain would rather be playing than doing school (I think I've posted about this before). I don't mind adjusting my expectations, I'm just not sure what to adjust them TO - does that make sense? I'm really struggling with knowing what parts of RtR I should expect him to participate in and to what level I should expect participation.

He cannot just write a sentence out of his head, but he does a great job with copywork. He doesn't know very many math facts yet, but he likes math and doesn't mind working on them.

Added to all of this is my 2yo who has a bunch of issues, which require lots of time with either people coming into the house to work with him, or us going out to see people to work with him. Lots of disruption to our days, when I know my poor middle child would really prefer the structure of "9 am is math time" - it's a bit harder to get him back if I lose him because I need to send him out for 45 min while the therapist is here.

Help me figure out what to do! I'm tired of not feeling peaceful about this coming school year - I feel good about the curriculum decision, I'm not wavering from MFW - I just don't know how to use it with this particular kid at this particular stage. And, for anyone who's been through it, do you think ds should be evaluated? And what kind of evaluation would you have done? (My ped suggested taking him to a developmental psych, which would include a wide battery of stuff, but I don't know if we need to have all that done - for instance, I KNOW he's not ADHD, so do we have to have that profile done?)

I hope it makes sense, and any thoughts/opinions/advice appreciated!

Hi Melissa!
Well, we haven't done RtR yet. We'll be doing it next school year along with you. I will have a 2nd grader, also...turning 8 in February. Now, I have a dd, and girls are different than boys. So my situation might be a little bit different than yours. But, I can tell you what my plans are for next school year for my 2nd grader in RtR.

I keep 2 things in mind as I make plans for my 2nd grader. 1--My eldest dd did Adventures for her 2nd grade year, and I try to think of the types of things that I expected from her while she did ADV, and I plan to have similar expectations for my 2nd dd in RtR. The day in ADV is only about 3 hrs. long, and I want my 2nd grader to have a similar length for her day...a bit longer than 1st grade, because there are new subjects added in 2nd grade, but not as long as my 6th grader's day. 2--My 2nd grader will be doing RtR again in 5 years, so if I decide to have her skip something this year, I know she will cover it again when she is a 7th grader.

So, here are a few things I am planning for my 2nd grader.

I will not require her to do English From the Roots Up at all. She will get that next time she goes through RtR.

I am going to do something different for Scripture memory for my 2nd grader, AND I want to continue working on my 2nd grader's handwriting, so I am going to do A Reason for Handwriting Book B with her, and her weekly verse to copy will be her memory verse for that week, also.

For art, I may not have my 2nd grader do all of the lessons in God and the History of Art. This past year, in 1st grade, I started I Can Do All Things with my middle dd. So, I will probably continue that with her. My eldest dd used ICDAT during her 2nd grade year, and it seems more suited to my middle dd than GHA. I may have middle dd do certain GHA lessons if they fit our history lessons or something like that. I'll see how that goes.

I will take each day as it comes as far as history is concerned. My middle dd was not required to sit in on history readings (Streams and Ancient World) during CtG, because she was a 1st grader, and because she had her own lessons in MFW 1st. During RtR, I will look over each day's lesson as it comes and decide how much I want her to sit through. I will probably have her listen to the readings from the Usborne books, but probably not from Streams.

My 2nd grader will join her sister for Bible and science. She did these two things with my eldest during CtG, and they will do those subjects together again during RtR. Other than that, she will have her math and language arts at her own level. And, she has expressed an interest to study German, so we will probably purchase Rosetta Stone German, and she can work on that independently (her older sister does Rosetta Stone Russian).

My middle dd doesn't know her math facts yet, either, so I started her on Quarter Mile Math at the end of 1st grade to start working on them. I will continue to do a combination of Qtr. Mile, flashcards, etc. to help her drill her math facts.

That's my plan for now. I hope it gives you an idea of one way to tweak RtR for your 2nd grader. Don't feel bad about skipping things or lightening the load for your son. He'll go through it again in 5 years, and he can do it all then.

[Julie in MN]

Melissa,
<hugs> as you so carefully plan for your little guy.

Here are some threads about 2nd graders in general:
2nd and RTR http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3637
1st and RTR http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=10022
tagging along with the family http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=11069

I'll just say that to me, a 2nd grader is still mostly working on language arts and math, and as MFW says, "learning to love to learn" by enjoying family learning and venturing out just a bit into narration, book basket, simple notebooking, and getting to do all those hands-on things. At first, I might just let him do the picking and choosing of what to join in on, and evaluate how it goes that way.

And as for what level of LA and Math, I'd continue with 1st if that's where he's at. When you feel 1st doesn't have anything more to teach him, then I'd start on the 2nd grade recommendations and work at his pace. As for his getting words wrong, it sounds like he's just encoding words the way he said them, sort-of his baby talk. I remember well the day my dd asked me why Burger King was spelled that way, shouldn't it be B-U-R-B-E-R? LOL. When he gets past the need for 1st grade math, I'd just start Singapore at 1A. And I like Jen's idea of working on math facts.

My kids were all in public school for 2nd grade. My youngest I remember the most clearly. The teacher had her hands full with various kids catching up in reading and math, and when I asked what they were doing for science at the conference in November, she didn't really know yet. Their history focus was the 50 states, but that simply consisted of each child making a state float during the year and then parading them around the school. My son did Texas and couldn't really tell you anything about Texas. I'm not putting down the teacher, she worked hard and even did tutoring with the kids after school. I'm just saying that teachers are kept busy with English and math in 2nd, and the rest is icing on the cake So I'm just wanting to help you see that you have enough for the 2nd grader by basically working on his English and Math, and letting him enjoy any other RTR projects he takes an interest in.

Julie

[Amy C.]

Hi, Melissa! We did RTR this last year. I had an official 2nd grader. Official in that he is considered 2nd grade in outside activities, i.e. church, scouts, etc. But, he has a July birthday. He sounds A LOT like your son. I have my ds on a waiting list to be tested for dyslexia. My ds has been a struggling learner, mostly in reading. He does better in math, even though we have taken that slowly. He will start Singapore 1a this upcoming school year.

What we did was to spread 1st grade over 2 years. So, while he was considered a 2nd grader this last year, we finished up 1st grade. He joined his older brothers for Bible/history reading. I read out loud. He loved doing English from the Roots Up. I had bought printable EFTRU vocab pages from Currclick as a download for like $5. I bought it when we were doing CTG so we used them for 2 years. I bought both the Greek and Latin root word vocab printables. I would print out the page which had the Latin root word printed at the top. Then he would write the meaning on the definition line and draw a picture to illustrate.That is all. No sentences. He would always ask, "Do we have a vocabulary page today?'', even on days we did not. And was disappointed when we didn't do one. I would let him do any of the student sheet activities that he could do: all coloring sheets, Roman numeral and Mayan numeral sheets, etc. He did some mapping by looking at his brothers' maps and with help from them or me. Instead of him writing a narrative of the history reading on his history notebooking pages, I would have him write the name and the date, like Julius Ceasar 498 B.C. If there was no picture for the historical figure/event in the student sheets, I would print one off the internet. He did not always do all of them, but what he wanted to do and I felt like he could do. He designed and drew his own "family crest" shield design. He did a stained glass window drawing, and a very nicely illustrated haiku poem (with a little help from me). He also did the read alouds with us.

One of his older brothers and he did the same science. Other older brother did Apologia General. I wondered how this would play out since my older 2 are so close in age and work better together. So, my 2nd grader and 5th grader did science together. Well, not really, because my younger ds would disappear during science most days. That was the 1st semester (The Human Body). The second semester I did 2 coop classes through our hs group using Apologia Astronomy, one for 1st-3rd which got my 2nd grader and a separate one for 4th-6th grade which got my 5th grader. This seemed to work out well since they could each learn and work at their on level. That's just how it worked here. Not necessarily for everybody, but worked for us. I would also read science-related library books to him.

He is not doing written narrations or dictation. He was still copying his Proverb verses from 1st grade. Anything I wanted him to write (like names, dates, the haiku poem, etc.), I would write on a whiteboard and he would copy. We will be working more on phonics (using AAS as a spelling program this next year) along with his other studies. We will try PLL and do what we can and will probably have to take it slow.

I am seeing improvements in his reading and his maturity. It is slow, but it is noticeably better. He read a very easy reader from the library yesterday. Way below his grade level, BUT he read it BY HIMSELF with just asking help with a couple of words. I was very pleased.

Oh, we also got some different-age level Abeka readers free from our hs coop so he would practice reading from them. We started (and are still at)the 1st grade level, but that is okay because that is where he is and I am seeing improvement.

Hope something helps.

Amy C.