Combining ECC and younger child learning to read

[erikdeb]

My older children (grades 2nd and 4th) will be doing ECC this year.
My third child will be using K this year.

We used ADV this year and she loved participating in some of the work. She didn't enjoy story time though and she was unable to complete many of the worksheets, as she couldn't yet write, but I'd ask her to draw a picture of what she remembered.

I've used the K program before, but that was 5 years ago, I think. And she was my only school aged-child, so things were quite different back then!

How would I go about:

1) Combining the Kindergartner with the older two in ECC?

2) Scheduling Kindergarten with ECC? Should I do ECC in the morning and then K in the afternoon? Should I do K in the morning and then have the older children do their L.A./Math, in the morning, while I do K with the younger one and then do ECC in the afternoon? I am open to any and all suggestions.

We are doing K and ECC this year (though somehow we are nearly finished with K and not even halfway done with ECC, but still..........

I would try it both ways, with K in the morning while the biggers do their more independent work, and then ECC right after K, and try it with K in the afternoon. For us here it works best for me to do K first, save any worksheet for last, and sit at the table with him, where my 8yo has already been doing his work.

My K (who was 4yo for ADV) loved to participate in much of ADV - I got him his own state sheets, and he did his own Jesus poster, etc. This year in ECC for some reason he is not as interested in participating. He does like to play the geo game, so sometimes I have the 2 boys play instead of myself playing (and right after I was at conv. I realized I should've bought another parent/teacher supp. so the 3 of us could all play together). He enjoys Kingdom Tales. I think that's about it.

My 8yo does enjoy participating in some of the "more fun" K activities, so I do try to let him just come and do K with us if he thinks it looks like we are having fun.

That's how it works here.

[cbollin]

2 years ago when I did ECC (7th and 4th) and MFW K with kindy kid, this is what I did.

Kindy kid (due to her uniqueness in life) could only do focused school work in 10-15 segments.

So, as part of her wake up in the morning routines, she did the MFW K math as older children got ready for the day.

Worked with older children as needed in ECC. Then, youngest would eventually wander in the kitchen and it was time to spend 15 focus minutes on language arts
with her. other children did book basket or other quick independent thing. back to working with older kiddos.

then after lunch, youngest wandered back in and it was fun to do Kindy activities then and let older siblings have fun helping it.

and we always invited youngest to play with us in fun stuff in ECC or do a flag with us, or sing and dance in wee sing cd. or do craft, etc... but we didn't "make" her do those.

One of my favorite memories from that year was when older girls were working on memory verse in MT 5, light of world, not hidden.. that one. well, kindy gal had a similar verse in MFW K... Jesus is the light of the world. So, when she heard her sisters doing Mt 5 stuff, kindy gal ran and got her Kindy badge from sun and moon on I am the light of the world.... and then we did a hands on project with candles and bowls and mirrors in the half bath.

and sometimes, life made it such that we did MFW K activities in the evening instead of just after lunch.


So I did both of them ecc and kindy b/c that's what was needed in my family that year.

[Poohbee]

Hi!

We are doing ECC and K this year, too. This is what has worked well for us. We start the day doing the Bible from ECC together. Then, my 4th grade dd works on independent work while I work with my 6yo dd on her kindergarten work. That takes about an hour to an hour and a half. After that, my 6yo is finished with her work and is free to go and play. I then work with my 4th grader on the rest of her work. Throughout the day, my 6yo joins us for art projects, science experiments, music, and special projects in ECC. I did get my 6yo a set of ECC student sheets so that she could participate in coloring the John 3:16 country sheet the kids color at the beginning of studying each new country. She has enjoyed coloring those sheets, and even though those are pretty much the only sheets we've used from the packet for her, it was worth it to me so that she can participate with her older sister.

I have LOVED how well the topics in ECC and K match each other. We studied Africa in ECC and African animals in K (elephant and zebra), and they ended up being about at the same time. We will study Australia in ECC, and we studied kangaroos and Australian animals in K. When we were studying cows in K, I found a book involving cows that takes place in Kenya, and a short time later, we studied Kenya in ECC. There are other examples, too, but I can't think of them right now. ECC and K go really well together!

Enjoy your studies! ECC and K are both wonderful years!

[cbollin]

I am considering K and ECC for 2011-12. Just curious if there are sample schedules anywhere....I'm not sure if I can implement both and still teach the 3 R's to all of my kiddos without being over extended. I am pondering the possibility of waiting a year on ECC for this reason . Thanks for any links you can share.

thinking back to when I had a 7th grader in jr. high version of ECC, a 4th grader in ECC and my autistic youngest in mfw K:

morning wake up: Kindy gal did her "MFW K math" routines as part of her daily wake up. That was calendar, place value, etc.
Then gave her a few minutes to eat or something.
Sat her down at her "workstation" to do MFW K phonics.
other girls seem to meander downstairs and show up.
Youngest was done with 2 subjects by then in very gentle ways so she ran off to TV or play or computer.
Breakfast for others while we did ECC bible
moved into group teaching of subjects like geography.
worked with middle gal on language arts/math while oldest did some math or something.
eventually there tended to be a natural point where youngest would show back up in kitchen and we'd do group activity either. Depending on the day and our overall moods, it was either a group thing from ECC, or her MFW Kindy activity for the day.
more work with older gals.... oldest was supposed to do more independent stuff.
read alouds in evening.

that was our basic schedule. No, I'm not a good clock watcher. No I didn't box it into specific time frames of 15 or 30minute boxes like any good homeschooler is supposed to do. We went with the flow.

in my ECC manual, at the bottom of the grid, I added a box for Kindy reminders:
MFW K, L 16:day1 (lesson 16, day 1)
math
phonics
stuff

that way the 3 biggie things from Kindy were in my face on the ECC grid but not overwhelming me. At my daughter's Kindy workstation, I had the Kindy routines on the wall so I could glance at them. and a folder and boxes with all of the stuff. Since she has autism, if I had to walk too far from her desk to get a pencil or marker.... forget it... she was gone.

that's the way it worked for me. I'm not a good planner or scheduler. and I'm a terrible organizer. it still worked out.

-crystal

[Melissa]

We're just finishing up that same schedule this year. We actually finished K in March, but here is what I have done. Bear in mind I'm not sure if this is ideal, but it's our first year hs'ing and it has worked out pretty well for us.

8:30am - all together for morning devotional and prayer; we also read Window on the World on Mondays during this time too so we can pray for the people group

9am or so - three olders have independent reading for 15 minutes (I'm changing this to one chapter or 30 minutes in the fall - whichever is longer); while the olders are reading, my youngest and I worked on his calendar notebook I made him

9:15am or so - olders started on their independent work - lang arts, math, typing, weekly bible verse study, etc. and my K'er and I worked on his K stuff

When my K'er and I were finished doing K things, we'd read on the couch together. Usually the big kids were finished up and then I'd do spelling with the big kids and offer any help they needed.

Once that is finished, we usually break for lunch.

After lunch we do our group reading together (geography, science, and any read aloud books I want to read to them) and any other group activities together (art, worksheets, etc). We're usually finished by early afternoon (never past 2pm, usually about 1-1:30). It all depends on the day, work load of the day, attitudes of the kids, etc. Some days we finish up before lunch, so days it goes long and it's usually because someone is cranky.

Hope this helps you. It's really pretty loose what I've typed, but the basic schedule we've followed this past school year.

Melissa

[Poohbee]

This is my 2nd yr of homeschooling & only learned of MFW about 2 months ago. I've been to their conventions & workshops & finally purchased the 1st grade curriculum for my 6yo son & MFW ECC for my 9yo son (also have 4yo daughter & almost 2yo son). How much time ~realistically~ would i spend on a full day with the first grade? & how much time on ECC?

I see you haven't gotten any responses yet, so I thought I'd pipe in. Last year, we did ECC and K together. ECC usually took about 4-5 hours each day. Within that 4-5 hours, it took about 1 hr. for K. If I remember right, I think 1st grade took about 1 1/2 to 2 hours when I did that the first time. I had my older dd work on independent work while I worked with my Kindergartener. Then my K'er went off to play with, by herself or with her little brother, while I finished working with my 4th grader. So, my answer to your question is that ECC will probably take around 4-5 hours, and 1st grade will take 1 1/2 to 2 hours (but within the original 4-5 hrs. if you have your oldest work on some independent work during your time with your 1st grader).

Thanks for responding, Jen =)
Can u tell me (for ECC) about how much of that time is independent/group/1on1?

Let's see...here is how our days kind of went last year as we did ECC and K.

I made it my goal to begin school between 9 and 9:30 and end between 2 and 2:30, with an hour break for lunch and playtime. We didn't always make that goal. Sometimes we didn't start until 10 and sometimes we weren't finished until 3:30. It just depended on the day and the activities we had going that day. But, for the most part, that was my goal as far as start and end time.

We started with Bible together...about 1/2 hour. (Group)
Then, oldest did independent work (spelling, handwriting, independent reading, vocabulary, math drill, some map work...varied from day to day) while I worked on K work with my youngest dd...about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. (Independent for oldest, 1 on 1 for youngest dd)
Then, youngest dd went to play while I worked with oldest dd on science, geography, English, and math...about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. (1 on 1 with oldest)
We usually would take about an hour lunch break and then finish up any unfinished work. We also did art and music together (both dds) after lunch...the last 1 to 1 1/2 hours. (Group)

I hope I'm not forgetting any subjects. We did not do foreign language while doing ECC because our days were long enough, and we did a language activity in the Trip Around the World books for each country we studied. That sufficed for foreign language.

This year, we finally invested in Rosetta Stone for foreign language, and I will be adding keyboarding to my eldest dds day, so that will give her a few more things to do independently while I spend a bit more time working with my 1st grader.

That's just how our days went as we did ECC and K. It will vary for each person, but I hope this is helpful.

Jen, thanks for bumping this one up. I *know* there are folks with experiences with this. I'm just not one of them!

Here are some more to look thru:
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2713 combining 1st and an older program
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1359 how long per day for 1st
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=474 how much time for ECC

[MelissaM]

This year I'll be having a 5th grader on ECC & 1st grader on the 1st grade package (plus the 4yr old preschooler & 22mo old toddler). I'm hoping to be able to do Bible as a family time....but can I? I mean, who's memory versers etc. would i use, the 1st grader's or the 5th grader's?

We're doing both. We started ECC last January, when my younger one was in K and didn't have memory verses per se. We do Bible all together, and they both memorize the verses. Now, he's started the 1st grade, but we still do Bible all together - do the Bible for ECC first, go over the memory verse, the reading, etc., then go over the memory verse and talk about how we can apply it in daily life for 1st grade. The kids memorize so much more easily than I do - they don't have any trouble memorizing 2 verses, and I figure they can't (and I can't, either!) ever get too much Bible, right? If there are other Bible activities, etc., (like the copywork, making the scroll - I don't know what else, since I'm only a couple weeks in) for the 1st grade, my 5th grader doesn't do that.

HTH,
Melissa

[DS4home]

We did ECC and 1st last year too. We only did Bible from one of them. I decided which one based on our family dynamics. This was our 2nd time through ECC and our last time doing 1st. So I decided to have everyone memorize the proverbs from the 1st grade curr. You might choose differently. If this is your first time in ECC, I would lean towards using that for your main curriculum with Bible, read alouds, and everything, with all the kids. Then use the other parts of 1st grade (phonics, math, etc.) only with your 1st grader.

With a handful of younger ones time to focus as a group may be limited I would recomend doing Bible from just one of them. You could briefly go over the 1st grade Bible lesson with your first grader as part of their individual school time, without requiring memorization of that one.

- Dawn

[Poohbee]

Last year, we did ECC and K together. We did the ECC Bible together. I think it was good for my K'er to listen in as I read verses from the book of Matthew and the book Window on the World aloud each morning. My oldest dd memorized the verses from Matthew, and my youngest dd memorized her "Words to Remember" from K, so they each had their own memory verses.

This coming year, as we do CTG and 1st, I will, once again, do the CTG Bible together for both kids. My 1st grader can listen in as we read through the Bible and Victor Journey Through the Bible. However, the 1st grade Bible time is so integral to the program that I will do the 1st grade Bible time with my youngest dd during her one-on-one time with me. The 1st grade Bible time consists of taking the child through the main stories of the Bible and then the child learns to read his or her own Bible reader. I feel that it is a very important part of 1st grade, and I wouldn't want to leave that out. My girls will each do their own memory verses...the 1st grader will do the Proverbs and the 5th grader will do the CTG verses.

For you, doing ECC and 1st together, you could do the ECC Bible time together for your kids...have the 1st grader sit in on that. Later, do the 1st grade Bible with your 1st grader as part of his/her one-on-one school time with you. You could have both kids memorize the same verses, or they could each do different ones. You could alternate. Have both kids memorize the Matthew verse one week and then both kids memorize a Proverb the next week. That way, you'd get a little bit of both in. It's so hard to know what to do sometimes, isn't it? You may have to try doing it one way, see how that works, and then make adjustments as needed.

[fdjoyce]

My almost 5 year-old will be doing K
My almost 7 year-old and 8 1/2 year-old will be doing ECC (2nd and 3rd grades)
Just trying to figure out how I can organize our time so it works best?
THANK YOU!!!

I did K last year & ECC with a 2nd & 5th grader. I'm not sure what your specific ? is but in general I tried to get my ECC guys going & while they were doing individual assignments (math, book basket, reading to each other,etc) I worked with my K. My K never got to the point where he could do his work solo (except for his math- we use a supplemental math program) so I found that I had to sit down with him & do his work until it was finished. Then he could do book basket (not part of K but I added it in) or other fun educational stuff- puzzles, play with younger siblings etc while I worked with those in ECC.

Also my K still took naps so I would finish up with the ECC guys while my younger children napped.

[cbollin]

I tried to use some of the suggestions in the ECC manual to help move from subject to subject. I don't know if the ideas in the Help How do I get it all done (or whatever the actual title is) will help you or not.

In general (but I had older children.... 7th, 4th and Kindy),
I started day with youngest, and did math and phonics from Kindy in short bursts. math was part of wake up routines and breakfast. phonics right after. she was free to go for a while.
Then, started other girls with some "breakfast table teaching" from ECC
worked with 4th grader some, 7th grader did independent stuff
kindy kid wandered back in for attention (time for break for older kids) and this was good time to do activities from kindy with her and older sisters enjoyed helping
lunch
finished up what needed to be done

we went down the grid for the most part and did group stuff, then individual. there were times that Kindy activities were in the evening. read alouds almost always at night.

everyone organizes so differently, I hope you hear something that clicks with you. I didn't have a 1 y.o in the mix. when youngest was 1 or 2..... I just did the next thing.

-crystal

[MelissaM]

What is needed for an extra person to play the geography game? Do I order student sheets for my DD6 or can I get away with just using the P/T supplement? I NEED to save money where possible but I DO want all of us to be able to play the game. I really don't think my daughter will use the ECC notebooking sheets if she is using MFW 1st grade.

As far as the geography game, you can use the P/T supplement and even have your 6yo play on your team (or both kids together against you, but it worked better for us to have my 6yo with me because he wasn't reading yet, and dd would get impatient when he was on her team). You can make copies out of the Trip and Another Trip books so your 6yo can have flag pictures to color, etc. I will warn you though, I didn't order my ds his own student sheets at first, because I thought he'd be busy enough with MFWK/1 (we started ECC in Jan, 1/2 way through a school year), and I made copies of the flag pictures and stuff, but he kept asking me for his own sheets, and one day he literally cried because he didn't have a John 3:16 sheet, and I ended up ordering them for him anyway. He didn't use all of the sheets by any means, but there were enough in there that he liked, to make it worth it to us. And this year, my 2yo is using the leftover ones when he wants to "do school" like the big kids, so they're not going to waste, exactly.

You will want to get everyone a sticker book. Also, this is totally unnecessary, but I think one of my kids' favorite parts of ECC was when I would "stamp" their passports and talk to them in a TERRIBLE accent from whatever country we were in. A line that has become part of our household common use, is "You crazy American bebe!" said in a very bad French accent, because when we were trying to do the passports my 2yo ds was having fit about something or other, and that's what I said. Don't forget to have fun in ECC.

[cbollin]

We did that too... I would ask them to say hello in the language to me. We also would exchange money (US "monopoly" money). I'd even get silly and call over the "other passport agent" to see if it looked normal. I can remember crossing borders in tour buses when I was high school age and the agents would seem to get a kick out of marching up and down the bus looking at our passports. (we had a West German tour guide with all of us Americans. started in West Germany... drove to Switzerland. to france... each time) I think they were laughing at our pictures.
anyway....

-crystal

[MelissaB]

LOL... I always had silly foreign accents when we "stamped" our passport, too! So glad to hear another Mom did that.

ECC is such a very fun year! Sometimes when time was tight, I would be tempted to skip the geography game... I'm so glad we didn't! It was amazing to see our dd spout off countries and capitals at the end of the year. Her geography knowledge is still very good, two years later. Love ECC!

Have a great year!!

[abrightmom]

Ladies,

Thanks for the wonderful ideas and the enthusiasm.

I will get to work on my terrible foreign accents....

[Cyndi (AZ)]

I will get to work on my terrible foreign accents....

well, you better!!! LOL!

then there was the time we took "Norwegian Cruise Lines" to get to Norway . . . 2 seconds after loading the ship, my dd asked, "Which way to the spa?" LOL!!! I had to use a dorky Norwegian accent and give her a manicure! Oh my . . . ECC was fun.

[momonthemove]

Had a glorious day with my kids! LOOOOOOOOVED ECC! I never liked geography and now I can't wait to study it too with the kids.

I am going to like Kindergarten, just had to figure out a few extras to challenge my little girl until we hit blending. Thanks for the advice to those that helped me with this!

I feel so lucky and blessed to be homeschooling my children! Last year felt so hit and miss and just a stretch in so many ways. After one day, I already feel like we are on a stronger path! Praise to the Lord!

fun fun fun!
I can't remember now if it's week 1 or 2 in ECC with the cake... enjoy!

Not this week. We did the oranges a bit ago and the kids had a blast. I posted on my blog.
http://jibberjabberx3.blogspot.com/

I can't wait to do the cake next week!

Loved looking at your blog...what fun!

[far above rubies]

I started looking at MFW last winter, put it aside, and here I am back to considering it for this year. I like how MFW brings all the children together and especially having the bible included. I have 3 boys (12, 10 and 5) and a girl (2). I usually end up putting my own resources together, which keeps things simple but doesn't feel like a complete program. Bible always seems to fall by the wayside.

My 12 y.o. is very independent, self-motivated and likes things that are "professional" (his word). My 10 y.o. is very active, hands-on, dyslexic who would need me to read a lot to him, but can listen to some books on audio. Then my 5 y.o. who is starting K this year. He wants to learn, likes math (can do lots of addition), and is starting to read 3 or more letter words.

So my question is how doable will K and ECC be for me? That's where I would start with my ages, right? My kids are sort of tired of mom trying and switching different programs. I have a couple friends who use MFW and I'm going to talk with them, but I thought I would post here too.

I see in the samples on the website that there are ways to challenge the older kids. Is everything for that included in the TM? For example, I see in the ECC Week 9 sample, 7th and 8th graders "begin country summary sheet." Are directions for that included? Would my oldest find things "challenging and professional" or are there more "cute" things? I hope that doesn't sound negative, it's just how he is. My 10 y.o. on the other hand, would love more simple, easy to implement hands-on. That's part of my challenge when combining.

How much do we do together? Would I be able to teach the K program, while the olders do something independent, and then teach ECC while the youngers tag along? I hope I didn't fire off too many questions at once. This is just what's going through my mind at the moment.

Thanks so much!
Kristen

I did ECC with K last year and it worked beautifully. I also have a child who is dysgraphic and dyslexic, so I understand those troubles, too.

They've done a great job telling us what to do, step by step. I started out with MFW, branched out, because I thought I needed "more," and then RAN back to MFW, just because I miss the structure. I have five children and this year is insanely busy and unpredictable. I had a moment of insanity in which I nearly lost my head and entertained the thought of switching curriculum to something more "mom friendly." But after getting that in my hands, realized that nope...I'm running back again! Trying to keep up with different textbooks and assignments for each child is just insane for me. I know some big families thrive on traditional textbook stuff, in which everyone has their own thing and just works independently, but for me, the whole let's do school together is simpler. And Marie has really made it doable.

As for our schedule, we started everyone out together for Bible, and then I let my Ker play with my younger two, while I did ECC with my older two. While they were in book basket, I did K with her.

[MelissaB]

Hi, Kristen -

We did ECC & K together. Of all the curriculums, I think those two go together best. You'll be learning about animals with both curriculums (ECC studies animals in each ecosystem; K focuses on animals with the letter of the week.). We found the two flowed smoothly together.

May I share two suggestions? First, you might look at the Book of Animals. I think all ages love that book, and it will give your Kindergartener something to do with your older children that's very easy, & brings all of the children together. And the second thought is that, if you find that Properties of the Ecosystems is too much for your older ones to focus on, you might just read through it yourself (it's usually just 2-3 pages) and go over the highlights. They will still get a lot of science with the other books and resources in ECC.

ECC is a rich, fun and indepth curriculum. K is easy to use and full of great learning activities. (You'll love it! )

Enjoy!
Melissa B.

[BusyMom2Many]

Kristen,

I just started using MFW this year and we're using ECC and K. I have a wide range of children using it and my K age dc doesn't seem to be interested in sitting in with us while doing ECC. I try to focus on my younger ones first and work my way up. They all seem to be enjoying it and have even thanked me! I have typically been a textbook mom, but really wanted to be more hands on and together learning this year. I am loving the schedules too! I've never had that and it seems to keep me on task.

[Ohmomjacquie]

I was wondering, is it possible to combine K (age 5) and ECC? What I was wondering, could I use the ECC for both students for the Bible, History, Science, Geography etc... and then just use age/level-appropriate math and LA?

I would imagine you could.

We will be using both next year. My younger two tag along a lot with adventures this year

[DS4home]

Yes, MFW is designed for just that! As you work through the 5 year cycle with your family the younger ones will combine with the family in a lot of ways, soaking things in at their age level, but will always need a Kindy and first grade program of their own to learn how to read and such.

You have a good plan!
Dawn

[mshanson3121]

Well that's really good to know! I know that I could just start DS off on ECC, and then in another couple years DD could join in part-way through the cycle like many do, but honestly, I'd like to have them go through the cycle together, doing the same books (make it easier on me, lol!). I know that means DD would be done with the FC at grade 5 or 6 instead of 8, but I could figure that out down the road!

[MFW-Lucy]

Hi mshanson3121,

I wanted to clarify a little bit for you.

The Family Cycle is designed for 2nd-8th graders with each child using language arts and math at their skill level. Each program for grades 2-8 is designed to be completed in four hours each day, including all subjects, when using our recommendations for math and language arts. These programs include 60-90 minutes of independent work each day. (7th and 8th graders will have an additional 1-1 ½ hours of independent work each day.) This is time you can spend teaching kindergartners and first graders; focusing on reading, handwriting, and math. Then invite younger children to join older children for Bible, science, read alouds, and other hands-on projects whenever they are interested. (You may omit the science in first grade since they can participate in the science experiments and listen to some of the weekly readings for science with the older kids as well as participate in weekly nature walks with the family.) You could say that younger children are in a sense auditing the older siblings program.

My Father's World K and 1st grade programs were designed to be taught along-side a Family Cycle year. Kindergarten takes 60-90 minutes each day (on average about 60 minutes). About 30-40 minutes of this will be teaching the reading, writing, and math portions of the program. Since your K child will join in for some of the hands-on activities in ECC you can decide how many of the K activities you will do each week with your K child. These programs offer age appropriate learning related activities for younger children while still allowing you to teach and meet the needs of older children.

Once your K child enters 2nd grade he will officially join the cycle at this time. Any years taught in 2nd and 3rd grade will be repeated at a more advance level in 7th and 8th grade. Each child remains in the Family Cycle until they enter 9th grade and begin the high school program.

I hope that helps you understand how yes, younger children may be included, but still need their own age appropriate program to meet their needs.

[asheslawson]

Oh... what I had planned was using ECC solely for Bible, History, Science etc... for both children (would be 8.5 & 5.5), and then using an age-appropriate phonics & math program for each of them. I can't afford to buy ECC and MFW K or 1, when I only would be using it for phonics/math.

So with that in mind, do you feel a 5/6 year old could successfully use ECC for Bible, History, Science?

I combined K & ECC... my dd (K) listened to the read-alouds with interest, & most of the history & bible. Sometimes she just drifted into coloring her sheet or playing with her toys in the floor, which was ok. She still seemed to soak up plenty from what she heard (more than I would have expected). She LOVED the coloring sheets & making Nate Saint's yellow plane! Science, however, she did very little in. She LOVED doing the experiments with us - and still remembers them. But as for reading the book & answering the questions - it was really too much for a 5 or 6 year old. Of course - she gained a lot from doing the experiments - I think that really drives science home anyways.

Of course - the science experiments in K were very enjoyable & we did those too - my ds (ECC - 4th grade) actually really enjoyed tagging along for many of her science experiments. He usually just watched - and enjoyed how the often brought her bible lesson to life - but we loved them. One of my favorites was L-l leaf & separating the leaf from the plant, which represented separating us from Jesus.

So - yes - they combine well - but most K kiddos won't be able to hang on for all of bible, history, science completely. (Mine was an older K as she turned 6 @ end of September.) And I occasionally skipped a project in one of the programs if I felt we'd done it before or another would be easier to combine - out of time mostly. Not quite sure how I get things done now as that is the only year I didn't have pre-schoolers I watched in the daytime & was only babysitting after-schoolers. How I wish I could still afford to do that!!!! (so off-topic - sorry - just had a mental flashback of how nice it was to spend the day with my two and not have to stop for mom's arriving late to drop off kids, take a child potty, or some other toddler interruption!! )

Anyways - I hope that helps. I don't think any two families would combine them the same way - but you will find what works best for you. However the bible & science in K, to me, you won't want to miss. They work right in with their letter and sound they are learning. And - the K program is very short & sweet. But your K student will still enjoy tagging along for ECC activities too.