Damien's First-ish Grade Program

Recently I talked about my plans for Jude and fourth grade, so I thought I would talk about Damien next.  I've had this post drafted for a while, but the "what I'm planning" part keeps changing.  He's moving along faster than I expected in many areas, so it's become a scramble to stay ahead of him! Officially, he's starting first grade, but a large portion of his work is at an early second-grade level.  I think it's a result of being everybody's younger brother -- he's listened and absorbed everything.  We'll call him a first-ish grader!

He has a pretty relaxed program -- after all, he's only six.  Math and Language Arts are the two "must accomplish daily" items on his to-do list.

Current Daily Program

Math
Math-U-See
Beta

Language Arts
Spelling 
Spelling You See Jack and Jill

Grammar
Growing with Grammar

Currently, Damien is working on Level 1.  He would be happy to do three or four exercises a day, and I think he could handle that, but for the moment, we're going very slowly. He's been doing one page each day, mostly to let Jude get farther ahead of him.  Jude is finally ready for formal grammar lessons, so we're starting at the beginning. He and Jude started the program at the same time, but Jude has been going at a "review" rate, and is about a third of the way into Level 2.  Once Jude has moved up to Level 3, I'll let Damien loose and let him work at whatever pace he decides. It's a balance between not holding one back and not letting the other feel left behind.

Literature
Veritas Press More Favorites
Progeny Press literature studies

More Favorites is our current literature guide book, but I think it will probably last us until Christmas or so. I like how it's a gentle bridge between 1st and 2nd grades; he's reading at an early 2nd-grade level, but isn't quite ready for the depth of higher level studies.  After he finishes this, he'll switch to some early elementary Progeny Press literature studies, and then maybe back to second grade Veritas Press guides.

Copywork
Currently he's working his way through A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson.  I'm not certain what we'll do when he's done that, but probably another book of poetry.

Reading
His choice of book, for approximately 15 minutes each day.  It's plus or minus a few minutes depending on the length of the book/chapter.  He's currently reading Book 2 of the "My Father's Dragon" trilogy, Elmer and the Dragon.

Once he's done those tasks for the day, if he's still up for more work,  we are doing some worksheet style programs.  They're generally something seasonal, so the topic is pretty random. The aim is for a 2-3 sheet packet three days each week.   He'd like to add more art - drawing, painting, etc. so that's become the currency for completing his must-do list -- if he finishes in time, we are able to get the paints out.

Damien also gets involved in review products and big kid science projects, so I'm not too worried about rounding things out formally.  He's also participating in the National Park Service's Junior Ranger Program. In this post's picture he's wearing badges from our summer trip and holding new Junior Paleontologist and Valley Forge Junior Ranger badges.

Coming soon:

Bible
Grapevine Studies

We'll start this with their Birth of Christ study, and then continue on with New Testament Catechism. 

Writing
180 Days of Writing - Grade 1


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