Suggestions for K with an early reader

[Heather in GA]

I am looking ahead to our next school year (we'll begin in June), and I would like some advice from all of you wise MP ladies. My just-turned-5yo daughter is finishing up FSR C alongside the Jr. K program. She worked through the Jr. K alphabet books before starting FSR and the Core Skills Phonics books. She has done much but not all of the writing. I am thinking we can do the K program as written, but just have her finish FSR through Book E and continue working on reading fluency using the Spalding suggested booklist for early readers (I've had success with this list).

We could go back through and do any missed writing portions in FSR as well. I like to teach cursive in K using another method (Peterson), so that would be something new for her next year.

How does this sound? I know FSR leads into Storytime Treasures, but I feel like that might be overkill for K. Or would it be better phonics-wise to just keep going with the language arts progression? Thanks in advance for your help!

[jen1134]

I think your original plan is excellent: work through K as written. My one caveat would be not to jump to D and E. Work through the books she's already done at an accelerate pace, but don't skip. It will ensure she doesn't have any hidden gaps and going through it a year later will take advantage of more maturity. As I'm sure you've noticed with your older girls, just one year can make a HUGE difference maturity-wise, especially in these early ages.

[KF2000]

Be ready to take your time with FSR D and E. They do ramp up a bit, which can bring unexpected frustration for a younger student. The transition to long vowels is one that might need more patience than the short vowel work. So I also think your original plan seems like a good one. I can see the value of having STT and MSTT be within the whole first grade set. Have you seen the Myself and Others books? Those would be a nice addition if you haven’t done them already.

https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/special-needs/myself-others/

AMDG,
Sarah

[pickandgrin]

Beorn
Could you add your experience to this question?

[Michelle T]

As Sarah mentioned above, you want to take your time with FSR Books A-C. Short vowels are the most challenging to master because their sounds are so nuanced. That is why Cheryl covered them to mastery first in Books A-C. It is also why she said we need to spend 26 weeks ensuring mastery of them. Many students can tell you that the letter a is the sound in cat, but CVC words with short e and short i are easily confused especially when they are next to one another. The Spalding program follows a different philosophy which introduces all the sounds a letter makes but doesn't give enough practice so the student masters them. FSR is meant to be sequential, teaching one sound for the letters then practincing that sound to mastery before adding a new spelling or sound.

Very young students, who have excellent memories, can sometimes do well with memorizing all those spellings and sounds. A natural reader may even seem to progress at a good pace but be careful because I have tutored many a student from this method who, as a grammar school student, became completely flustered when encountering a CVC word because they had to go through the entire list of sounds for the single vowel before being able to decode the word. These gaps in mastery don't always show up right away and they don't mean the student will never read and spell well, but it does mean it is likely going to be harder in later years which is why we advise taking your time with the program. As Jennifer mentioned be sure not to skip any parts of FSR as they all work together for that mastery which is so important.

Sounds like your little one is taking to reading and will likely be ahead in language arts. As a homeschooler you have the freedom to move into the next year's work as you see fit. Be careful to take your time with the materials and enjoy the books. Remember we suggest 3 oral readings of the K level materials. The first reading for decoding, the second to build speed and fluency, and the third to add expression. As students progress (2nd grade and up) they can combine the second and third oral readings but we suggest letting the third be silent reading.

Consider getting the First Grade Curriculum Manual to see how FSR Book E is scheduled with Traditional Spelling I and Story Time Treasures. Those first few weeks of first grade are woven together so nicely to give focused practice with vowel teams, soft c and g, and the three sounds of y.

[Beorn]

Thanks for the heads-up, pickandgrin. To the OP, we had a five year old who was an early reader and also went through the Junior Kindergarten program. He is now six years old and halfway through MP First Grade. The ladies above have given you lots of great advice and pointers that will be of help as you decide.

In addition to what was shared above, the only thing that I would add is to continue reading additional books with your early reader. Take turns reading together as your child is able (you read, they read, you both read). This will help reinforce and continue to teach them words, pronunciations and nuances from you and the moments spent reading together are treasures for you and for your child.

[Heather in GA]

Thank you all for taking the time to offer some advice. I think we'll continue to work carefully through the FSR/K phonics program and look forward to the rest of the K program starting this summer. We'll certainly do lots of team reading as she works toward mastery/fluency. We have done M&O 1 as a family, and I'm planning to start the second one over our 2-month break. My girls all enjoyed it!