| From the overview by grade page [0] > Note that the curriculum does not introduce writing this year. [...] I find this strange. I have a lot of penmanship homework from my two years (!!) of kindergarten and first grade. It seems odd to me to not include it in kindergarten. Your reasoning seems to make sense to me, but I'd be tempted to teach in the way I was taught because it worked -- for better or worse -- for me. Are there a developmental psychology resources that you use for making decisions like these? --- From [0], you have > We have includes Calico Spanish It should be "We have included". --- From [0] and from the subject guides drop-down > Supervise your child's writing practice closely in the beginning to ensure that he or she is forming letters using the correct stroke direction and order. Incorrect habits established at this stage are difficult to unlearn later. I don't see an inclusion of penmanship here anywhere. As I understand it, penmanship is incredibly important for the development of fine motor skills in children (note that girls will develop faster than boys in this area of study). Are there plans to include penmanship? <edit> Nevermind, I found it in the 3rd grade section.[1] </edit> --- > Allow your child to choose any easy readers, comic books or simple series books that appeal to him or her. The priority at this level is to establish the habit of reading for enjoyment. Yes! I refused to learn to read until my mother got me a subscription to Sonic the Hedgehog (we had the first issue of the comic book series for a long, long time). After I got started in comic books, my reading habit was fueled by my own interests. --- From [1] > You should complement your child's science exploration by taking frequent trips to your local library and having him or choose nonfiction or science-related books to incorporate into independent reading time. This is awkwardly phrased. --- I could keep going. I want to keep going, but I've other tasks that need my attention. Thank you for creating this and I wish you luck in rolling it out! [0] https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com/grades
[1] https://www.greatbookshomeschool.com/grades#Thi |
Re introducing reading separately from writing, this is recommended in The Well-Trained Mind and A Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and worked well with my two sons. Both learned to read fluently at age four, but needed a couple years beyond that to develop the fine motor skills and attention span needed to form letters well. That said, many kids are ready to write at an earlier age and we try to make it easy for parents to edit the default curriculum and do things like move the first-grade writing component to kindergarten. The main point is that learning to read doesn't need to be coupled with writing.
The typo and awkward phrasing you mentioned are fixed now. :)