What Your ____ Grader Needs To Know ?

[OneRoomHomeSchool]

So, tell me about these books...are they 'valuable' to you? Do you actually use them a lot or does it just sit on your shelf? :D

[Rhesa]

I actually use mine (for 1st grade). We read out of them on occasion. Mostly, I use them to spot check. On those days that I think, "Why am I homeschooling? We're not getting anything done!", I can look in it and see what we've covered, what needs to be covered, etc.

[ArwenA]

I find them a good reference with age appropriate topics but I don't really like the name. I have different educational goals and don't think that my kids need to know all the stuff in those books at that grade.
I have found poems to memorize and DD9 has read every book in the series cover to cover. It also helps me to see if my kids are really behind or ahead in a particular area. So, I consider them good value.

[tess in the burbs]

most of the time they are on the shelf. but I go through them a few times in our schoolyear to see if there is anything they have never seen or heard of. we might read something one day just to say they have seen and heard of it. but otherwise, it's a great dust collector ;-) perhaps if the library carries them you should get it from them.

[Rhonda@LivingWater]

I especially like the K, 1st, and 2nd grade books. I do advise you to check your library for them so you can get a feel for the books and see if they will be useful to you.

[Debra in CO]

I love them.

I keep one in the van at all times. Then I have something really easy to pull out and just read a story or two here and there. The only thing I really make a point of using is the stuff about the little sayings... April showers bring May flowers and such.

But I like the poetry selections, I like the scientist biographies (we do tend to read those).

Debra
Mom of five, ages 1-10

[angela in ohio]

I had a set of them I bought cheap, but I sold them. Mostly, we read the stories or the science or history information, but then I decided I would prefer to use better sources for these. If you didn't have access to a decent library, they might be useful, though.

[Lori D.]

Enjoyed the reading selections as part of our morning together time, as nice exposure to classic stories and to poetry.

Enjoyed the "sayings" or "adages" by doing it as a sort of "Wheel of Fortune Game". (On the whiteboard, I'd draw a dash for each letter of each word; rather than a wheel, the kids took turns rolling a die, then guess a letter -- I'd fill in that letter, and they'd either guess or "spin" again, until someone figured out the saying, and then we'd read what the book said about it.)

Enjoyed the art and music sections as exposure to those topics, since we weren't doing too much of that in our schedule in those early elementary years.

Enjoyed the history and science sections as nice introductions into whatever history or science we were doing.


Pretty much, we read a page or so a day for fun, and enjoyed them! Warmly, Lori D.

[Ali in OR]

In the spring of both K and first grade, I checked them out for a 4 week period and we went through the American history (since we did none for our regular schooling) and then read the literature stuff for fun. I peeked at the math and science but felt no need to go through it with dd. This year as we finish Medieval, Renaissance, and Reformation we will be getting ready to start in on American history, so I don't feel as strong a need to get the next book. I'll probably check it out for fun.

[Tonia]

We only have the K'er book, but I like it - especially for the poetry.

[Cadam]

I find them useless personally because I do not plan on using that scope and sequence. It is to disjointed to me, covers material I don't think is essential and leaves out things that are important to me (like Latin and narration exc).

I think if that is the way you want to go it is a great education and would serve a child well. However, they are not at all classical and I prefer a more classical approach to learning.

[Trivium Academy]

I've decided to eliminate them by just getting Core Knowledge Sequence K-8, it puts what sequence/concepts to cover each year all in 1 book. I ordered it used and if it ever gets here- I"ll start using it as our 'gap-catcher'. Lol. I like the What Your ____ books but with classically educating, there's a lot of jumping around to cover 1 time period.

http://www.coreknowledge.org/bookstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=14

[Another Lynn]

I have one for 3rd grade. I read through it once and then it started gathering dust..... hmmmm, maybe I should go back and look at it again.

[OneRoomHomeSchool]

I like the What Your ____ books but with classically educating, there's a lot of jumping around to cover 1 time period.



That makes sense! I will probably pass...

[mcconnellboys]

I don't use them now, but when I first began homeschooling I used them a ton to gauge where my older son's skill gaps might be in coming out of private school. I schooled him first during his second grade year and I used the K, First and Second grade books in order to bring him up to speed.

I also used the later books to help me check out what I was doing and make sure that I was staying on track. After I became accustomed to what I was doing, I didn't feel I needed them any longer. But they were invaluable to me in the beginning!

Regena

[K&Rs Mom]

I looked through them at the bookstore, but didn't feel they were worth buying: partly because I'm not doing things in that order, partly because my kids are all over the map as far as grade-level. I do occasionally check the grade/sequence lists on worldbook.com (rather have a free resource that takes up no space), just to reassure myself.