Tips & Tricks: Extending a Year

Last year we did 1st grade. This year I have decided to extend our 1st grade year. My main and only reason for this is because I would like our daughter to get a little better at reading before we move onto 2nd grade. Academically she is still ahead for her age. She will be half a year ahead of where she would be if she was in public school. I may move onto 2nd grade before the year is up but we will see. There maybe many reasons to extend a school year. Your child may need a little extra help, they may not have retained the information, you could have had a difficult year (moving, a new addition to the family, etc). There is no shame in continuing a school year. If you do not want to redo a whole school year you can move on in certain subjects and stay with the same grade level in other classes. The great thing about homeschooling is that you can decide what is the best option for your children.

Since this year we will be continuing with 1st grade I have decided to add in some extra reading things. Our English class will be longer than what we had been doing. Our daughter started reading very early; a month before turning 3. Yet there are still come sight words that she has to sound out and blending sounds can be a challenge sometimes. My hopes are that this year she can really progress and get a better foundation for reading. As many know we use All About Reading. What is great about this curriculum is that it focuses on decoding a word versus memorizing. So when she gets to a reading longer words she will have the ability to sound them out properly.

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