Dear Parent,

First, congratulations that your daughter is so far ahead.  Her abilities surely reflect the academic and supportive environment with which you have surrounded her.  One suspects that, with her abilities, she might be bored to tears in the confines of a public school setting.  So, homeschooling is a great gift that you are giving her!

In regard to completing schoolwork for the day in less than two hours, it is not at all unusual for primary students in a homeschool setting to complete their school work in this amount of time.  In fact, most homeschooling students can cover all the subjects covered in public school, add enrichment, and still be finished by lunchtime.  The difference is that, in public school, the majority of the school day is expended on repeated instructions to the students who don’t understand or aren’t paying attention, disciplining wayward students, and ‘down time’ at desks, waiting for slower students to complete their work.  With homeschooling, your daughter has one on one tutoring that allows her to fly ahead at her own good pace.  This is a good thing, as burnout can occur when the young ones are confined to a desk for the better part of the day, whether at school or at home.

As far as the reading program is concerned, you may wish to let her zoom ahead at her bright pace, being careful to slow down if at any point she begins to stumble.  One of the great benefits of homeschooling is that you are free to move ahead as your student’s successes set the rate of progress.  [And, if she is so advanced in reading, you may wish to move her up one level in spelling as well.]

When she has mastered Little Stories for Little Folks, she will be ready for the 2nd grade reader: Devotional Stories for Little Folks.  At that point, you may choose either to begin 2nd grade reading, or wait until second grade to introduce that reader, and let her revel in selecting her own library books for the remainder of the year.  

Science and social studies are touched very lightly in public schools at this grade level, as the main emphasis is introductory reading and math.  By the time your daughter is ready for 3rd grade testing, all indications are that she will score well ahead of her grade level, so I wouldn’t worry too much about adding materials beyond the lesson plans.

If you are finding it a bit time-consuming to supplement via trips to the public library, you might like to take a peek at the non-core enrichment already prepared for you and provided in the lesson plans.  Most students really enjoy the activities, which are designed to enhance and reinforce the lessons of the week.

The rich atmosphere of learning that you are setting with CHC Lesson Plans, and the relaxed, supportive environment that you are providing will not only guide your daughter to success, but will also insure that she enjoys learning.  What a great combination!

Sincerely,

Theresa Johnson