A child should have a strong foundation in these skills to move into 1st grade:

* Does your child know the 26 letter sounds (consonants and short vowels)? Letter names are not as important.
* Is your child able to generally print the alphabet letters correctly? Is he generally able to place his letters accurately on kindergarten-sized lined paper?
* Can he easily read short words such as "hat," "pig," and "men" without your help and without any accompanying pictures? (Was he taught how to blend sounds, not just memorize words?)
* Is he developmentally able to sit long enough to copy 4-6 short words on kindergarten-sized lined paper without complaining or becoming tearful?
* Is your child mature enough to sit cooperatively for 20-30 minute segments for structured school activities? (My Father's World First Grade will take about 2 hours each day to complete.)

If you can answer, yes, to the above questions your child is ready for 1st grade. If they are not, we recommend that you begin with My Father's World from A to Z kindergarten curriculum.

In pre-school, K and 1st grade, the differences in children's abilities are great. We recommend working individually with each child on phonics, hand writing, and math skills. Children in pre-school will benefit from 15 minutes of one-on-one parent time working on pre-writing and math skills. Children in K and 1st grade will need 30-60 minutes of individual parent time to work on reading, writing and math. Specific skills will be addressed in each child's age appropriate curriculum. We recommend My Father's World Kindergarten and First Grade Deluxe packages along with our Preschool package. Please see How to Teach K and 1st Together for more information about using these programs together. School can be completed for all three in children in 2½ - 3½ hours each day.

Please see How to Teach K and 1st Together

My Father's World uses a multi-sensory approach to reading that involves children learning to blend both beginning sounds and ending sounds. In My Father's World Kindergarten, sounds are introduced first that are the easiest for children to pronounce as well as the most efficient way to begin reading words. Students learn to read words and sentences and will make 11 small books throughout the year from which to read. The thematic units build on each other and have been designed to be introduced with learning to read in mind.

Reading is taught by having students blend consonants before and after the short vowel sounds helping children to put sounds and words together. My Father's World has intentionally chosen to introduce the blending of sounds and words without rhyming so that kids are not memorizing the words based on a pattern. Blending with a mix of beginning and ending sounds help insure they are learning to read. Our goal by the end of Kindergarten is to have a child easily reading all short vowels in words and sentences. Blending of sounds and reading begins in lesson 6 giving students lots of time to practice reading before moving to My Father's World First Grade.

My Father's First Grade will complete phonics and reading instruction. All phonics needed to become an independent reader will be learned during this year.

There are many factors that go into the decision to pace First Grade as written. First and foremost, My Father's World First Grade assumes that a child has been sounding out short vowel words for nearly 9 months as scheduled in My Father's World Kindergarten. In K, a child begins sounding out their first words near the end of the 2nd month. Many people think that MFW K moves too slowly. We receive calls often from moms who want to find shortcuts to teaching short vowels so their child can start 1st Grade. We believe that in K it is better to provide a firm foundation so that they can move at a faster pace with confidence as they transition into 1st grade. Children enjoy new information and can grasp concepts quickly if they have had the K foundation. Expecting total mastery of a subject before moving on discourages a child and holds them back unnecessarily once they have that foundation.

So what do we suggest if your child is struggling with the pace in 1st grade? We would suggest repeating the phonic portion of a lesson 2-4 times daily. You can consider returning to the K curriculum for a better foundation if your child is still struggling. You can also try teaching the 1st grade phonics three times a week with a review day in between.

Dad can help by entertaining all the kids when he gets home so you can spend one-on-one uninterrupted time in the evening for a final review or possibly teaching phonics entirely at that time. (The Hazells had a child who at age 7 seemed like he would never learn to read. He not only learned to read but received academic scholarships to a major university. He also doubled his curriculum in high school and had enough credits to graduate by age 16. He dually enrolled into college and entered university with 28 or more college credits toward his major.)

Please exercise caution when you are discouraged by a child not succeeding as quickly as you would like. Don't give up but press on in a gentle way. All of a sudden, one day out of the blue, children finally get it. The Hazells were most of the way through 1st Grade when their 3rd child finally understood blending and all the sounds. The next day he seemed to remember everything he earlier struggled with and became a fluent reader in a matter of weeks.

My Father's World First Grade curriculum is a complete program which includes math. 1st grade math will focus on real life, hands-on activities and can be supplemented with The Complete Book of Math which is included in the deluxe package for skills reinforcement. We have found delaying a child's move into a textbook based, formal math program and focusing on hands-on math is beneficial in helping children understand abstract concepts in math and number relationships. Based on observation and experience we recommend beginning Singapore Primary Math in 2nd grade. Your child can take a placement test at that time to determine where they would begin. Many of My Father's World families have been pleased at the placement of their children after following our 1st grade program as written. The Teacher's Manual will list twenty specific goals for numbers, addition, subtraction, place value, money, time, and other foundational math concepts. Our First Grade Teacher's Manual also features a library book list of math literature.

Our First Grade is a complete curriculum, focusing on language arts, math, science and Bible. The Bible and language arts are integrated together as a unit study with the Bible as the focus. The teacher's instructions for all the subjects including phonics are in one Teacher's Manual and are not available separately. For a broader and more complete education we recommend the items in the deluxe package which include read aloud recommendations, art, music, and math enrichment materials.

Workbooks are available separately, but are not helpful without the instruction found in the Teacher's Manual. The complete Student Materials for 1st grade can be purchased individually, but again are not complete without the instruction in the Teacher's Manual. We have the Bible Reader, Student Workbook, Student Worksheets and the Bible Notebook available.

Yes, individual items may be purchased by calling our office at 573-426-4600. A package of First Grade Student Materials ($44.95) contains all the consumable materials you need for additional children using the program. If you have more than one child using the 1st grade you will need one package of materials for each student. Each piece is an important part of the overall program. The First Grade Student Materials include:

Bible Reader ($14.95) - many children prefer to keep their first Bible Reader

Student Workbook ($14.95) - phonics exercises

Student Worksheets ($13.95) - hands-on phonics activities, handwriting, timeline figures, math and reading charts

Bible Notebook ($8.95) - for writing composition and illustrating Bible stories

We recommend purchasing the deluxe package to provide the broadest and most complete education for your children. All of the items in the deluxe packages are scheduled or explained in the Teacher's Manuals. Deluxe packages include read alouds, music, art, as well as items to enrich the year's study. The basic package was created as a consideration for customers who were unable to purchase all the items in the deluxe package. The basic package will give your child a good, solid education. You may choose to purchase individual items from the deluxe package.