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Jordan
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| Posted: Feb 10 2007 at 7:45am | IP Logged
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I am wondering what others' opions are on the quality of CHC's materials for teaching reading/phonics, handwriting, and math at the kindergarten & first grade levels. I am very attracted to the CHC curriculum but I wonder if I would do better to substitute other things such as "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons," Math U See, and Handwriting Without Tears. By the time I susbtitute these things in, there's not much left of CHC and I'd have to white out the whole page in the plan book! I love their lovely plan books and the faith woven into all the subjects, but I also want to provide a very sound foundation for math, reading, and handwriting. (I already have the teach your child to read book and HWOT program). Would it be too much to use the "Little Numbers for Little Folks" and the CHC phonics stuff to supplement the secular programs I mentioned above? BTW, I'm really not tempted by the math program CHC offers, just the "Little Numbers for Little Folks." I'm not sure but that may be just handwriting numbers anyway, right?
Thank you for any responses. 
Jordan
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: Feb 10 2007 at 7:54am | IP Logged
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Hi Jordan. We have CHC for K through 2 and have really enjoyed using them.
The Little Folks Numbers is writing the numbers, but also counting, first, last, next, more and less, and 2 pages of beginning addition. They also recommend using MCP - K books, and those cover everything.
The reading portion is okay. They have a workbook for letter practice, and there is also a group of stories (4 levels, 10 per level) that they start to read out loud with. Very easy, simple, Catholic stories, which is what sold me on them.
If it was me, and I liked the materials I already had, I wouldn't buy other things. I do think, however, that there material is sound. It has worked very well for us.
Hope this helps!
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 Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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Anne McD
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| Posted: Feb 10 2007 at 9:52am | IP Logged
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Hi Jordan,
I also purchased the CHC K curriculum and fell in love with it, but it didn't fit well for my son (5). I've been using "Teach your child to read" and I think we've done 40 lessons so far, and he's doing very well. My mom is a retired early elementary school teacher, so I've been seeking her opinion on a lot of these materials. She loved that book, and thought that CHC's reading program was too confusing for children (then again, I've had friends who have had success). I do use the Little Stories for Little Folks from CHC, and my son loves them. I just pull the one that includes words and sounds that we've covered, and he reads those.
(Side note: My nephew has been in remedial reading at school, using the SRA/Distar program that Teach your child to read was developed from, and he's doing very well.)
I've also been using HWT instead of the CHC workbooks. I do plan to use those, however. Right now, we are concentrating on making the letters with the wooden pieces and then tracing them with his right pointer finger (b/c he's right handed) so that he learns the correct way to "build" the letters. Once he gets a handle on it, I'll use CHC's workbooks to help practice. When we started, he just wasn't developmentally ready to learn to write correctly with a pencil, and it was so frustrating for us both.
As for math, I've been using Right Start, which is a completely different approach to mathematics. I do plan, like the rest of the materials, to go back with the math book and reinforce with the materials I already have.
I know what you mean about how beautiful CHC's plans are! I do plan to use them more in the future, but for now, I think more manipulative based learning is important for K, especially so it doesn't turn into "school at home."
Hope this helps-- good luck!
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Anne
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and baby on the way! 10/14
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Feb 10 2007 at 10:49am | IP Logged
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I could have written Anne's exact post! My dd used the CHC Little Stories for Little Folks, but only as practice readers. I think they would have been to frustrating for her to try to learn to read from. Also, even though I didn't use the CHC lesson plans for anything else, I did use the religion part. I used this for K and 1st, now we follow the syllabi from Mother of Divine Grace.
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: Feb 10 2007 at 6:06pm | IP Logged
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Thus far, my only experience with CHC has been with Little Stories for Little Folks. We had great success with them, however they were also being used as a remedial solution (and sort of crash course) for a my 2nd grade tutoring student. We supplemented with other books in between so she could see where she was improving. I will definitely use this with my own child(ren). Whether it's ALL we initially do for reading will be determined by my son's particular needs at that time. We will likely use other math and handwriting work as well - more Montessori and hands-on, but that is my opinion going in, as well. :)
God Bless!
~Jessica
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Jordan
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| Posted: Feb 11 2007 at 5:39am | IP Logged
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Thank you all for your replies. It sounds like using the CHC materials as a Catholic supplement to what I already have may be a good option. Is there a danger of doing too much that way or do you think they blend easily? This will be my first time teaching a child to read, write, etc. so I hope it's not too confusing for me to mix it up. One of the things I like about the Teach Your Child to Read book is it is right there all put together. I would LOVE to follow the Real Learning ideas for teaching reading and phonics from nursery rhymes and such but I'm not confident enough to put that together from scratch. That would be neat if someone developed something similar to Teach Your Child to Read but used nursery rhymes and such to do it. Maybe after teaching a kid or two I will feel confident at trying it this way. I would feel really nervous about messing something up for my child if I didn't teach reading and phonics correctly.
I also wish the CHC lesson plans came blank so you could fill in the lessons yourself and would be free to add from other sources but still have their nice format and the Around-the-Clock ideas right there. For those who don't follow CHC closely enough to use the lesson plans as your own planning book, how do you record your lessons? I feel by the time I add and subtract what I want, the lessons are no longer tidy at all. I just love the format and hate to give it up.
Thanks again,
Jordan
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Paula in MN
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Jordan, I have just been using a spiral notebook to write down what we did that day. I like to keep the lesson plans neat -- I can't have any more children, but I do have some grandchildren who could use these!
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ALmom
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| Posted: Feb 12 2007 at 10:17pm | IP Logged
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When I use the lesson plans, I simply jot what we did at the bottom and only check off what we do in the rest of it. Sometimes I'll simply cross out MCP Math and jot in the Singapore Math and p number. It isn't as nice and neat looking - but it is very legible and usable and not terribly messy. Any extras on their plan that we use, I simply circle and check instead of writing on the lines for the extra activities. I highlight the things I would like to get to, but check them if we actually do them.
Janet
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Topic: CHC materials question for K
