We're going to get the Abeka DVDs in a few months for Vidura. I just don't know what grade to get, unfortunately for primary/elementary you can't just pick subjets, you have to take the whole grade.

He's all over the universe as far as grade in different subjects. But he's very behind on hand writing (speed and quality). Abeka does a great deal of hand writing/seat work.

So because of that I'm thinking getting 1st grade would be the way to go, so he has time to catch up on handwriting (he's at grade level for that , meaning pre-k/k )
Will he get bored with everything else? I mean he reads chapter books, math we're doing singapour 2a.

I'm hoping the "classroom setting" will keep him interested enough, and I will do more stuff after with him.
Mostly everything will be stuff he already knows. But 2nd grade or up he won't be able to keep up with all the writing part. And handwriting is important to me too.

Argh. WWYD???

See, with a gifted kid like Vidura, it's hard to put him into a "boxed" curriculum.

I like K-12 because you test and they put you at what level you are for each subject. They use Handwriting without tears which I like too!

With Abeka, I'm not sure what to recommend. 1st for math/english and not expect all the writing to go along with that??

Is there a reason why you are choosing this specific curriculum over another one? I wouldn't be able to choose one grade for all subjects for Sam. His handwriting is also poor, but to me it doesn't warrant making him sit through hours and hours of material that he's known for years just to get the penmanship bit in there. I know that the extreme boredom would probably result in difficult behavior, and I want him challenged in all major areas of learning. Is there another option available to you which would be a bit more custom-tailored to his various needs? The asynchronous development of our little guys is often one of the most challenging parts of homeschooling them.

Tara

Are there any other curriculum that do DVDs?
He wants a teacher, and he won't accept *me* as one. We looked at the Abeka DVD demo and he absolutely loved it.
We use mostly Abeka since we started and he really likes it, which is why I decided to go that route.

Is it possible to get a higher grade set (one that matches where he is in math, for instance) of Abeka DVDs, but work on the penmanship with him individually, or buy one other teaching tool (HWT for example) to do the handwriting?

So many kids have poor handwriting and it would stink to have to pull back on all the other subjects only for that. If it were me I'd try to fit in the handwriting lessons some other way but get the Abeka stuff on his learning grade level (is Singapore 2A 2nd grade?).

Tara

I have a gifted child who is significantly above grade level for his age, but it varies from subject to subject, so getting a "boxed" curriculum is a challenge for us. I might try what Tara has suggested...get the DVDS for what grade level he is performing at and then work on handwriting seperately.

K-12 is on the computer!!
And it goes by their level on each subject.:)

abeka 1 was easy for tucker. the LA has a lot of alphebetical order exercises, writing sentences and gets into writing short paragraph stories. the spelling is pretty easy too. the science, history, and health was good but really brief. we finished those up in about 3 mos b/c tucker read thru them. :rolleyes: if vidura is good at those things already i'd go a grade level up. no idea about the math - we use a different math curriculum. i know with the basic curriculum you don't have to buy all the same grade level - you can buy individual subjects.

i'd look into sonlight for vidura since he loves to read and then supplement with some abeka seatwork books like LA and handwriting. (abeka teaches cursive first, manuscript second, btw).

Not with the DVDs though, you have to just get everything from smae grade.
I just can't spend the time anymore (for many different reasons) to homeschool, and ps is not an option, so i need something that he can do totally by himself, and Abeka is so far the best I found as far as "teaching".

Not having seen the curriculum, I would probably order 2nd grade, and just have him hold off on anything that is too writing-intensive. You might also get him a program that will teach him how to type.
OR, I would order first grade knowing that I was probably going to be wasting money on it for the most part...and skip through what he already knows. Though there is nothing wrong with review, and you can be confident there are no gaps in his learning.
Just curious, how much do these cost? (thinking about my ds) ----nevermind I looked it up---at that price I'd probably try 2nd grade...