First Year Essentials Management

If you are embarking on your first year of Essentials I want to encourage you. YOU CAN DO IT! I am sure there are a few of you who got this. But the other 99% percent of us might be hyperventilating. This Essentials stuff is where the rubber meets the road and homeschool starts to get hard! Here are a few tips and tricks to get you and your student through. 

1. During the first year focus on the Charts. Memorize the charts. Learn the charts. Quiz the charts. Spend 15 min on each of your school days learning theses. Copy them, sing them, chant them, create dance moves for them. Do whatever works for your child. If you put in the work to memorize the charts it will pay off in the years to come. Did I say only spend 15 min working on charts? Yes! Make a deal with your student if they will focus on the task at hand for 15 min they will be done, with that task. 

2. After week 3 you will be completing an Analytical Task Sheet with 1-5 sentences a week. Your goal should be sentenced numbers 1-3 for this first year. You will be focusing on the charts, add in 1-3 sentences per week. Allow another 15 min to complete the assigned sentence on each of your school days. 

Note: Your total time on Essentials is at 30 min. 

Note the page number in the picture is 467, newer guides it will be 469

3. Don't forget spelling. There is a spelling program in the Essentials Guide and you can use that or use one that works for you. Remember that your student still needs a solid foundation in spelling. (Spend another 15 min to work spelling) 

Now your total time for Essentials is 45 per school day. I allow an additional 15 min a day for further discussion, going off schedule or a possible slow work day. This is a 1 hour total for Essentials grammar 2-3 times a week. This is enough time to cover all you need to do in your first year. 

The next step is managing the IEW workload!