First Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices
I love seeing what curriculum and schedules other people use to home educate their children. I like to get different perspectives, and maybe learn about some resources that I’ve not yet heard of! And so I thought I would share our plan for the upcoming school year, in case anyone else is interested. 🙂
**But please know, these are the choices that seemed to be the best fit for our family (and they may change as the year progresses, who knows!); this is not at all meant to suggest that these should be your choices as well, or that everyone needs to do what we do.**
Reading/Literature:
I am SO excited to start StoryTime Treasures from Memoria Press this year! I love this curriculum, because it uses classic children’s literature to teach vocabulary, grammar and reading comprehension! My daughter will spend the year studying Little Bear , Make Way for Ducklings, The Little House, and more! We have a couple of the books, but the rest I plan to just pick up at the library. I think this will be really fun for everybody!
Phonics:
To supplement her reading program with focused phonics skills practice, I’ll be using grades 2-3 of Core Skills Phonics.
Handwriting/Copywork:
This year, my daughter will start to learn cursive, so we will be using New American Cursive I, also from Memoria Press. I like that this program is incredibly simple and easy to use.
To continue to practice manuscript, and incorporate scripture memory, we’ll be working through Bible Writer: Volume 1, “God Is…” I downloaded this free online awhile ago, and can’t seem to find it anymore. But we worked through Volume 2: “Jesus Is” last year and really loved it!
Spelling:
I’m really excited to try out All About Spelling, level 1 this year! I’ve heard such great things about this program, so we’ll see how it goes!
Math:
Ah, math. So many choices for homeschooling families! As I’ve mentioned before, this past year we worked through the Primer level of Math-U-See. I did like it, and was planning to continue, but when I arrived at our local homeschool curriculum consignment sale, I missed out on the only copy by literally seconds. I had several ideas of curriculum I’d like to try, however, so we’re changing things up this year! First, I was able to get a couple of the Singapore Primary Math books, so I bought the rest on Amazon to have the complete set (textbooks, workbooks and challenging word problems book).
I’ve heard great things about this program as well, so we’re going to try it out! In addition, (and because I am a HUGE math geek), I also purchased the Beginning Arithmetic: Grade 1 from Rod and Staff.
This is a more traditional math program (from what I’ve seen so far). I don’t know how much we’ll use it, but one thing that I do like about it compared to other math curricula is that God’s word is woven into the lessons, connecting scripture to mathematics. So again, I haven’t used it or looked at it very thoroughly yet, but I’m interested to try it and compare the two!
And of course, we will continue to play games to practice important skills!
Science:
Because my kids are still young (6,5,4,2) I’m going to keep science simple this year. I purchased a handful of science stories and an old A Beka Science Reader, which I will let my daughter read. In addition, I’m planning (hopefully we’ll stick to the plan!) to have “Science Fridays,” where we spend some time doing fun, hands-on science experiments!
History:
Again, my kids are little, so we’re keeping things simple, but I do have several of the Draw and Write Through History books and my daughter is BEYOND excited about these! She LOVES drawing, and is an aspiring artist, so with these books, she can read about history, practice her cursive handwriting skills, and learn to draw! I can’t think of a better way for her to explore history, honestly. I also have Living Long Ago, which has cute pictures and is packed with TONS of information.
I’ll also be reading aloud through the Magic Tree House books, which we’re pretty excited about!
Wow, when I type it all out it seems like a lot, but I’m really excited! And of course, we will probably have to make adjustments as we go, and that’s ok. But I like that all of these choices don’t require a whole lot of prep on my part. I would love to build wonderful lesson plans from scratch, where everything is intertwined and connected together, but the reality is, I just don’t have time to do that. So this is what we’re going to try this year!
What about you? What are some of your favorite curriculum choices? Feel free to share in the comments!
~Math Geek Mama
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Looks like a great selection. I added the Cursive book to my Amazon cart because my son (8) is just now ready and asking me about cursive writing. Thanks so much for sharing #Littlebirdtoldme
That’s great! I hope you like it. My daughter is super excited, because cursive writing is fancy, like “Fancy Nancy.” Haha! I don’t think my son will be as excited and eager to start, however. 😉
We love Memoria Press’s Cursive curriculum! My son (5th grade) and my oldest daughter (3rd grade) used it in 1st and 2nd grades. My second daughter (Kindergarten) will use the Memoria Press Manuscript curriculum this year, while my son continues to work thru Bible Writer “Jesus is” (isn’t Bible Writer awesome!! And both volumes were free!!) and my oldest daughter will work thru Memoria Press’s Level 2 for Cursive.
My son is super proud to write in cursive. During field trips, etc., he has heard several people comment that most kids don’t learn to sign their name anymore. He likes surprising the adults with his neat handwriting.
Your selection sounds much like ours for first grade. We use Bob Jones Math, with supplements from JUMP Math and various activities (like the awesome ones you post!). Mystery of History is our history curriculum of choice. The audio CDs are a life saver and all my children (5th, 3rd, Kinder, and PreK4) can participate on some level. And I fill almost every room of our house with various books about the time period or location we’re studying. Our science curriculum is God’s Design; however, while exploring elements and chemistry last year, we got sidetracked with Theodore Gray’s book The Elements. We read two or three elements a week and look for them in our daily lives. Kids LOVE it. How many 7 year olds can name their favorite element – and how many choose Boron?! 🙂 (Hint: it is in Silly Puddy.) We are almost half way thru the Periodic Table and the kids aren’t ready to quit!
Wow, The Elements sounds awesome! I will definitely be looking for that! What fun! And I agree, we have books all over the house too for all kinds of history and science topics, and often a large stack from the library! SO fun! And yes, Bible Writer has been so great for us, I was disappointed I could no longer find it online to share with others! I have both volumes as well, and often write my own Bible study lessons to go along with the verse we’re working on. Thanks for sharing! I just LOVE seeing what other parents use!
I would not use Magic Tree House. There are references to spells and witchcraft, especially in the later books (I have heard after #22 it gets really bad).