Homeschool First Grade: Curriculum Choices
First grade was always my favorite grade to teach when I was in the public school. It was also a magical year to homeschool this past school year! My oldest is now completing his first grade year. Today I’m sharing what worked in our homeschool this past year.
There is a dizzying amount of curriculum options on the market. I am slightly obsessed with curriculum (I truly think my dream job would be reviewing homeschool curriculum!). I really love buying curriculum, too. My “word of the year” in the past was consistent because I needed to work on leaning into the resources I already paid for and seeing them through. But, at this stage in our journey I have found the core programs that are working for my kids, my teaching style, our beliefs, etc. (And yes, I know these can change in rapid fire!) We are Christians and parts of the resources we use are faith-based. I will notate those.
Family Read Alouds
It seems fitting that I, Librarian in the House, begin with family read alouds. We are always in the middle of two books as a family (one audiobook and one read aloud by me), and the boys are listening to another audio on their own. I can’t imagine homeschooling, or really doing life, without stories read aloud. It soothes us on difficult days, lubricates the stiffness of dreary ones, binds us together over shared experiences, gives us a safe place to explore. I update the blog quarterly with our read aloud lists. Some of our favorites of this school year have been The Trumpet of the Swan, The Adventures of Geraldine Woolkins (series), The Vanderbeekers (series), and the Ralph S. Mouse series. (And here’s my giant list of Family Read Alouds from last year.) I don’t have any clever metrics or ways of selecting these titles. My goal is to expose them to great literature that inspires a love of reading. I add in picture book read alouds to supplement whenever possible. I post those primarily on my Instagram account– frequently math books, science, history, and whatever catches our eye at the library.
Math
I could sing the praises of our math curriculum all day! I have never been so pleasantly surprised by a curriculum. I was formerly completely intimidated to teach math and it is now my favorite subject. We use Right Start Math. It is an “open and go” curriculum with no prep work. It is teacher-intensive (requiring one-on-one instruction) but incredibly solid in its method. You can read lots more about it in my post right here.
Language Arts- reading, grammar, handwriting
Reading. I began using All About Reading with my firstborn when he was 3 (the prereading level), and he is finishing up level 4 (the final of the program). Having nearly gone through every single lesson in the entire program, I can attest to how thorough it is! There are no gaps in his understanding of phonics or decoding. I love that reading comprehension skills (prediction, summarizing, point of view, inferencing, etc.) are taught as well, and that the lessons follow a consistent pattern and are multi-sensory. You can read my full review of this curriculum here.
Grammar. For a very gentle introduction to grammar and usage, we use First Language Lessons. This is such a breeze to use. Lessons are 100% scripted and take less than 5 minutes. This is a “classical” style approach and offers copywork, narration, and picture study alongside of grammar and oral usage instruction. (We have not used this for memory work or copywork because our co-op serves that function, and it’s not been difficult to skip those parts.)
Handwriting. After completing the first two levels of Handwriting Without Tears, we have moved to using The Good and The Beautiful’s handwriting program (faith based) combined with copywork assigned by our co-op. My boys are both lefties. Handwriting is a struggle. I try to keep it light and short. Mazes and color-by-number are other “sneaky” ways I encourage those writing skills.
History
family style learning (everyone learning together)
This year I was assigned to teach history at our classical/Charlotte Mason co-op. It kind of kicked my butt. I also learned so much, both historically and about approaches to teaching history. Truthfully, I don’t think I’ve found the magic elixir for history just yet. We’ve used two programs kind of hodgepodge at the necessity of keeping up with our co-op. I want to find better ways of adding more diversity and cultural inclusivity. I think this probably involves reading more books 😉 Stay tuned. (Also please send help, those who have gone before!)
With our co-op, we follow Story of the World which is a 4 year cycle through history from ancient through modern times. I love the story books. They are written in such an engaging way that keeps even my kindergartener interested. However, I really dislike the activity book that goes along with this. It is dense, difficult on the eyes and totally not inspiring. Mapwork and narration exercises are provided for each chapter of the story books, followed by extensive book lists, and finally activity ideas. I had a hard time finding activities that I thought my kids would enjoy. The book lists are decent, although a fair number were out of print or otherwise difficult to get my hands on through the library. I’ll continue reading the story books because those are really a treasure.
Science
I don’t feel a strong need to include a formal science program in first grade. We have used Exploring Nature With Children as our science studies, and we love it! We’ve joined a small group of families to hike weekly and unpack the topics together– I highly recommend following this curriculum with friends for extra fun and accountability to get outside no matter the weather! You can read my full review at this post. I love that you can dip in and out, as deep or as shallow as you’d like each week. (The curriculum creator has details about exactly which weeks include Christian themes on her FAQ. Very easily adaptable.)
Geography
Geography is taught through our co-op using regional geography songs by Kathy Troxel, with memory tests every 4-8 weeks depending on how many countries/states are in a particular region. This year both my kids learned the locations of all 50 states through five songs. To go along with geography studies, I add in picture book read alouds whenever applicable. I’ve used Give Your Child the World as a resource for this, along with old fashioned library catalog searching. Pictured are our favorite (beautiful, oversized) geography resources: Maps by and The 50 States by
Memory Work
Also a part of our co-op, both of my kids were required to complete memory work throughout the year in addition their geography work. This year they memorized three poems, two patriotic songs (My Country Tis of Thee and the Preamble to the Constitution [as sung by Schoolhouse Rock]), two hymns (Amazing Grace and All Creatures of our God and King), Psalm 145 (all 21 verses), and a timeline of historical events (160 events from creation through modern America, with a picture cue for each).
Beauty & Character: Handicrafts, Cooking & Baking, Art, Music
This area is a lot more fluid and follows the kids’ interests. We follow Rooted Childhood’s seasonal collections when we feel inspired. At other times, if my first grader shows interest in learning to finger knit, we settle in on that. If he asks to make a quiver to carry his arrows, we pull out some felt and thread & needle and get to work! 🙂
A portion of our art and music flows from our co-op as well. I’ve supplemented with ideas from Kristi Hill Music (she emails a classical piece each Monday with background info to share with the kids) and readings from Vincent’s Starry Night.
Poetry Teatime is also a highlight of our week and brings together many aspects of beauty- we often work together to create a homemade treat to share, we view an art piece from our nature curriculum, we listen to classical music in the background, and we enjoy the rhythm of poetry. I highly recommend it! It’s so fun enjoying poetry and art with my rough and tumble little boys! You can read how we got started in this post here.
Spiritual Formation
The foundation of our homeschool saved for last! It’s hard to put the spiritual components of our homeschool into a list, but here are some of the resources we’ve used. First and foremost, the Bible. We’ve read through many children’s Bible versions, starting with The Jesus Storybook Bible when they were small, and always rereading at Easter and Christmas because those passages are so beautifully told. We’ve also read cover to cover Egermeier’s Bible Story Book(576 pages) and Catherine Vos’s The Child’s Story Bible (382 pages). They are both classics and so well done!
We memorize scripture, both for co-op and a local church’s Awana program; we also memorize scripture very enjoyably through Slugs and Bugs Sing the Bible and Seeds Family Worship (free on Amazon Prime music) played in the car and at home. I haven’t been a huge devotional fan in the past, but the kids enjoyed reading Indescribable: 100 Devotions for Kids about God and Science and How Great Is Our God by Louie Giglio at bedtime with Daddy.
Those are the basics, and stay tuned for a post on how this all comes together in real life. It looks like a long list, but in reality we aren’t sitting down doing formal lessons all day- 1.5 hours is a good average. Imaginative play and time leaning in to being “bored” (i.e. the space to be creative!) are staples of every day as well.
What questions do you have? Connect with me in the comments below or on my Instagram or Facebook pages.
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