Curr. suggestions for 1st grade

[caitlinsmom]

I am trying to plan our year next year and have no idea where to start. I dont have a lot of money to try this or that product so I need tried and true. What are your favorite books and materials?
Do you have a basic outline you follow for the year? Want to share? :)

I really dont know where to go with our learning, I dont really have a good starting point ya know.

Anyway thanks for the help.

Kim

[Vanna]

Do you think you might like "textbook" curricula or something more hands-on? Does your child know how to read or will you be working on that in the coming year?
What core subjects are you interested in your child studying?

I'm teaching 3dc and have had different experiences in the 1st gr with them all (and had to use different things) so I just want to know how to gear my response to be most helpful to you.

[chiguirre]

The most important things to decide are how you'll teach reading, writing and math. The rest is gravy in first grade and you could just read living books from the library for free.

How far along in learning to read is your child? Can they read CVC words? Consonant blends? Already reading fluently? You'll get better recommendations if you're more precise.

What kind of math did you use in K? Do you prefer mastery or spiral? Hands-on or worksheets? Emphasis on the basics or more conceptual thinking? There are some very low cost or free math programs available, but they aren't a bargain if they don't work for you. I'm sure you can find something good for your situation for less than $50.

How well does your child write? Do they need more practice with basic letter formation or could they do just copywork?

I'll check back in tonight or tomorrow and give you some ideas based on your preferences.

[Mrs Mungo]

I used Montessori materials (using the book Montessori Play and Learn), Bob books and Learning Language Arts Through Literature for first grade with my eldest. The other two required something more intense/entertaining so we used Sing, Spell, Read and Write and had *great* results with it. Story of the World, Horizons Math 1 and various life science studies rounded out the majority of first grade.

[Pata]

All I can share is what we are doing for first grade..

LA: I can't decide if we are going to try SWB new writing program or stick with Sonlight's LA, we are doing FLL and early readers that I picked up from the Salvation Army, plus the Read-Alouds from Sonlight's Core 1
Math: Singapore PM 2A/2B with Miquon to supplement
History: SOTW with AG and books from Sonlight's Core 1
Science: Biology for the Grammar Stage
Art: Drawing with Children
Music: Classics for Kids (free weekly programs from their website!)

The way I have saved money is to look for used books(either at the Salvation Army or Ebay or here), also, if I can get it at the library and need it for less than 3 weeks, I get it there. Hope that helps! :D

[Patricia in WA]

It depends at what level your 1st grader is at. Some read at that age, some don't? Are you completely starting from scratch? Do you want secular, or religious curriculum choices? Are you stuck in any particular subject?

I have a 1st grader this year (this is my 3rd time doing 1st grade) and here are some things that have worked for all 3.

Phonics Pathways for Reading. Can be dull, but it gets the job done well! I am using this for Spelling as well.

Singapore Math for Math. I happen to have bright math children who don't need alot of written practice. Some children need more than what SM provides. I suggest you accomplish rote memory of facts with games. Right Start Games and abacus have been big hits here.

Handwriting Without Tears for handwriting. It is a great program that starts your child with playdough, crayons, and some other creative things if he doesn't know how to form his letters yet.

Explode the Code workbooks for phonics and handwriting practice. Each level builds on the previous and gives plenty of practice without overwhelming my kids.

HTHs,

[OneRoomHomeSchool]

I dont have a lot of money to try this or that product so I need tried and true. What are your favorite books and materials? Do you have a basic outline you follow for the year? Want to share? :)


Tried and true looks differently in *every* single home. ;) What is tried and true for me, may not be for you.

What we are using for first grade:

-Explode the Code
-Easy Readers such as Bob books, Nora Gaydos, Itty bitty books, etc.
-Singapore Primary Math
-Getting ready to begin Language Lessons from Queen Homeschool
-I Am Reading Latin Series

Then we do read alouds for everything else, choosing most of our reading material from www.amblesideonline.com (http://www.amblesideonline.com)
oh, except Science....we use living nature books for the bulk of our science reading material, however once per month Dh does a science experiment with both DS. I also plan, as soon as he reads more fluently and with better comprehension, to use easy science readers for him on topics of interest.

[RoughCollie]

In first grade I used:

Five in a Row (FIAR) http://www.fiarhq.com/ (lit based program; got books from the library)
Singapore Math http://www.singaporemath.com/
Zaner-Bloser Handwriting Grade 1 http://www.zaner-bloser.com/
Explode the Code http://www.epsbooks.com/dynamic/catalog/series.asp?subject=02S&subjectdesc=Phonics%2FDecoding++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++&series=1460M
Lots of books for beginning readers (Bob Books, for example -- many from the library & library book sales)
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
I didn't start with SOTW until grade 2.

If I had to do it over again, I'd do the same, except I'd have the children gradually memorize Dolch's list of basic sight words because that really helped one of my kids who struggled to learn to read:
http://www.theschoolbell.com/Links/Dolch/Dolch.html

I didn't use any teacher's manuals (except for FIAR) and I used grade 1 materials without any of the frills that may have been offered with the program.

When DS2 had trouble with handwriting, we switched to Handwriting Without Tears for him. http://www.hwtears.com/

I bought a lot of books suggested in TWTM, but didn't begin using them until grade 2. Math, reading, and penmanship were my priorities. FIAR was a lot of fun for all of us, including me. The kids learned a lot from it.

[Trivium Academy]

I am trying to plan our year next year and have no idea where to start. I dont have a lot of money to try this or that product so I need tried and true. What are your favorite books and materials?
Do you have a basic outline you follow for the year? Want to share? :)
yway thanks for the help.

Kim

Hi Kim! I was hoping you'd come back and give a few more details but I'll share like others are doing. I'm going to give you two 1st grade curricula scenerios b/c now that we're in 2nd grade, I've decided I should have done things a little differently but this will be different for each of us.

Used last year with dd6:
- Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading (finished)
- Spelling Workout A and B
- Poetry Memorization from First Language Lessons and Copycats A Child's Garden of Verses product at HomeschoolEStore.com
- SOTW1 with Activity Guide
- Life science based on WTM's suggestions, created my own lesson plans
- First Language Lessons 1/2, finished Level 1
- DNealian Handwriting book until we transitioned 100% to copywork for handwriting
- Horizons Math 1
- Manners Made Easy by June Hinson
- Themes to Remember www.classicalmagic.net
- Artistic Pursuits K-3, Book 1
- Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schooland, Right Choices by Kenneth Taylor, and Explorer's Bible Study, Beginnings I- Old Testament

Plan to use when youngest does first grade:
- Sing, Spell, Read & Write K/1 if he hasn't surpassed it, with Explode the Code if needed
- Language Lessons for the Very Young by Sandi Queen
- Horizons Math 1
- Tapestry of Grace, Year 1 Redesign
- Life science, living book focus (my own lessons)
- Explorer's Bible Study, Beginnings I- Old Testament
- Themes to Remember and Artistic Pursuits
- Copywork for handwriting instruction

Some may tell you that you can't really mess up in these early years but I feel it is possible to overload a child when the focus really needs to be on phonics and building reading skills, math and handwriting. The rest: history, science, other language arts- these are less significant and should be used as enrichment not as core subjects.

[Karen in CO]

Reading - Phonics Pathways, boring but good
Writing - There are many programs depending on what you like. I like the Getty-Dubay Italic
Phonics - Explode the code, the books are inexpensive
Math - Rod & Staff is inexpensive and basic. It does a good job of facts. Singapore is also inexpensive and focuses more on mental math.

Once you have a good handle on that, then the others are gravy.
Science for first grade can easily covered with library books and lots of time playing outside and watching nature.
History - many of us cover this chronologically. Story of the World as a read aloud a couple times a week does a wonderful job of this. You can add library books on topics that your child is interested in and spend more time on it.

Veritas Press, Sonlight, and Five in a Row are great places to look for lists of good books to read to your kids.

Let us know more specifics about where your child is in reading and math and what kind of things you are looking for and we can give more targeted advice.


Like the others have said - tried and true looks different from one family to next.

[caitlinsmom]

Sorry about the lack of details. This year for K we were using sonlights program but I wasnt all that impressed with it for a few reasons. The science was so boring for dd, not nearly enough experiments and what they did have seemed beyond simple for her. She liked them but always wanted a lot more. The amount of science reading was a bit much for her as she is much more hands on than auditory. We liked most of their reading suggestions although I find that even some of those were a little boring for her because of lack of plot/length. We have since started using a few reading lists of the classics that I have found online and those keep her attention a lot more.
We are still using Horizons math K and she enjoys that, although she does get sidetracked with all the repeating of material. She has a harder time (although improving everyday) with pencil control so I do like Horizons for the constant practice. She is very math minded and LOVES it!
Writing has been HWT and it is working fine although neither of us are overly fond of it. She doesnt like to write unless it is on her terms and when she does she has basic mastery. We do need to work on spacing, capital vs. lowercase placement, ect.

History was through sonlight but since stopping that we kind of do whatever. Today she said she wants to know more about Indians so that is what we will do. We get a lot of ideas from the reading we are doing which is another reason I have tried to stick to the classics.

Phonics is something that we havent worked on at all. She has started to read basic simple words like Mat, cat, rat ect but at this point I havent been able to find a set of books that she wants to read from. We have the BOB books, tried the sonlight readers, and have a ton of other little readers. I have been tempted to write some of my own and have her help to see if that encourages her. She does want to read we just havent found what works.

I hope that gives all of you a better idea. :)

[Closeacademy]

For 1st we like to concentrate on the 3 r's. The tried and true here has been:

Math: Singapore
Phonics: Spell to Write and Read Phonograms
Penmanship: HWT or copywork where I write while she is watching then she writes and move into she copies what I have written.

For you I would recommend:

Stick with your math.

Find some online phonics worksheets--I have links on my blog for scads of sites for these. Mix them up and let her work on them at her own pace.

Continue to read good books.

Drop the HWT and just use lined paper and have her write about what she wants to write about. My ker likes ponies and princess so I make up sentences about these things. You can use sentences from books like science, math facts, history or whatever.

For history--following their interests works wonderfully in the early years. Currently we are reading about Felicity the American Girl at bedtime and it is a lot of fun and we are learning about the colonial period.

For Science--if you have a science child especially one that likes hands-on you may want to look into just getting kits every so often and having Science fun weeks.

Hope you have a great first grade year. We are headed there ourselves for the second time.:)

[MelissaM]

for 1st grade we'll use:

Abeka math 1

OPGTR for phonics/spelling/penmanship

Galloping the Globe for fun. Nothing formal. We will use the suggestions for as much (or little) as he likes.

Music/Art- he will fold into the older kids' lessons if he wants.

We will do lots of outside time and even more snuggling. I want to keep it simple and fun.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

For 1st:

Reading: Phonics Pathways with library readers. You could try taking the words from the Bob books and letting her illustrate them to make her own books.

Writing: We've never used a curriculum here. Just lined paper. To keep up interest, I try to pull copywork from books that my kids enjoy.

Math: We use Singapore Math combined with Miquon for first, but I would stick with Horizons for you since she's doing well.

Those are our tried and true so far.

A few other ideas.
For history, why not just do some unit studies for next year. In first we did units on Old Testament, Egypt, Greece, New Testament, and Rome. I can't say the units were spectacular, but I was still try to figure out how to make them work that year. For science, I would second the recommendation for using hands on kits every few weeks.

HTH

[SandraDumas]

All of this can also be bought from Rainbow Resource

Optional Unit Study Book- Five in a Row (very affordable, gentle and fun) www.fiarhq.com 25.00

Explode the Code (these are almost fun) Great phonics, and inexpensive About

12.00 for two books, the one you choose will depend on dc's level

Either Phonics Pathways or Noah Webster's Reading Handbook- we've used PP off and on, but my son dislikes it. It works, but for some reason the big huge book with big huge lists of words scares him. He is enjoying the Noah Webster's Reading Handbook though. I like the short simple lessons. You basically just pick a page and practice it over and over till the kid gets it and move on! Phonics Pathways is about 30.00, Noah Websters is about 7.00

A Reason for Handwriting A 12.00 Crisp, clear beautiful, simple, easy to use handwriting program.

Horizons K or 1 Math. The K is *very* advanced so you have to look at the topics covered. Many people use K for first grade. 40.00 for the whole year, and requires no manipulatives.

Spelling: We have not found a personal spelling we love. But you may try Spectrum First or Second Grade Spelling. Great no-nonsense page by page spelling books.

Reading Practice: CLP Kindergarten Readers, Abeka or CLP first grade readers from ebay, McGuffey's Primer and Pictoral Primer, and eventually library books.

Total 120.00 or so with FIAR manual, 90.00 without

And use use use the library, library story times (yes ours has them for 6 year olds.), awanas (free), Lowe's grow and build if it's a boy or a girl that likes building (free), Starfall.com (free), and give educational stuff for Christmas. (Legos, K'Nex, building toys, leatherworking for boys, or real mini cooking pans, beginning sewing sets, material to sew doll clothes, etc. for girls)

[ELaurie]

When I was just beginning home schooling, and had no idea where to begin, I checked out a copy of The Well Trained Mind from our local library. I read everything that applied to the grammar school years, as well as other chapters. I read other books about home schooling as well, and a number of homeschooling magazines.

Then I contacted Rainbow Resource, and requested a catalogue
1-888-841-3456 or e-mail info@rainbowresource.com (info@rainbowresource.com).

Their catalogue is extensive - over 1000 pages of small print with relatively few pictures, and packed with information. I began reading about materials I might use for each of the subjects I wanted to teach my dc in first grade. You'll find the product reviews in the RR catalogue to be a very helpful source of information, allowing you to begin to compare and contrast various programs. I also called RR to inquire when I had questions, and found their customer service personnel to be helpful in answering questions as well.

As I narrowed down my choices, I read reviews online, and asked questions on the WTM boards. I looked at online samples, and ordered free samples when they were available.

Then I ordered lots of stuff from RR to preview. They have a great return policy, as long as everything is in "like new" condition. I gave myself plenty of time to look things over, then returned what I did not want to purchase.

I was pleased with the vast majority of my choices, and I also made adjustments along the way as I discovered more about my dc's learning style.

Gathering information was an invaluable part of my decision making process, and I felt more confident in the choices I made as a result. I not only knew which materials I wanted to use, but why the ones I selected seemed to be the best fit for our family, and for my dc.

Ultimately, no one else can tell you which curricula will work best for you and your dc. There may be inevitably some trial and error involved, but if you do your "home work" : ), you will learn a great deal that to guide you on your way.

Hope that's helpful!

[Testimony]

I went traditional for my older son. I followed more Well Trained Mind for my younger son.

My older son was homeschool in a box. Everything was through Christian Liberty Academy.

My younger son:
Reading and Phonics: The Good Book Method with Sing, Spell, Read and Write.
Writing: copywork and dictation
Math: A Beka 1and Singapore 1A
History: I read Story of the World Volume 3.
Science: Astronomy
Logic: Mindbenders Beginning Book 1
Grammar: Adventures in Phonics: that included spelling rules, plurals, etc.

[chiguirre]

For phonics, making your own readers is a good idea. That's part of Calvert's K program and Waldorf also makes reading pages of the child's own writing. So, it's sort of tried and true.

If you prefer classics, you might like Ambleside Online's first grade plans:

http://www.amblesideonline.org/01sch.shtml

If Horizons is going well, I would stick with that.

Enjoy your 1st grade year!

[SandraDumas]

My ds doesn't like to read himself because I have been reading to him his whole life. I read to my kids about an hour per day (used to be two!)...so learning to read is like an annoyance to my ds.

One thing that really changed my son's attitude towards this is - learning to read. Until he had the tools to do it on his own (which is just about now) he really found it an utter and total annoyance because the books he really wanted to read (classics, Sonlight books, etc.) he couldn't read! He NEVER has and NEVER will be the cute little five year old jumping up and down saying, "Oh mommy I can read Bob sat on Sam!" To him this just is an annoyance.

But now that he has 60% of phonics under his belt he is really getting excited. He loves the Rocket Reader learn to Read Bible, and is reading it to his little sister all the time now. I find him reading Dr. Seuss books around the house and such. He would never do that until now, because he didn't have the skills to do so.

But I have heard of other moms just picking a Dr. Seuss book their kid likes and reading it several times, and then letting dc "read" it over and over and over to them, mom helping with any words they don't know (aka no phonics instruction) and just doing this with the same book until the book is memorized, for 6 months, and then jumping into phonics.

And then there's the method of playing phonics games and things and letting dc learn the phonics in a fun, no-structure way, and then they'll learn to read...

You'll have to do what feels right for you as the teacher.

I personally didn't want to read at all until I had most of the phonics sounds. I thought the beginning books were stupid. Some kids are like that. Maybe you need to just teach her the phonics and wait a year or two for her to really get excited over it, like my son.

??

[Lenora in MD]

Just some ideas, this is my third time doing first grade and I have made changes each time! I did ambleside onlined year 1 this year for the first time, and we really liked it. The books are very interesting and we have all learned a lot. It is a pleasure to do the reading each day. It covers history, poetry, nature study, geography, church history, shakespeare. If math and handwriting are working, I would stay with them. If its working, don't change just because something else looks better. Especially with math and language arts in my opinion. We are using FLL !, I used it for the other two who came before, and I still really like it. Not too much and a good introduction to the language arts. I think Queen's Language Lessons could also be good for first grade.
For phonics, we have used 100 easy lessons and phonics pathways. Both are good, it depends on what she would like. In addition to Bob Books, we have also liked Frog and Toad, LIttle Bear, Pathway readers, and CLP Nature Readers.
All About Spelling might also be worth a look for reading and spelling,
For science, I used the wtm suggestions for first grade, with books from the library. You could also check out apologia's books.