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Oh MAN!  So I have language arts, math, science, history, geography and bible planned out for my first grader for next year.  I will read to him daily, he has abc mouse to play around on, we subscribe to magazines and do random workbooks.  We are joining a co-op for gym days, he goes to an after school program at the library, he plays t-ball, he's joining boy scouts next year.  I just keep wanting to add things like art and Spanish, but I know I REALLY don't need to add another thing.  Tell me I'm fine, tell me he's not missing out on a thing.  Tell me, I can add it halfway through the year if I feel we can handle more.  Tell me starting art and Spanish next year would be perfect too.  One day I'm going to look back on this and wonder why on earth I worried so much about everything.  Thanks for being there for me, no one in real life gets me. 

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Perhaps you can do science/geography/history/art  each one day per week, and bible could be part of the bedtime story routine.

 

I'll lump gym days, T-ball into Phys Ed.

 

Spanish could be a word/phrase of the week that is displayed on a bulletin board and practiced daily. He will probably get some type of art project through the library program. At that age, art projects are often included throughout other subjects -- history and language arts come to mind. Also - don't be afraid to do lessons over two days instead of one. Sometimes there is too much packed into one lesson to complete in a day.

 

So your week would look like (feel free to rearrange):

 

MONDAY

Math

Language arts

Reading

Phys Ed

History (can also be spread out over the week through reading time)

 

TUESDAY

Math

Language arts

Reading

Phys Ed

Science

 

WEDNESDAY

Math

Language arts

Reading

Phys Ed

geography

 

THURSDAY

Math

Language Arts

Reading

Phys Ed

Art

 

FRIDAY

Outside activities

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Well, I wouldn't feel comfortable with a first grader not doing any art, but I assume you have paper and crayons and playdoh and such, so he will be doing informal art over the course of the year.

 

But, bottom line, yeah, you got this.  He'll be fine; or if he's not you can reassess and make changes along the way.  You can start Spanish next year...or in 10 years.  My first grader will be doing Spanish and art next year, but not geography or bible.  There is only so much time, and we each have to prioritize.

 

Wendy

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A suggestion--for Spanish just get some CD's of Spanish language songs that are kind of slow and play them over and over while he builds with blocks or whatever.  At this age, developing the accent is really the main thing, and if he hears the language done right, he will get that.

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It looks to me like you have a good solid plan. :-)

 

He will probably get some type of art project through the library program. At that age, art projects are often included throughout other subjects -- history and language arts come to mind.

 

When I have to turn in my evaluations to the school district, I count the history projects as art. Also, you could count some of the projects for cub scouts as art, too.

 

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Art can be having a half hour on Fridays to do whatever he wants with the art materials you have. Call it Exploratory Art if you like.

 

I did do a Spanish curriculum with DS in first, and you know what? He learned the colors, the days of the week, counting to ten and some animals. That's all. In a whole year. So Spanish can definitely just be a music CD in the car on the way to scouts, library and t-ball. In fact, your library may have some CDs you can borrow. Fun and catchy, plenty for 1st grade.

Edited by whitehawk
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That's SO MUCH STUFF. I would be overwhelmed by your schedule already.

 

Check this out:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NNcl4E2ifC8

 

It's a demonstration of Charlotte Mason picture study. Basically, spend 10 minutes looking at one picture every 1-2 weeks.

 

If you're really wanting Spanish, maybe you could get some Spanish children's movies to add into the mix, or a language app he could use when you're in the car.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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A suggestion--for Spanish just get some CD's of Spanish language songs that are kind of slow and play them over and over while he builds with blocks or whatever. At this age, developing the accent is really the main thing, and if he hears the language done right, he will get that.

This is solid advice on Spanish. If you want your child to speak a second language at some point without a thick accent then this is helpful but no need to do formal foreign language right now unless you have an immersion experience local to you. My daughter is 7 and wants to desperately learn Korean. I just make sure she gets to hear the language via music, kids programming and so forth. Especially important with Asian languages as we do lose the ability to hear certain sounds in a language as we age.

 

Otherwise your program already looks ambitious. Try not to worry. Focus on getting down those solid reading skills and math. Do art, bake, go on field trips and read some level appropriate science and history books. You will be fine :)

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Tell me I'm fine, tell me he's not missing out on a thing.  Tell me, I can add it halfway through the year if I feel we can handle more. 

 

You're fine!

 

And he IS missing out on lots of things, and I say this not as criticism but a comfort. This is the advice that helped me the most at the beginning, that I found it so tough to grapple with: we cannot, ever, DO everything and KNOW everything. So it is a matter of sitting down and thinking what your priorities for this year, or the next 6 months, or even just this month are going to be. And then, instead of frantically comparing yourself to all the people who are doing things that you are not doing and worrying that your son is missing out, compare what you're doing to your personal priority for this month/half year/year.

 

The one thing I find most helpful in deciding whether or not to do a subject (or an activity) in the early grades is What exactly does "doing" this subject formally look like? I look at different curricula and decide, hmm, are the things my child would learn from NOT doing this curricula-- from being granted more time-- be more worthwhile? Can this wait? Can we skip it? Do these concepts really need teaching? Do they need teaching now? And like you said above, it's so easy to add in things mid-year, and much cheaper than having to shelve them as you go along!

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Oh MAN!  So I have language arts, math, science, history, geography and bible planned out for my first grader for next year.  I will read to him daily, he has abc mouse to play around on, we subscribe to magazines and do random workbooks.  We are joining a co-op for gym days, he goes to an after school program at the library, he plays t-ball, he's joining boy scouts next year.  I just keep wanting to add things like art and Spanish, but I know I REALLY don't need to add another thing.  Tell me I'm fine, tell me he's not missing out on a thing.  Tell me, I can add it halfway through the year if I feel we can handle more.  Tell me starting art and Spanish next year would be perfect too.  One day I'm going to look back on this and wonder why on earth I worried so much about everything.  Thanks for being there for me, no one in real life gets me. 

 

Are you HOMEschooling or homeSCHOOLING? Is your school a reflection of your HOME? Depending on what your HOME looks like, your curriculum might or might not be similar to that of the majority here.

 

Dig down and take a look at yourself and what got you where you are. Use your strengths instead of looking for curriculum that is the opposite of your strengths, with the hope that it will make your child better than you.

 

As I have gotten older, I have stopped seeing most adults as being poorly educated. I think we arrive at adulthood with different strengths and weaknesses that are hard to test and identify and may not be seen as valuable in all cultures. I think we are too quick to be too hard on ourselves and others. I think too many of us have the grass is greener over there mentality.

 

Pour YOURSELF into your children. What is easy for you? What is easily available to you? What is of value to you? What do you love? Focus on YOU being the center of the curriculum. Trust yourself.

 

What does being 6 mean to you? It means very different things to different families. To Waldorf educators it is too young to go to school at all. To others it is already the second year of full time school, wearing a tie and dress clothes, and their second year of writing research papers.

 

You will be fine. So many decisions we make are not better or worse but just different. Depending on what we do, children end out in different places. Some people have way too narrow beliefs about where all children should end out.

Edited by Hunter
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He doesn't need an art curriculum.

 

When he is done with lessons and you need some free time to do something, he can have the pleasure of getting out his art supplies and "free ranging it."

 

Dover coloring books are very nice.

 

Spanish: if you speak Spanish, you could start teaching orally without lessons. If not, you could spend the year learning Spanish for yourself...while he's got his crayons out.

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I just finished 1st grade with my 8th child. Know what all of them have done for first? Math, reading, and copywork. That is the extent of their formal academics in first. The rest of their day is spent playing. They do art, build things, make messes, use their imaginations. It is a VERY deliberate choice on my part bc I believe imaginative play develops critical thinking skills at a higher level and that anything academic can be learned at a greater depth and more quickly later on. (And they have.)

 

Fwiw, my graduating sr is fluent in French and at an intermediate level in Russian. French she started dabbling in/playing around with in 3rd grade and serious self-study in 7th. (She has been working with a Francophone the past 2 yrs. Her tutor immigrated here for her dh's job and they are now moving to Germany. She had a huge get together the other night with all of her friends (mostly Francophones brought in with the same company). When dd's tutor came up and started talking to her when she had been conversing with a group of people and told the group she was so proud of dd's French, they said they were shocked; they thought she was French!). Russian she started in 9th.

 

I personally want my kids solid in English reading before I worry about a foreign language and then I don't worry about it being very systematic until they have mastered basic writing and grammar in English. Latin was a more sious focus in 6th than French. (Then there is mynoldest who was completely fluent in Portuguese. We lived in Brazil for 2 yrs and all of his friends were Brazilians and none spoke English. He would even speak Portuguese when he was sleepwalking!! And now.....he has lost it. He could probably relearn it quickly, but he certainly doesn't remember it.)

 

Life is full of gaps. It is also spread out over a lot of time. What isn't learned today, as long as they have strong core skills and the desire to learn, subjects can be studied and master later on. Early childhood, however, is gone in a blink.

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I will warn you that your child will probably not remember any of the history, science, or geography you will do with him till about 8 yrs. old. I have learned the hard way. I now make those very relaxed subjects until 8 or 9 yrs. old. If I were you I would drop "curriculum" for those and just pick out books at the library, here and there, or ones on the shelf at home, that he shows interest in or has questions about. In my experience I made it more work than it should have been, with my first two. The one I was more relaxed with happens to be the one that now LOVES these subjects, has lots of questions and wants to follow rabbit trails. If you choose to do something like Spanish, at this age, make sure you stay constant with it throughout the years, or he will forget this also. Ask me how I know ;).

 

My advice is to make your focus actually narrower. Zero in on reading and math skills. If these are solid the rest easily follows. Believe me you won't regret it.

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A suggestion--for Spanish just get some CD's of Spanish language songs that are kind of slow and play them over and over while he builds with blocks or whatever. At this age, developing the accent is really the main thing, and if he hears the language done right, he will get that.

Are you a Spanish speaker? If so, weave it into your daily routine. It then becomes one less 'thing' you feel obliged to do.

 

Regarding the 'accent' suggestion, 'tis true but only if you've got interactive language exchanges going. Just hearing the same material over & over does not finely tune one's ear nor does it create a native-sounding speaker. Language aquisition is more complex than that.

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