First post here 🙂 I'll preface with both DS 6 and I are autistic. DS is more of a sensory seeking, clothing freakout, overwhelmed easily type. I like quiet and researching and noise gets to me fast. We are a pair! And we have my DD 3 running around wreaking havoc. We do "formal" work Tuesday/Thursday/Friday because I'm in school Mon/Wed. I want to get a plan together for next year and the ending part of this year because we hit a handful of snags and can't seem to get back into a groove. Currently: McRuffy Language Arts 1, we started this late and it's working well for us, I don't do all the workbook things because some is busy work and he hates that. Math is a mash up with some problems from Primary, some from math mammoth, and others from some teachers pay teachers pages. The thing with math is he will not play games, or use manipulatives, and he WILL NOT look at the actual book - I have to copy the problems to a whiteboard or into a plain notebook. I pushed too hard with math in the beginning because he was loving it and breezing through math mammoth and then there was just one day where he crashed and now the idea of a workbook makes him slither to the floor. Now, I'm ok with taking time off from math but he isn't! He wants to do math everyday and learn more but it would be so much easier if I could show him the pages! So I was considering starting MEP and getting him gently into math and maybe getting miquon with the rods? I want him to back up and find the fun again and at the same time make sure he has a firm grasp on the basics. Next year - I don't think we can do second grade McRuffy LA because the books get much longer and he is going to panic so I'm eyeing Reading Street or and then just planning on a ton of readers and library books. Any experience with Reading Street? Basically I want to read aloud and have guidance with the critical thinking type questions. Math - Horizons, MEP, or MCP, Science - probably nancy larson 1 History - SoTW read aloud and the Maps/Maps Activity Book Writing - this is where I have absolutely no idea. He hates to write so I want something that will spark his creativity... like a story starter but one that doesn't look overwhelming...writeshop? I need to get a strong idea of what next year will look like because there's a very good chance I will be in a PA program and won't be able to plan and prep once that begins.

Hello! I'm sure this has been addressed before but with the forum indexing still ongoing, I've not been able to find this in the Forum or through the Google Search instructions. My daughter will be entering 1st grade in August and this will be the first year we pursue the classical approach so I'm trying to get a big jump start on planning, purchasing materials, etc. In the Well Trained Mind, under Reading Skills three levels are mentioned: Instructional, At Level, and Below Level. These make sense to me, but I'm puzzled as to what exactly "instructional" readings would be. We are using the Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading for Phonics. At the end of the chapter on Grammar Stage Reading there are a lot of suggestions as to at level and below level books ("Click Clack Moo", The Frances series, etc.) but nothing regarding instruction other than Phonics. If someone here could either point me to a previous post about this or give me a hint as to what "instructional level" reading would be and/or recommend specific titles, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

I am working on plans for my DD who will be starting 1st grade soon. I am planning on using Memoria Press for a lot of it. However, I am questioning if I should add WWE 1 and FLL1. I really liked using those with my older kids and am questioning if there is enough of that covered in MP curriculum. I am also wondering if the overall load is to much. Take a look and at what I am planning and give me your honest opinions. Thanks! WW1 FLL1 Memoria Press Phonics and new Traditional spelling MP Lit (1st grade level) MP copybook MP recitations MP enrichment/ crafts Rod and Staff math 1 SOTW 1 Behold and See 1 (science)

Dear All, Want to know which course everyone is following for afterschooling 6 year old: Math -- Spelling -- Writing --

I am trying to decide which handwriting curriculum to use for my DS (6) for first grade next year. I have not been impressed with A reason for Handwriting this year and can't decide between Zaner-Bloser or HWOT. Any preferences or suggestions? I am a first time homeschooler living overseas so buying multiple things is not an option if something doesn't work out. Please help...

Any advice here for teaching history to a child who gets bored by lengthy readings? SOTW is wonderfully written but it's just not working that well for DS right now. Also some of the events, names and peoples just go over his head. So what I've done is focus on one major civilization at a time (Egypt, Greece, etc.), learning about its map location, history, mythology, famous people, daily life, architecture, etc. I mention how certain events tie these societies together (e.g. war, conquest, trade) and plan on covering other peoples after that's done. I also plan on compiling timelines to show how everything flows as a story. But how do you do it? I can't imagine spending 60-90 min. on history each time. It's more like 20 min. of discussion. DS likes learning about daily life (especially when involving children) and myths the most. Also is it okay to slow down and spend some time on ancient history in 2nd grade (instead of moving on to the Middle Ages) for better coverage? I'm also planning on introducing human geography in 2nd grade, at the same time we'll study physical geography as part of science.

Well, it's been a long time since I've been here! Good to be back. Our 2 oldest have graduated, married (both this summer!!) & now we've got littles to educate ;0) 1 year old, (new) 6 year old & 8 year old. I'm thinking about doing a semester more of kindy w/ the 6 yob & starting 1st in January. 8yog is solid third although math always needs more help! Has anyone tried to combine this many different styles?? The notebooking/narration part of the classical approach using SOTW that we did with our older ones is very similar to Waldorf's (somewhat) unit study approach to Main Lesson Books, although my brain needs workbooks for spelling, most of math, & handwriting (sorry about that sentence, not even gonna correct it bc it's too late at night)! We'll be on SOTW book 3 this fall but I really would love to encorporate the Waldorf studies of gardens, shelters, fiber arts & Native Americans. Any ideas welcome! Shannon mama to 5 ages 1-22, homeschool mama since 2002 instagram mamaj41

I am looking for a language arts program for my 6 yo dd who is doing ETC workbook 3.5, Teaching your child to read in 100 easy lessons and Phonics pathways with McGuffey First reader and other library readers. Before this, she had finished Spectrum Reading Kindergarten and Treasure's Readings and its activity book. I came across this Language Arts a few days ago. Has anyone used this? http://www.jennyphillips.com/home-school-curriculum/ Is this an all-in-one meaty LA Curriculum? Does it need any supplementing? I hope to get some feedback on the Good and Beautiful LA curriculum. What are your thoughts and opinions ? Are they complete? Can it be used as a spine? From what I am reading on their website, they sound like something I'd like, but I'd love some honest feedback from those of you who have actually used it or reviewed it. I'm also very curious about Treasure workbooks and Evan moor Spelling and Grammar(Evan moor building spelling skills and Evan moor Grammar and punctuation) books.. Can we use them together? How does Good and Beautiful LA compare to the Evan moor books that I am very interested in? I have a nagging feeling that I'm missing something and I'm curious to see what your opinions are regarding this course? If I need to supplement, then which books (Treasures or Evan moor) will be a good and solid choice with Good and Beautiful LA curriculum? Any thoughts, opinions, or how you use this curriculum in your home school would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Hello, In my search for a science curriculum, I came across Science Excursion. Has anyone used this? Any thoughts? I will have a first grader next year and am trying to find something that works for us. I keep tossing up ES and RSO but neither really feel like what I want at this point. http://scienceexcursion.com I appreciate any info, thoughts, etc!! Thanks!

Hi. I think my post about this got lost. I apologize if this is a repeat post. I've been really busy, too busy to participate in the forums as much as I'd like. I was wondering how you all teach Geography in first grade. Do you teach it alongside Ancient History? I thought about doing this, but it seems confusing to the child to be introduced to modern countries, flags and cultures at the same time that he's discovering history. I'm now leaning toward introducing our eldest to basic political geography first (countries, flags, languages, cultures, basic map work) like in the last two parts of the "Usborne Book of World Geography." Once he has a grasp of that, we're going to introduce history, so he figures out where and how it all started and how things came to be as they are now. We will save natural geography like weather, phenomena, etc. for the second year. How do you folks do it? We will also use the "Evan Moor Beginning Geography" workbook. Just ordered it. Another issue we have is how to teach U.S. history to make sure the kids meet annual testing requirements. Are children expected to know about U.S. government and history as early as first grade? If so, how do we teach history like in WTM? I'd prefer to just teach ancient history for now. We live in Washington State. Our eldest is 6 years old. Any advice would be most welcome!

We are interested in starting a foreign language with our first grader. I am looking for a natural approach. I don't want material that expects the child to read and write the language at first. I also think programs that start out with full sentences/conversations in the target language are too aggressive (but I am open to input if I am wrong on this.) Has anyone helped their child learn French and has a good curriculum to recommend? We really want to give her a good foundation before puberty, especially. Hubs speaks with a good accent but is not fluent. (He will be instructing.)

I hope this post is appropriate here but I don't know where else to ask since homeschooling is our life. My kids and I (along with several other moms and homeschoolers) are volunteering, once a week, at an Indian school to help teach first graders how to read English. It's an English speaking school so I'm not sure I would really classify it as ESL, although many of their students' parents do not speak English. We have been using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with groups of 1-4 students per volunteer. It's a phonics based program and fully scripted so the student volunteers can easily administer. But there is a disconnect between what the school is teaching and our phonics approach. It seems that many of the kids have just memorized words. So after speaking to the school, they received approval from the Indian education board to change their curriculum. Now we have a meeting with the head of English and the K-1 teachers on Dec 13 to discuss what curriculum to use and how we can work together. Somehow I was elected to lead this! My kids went to public school until after they were reading. Aside from me reading to and with them, I don't know how to teach reading. I don't know what curriculum works for a classroom setting (and for unlicensed teachers who English is a second language). This school is at risk for being closed if they cannot raise the reading level of these students. I'm not aware of another option for these kids if the school is closed. They are too cute and lovely to ignore. I have been researching all over the Internet. I know some of you are certified classroom teachers. I'm hoping you can help: what recommendations would you make for curriculum to teach children to read in a classroom setting? Something not too difficult. Do you recommend a phonics approach or something else? Thank you, thank you!