pitterpatter Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 (edited) Can anyone suggest secular social studies, literature and/or basic grammar/LA curriculum for approximately grade level 1? (Not all together, individual subjects.) DD likes flashy, colorful, hands-on and fun. :tongue_smilie: I like curriculum that is well-designed and fairly complete. I've been cobbling together science and social studies, but that's getting a little labor-intensive. I don't mind some supplementing and having to pull some things together, but not for every single lesson. We're home-schooling pretty much year-around, so we'll be rotating these over the next year or so. DD is still developing her handwriting skills and stamina, so nothing too writing-intensive. Thanks so much...I'm loving this forum! :001_smile: PS - I know a lot of people here love The Story of the World, but from the online samples I've looked at, it doesn't look like a good fit for us at the present time. Also, we use Hooked on Phonics for our reading program, which explains a little about capitalization and punctuation, but that's about it. Edited January 2, 2012 by pitterpatter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Montessori Grammar for hands on and colorful. If you don't need hands on for grammar, you might look at Language Smarts by Critical Thinking Company, or Grammar Tales, Parts of Speech Tales, and Punctuation Tales by Scholastic. For history, perhaps you could use Usborne's First Encyclopedia of History for a spine, and just get fun picture books or related hands on things (toobs? or coloring pages?) to supplement? I can't think of a formal literature program for 1st graders. Just library books would be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I don't know of anything that would cover all those subjects simultaneously, but for writing and grammar the most popular option here is FLL and WWE that follows the "classical" sequence, or GWG and/or Winning with Writing that follows the "traditional public school" sequence. For first grade we used Jolly Grammar (a British programme that's less intensive than FLL) and WWE1. I like the foundation in narration that WWE1 gave, but Ariel is a creative kid, and needs more opportunity for that than WWE gives. Most people here do history instead of social studies, and it depends on what you want your child to learn. Public schools would teach things about community helpers and what a map is, whereas a lot of homeschoolers feel they have that covered by going out into the community and focusing on other things for "school". You might consider a concept or two from Moving Beyond the Page. It has social studies, is literature rich with lots of hands on activities and the 5-7 and 6-8 levels don't require lots of writing, and on assignments that require more, you can always scribe for her. Five in a Row is also good, and you can skip books like Clown of God without missing crucial skills. Also, there's What Your First Grader Needs to Know, which you can use as a spine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 Totally with you there. Maybe I need to re-think the title/subject. Officially, Missouri home-school law states, "Reading, math, social studies, language arts, and science," but history is a part of social studies, as is geography, etc. I bought this to use as a brief introduction for social studies, but it's at least 85% unusable for us. A lot of it is talking about feelings and what a family is, careers, which to me is all very pre-school. I can't imagine using up class time for it. (Loved the Thanksgiving section of it, though.) I've looked at Harcourt Horizons online and I like the sample chapter, which is about America's symbols, but of course, that's all I can see of it. :sad: Barnesandnoble.com carries it, so I could order it and then return it, if the rest is horrid or too simplistic. I was thinking social studies now and then honest-to-goodness history in a year maybe. (Anyone use this?) Blah, still trying to figure it out, which is why I'm looking for suggestions. LOL! Thank you for yours!! I will definitely check into all of them. :D I don't know of anything that would cover all those subjects simultaneously, but for writing and grammar the most popular option here is FLL and WWE that follows the "classical" sequence, or GWG and/or Winning with Writing that follows the "traditional public school" sequence. For first grade we used Jolly Grammar (a British programme that's less intensive than FLL) and WWE1. I like the foundation in narration that WWE1 gave, but Ariel is a creative kid, and needs more opportunity for that than WWE gives. Most people here do history instead of social studies, and it depends on what you want your child to learn. Public schools would teach things about community helpers and what a map is, whereas a lot of homeschoolers feel they have that covered by going out into the community and focusing on other things for "school". You might consider a concept or two from Moving Beyond the Page. It has social studies, is literature rich with lots of hands on activities and the 5-7 and 6-8 levels don't require lots of writing, and on assignments that require more, you can always scribe for her. Five in a Row is also good, and you can skip books like Clown of God without missing crucial skills. Also, there's What Your First Grader Needs to Know, which you can use as a spine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloggermom Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 It's not colorful, but we LOVE CLE Language Arts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 http://www.baltimorecp.org/lessons/draft_lessons.html http://www.coreknowledge.org/mimik/mimik_live_data/view.php?id=1833&record_id=169 You may find something useful here to use for history/social studies. Also I second the recommendation about using the What Your __Needs to Know books. For geography I would just get a good Dover United States coloring book and learn the states, learn the continents or countries and oceans on a globe and wall map. Scrambled States is a great book and game and then there's Great States Jr. You could also read through Getting To Know The Presidents books and possibly get a Fandex of Presidents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 SOTW for social studies, supplemented with Kingfisher for colorful pictures. First Language Lessons for grammar. It's secular, and it's the only thing I would even consider using at this age. Literature--I lean toward just reading aloud a lot--a big variety. Picture books, Dr. Seuss books, chapter books, Magic School Bus books, easy biographies (Jean Fritz is a great author of those for this age), etc. However, if you want a program, I suggest Junior Great Books. It is GREAT at this age. Start with the Kindergarten one so you can teach it one year behind, or you will run out of material when it all turns really dark in Junior High. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 Never heard of Great Books. I'm intrigued. Researching it more as I type. :001_smile: Thank you for the suggestion! We have read regular ole picture books, chapter books, non-fiction books, etc. to DD from day one, which has served it's purpose. She's a book hound for sure! However, we don't have a lot of what I would consider true literature that promotes deeper thinking. I've actually kind of avoided a lot of it since so much of it really is pretty dark...a lot death/violence. However, I've downloaded some children's classics by AppleTree Books onto my iPod for her (The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Emperor's New Clothes, The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs, etc. + fables) and she absolutely loves those. We also have this DVD story set, which has things on it like the Five Chinese Brothers. Anyway, she really enjoys them, so I'm hoping to find some kind of age-appropriate program that's separate and different from the picture books we typically read to her to round things out a bit more. SOTW for social studies, supplemented with Kingfisher for colorful pictures.First Language Lessons for grammar. It's secular, and it's the only thing I would even consider using at this age. Literature--I lean toward just reading aloud a lot--a big variety. Picture books, Dr. Seuss books, chapter books, Magic School Bus books, easy biographies (Jean Fritz is a great author of those for this age), etc. However, if you want a program, I suggest Junior Great Books. It is GREAT at this age. Start with the Kindergarten one so you can teach it one year behind, or you will run out of material when it all turns really dark in Junior High. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 If you can find a set of the old "My BookHouse", you won't be sorry. It is like an introduction to Western Civ, clean for children, lots of tie ins with history and the arts as well as many good stories. It's a 10 volume set--the older the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessieC Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Have you looked at Moving Beyond the Page? http://www.movingbeyondthepage.com/curriculum6to8.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinE Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 If you're looking for social studies as opposed to history, you should take a look at "What Your First Grader Needs to Know." It's not my preference as we tend to follow a WTM-history sequence, but I felt it had a pretty thorough scope and sequence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Memoria Press http://www.memoriapress.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIS0320 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I'm using a combo of Core Knowledge first grade (Baltimore Curriculum Project plans) for science and Intellego unit studies that match up with whatever unit we're on. I'm using a combo of Intellego unit studies to hit "social studies" like American Symbols with a yearly overview of history that I created myself. I'm using CK to keep track of "high" hit points that are recommended to be covered in grade 1 for social studies. I've been looking for 18 months for a program that is open and go, secular and has great content for both social studies/history and science and so far I've found nothing that I think is excellent. For literature I'm using Core Knowledge's lit selections (which come ready to be popped into a 3 ring binder for a great price) and using some Ambleside Online to complement it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Ooh, Literature Pockets by Evan Moor might be just what you're looking for in the literature area. They look really fun! They have them for Aesop's Fables, Folktales and Fairytales, and Caldecott Winners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 Well, that's discouraging. :sad: Bummer. Thanks for posting, though. :001_smile: Good to know. I'm using a combo of Core Knowledge first grade (Baltimore Curriculum Project plans) for science and Intellego unit studies that match up with whatever unit we're on. I'm using a combo of Intellego unit studies to hit "social studies" like American Symbols with a yearly overview of history that I created myself. I'm using CK to keep track of "high" hit points that are recommended to be covered in grade 1 for social studies. I've been looking for 18 months for a program that is open and go, secular and has great content for both social studies/history and science and so far I've found nothing that I think is excellent. For literature I'm using Core Knowledge's lit selections (which come ready to be popped into a 3 ring binder for a great price) and using some Ambleside Online to complement it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) You know what? Someone else mentioned these in another thread and I was totally thinking ...Pockets as in pocket charts and glazed over it. But, after your enthusiastic post, I got to thinking that maybe I wasn't thinking right. Nope, I wasn't. LOL! You're right...I think these may be good fit for DD's age. Going to look into them more. Thanks! :D ETA: Just checked them out some more. They do look fun. Wish they had some less popular/common/traditional stories. DD is already familiar with a lot of them, but I think they may be a good place to start. Going to add them to my short list. Ooh, Literature Pockets by Evan Moor might be just what you're looking for in the literature area. They look really fun! They have them for Aesop's Fables, Folktales and Fairytales, and Caldecott Winners. Edited January 2, 2012 by pitterpatter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I second the recommendation for the My Book House books. They are good anthologies of age appropriate literature. I didn't find them until this year and start on volume 3, but I really like them and so does Ariel. There is one Bible story per volume, but you can either skip it, or read it with the approach that it will advance her cultural literacy, since a lot of books, especially older ones, reference Bible stories, and it makes those books more difficult to grasp if the student is unfamiliar with them. Another thing to look at for history/social studies is Intellego. They have specific subjects for things like Symbols of America or Continents and Cultures in addition to world and US history, and are very hands on, though you will have to gather the supplies yourself. We just started the astronomy unit for 3rd-5th grades and I think it has enough activities to keep Ariel, who is a very hands on and visual kiddo, happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIS0320 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Well, that's discouraging. :sad: Bummer. Thanks for posting, though. :001_smile: Good to know. Yeah, sorry about depressing you! :) You might have a different experience and find something you love. Things that are open and go (McRuffy Science for instance) are not meaty enough - even for first grade - and something like BFSU takes a lot of advance planning on my part. I just wish there were something secular in the middle range. We're trying RSO next year so here's hoping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allearia Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 We really love SOTW, not sure if you have decided against it for some reason. Also wwe for writing and fll for grammar. I like to keep it s implement and not consider the endless options. We would never do without SOTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 It's not that I don't like it. I just don't think it's the right fit at the moment for us. In a couple of years, I may pick it up. I really would want DD to be able to get the most out of it. I don't think we're at that point yet. We really love SOTW, not sure if you have decided against it for some reason. Also wwe for writing and fll for grammar. I like to keep it s implement and not consider the endless options. We would never do without SOTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 Do you know whether there are lessons/activities to go with these anywhere? Bookmarked the Intellego site too. Thank you! I second the recommendation for the My Book House books. They are good anthologies of age appropriate literature. I didn't find them until this year and start on volume 3, but I really like them and so does Ariel. There is one Bible story per volume, but you can either skip it, or read it with the approach that it will advance her cultural literacy, since a lot of books, especially older ones, reference Bible stories, and it makes those books more difficult to grasp if the student is unfamiliar with them. Another thing to look at for history/social studies is Intellego. They have specific subjects for things like Symbols of America or Continents and Cultures in addition to world and US history, and are very hands on, though you will have to gather the supplies yourself. We just started the astronomy unit for 3rd-5th grades and I think it has enough activities to keep Ariel, who is a very hands on and visual kiddo, happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Do you know whether there are lessons/activities to go with these anywhere? Bookmarked the Intellego site too. Thank you! Not that I'm aware. They're out of print, so it's unlikely anyone will develop lessons for them, but you could probably search for activities related to some of the stories within each book. Usually after I read one of the stories we'll discuss it. For example, when we read the Nutcracker and Sugar Dolly Stories (volume 4) we discussed things about listening to others and misbehavior (Sugar Dolly and Nutcracker get into lots of trouble). Sometimes I'll add in activities, but I got pretty comfortable doing that from when we used Five in a Row. I just don't have the time to develop lesson plans to go with everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 You know what? Someone else mentioned these in another thread and I was totally thinking ...Pockets as in pocket charts and glazed over it. But, after your enthusiastic post, I got to thinking that maybe I wasn't thinking right. Nope, I wasn't. LOL! You're right...I think these may be good fit for DD's age. Going to look into them more. Thanks! :D ETA: Just checked them out some more. They do look fun. Wish they had some less popular/common/traditional stories. DD is already familiar with a lot of them, but I think they may be a good place to start. Going to add them to my short list. If you like those, Evan Moor also makes History Pockets. They have Ancient Civilizations, Native Americans, and Life in Plymouth Colony. US Facts and Fun also looks good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Evan -Moor does make a lot of great books/units. :iagree: Also if you're looking for ideas about what books to read --you may look into these: Jim Treleases Read Aloud Handbook Books Kids Will Sit Still For Books To Build On Books To Build Character There's also a New York Times Best Books something---spacing on the exact title. The Well Trained Mind has reading lists. You could check out the reading lists at Ambleside or Mensa For Kids. You ask your librarian if they have a set of Bookfinders. You could go to http://www.ala.org and check out the list of Caldecotts and Newberry winners. Basically there's a ton of literature for kids out there!!! It's actually overwhelming once you start delving into it all. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehogs4 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Story of the World, First Language Lessons for the Well-trained Mind, Writing with Ease, Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading... all PHP stuff is fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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