rebereid Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 I posted on my new-ish blog about our curriculum choices for next year. http://homeschool.rebeccareid.com/2013/06/05/next-year/ I was hoping for some feedback as to if you think it will work. The only thing I didn't post about was Spanish, which I'm not sure what we'll do yet. Anyway, here it is here. English: finish LoE Foundations, then do some ZB spellnig list words, just a little. Reading good books, Read Grammar-land and do worksheets, WWE1, write letters for practice writing and do Dance Mat Typing. Math: Miquon finish Red and begin Blue, maybe supplement with Singapore and math apps. History and Geography: Stuck on the USA and stack the States, SotW1 with activity guide. Science: Plants and the human body class in co-op. Fine Arts: keep learning piano, Art History for Little Ones, painting and drawing if he's ever interested. Health and fitness: Swim and Gym at local park district. Health ?? Other: Spanish (somehow), devotional each morning, life studies ie. help cook, clean, maybe some easy sewing I'd love feedback here or on the blog as to what you think. Too much, not enough? Looking at it, I wonder how we'll get it all done, but one day at a time. Thanks! Rebecca Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 fwiw it looks fine to me. I personally wouldn't worry about a specific curriculum for Health unless mandated by the state, it is quite easy to cover health topics for this age informally. My 1st grade plans: Math: MEP 1, Miquon Orange and New Franklin Math (trying out a lot of stuff this year to see what we like) Penamanship: LoE Cursive- Rhythm of Handwriting Grammar: Grammarland and Sentence Family Writing: Phonics: Logic of English Foundations, we should finish B this summer perhaps, I don't know how far we will get next year, we've been going slow lately Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebereid Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Thanks Soror for your feedback. I have a question for you. You say you are finishing Foundations, why do you see Rhythm of Handwriting as a necessary addition? I found that Foundations A had lots of handwriting instruction. I have loved LoE so I'm curious to know what Rhythm of Handwriting adds to your program -- I am not familiar with it. Are you still working on Science and/or Social Studies or do you not do formal things at this age? I'm just curious what other people do. Thanks again for your comment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 Personally, I've found the handwriting instructions to be really deficient. It was great at first and then all of a sudden we are supposed to be doing whole sentences. Our practice sheets are still letters that are huge but the extra practice is whole sentences that are tiny. Perhaps that was fixed in the final versions of A and B but I haven't looked through A since we are past that and B isn't finalized. When I looked at the rhythm of Handwriting it had lots of individual letter practice in different sizes. I was going to buy it for ds anyway, so I thought why not for dd as well. Oh, I see I left writing blank, I am thinking about WWE1 but still not sure on that, perhaps something vintage or copywork made by me. DD will be tagging along w/ ds who is doing Middle Ages for history. We will be doing lots of fairy tales for literature, as well as good picture books and things like Potter and Milne and such. Science will be nature study, I'm considering buying her a little journal or such but haven't made up my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecclecticmum Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 If you have to cover health or other curriculums that seem rather redundant, I usually print out one "worksheet" (colouring page, information page etc) for each topic. I.e. Handwashing colouring in, get the child to colour it, stick it in folder, and you have covered it. Since I don't have to report anything, mine usually consists of oral versions "you know how to wash your hands properly? Scrub them together, thats right" *tick off box, move to next topic* rofl. Mine looks really busy, but is actually pretty simple (although I am still fine-tuning the LA, as its made from a lot of bits & pieces from various programs, I mostly use Dancing Bears & LLATL as the base, and pull ideas from the others). LA: Mixture of bits from Bravewriter, IEW/PAL, McGuffey Readers, Dancing Bears, Fitzroy, TV Teacher (Handwriting), Startwrite, LLATL Blue, More Starfall & Click N Kids. This is probably my busiest list, but I use bits & pieces of everything for different purposes. Our main base programs are Dancing Bears (Phonics) & LLATL for LA.. I use the others for stuff like sight words, readers, online supplements (good for when I need to do stuff with the younger kids or am having a sick day), TV Teacher all three kids do together allowing me to housework or have a break. Startwrite I write out Atlas' stories and she llustrates and uses the sheets for handwriting practice. LA is our main goal for Atlas for this year (she's finally blending, so I want to work on that area, and get her reading so she can join Scholastic Bookclub). Goal for DS is Speech, Vocbulary & Fine Motor, Goal for DD4 is Fine Motor & Math (she's showing signs of racing ahead like her sister, so I want to keep up with that). Math: MOTL (Base Program), Verbal Math (Mental Math Lessons, I've been looking into the possibility of getting Ray's to use the same way, but I keep jumping backwards and forwards on that, I don't want too much going on, then again I would just drop Verbal Math to one short lesson a week rather than two, and do one lesson of Ray's instead) & Dreambox (Online Supplement). My daughter moves too fast for workbooks and hates the pages of problems, she naturally picks up/knows math, at the same time, she hasn't mastered some basics and has some bad habits (she can do some algebraic equations, do long addition, but hasn't yet mastered basic subtraction or counting to 100, or counting on properly. So I found its better to have a guide rather than a program, then I can work things her way). Art: She is artistic. Very arts/crafts person, so she has a lot of stuff to play around with. We do group art on Fridays using Maryann Kohl books, other than that she has things like Abeka Art Projects, Developing Motor Skills, Art Pac 1, plus a Drawing DVD I found that is brilliant, and takes you from basics to advanced of working with a pencil. Other bits and pieces: Lollipop Logic, Hands-on Math (her request, she does it when she wants), Social Studies Workbook (to cover Australian Social Studies, we do 2 pages a week), Lessons in Responsibility - Pearables. And as a group the kids do stuff like Let's Read and Find Out Science books, Busy Book (Fun, Interesting busywork, good for "I'm bored" moments, Wiggle & Giggle Book (to cover Phys Ed, and just plain get them moving). To cover the "rest" we use KONOS, which I love. This pretty much covers everything except phonics, spelling, grammar & formal math anyway lol. So stuff other than those bits, are just supplements we use because my kids like them. The LA on my list does look crazy hectic, I need to write down my plans of how its incorporated in the next few days, so I have a written form somewhere. I'm still fine-tuning everything whilst doing everything, lol. We kind of had a set-back this year (huge setback) and I've had to start from scratch, which has been no fun, let me tell you. Perhaps for Life Skills if you need something to "organze" it a bit in your head, two things I love are the Lessons in Responsibility by Pearables (they have a boy version as well), and the Clean N Flips. I finally found a cool little sewing curriculum too (its going to be teaching me at the same time as my daughter.....sewing machines try to eat me...rofl. But I will probably be starting that some time towards the end of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebereid Posted June 9, 2013 Author Share Posted June 9, 2013 I see what you say about LoE foundations, soror. I think her philosophy in it is to teach handwriting with a purpose...I personally HATE those repeat the letters over and over again pages. But to each her own, I guess, and I like her style, so if I were to do any, I'd do Rhythm of Handwriting! Maybe doing pages of letters would have helped my son.....who hates handwriting practice of any kind.... As for the Health, ecclicticmum, I am "supposed" to do something in Illinois related to health but no one checks or requests info. So I know I could count daily life for it! But this last year, I found a student planner that had health tips on every page. My son loved reading it each week (and he liked reading ahead and going back) and asking me the "true or false?" questions. He remembers a lot from it. I am hoping to find something similar for next year but I won't stress about it, if we don't find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NASDAQ Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 English: I'm not overly familiar with most of these. I spent the first half of first grade going through Lippincott Readers and the second half we did AAS 1/2 and continued with readers. Math: I would do Singapore and supplement with Miquon if math is very important to you. I think this works better. History and Geography: I did very little formal history and geography because nothing would stick with my dd. Science: seems fine. Fine Arts: Lucy Micklethwait has an excellent series of books, I Spy in art. My first grader and JKer enjoyed them. I Spy Colours in Art, etc. Health and fitness: Do you have to do health? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 D'oh, I forgot art as well. We are doing Atelier Art Level 3 and I'm still working on picking out a drawing book as well and she does tons on her own time. Lots of Dover coloring books and crafts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma aimee Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 this is what i blogged last year -- due to all our travels and relocation it did not all happen -- but this is my master first grade plan. First Grade curriculum 2012 – 2013 School year will run from Aug 1 2012 to May 31 2013 HISTORY (concurrently): Story of the World; In addition to the history readings, we are working our way though the activity guide and also several related read-a-loud as well as following along in our Bibles as well. Biblioplan. “BiblioPlan’s curriculum is Christ-centered, literature-based, easy to follow and inexpensive.†It pigeon-tails with Story of the World; offering more extra reading, and syncing Bible History with the SOTW chapters. The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History. A photo encyclopedia to give us visual images to “see†the history we are studying. GEOGRAPHY (first two concurrently, then following item): 1. Beginning Geography, Grades K-2 2. Around the World Coloring Book 3. Legends & Leagues: Or, Mr. Tardy Goes from Here to Thereand the work book. BIBLE (Studies will be done consecutively) : 1. Awana’s Sparks year 2 2. You Want Me to Do What?!: A Bible Study Workbook on Obedience for Ages 6-12. 3. Fruit of the Spirit: a Children’s Bible Study of Galatians 5:22 by David Walters 4. Pressing On When the Pressure’s On: A Bible Study Workbook on Perseverance for Ages 6-12 LANGAGE ARTS & GRAMMER (concurrently): 1 First Language Lessons. 2 Spelling Work Out Level A. 3 Daily dictation LOGIC (consecutively): Visual Perceptual Skill Building® Book 2 Critical thinking Company! Mind Benders. Dragon logic Logic Links (Mindware’s Best Logic Problems : Level A) MAYBE — Primarily Thinking, Grades 2-3 MATH (consecutively): memorize math facts though 12 Mammoth Math. First Grade. Spectrum Math Math Minutes. PHONICS (consecutively): Exploring the Code book 1 ½, book 2 and book 2 ½ if we get to it. easy readers for practice Sight words, first 3 levels. Phonics Pathways (edition 9 https://scribinglife.wordpress.com/education/first-grade/curriculum-for-first-grade/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma aimee Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 what we did not get done / do last year (quote) we will be doing in 2nd. so many of these things show up again this coming year. we just traveled too much and moved too many times for everything to happen this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 My dd isn't reading strongly yet so we are doing a fairly simple start to first grade to get her stronger there (depending on how she does over the summer because we go year round). Handwriting without Tears 1st grade All About Reading (currently doing 1, will go on to 2 at least) Once she's reading better we probably will start All About Spelling Once she's reading better we will probably start The Wand Evan Moor Skill Sharpeners Math (currently doing 1st grade, will move on to second grade and possibly add in Math Mammoth again) She tags along on history, geography and science with her brother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 My plans for Wee Girl are basically a continuation of this year: MATH Continue with Miquon, augmenting with occasional Singapore and math games ENGLISH LLATL Red, Primary Language Lessons, My Book House MUSIC Cello lessons, choir RELIGION St. Joseph's Baltimore Catechism, Bible stories EVERYTHING ELSE I think I may just turn to the Core Knowledge curr. as outlined by the Baltimore Curriculum Project, and combine their activity ideas with our home library. Art, science, history, geography, and the like general subjects are just things I'm terrible at in the early primary years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 My 1st grade plans are basically finished-- Math--Miquon Orange and Red, MEP, and plenty of math games (Scholastic math games ebook, Family Math etc). Building Thinking Skills. (Thinking about SM, although MEP is free, but I may end up doing SM along with Miquon in these early years.) Language Arts: --likely dropping OPGTR for WRTR as a spine for phonics and spelling. (I'd like to start him on SeqSpell 1 but not sure he's ready) Continue with ETC and HWT. Add some phonics games and plenty of read alouds and reading practice. I'm also going to use Caldecott Across the Curriculum (it's like FIAR) for lit studies. Bravewriter's Jot It Down for writing. FLL1 and WWE1 for grammar. (I'm not pushing the WWE or even the JotItDown---I'm okay with saving them for another year depending on how he does.) Science: Continue with OHC nature study and Private Eye (all together) and RSO Life. History: HO Ancients with SOTW and History Pockets (I'm skeptical about this and I'm okay with dropping Ancients for another year if he's not feeling it.) Art: Continue with DWC and HFA (all together). Plenty of arts and crafts etc. I also plan on presenting Montessori Great Lessons throughout the year with him and my oldest, so there will be quite a bit of his time spent in Mont style activities. I have several albums to use to follow that sequence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 My first grade plans are in my sig. Both my 7&5 yo are doing it. We are halfway through the school year here. If you are wondering about the weird age spread LOL my DD just turned 7 last week and DS will be 6 in September ( DS is advanced and DD works on grade level). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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