English/Language Arts curriculum for 1st grade

[Guest mmorris]

Hello All!

New member here. I'm currently looking for a good English/Language Arts curriculum for my 1st grader.

This is our third year of homeschooling and so far so good, with the exception of English and Spelling.

I have tried Evan Moore materials and feel they are good and solid, but also feel very public school like (something I wanted to stay away from in the early years).

I have tried Langauge Arts 1, by Christian Light, but thought we were just waisting time and circling material over and over. A lot of workbooks but felt like busy work more than anything.

I have also tried Climbing to Good English, but not happy with the format.

I currently use Christian Light for our Math and Pathway Readers for Phonics. I would like a good compliment for our English and Spelling work.

What do you all use? Please include what you like/dislike about it.

I'm considering going back to Evan Moore, even though I'm not happy with the "public school like" feel, I do feel like the material is strong and she is actually learning something with their books.

Edited January 25, 2016 by mmorris

[carriede]

We love First Language Lessons and Writing with Ease.

 

For FLL I got a used copy on Amazon of the original version with years 1 and 2 put together, so it was super cheap.

 

For WWE, I use the Instructor Guide that contains levels 1-4 (no workbook) and use Story of the World with its Activity Guide for the narration and copywork selections. It's been working really well.

 

For spelling/reading, we currently doing Spelling Workout A, Treasures Grade 1 series (used school book off Amazon) and Phonics Pathways.

 

The reading portion is going well, and Spelling Workout is okay... but I miss doing the Spalding Method with the book Writing Road to Reading. I think my son's success with reading started with Spalding, but then I got scared/busy. He loves workbooks, so that's why I tried Spelling Workout, but now I feel like we've taken two steps back.

 

Hope that helps!

[Coco_Clark]

I get them beginning in reading and and then start them on ELTL sometime between k and 1st.

 

It covers great literature/poetry, copywork, early grammar, and picture study. Writing instruction begins in level 2 with letter writing and dictation.

[three4me]

Another vote for eltl!

[abba12]

We do 100 Easy lessons and Explode the Code until they finish 100EZ

Then we switch to Rod and Staff Spelling, with Explode the Code

 

We do D'Nealian Handwriting

 

At this point, writing is them dictating a story or recount to me for a journal page every now and then, and lots of descriptive conversations where I ask questions and they form answers. I plan to begin using Writing Strands once their handwriting is at a competent level but until then simply exploring descriptive spoken word seems a good start. 

 

We don't do formal grammar (I intend to use Analytical Grammar later on) but I introduce punctuation through reading and will correct basic punctuation/capitalization when they begin writing more than handwriting/math worksheets. 

 

[ScoutTN]

For 1st we did:

 

FLL1 (all oral with the old combo book) 3x week

AAS 1 and into 2, 15 minutes 4x a week

Mommy-made copywork and dictation 3x a week.

HWT for penmanship, 5-10 minutes 5x a week.

Reading lots and lots of good books! Every day.

-- One of mine was an advanced reader and one average. With the average one, I reviewed some in Phonics Pathways at times and we did lots of buddy reading and used some readers. He was reading chapter books independently by January and we still did some of buddy reading.

Poetry memorization

Oral narrations for history, science some literature and and field trips. 2-3x per week.

 

Looks like a long list, but it was easy and fun both times. Short lessons and short days. :)

[EKT]

I did/am doing: WWE, FLL, and AAS. We love all three! (I just think WWE and FLL build an incredibly solid foundation and we love AAS because of all the tactile fun of the letter magnets and because it incorporates so many different learning approaches (sound/sight/writing, etc.) And then tons and tons of read alouds, of course.

[MrsWeasley]

First Language Lessons, Writing with Ease, phonics (either OPGTR for a child not reading fluently yet or All About Spelling for a kid who is), and Handwriting Without Tears

[Insertcreativenamehere]

My daughter is in K, but we are using FLL and so far, I love it! I plan to add WWE next year for her (her actual first grade year.)