Need to add to our homeschool!

[EDauria]

Hi! I am so glad I found this forum! My son is in first grade this year, and I am trying to figure out this classical approach to homeschooling. Because I also have an infant and a toddler, I decided to pick a curriculum that my son enjoyed last year. He liked Rod and Staff for K, and I had been told 1st was a lot of work and the lessons often had to be broken up over a couple days. They said not to bother adding history or science or literature or anything because it was already so much work.

 

Well, my son finishes by 10:30am every day. We start at 8. We started August 1st, and this quickly became the norm. I tried doubling up some lessons, but I think I just lost his attention. So I believe I need to delve deeper into the classical approach, but I really don't know where to start. This is my only school aged child, so I am at a loss. I look online and I cannot figure out which books to choose or what to do with them.

 

Could someone point in the right direction? Or tell me what they like for 1st grade?

[Amateur Actress]

So you want to add history, literature, and science? Any specific time period?

 

You could read through one of The Story of the World books for history. And read an historical novel to go along with whatever time period you are doing with history.

https://welltrainedmind.com/p/story-of-the-world-1-4-text-activity-book-bundle/

 

I like the sound of the Berean Builders science books, which cover science by time period, not individual topics. You could choose the one that goes along with your history & literature.

https://www.bereanbuilders.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?display=home

 

We like the Christian Kids Explore science books, too. They have Earth & Space and Biology for the younger grades.

https://www.brightideaspress.com/shop/christian-kids-explore-earth-and-space/

[Starr]

Yes for the recommendation of Story of the World and the Activity Guide. The guide has maps, questions, projects and book lists. You can use what you like. Ancient History is fun! 

[HomeAgain]

I have a 6yo.  Our days are broken like this:

 

Skill subjects (math, reading, writing, Spanish, spelling) are often 10 minutes or less.  If math is enjoyable it can stretch for an hour.  Today was a lesson on symmetry, so it was definitely an hour long.

 

Content subjects (history, art, science, literature) are open ended and often cross subject lines.  They're filled with a lot of play, games, and experiments.  Yesterday we spent a good bit of time playing senet before making a picture of the pyramids with pastels.

 

So if we look at the skill subjects, that can be down to 40-50 minutes each day.  We add in 3 of the content subjects and that stretches the day to a full 4 hours...most of which doesn't look like "work" at all.

 

 

[Kiara.I]

2.5 hours daily of seat work is quite a lot for first grade. But yes, if the content subjects can be play based instead it should work okay.

 

Just keep in mind that you're not aiming for a 6-hour school day.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Momto6inIN]

I don't know what all subjects you're covering with Rod & Staff, but for 1st grade we have done/will do:

 

Math lesson 5x/week

XtraMath math facts practice 5x/week

Phonics lesson 4x/week

Spelling 4x/week

Copywork 4x/week (just picking short sentences from chapter books for her to copy)

Handwriting Without Tears 4x/week

Music lesson 1x/week

Artistic Pursuits lesson 1x/week

Magic School Bus science video 1x/week and a few of the experiment kits that go along with them 2x/week

Story of the World lesson and oral narration 3 or 4x/week (we didn't really do the activities from the activity book but some people do and really like them)

Reading together from misc. fiction and nonfiction books about our science and history lessons 5x/week (I read 1 page, then she reads 1 page)

 

It all usually took about 2-2.5 hours spread out over different time periods each day. The rest of the time we talked about stuff and they played. It was great and they learned a lot! No need to "fill up" the whole day with formal lessons at that age. Good luck!

 

 

[Janeway]

Hi! I am so glad I found this forum! My son is in first grade this year, and I am trying to figure out this classical approach to homeschooling. Because I also have an infant and a toddler, I decided to pick a curriculum that my son enjoyed last year. He liked Rod and Staff for K, and I had been told 1st was a lot of work and the lessons often had to be broken up over a couple days. They said not to bother adding history or science or literature or anything because it was already so much work.

 

Well, my son finishes by 10:30am every day. We start at 8. We started August 1st, and this quickly became the norm. I tried doubling up some lessons, but I think I just lost his attention. So I believe I need to delve deeper into the classical approach, but I really don't know where to start. This is my only school aged child, so I am at a loss. I look online and I cannot figure out which books to choose or what to do with them.

 

Could someone point in the right direction? Or tell me what they like for 1st grade?

I would make it very hands on, whatever you do. I like to get seat work out of the way early. So, you finish the lessons by 10:30am. After that, take a break and then add in..maybe in blocks..one day, an art study, another, something from science, and so on. I think that would be fun!

[beka87]

Honestly, 2 and a half hours is plenty of school for a first grade child.  I have a third grader and we do 2.5 hours six days a week and cover everything - including fine arts, second language, literature, history, science, geography, etc...I would caution against adding anything other than what will be fun and enjoyable for both of you.  And it doesn't have to be "school" or content - you could garden, cook, go to museums, read lots of books...I suggest enjoying the early years and not worrying about how much time you do or do not spend on school.

[2_girls_mommy]

In first grade I did all of Rod and Staff 1st grade materials. So we used math and the reading/phonics/extra worksheets set up. I really liked it. We did their music program and with one of mine I did the handwriting as well.

 

But we did go ahead and do the Well Trained Mind science and history. So for history that was Story of the World vol. 1 and for science it is studying animals, human body, and plants in 1st grade using the Usborne !st encyclopedias of each as our spines and lots of library books. We did art using the art section from What Your First Grader Needs to Know, and since R&S reading only covers Bible (which was perfect since we were studying the ancients in SOTW vol. 1) we did lots of reading from the SOTW AG reading lists for their silent reading.

 

We didn't do all everyday. We did R&S in the mornings. Then one afternoon a week we did art. Two we did history. And one to two we did science. One day a week we usually did the library and or a field trip. But if we were home, Fridays were a big project day. We would do a project from SOTW AG and a science experiment or more art, just something fun that went along with what we were studying.

[2_girls_mommy]

And our day was broken up like this usually: we started school at 11:00. We were late morning people and we always watched Sesame STreet back then. We worked til about 12:30 or 1:00. Stopped for lunch. Played outside after lunch. Then the kids were required to go to their rooms and do silent reading/rest time. That is when they could read the SOTW extra books or any book they chose or listen to books on CD. That was an hour and a half to two hours. Then up for the afternoon subject. Then they played outside until dinner. Then after dinner we usually took a walk or played outside.

[knitgrl]

Well Trained Mind is a great resource to learn about a classical curriculum. Most of the libraries in my area, at least, have a copy of some edition of it.

 

We had a similar scenario to yours last year in terms of kids. My daughter really enjoyed SOTW Vol. 1 and the activities from the accompanying book, and I spread that over 3 days a week. We also really enjoyed Kids Art Works! by Sandi Henry. The projects in it are very manageable, produce nice results, and yet still look like kids made them. We didn't do it every single week, but a few times a month anyway.

[HS Mom in NC]

SOTW 1 and the Activity Book that goes with it.

[kiwik]

2.5 hours is more than many do for first grade including history and science. Remember your child is not waiting for 29 other kids to catch up, lining up, taking the roll, waiting for quiet etc - these things use up a lot of time

[Ellie]

Hi! I am so glad I found this forum! My son is in first grade this year, and I am trying to figure out this classical approach to homeschooling. Because I also have an infant and a toddler, I decided to pick a curriculum that my son enjoyed last year. He liked Rod and Staff for K, and I had been told 1st was a lot of work and the lessons often had to be broken up over a couple days. They said not to bother adding history or science or literature or anything because it was already so much work.

 

Well, my son finishes by 10:30am every day. We start at 8. We started August 1st, and this quickly became the norm. I tried doubling up some lessons, but I think I just lost his attention. So I believe I need to delve deeper into the classical approach, but I really don't know where to start. This is my only school aged child, so I am at a loss. I look online and I cannot figure out which books to choose or what to do with them.

 

Could someone point in the right direction? Or tell me what they like for 1st grade?

 

So, are you using Rod and Staff's Bible Nurture and Reader "We Read About God" materials? If so, honestly, I would recommend something else to teach him to read, and then add in some history and science. You could stick with Beginning Arithmetic, which is quite good.

[wendyroo]

I don't know what Rod and Staff covers, but if just the "basics" are taking 2.5 hours, then I would cut way back on those and add some fun content subjects.

 

My K'er spends about 60-75 minutes on school 4 days a week.  We do skill subjects daily and content subjects every other day and cover phonics, handwriting, math, poetry memorization, Spanish, literature, piano, history, science and art.

 

My second grader spends about 2 hours on school 4 days a week.  He does all the subjects the K'er does as well as problem solving, writing, geography, spelling and typing.  He also spends several hours a day reading, but that is all free reading, not assigned.

 

All four kids also get read to often throughout the day, and for the older two it often adds up to about 45-60 minutes total, but I don't count that as school.

 

Wendy