What am I missing? First grade curriculum

[JaiMama]

We are about halfway into our first grade year, and I just want to make sure I am not forgetting any subjects or skills for my 6YO. Our school day is normally no more than 2 hours--usually its about 90 minutes.

Currently:

* Almost finished Handwriting Without Tears "My Printing Book." (Completed "Kick Start Kindergarten" and "Letters and Numbers for Me" last year). Then, we will move to Zaner-Bloser Handwriting 2M.

* Singapore Dimensions 1A/1B

* Phonics - Explode the Code 2, 3, 4 (currently working in 3)

* Grammar - First Language Lessons 1

* Daily Reading Comprehension Grade 1 (Evan Moor)

* Reading (Completed "All About Reading" Books 1-3); now using Newmark Learning's Phonics Readers Book Sets 3-5

* Science - Generation Genius website, Little Passports Science Kits, Usborne books

* Social Studies - mainly geography using the Eat2Explore, Universal Yums, SnackCrate kits supported with books

* Logic - manipulatives like Trucky 3, Rush Hour Jr, Magnetic MightyMind

* Art - How to Teach Art to Children

------------------------

Do I have any gaps? We did start with Writing With Ease 1, but it wasn't a good fit. I am wondering if I should try another writing curriculum? I do have "Building Writers A" from Handwriting Without Tears but its listed as a supplement.

Thank you.

[LauraClark]

My oldest is 4th/5th, so take this with a grain of salt 😉

-We use Writing Strands and don't start until 2nd grade. You could always add some narrations from science or reading if you want to.

-spelling? I don't think it's necessary in 1st, but we do spelling in 1st grade to help reinforce phonics and just get him writing a bit more.

-history? SOTW is pretty gentle.

[Lori D.]

Welcome to homeschooling, and welcome to the WTM forum!

You have a good amount of subjects and materials there, and have covered all your basics, and have great add-ons.

I would just give yourself permission to see how it goes, and if it seems to be too much, then consider just hitting the core subjects (math and language arts topics) on a regular basis, and then the content subjects (everything else in your list) can be fun explorations as it fits in. Maybe rotate through each of those extras 1-2x/week. Or as a short focused unit of study, and then do a different short unit on a different subject.

Agreeing with @LauraClark about Writing and Spelling can wait until next year. And History/Geography can be a gentle add-in to a rotation of those extra subjects...

Remember to keep alive the love of learning and joy of exploration by not over-doing a soul-crushing amount of school work. (Your Geography study looks like you're doing a great job of that. 😄 )

And schedule lots of time for imaginative play, exploration, field trips, hands-on activities, etc. Enjoy your homeschooling adventures with your little ones!

 

 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Lori D.

[knitgrl]

If you wanted to work in writing, you could try copywork. I've used old readers or Dictation Day by Day in the past. You write the sentences out, and have your child copy underneath.

[Gil]

20 hours ago, JaiMama said:

Do I have any gaps?
I am wondering if I should try another writing curriculum?

Thank you.

re: Gaps. No it looks like you have everything covered.
re: Writing program. I don't recommend starting a composition program until the child is semi-fluent or fluent at physically writing. I would keep them writing in 1st and over the summer then re-assess in the early part and again in the middle of 2nd grade.

 

 

[Clemsondana]

We didn't do much for grammar or writing until the kids were older, and we did spelling or vocabulary, but that's not a gap, just a preference.  You might want to do something with music, maybe in a rotation with logic and art?  But, that too is more of a preference than a gap.  My kids did art at co-op and did some music activities through church so we did only a small amount of either of those at home.  

[2_girls_mommy]

I personally didn't worry about logic in 1st, but that is a preference.  Our grammar program includes composition (Rod and Staff English,) but in 1st grade it is mostly just learning to write sentences and copying.  There isn't a lot to teaching writing in 1st grade, so I think you are fine without something specific. 

I agree with the above, that I don't see any music, and I would add something.  I always like having a copy of What Your !st grader Needs to Know.  It has suggestions for every subject, including music, little short reads on a topic that you can expand on by picking up a library movie or googling the music of composers or songs with children's lyrics to learn alongside. If you go that route, there are lots of interesting topics and reads on all subjects in the book that are nice to have on hand in one place.  But anything to introduce music would be fine. 

 

[JaiMama]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will add music. Generally, our schedule is M-Th, we do handwriting, math, phonics, grammar, reading and logic (he requested we do logic because he thinks the “games” are fun 😁). On Fridays, we do art, science and reading. The geography is sprinkled throughout the week. We do outside time, free play, field trips, etc throughout the week. Thank you all for replying. My homeschooling journey has been so much smoother than last year that I just needed some reassurance that what I have now is working. 

[Lucy the Valiant]

Magic. Don't forget to give him LOTS of "free" time to find his own magic. If that list of subjects is his magic (it would have been for one of mine), then go, go, go. If his magic / aka the thing that makes his heart sing and forget to check the clock is anything else besides a screen, you could cut out 60-70% of that list in favor of Magic. 

If a child under 10 years old is not on a screen, he is learning SOMETHING. 

After many years of this deeply satisfying gig we call home schooling, my single piece of advice for grades K-8 is to Remember the Magic. (Don't try to MAKE the magic . . . nurture it & aggressively make space for it. It's okay if the child's magic changes multiple times & with dizzying speed. Your strongest advantage over group-style learning is your ability to open ALL the doors to your child, to let him explore math, and botany, and inter-personal psychology, and stories from his own heritage, and stories of heroes who dared, and stories of places and cultures far away, and how to forgive others, and how to keep his own possessions and person tidy, and nutritional experiments, and the love of an animal, and Legos. ❤️ Remember the Magic. Close your ears to the voices that say that Magic doesn't matter. (They're often well-funded, but dead wrong.)

Since you asked. 😉

[Sarah0000]

I personally would occassionally have kiddo write original sentences every now and then with a break from handwriting practice. These could be off the top of the head or use something like Super Sentences, unless your kid is really struggling with handwriting.