1st grade planning 2024/2025

[MaryCrawley]

What is everybody using?

 

Language Arts: All About Reading 3, Evan Moor Spelling 1, First Language Lessons 1, Writing with Ease 1

Math: Saxon 3

History: Story of the World 1

Science: Elemental Science--Biology for the Grammar Stage

Latin: Song School Latin 1

Religion: The Ology: Ancient Truths Ever New by Marty Machowski

Other: Tech: typing.com;   Piano: Music for Little Mozarts. 

 

 

[alysee]

Just started thinking about my 6yo who will be in first grade next year. She is eager to learn and easy to please.

I will most likely use but can change:

Lang Arts: HWT, All About Spelling, Brave Writer Jot It Down

Math: JUMP Math

Science/Hist/Geo: Unit Studies of her choosing. 

Extras: Calendar, Keyboarding Without Tears

Girl Guides & Swimming Lessons

 

 

Edited February 24 by alysee

[Clarita]

I'm probably going to come back and edit this. My first grader is my second but she feels so different from my first.

Language Arts: All About Reading, HWT/D'Nealian (seriously she can't decide so it's whichever she wants to do on any given day), The Secret World of Talking Animals from Thinking Tree, I may also use some stuff from the year of Bravewriter Quill I had got my son. Tag along reading Poodle with older brother.

Math: Singapore Math

Science: Mystery Science, some The Writing Revolution output.

History: Curiosity Chronicles, some The Writing Revolution output. 

 

[Foofaraw]

Second child turning 6 next month: he started doing what I consider kindergarten work at 4.5, just very slowly. I declared, he can say he’s in first grade once he finishes Recipe for Reading workbook 4 (sometime this month).

English: Recipe for Reading workbooks 5-8, layered with Apples and Pears A, adding in Dancing Bears/Fast Track from sound foundations to hammer fluency.

Narrate Aesop’s fables orally

Humanities: continue homemade world geography read-alouds through summer. transition to north america/native american books in Fall, early american history in spring.

Lots of literature favorites at bedtime and in car. Just finished Farmer Boy, and he’s excited to hear the Little House books his older sister is always yapping about. I don’t schedule these, just browse assorted literature book lists. Rabbit Ears Productions audio stories are a constant in our household.

Math: Second Grade Math With Confidence intermixed with oral speed drills pulled from the Rod and Staff 2 math fact practice pages. This kid can understand and extrapolate conceptually much earlier than his older sibling, and has had no difficulties with MWC K and 1, BUT half the time you ask him what 1+6 is and he doesn’t yet have quick recall and gets totally stumped. For my first MWC was just the right amount of practice to master math facts, but this one needs a lot more rote practice. Maybe I should have made him slow down on earlier levels until he could manage more of the written practice himself…

Science: tag along Berean Builders science in the ancient world, nature read aloud so

lots of cindy rollins style morning time singing, memory work etc

Learning to swim, learning the can-jo, digging holes in the yard and goofing off with homeschool friends at Wild and Free and half day co-op

 

 

 

[Penderwink]

Current 5 yo has a summer birthday, so will be a young first grader (or older Kindergartener) next year. We mostly will continue with what works, where he will likely be somewhere between K and 1st grade level come the fall.

Language Arts: All About Reading, HWOT, possibly Spelling You See Listen and Write, possibly CGP Reception/Year 1 Phonics or English. We read aloud lots of books and poems - focus right now on lots of books he cannot wait to read himself like Dragon Masters.

Math: Singapore, moving into Beast Academy. We’re already finished Singapore K-level, and thinking about taking some months to play lots of math games to really internalize math facts before moving on to first grade level. 

Science: Magic School Bus and other science picture books, and some hands on activities inspired by them. We are a sciencey family so we have a lot of science picture books, grow vegetables from seed, play with electronics kits, record the weather etc anyway. Possibly Kiwi Crate or Mel Kids subscription boxes. Fine motor skills could use the extra practice, so will do some crafts around science/engineering interests. 

History: dinosaurs and prehistoric animals are a big interest right now, so we‘ll dive into that. Usborne Beginner History series as a brief overview of major civilizations. We have some specific picture books that fit well with the content of museums (Romans, Egypt) that we can visit easily. 

Geography: Sill picture books on habitats, Barefoot books sticker atlas as jumping off point to discuss and look up stuff.

Other: learning a musical instrument, Lingobus Chinese, swimming. Previous years we’ve been doing picture books and crafts around seasons/holidays/festivals and will continue that as it‘s fun and we already have all the stuff.

 

[AsgardCA]

My little guy's turning 6 in early September and he's been easing into school for Jr. Kindy & Kindy. We took a few programs and did them half-speed to spread them through 2 years. He's pretty much self-taught in reading so I'll need to figure out where he's at. He's tagging along with his older sisters for a bunch of these subjects.

Math:

• The Good & the Beautiful 1
• Wild Math 1 & In the Garden with Wild Math

Science/Nature:

• Blossom & Root Level 2: Wonders of the Plant & Fungi Kingdoms - starting over summer
• Beginning Herbalism unit from Wild Learning
• Kids' Herb Book + Boreal Herbal - identifying local plants and their uses
• A bit of gardening, focus on our unique climate
• Wilderness first aid & survival skills & emergency preparedness
• Blossom & Root Level 5 - Astronomy (over winter, since we can't see the stars at other times of the year)
• For the Love of Homeschooling Nature Study units
• Mystery Science

History:

• Prehistory, evolution, paleontology/archaeology & mythology
• Blossom & Root Prehistoric Life from Level 3
• Layers of Learning Ancients

Canadian Studies:

• Geography - Great Canadian Adventure's - Tiny Travellers
• Geography - The Canadian Adventure (Canadian Homeschooler)
• History - My Canadian Time Capsule (Canadian Homeschooler)
• History - DIY Year 2

Language Arts:

• Grammar: First Language Lessons 1
• Reading: Wild Reading 2 (or All About Reading Level 4, according to the placement test)
• Writing: Writing With Ease 1
• Phonics: Explode the Code 1-3(?) to reinforce concepts
• Spelling: Sequential Spelling Level 1?
• Handwriting: Canadian Handwriting A

Edited May 21 by AsgardCA

[Brooke]

My son is technically kindergarten for the next school year but we did kindergarten this entire year.

Literature: lighting literature

First Language Lessons

handwriting without tears

explode the code (finishing up AAR 2)

Singapore Primary 2022 1st grade

mystery science 

sprinkle in some units of core knowledge because we all love it. 
 

Originally I wanted to do around the world but I feel next school year will be better because I’ll have a 6.5 year old and a new 5 year old. 

[alysee]

Ordered

All about Spelling Level 1 - own already

Beast academy Books 1&2

Handwriting without Tears - My Printing Book

Chalkboard Publishing Daily Language Skills 1

Edited March 25 by alysee

[Clarita]

I'm looking at Cottage Press Primer 1. I didn't use this for my eldest... I have to remember why. Right now I just think it was because the copy work seemed too much, in which case it won't be a problem for DD5.

[Queen of the Tabbies]

Hi! New here. Starting first grade in earnest next week. Long, boring story. She just turned seven. 

Phonics: All About Reading 3. She placed into AAR 4, but I have too much gifted kid baggage about placement exams to push her to the edge of ability when review could only help.

Math: Singapore Math Dimensions. Her teachers told me she was ready for second grade math, but there are some gaps and she despises math so we started at the beginning a few months ago in hope of making it a delightful subject. A few small signs point to yes. Some times I worry I am boring her with all of this review. 

Spelling: All About Spelling 1. She keeps volunteering for additional math lessons rather than start start this, which is an odd sort of victory.

History: Just ordered Story of the World 1. So excited. 

Science: Dithering between Scientific Connections through Inquiry and adding the BFSU book suggestions, or Real Science Odyssey. 

Handwriting: Currently using The Good and the Beautiful's doodle series. I would purchase Handwriting without Meltdowns if it existed. Daily fine motor practice in the meantime. I hope we can use HWT some day, but no rush. 

Literature: Trying every chapter book in creation and reading aloud from James Herriot's Treasury for Children for now. 

Foreign language: TBD.

Is anyone using an art curriculum? 

[Clarita]

2 hours ago, Queen of the Tabbies said:

Math: Singapore Math Dimensions. Her teachers told me she was ready for second grade math, but there are some gaps and she despises math so we started at the beginning a few months ago in hope of making it a delightful subject. A few small signs point to yes. Some times I worry I am boring her with all of this review. 

DS let me know math was boring. Basically when his focus starts to waver and he starts to fight a subject it means the material is either too easy or too hard. To figure that out (if it isn't obvious) I just say OK do this/these problems for me as quick as you can and if they are correct we can skip the rest. I pick the harder problems for this exercise. If he complains about that then I pick then problems he was doing and I say let's do this problem together. I do it with him to see where the confusion might be, then that's the end of math for the day; I regroup and figure out how I can teach or scaffold it starting tomorrow's lesson. 

3 hours ago, Queen of the Tabbies said:

Handwriting: Currently using The Good and the Beautiful's doodle series. I would purchase Handwriting without Meltdowns if it existed. Daily fine motor practice in the meantime. I hope we can use HWT some day, but no rush. 

HWT starts with doodling for a few pages. I would say for us this was the handwriting without meltdowns. You can start in Kick Start Kindergarten even. If meltdowns are happening with this you may want to invest in the teacher's guide. It has more things in there to make handwriting even more scaffolded and gentle.  

[Queen of the Tabbies]

 

19 hours ago, Clarita said:

DS let me know math was boring. Basically when his focus starts to waver and he starts to fight a subject it means the material is either too easy or too hard. To figure that out (if it isn't obvious) I just say OK do this/these problems for me as quick as you can and if they are correct we can skip the rest. I pick the harder problems for this exercise. If he complains about that then I pick then problems he was doing and I say let's do this problem together. I do it with him to see where the confusion might be, then that's the end of math for the day; I regroup and figure out how I can teach or scaffold it starting tomorrow's lesson. 

HWT starts with doodling for a few pages. I would say for us this was the handwriting without meltdowns. You can start in Kick Start Kindergarten even. If meltdowns are happening with this you may want to invest in the teacher's guide. It has more things in there to make handwriting even more scaffolded and gentle.  

Thanks for the reminder about the teacher's guide. I bought First Grade student and teacher set, then a friend gave me the Kick Start Kindergarten student workbook. I will track down the teacher's edition.

 

Edited April 1 by Queen of the Tabbies
Forgot a word

[Penderwink]

The preschool level of HWT (My First School Book/ My First Lowercase Book) is also good if fine motor skills are an issue. The writing is bigger, fewer repeats are expected, and it means the later levels seem familiar.

For Art curriculum - we don’t follow a curriculum. For us, handwriting fine motor issues are coupled with a lack of interest in coloring/drawing. Not sure if this is the case for you. Anything that gets him to willingly interact with drawing/crafting materials is a win. Things we do do:

*Kids Art Hub draw along videos 

*Encouraging making greeting cards and thank you notes (he will draw or craft for a purpose)

*Making seasonal crafts/decorations 

*We are fortunate to live in a city with museums/art galleries with kids days that usually involve some hands on workshops/ craft activities - he will usually take part. There are also kids interpretive tours of some art exhibitions.

*If we are traveling we visit art museums and focus on a few pictures. We try to read picture books about the artist or a famous painting in advance. We also read picture books on styles like "If Monet Painted a Monster" and "If Picasso Painted a Snowman"

[Brooke]

I am back but with a different plan than before. 
 

Math will be Singapore primary 2022 first grade

All about Reading level 3

Those are still the same but a few changes

We finished HWOT kindergarten but now my son wants to do Getty Dubay because I decided to get their calligraphy book. He wants to be like his mama and I’m ok with that. Starting with level A.

I decided that even though he’s only 5.5 he is more than ready for spelling. We are going to attempt Spelling Workout A and see how that goes.

First Language Lessons

I will see if I think he’s ready for writing with ease. I feel like he’s very advanced in ELA. 
 

Mystery science 
 

I’m stuck on what we will do for content. 
 

I thought about lightning literature but I don’t feel it’s meant for us.

 

 

[Paige]

I'm trying hard not to do too much- does this still seem like too much? We won't do everything every day.

So far I think we'll do:

Math- Math Mammoth as base, supplementing with Dreambox and some Beast Academy puzzles and maybe some contest math problems mixed in. 

Language Arts:

     Reading- Probably AAR, but maybe nothing formal. I'll give him the placement test for AAR in August and see how he does. He seems pretty close to not needing a reading/phonics curricula anymore so I'm on the fence.

     Spelling- AAS level 2

     Handwriting- We're working through a cursive book and will keep at it.

     Grammar- probably nothing except practice- he did Grammar and Sentence Island and we're working through the Practice Island sentences. I don't want to do Town or the Poetry books yet. 

     Writing- We'll probably do a little sentence composition and journaling with some art; like- draw a picture and write a sentence about it... nothing formal.

     Reading- Read alouds and silent reading.

Social Studies- Exploring the World Through Story

I thought of adding more for history but decided the geography in EWS is enough for 1st grade.

Science- Young Scientist kits

French- StudyCat and probably an Outschool class. I might do Homeschool Languages too but it seems a little $$$ to me. 

We're also going to work through a Social/Emotional learning workbook and I have Home Art Studio DVDs (I'm old) so we might do that too. 

 

 

[LauraClark]

5 hours ago, Paige said:

does this still seem like too much?

If you're looking to cut something out, we don't start spelling until 2nd. Otherwise looks like you've got all the things covered. We alternate science and history days. My list always seems long, but when each subject only takes 10 min it still ends up being a short school day.

[Noelles]

I'm noticing that no one is using math with confidence and I'm nervous. 

My son is mathy, so I want to make sure I'm doing good math with him. 

We did k and half of 1 in his k year, and I planned to finish 1 and move into 2 this year for first... But I keep wondering if we should be doing different math. He thinks it's super super easy. 😬

 

We're doing AAR, First language lessons, and possibly AAS for LA. As well as handwriting. 

 

Elemental science Astronomy and Earth I think.

Exploring the world through story B.

 

Various social study units: American symbols, our state lapbook, being a good citizen, and me on the map. 

I have a couple other things I may try to slide in here and there as well.

[Rosie_0801]

37 minutes ago, MumOf5 said:

I'm noticing that no one is using math with confidence and I'm nervous. 

I remember beta testing part of Kate's material back in the day, before she published her curriculum. 

If your kiddo is enjoying maths, keep doing what you're doing. If he could do with some variation, there are plenty of options for that.

[Penderwink]

We do own the MWC 1st grade book, and we may also use it a bit. We used MWC K in my child’s Pre-K year, and it was great, but I didn’t feel that he was ready to move to 1 at the end of the year (adding and subtracting were laborious, the counting by 2, 5, 10 at the end  was too hard, it didn’t feel that he had a really solid grasp of some concepts, he never really got the sight recognition of bigger numbers in the ten frame). This year (K) we did Singapore K and it was just right. So we will continue on with Singapore, but  more because he was young to be doing MWC K, rather than that there was anything wrong with it. I did like that the workbook doesn’t assume that the child can read a lot of text.

Singapore K did seem more advanced than MWC K in terms of material (especially if you just look through the workbooks), but that’s not a problem if you’re just moving through the grades as your child is ready.

[Penderwink]

We have a few changes to the plan (above). DS has got into the Oxford Reading Tree Biff, Chip and Kipper books and is currently motivated to read a book each day, even figuring out tricky sounds which we haven’t got to in AAR yet. Things are really starting to come together. So we’ll follow that as long as it lasts.

We did take some time to play games and solidify math facts without a curriculum. We also found an app, Funexpected Math, which has helped a lot and is actually fun. Games are working so well, we might stick with that a while longer, so we can focus formal "workbook" time on writing and coloring where he really needs the extra practice.

I have bought History Quest Early Times, and may use it as a read aloud (but not do the curriculum/activities this year).

[Noelles]

On 7/10/2024 at 1:01 AM, Penderwink said:

We do own the MWC 1st grade book, and we may also use it a bit. We used MWC K in my child’s Pre-K year, and it was great, but I didn’t feel that he was ready to move to 1 at the end of the year (adding and subtracting were laborious, the counting by 2, 5, 10 at the end  was too hard, it didn’t feel that he had a really solid grasp of some concepts, he never really got the sight recognition of bigger numbers in the ten frame). This year (K) we did Singapore K and it was just right. So we will continue on with Singapore, but  more because he was young to be doing MWC K, rather than that there was anything wrong with it. I did like that the workbook doesn’t assume that the child can read a lot of text.

Singapore K did seem more advanced than MWC K in terms of material (especially if you just look through the workbooks), but that’s not a problem if you’re just moving through the grades as your child is ready.

Yeah I honestly felt like K was easy for my son this past year, and we buzzed through it. Once we hit the 1st grade stuff I slowed down to one lesson at a time, but it was still really easy for him. We will be starting 1st grade next month, halfway done with it, and then I planned to start 2nd MWC... but now I am wondering if I may be better adding in some Math Mammoth practice for a review, and to make sure things are solidified before we move on.  Honestly he isnt a huge fan of the games etc in MWC, and maybe would like MM more since it is straight forward. I guess I may have to play around with it. It seems like MWC is not suggested for math gifted kids though, so I am nervous. 

[Clarita]

47 minutes ago, Noelles said:

Honestly he isnt a huge fan of the games etc in MWC, and maybe would like MM more since it is straight forward. I guess I may have to play around with it. It seems like MWC is not suggested for math gifted kids though, so I am nervous. 

My thought is MWC is a solid math curriculum. That said I didn't continue with it for either of my children, both are advanced for math (one who seriously blows my mind and the other who math is just not a difficult topic).

For my math whiz, we couldn't even use Singapore math because he would complain that having "lessons" (the part where I go over what we are doing that day) was too "annoying" for him. He prefers to get a page of problems and ask me for help only if he doesn't know how to do it. Definitely there are some concepts that he doesn't need explicit instruction at all. (FWIW we use Beast Academy for him because most days that's just handing him the page of scaffolded problems.)

My math comes easily student, she did MWC K, and she was fine with it. We just would sometimes do more than 1 day's worth of lessons per day. The part that makes me nervous and not continue is that it's only out until 3rd (or at the time 2nd) grade. That makes me nervous because I've had curriculum not come out according to schedule and I have to switch, so I opted to just move to Singapore because it has all the levels.   

[Noelles]

I was planning to add Beast Academy in as well. We will see what he thinks of that.

I feel like MWC is great for someone who isn't math minded, but it just honestly feels so easy. I'll see what I decide on once school starts I guess. 

I was looking at Singapore, but decided on Math Mammoth as my other choice instead. 😬

Edited July 11 by Noelles

[Clarita]

15 minutes ago, Noelles said:

I was planning to add Beast Academy in as well. We will see what he thinks of that.

Just my opinion, I wouldn't add too many full math curricula together. (MM is a full math curriculum; BA is a full math curriculum.) He's already good at math just give him some samples of the math curricula you are thinking about and see which style jives with him. He probably doesn't need that much math and that time could be better spent elsewhere even if it's just more playtime.

Edited July 11 by Clarita

[Noelles]

Yeah that's what I'm planning. BA would be an extra once a week. I don't want that to be the full one because of how things are so much different in it. Strictly supplemental.

[Clarita]

I'm saying you don't need BA as supplement. It won't add anything to his life.

[Momof4sweetkids]

2 hours ago, Noelles said:

Honestly he isnt a huge fan of the games etc in MWC, and maybe would like MM more since it is straight forward.

We used MWC K and then switched to MM 1. Not because I didn't like MWC K though, it's solid and fun. I switched because I have 4 kids and it felt too teacher intensive in the long run. MM I can just hand to her (she can read the directions). Plus, I would rather play real card games that involve math than "schooly" math games.

ETA: We read the BA comics for fun but don't do the workbooks.

Edited July 11 by Momof4sweetkids

[Noelles]

Yes the parent involvement is a big one as well 

[Noelles]

Oh. I see that suggested everywhere for mathy kids, because the math is different.

[Clarita]

24 minutes ago, Clarita said:

I'm saying you don't need BA as supplement. It won't add anything to his life.

Maybe I should be more clear about this. Math comes easily to some because they naturally or easily see the connections in numbers... things... quantities. So with zero encouragement they would naturally find math puzzles and things in their play to figure out (board games, games, legos, cars, playing with toys, video games, etc.). To me adding supplemental "fun" math to school time takes away time from their own math explorations. The benefit of having personal math exploration/fun vs. teacher-led math exploration/fun is personal math exploration leads one to realize or know that they don't need explicit guidance for this. It gives children the freedom and knowledge that they can find their methodologies and prove they work. 

In fact, DH, DS and I will seek out math puzzles to do for fun all on our own. Our family will go do an escape room where DS will run off and do the puzzles on his own without telling the adults. DS will pick out puzzle and riddle books from the library to do in his free time. We all zone out to figure out how to do math problems in different ways for no reason. 

Just now, Noelles said:

Oh. I see that suggested everywhere for mathy kids, because the math is different.

If a child is mathy they will find the BA methodologies on their own (maybe not all of them and maybe different ones in addition). If the mathy people look deeply into the math taught in BA they will realize some of it is the stuff they use to make math easier for themselves and why they can do the problems in their head easily. 

My philosophy on math is I only supplement math when a student is struggling. 

[Noelles]

Well yes, that is true. 

[Brooke]

On 7/8/2024 at 4:15 PM, Brooke said:

I am back but with a different plan than before. 
 

Math will be Singapore primary 2022 first grade

All about Reading level 3

Those are still the same but a few changes

We finished HWOT kindergarten but now my son wants to do Getty Dubay because I decided to get their calligraphy book. He wants to be like his mama and I’m ok with that. Starting with level A.

I decided that even though he’s only 5.5 he is more than ready for spelling. We are going to attempt Spelling Workout A and see how that goes.

First Language Lessons

I will see if I think he’s ready for writing with ease. I feel like he’s very advanced in ELA. 
 

Mystery science 
 

I’m stuck on what we will do for content. 
 

I thought about lightning literature but I don’t feel it’s meant for us.

 

 

I’m back with an update for content finally! Although it’s not classical we decided to go with moving beyond the page 5-7 year old level. Mystery science just hasn’t been enough for my science loving kids. MBTP has quite a bit of science with experiments and hands on worksheets. They also include social studies as well. My 5 1/2 year old loves worksheets so I think it will be enough to satisfy him. We will still do our own math, spelling, grammar, handwriting and reading. If for any reason it’s too much we can always cut back or go slower.

[Clarita]

On 2/24/2024 at 4:34 PM, Clarita said:

I'm probably going to come back and edit this. My first grader is my second but she feels so different from my first.

Language Arts: All About Reading, HWT/D'Nealian (seriously she can't decide so it's whichever she wants to do on any given day), The Secret World of Talking Animals from Thinking Tree, I may also use some stuff from the year of Bravewriter Quill I had got my son. Tag along reading Poodle with older brother.

Math: Singapore Math

Science: Mystery Science, some The Writing Revolution output.

History: Curiosity Chronicles, some The Writing Revolution output. 

Here I am editing Language Arts.

A friend of mine mentioned the words "Writer's Workshop" when I was talking about DD and her love of writing. So we've been doing that for several days. The kids seem to really like it, even my writing adverse 2nd grader is excited about writing time. DD LOVES it and this style seems perfect for her. I do a mini-lesson or two a day (since it's popular in public school circles it's usually one mini-lesson a day on writing but then they would also have mini-lessons in reading etc., for us it works better a bit more combined). Followed by 10 minutes of silent writing time and 15 minutes of writing time. Non-silent writing time can include time to share their writing, publishing, editing, and discussion with me or sibling.  

[Servant4Christ]

Since our state's cutoff is Dec 1st, Middle will be a young 1st grader.

R&S 2nd Ed Reading1

R&S 2nd Ed Phonics 1

R&S 3rd Ed Arithmetic 1

Science/Health will be non-formal stuff like nature walks, animal identification, library books of interest, ongoing learning about hygiene, nutrition, ect. He'll also tag along and watch any experiments that Oldest (8th grade) does in his science curriculum.

History/Geography/Civics will also be informal stuff like geography puzzles, learning where continents and oceans are, basic compass directions on maps and gloves, bicycle/road safety, and community helpers.

Art and Music will be incorporated into other subjects with songs, poems, cooking, and crafts.

Sports are seasonal

Edited August 17 by Servant4Christ

[Brooke]

Just wanted to come on here to say that we are coming to the end of our 3rd week and it’s been fantastic. It was a rough first few days but now that we have a flow going it’s been great. 
 

How’s everyone else doing with their first grader? 

[Clarita]

The writer's workshop for my first grader is working really well. She writes for 25 minutes per day. (Just to be clear my other child does not do this.) The issue is that this means our school day takes longer than it did last year so I'm getting used to that. 

We are working on her low frustration tolerance. During school time this is math, although I tend to push this more with extracurriculars.  

[Brooke]

1 hour ago, Clarita said:

The writer's workshop for my first grader is working really well. She writes for 25 minutes per day. (Just to be clear my other child does not do this.) The issue is that this means our school day takes longer than it did last year so I'm getting used to that. 

We are working on her low frustration tolerance. During school time this is math, although I tend to push this more with extracurriculars.  

I’m curious about writers workshop. We are in the 3rd week of WWE and it’s going well so far. His favorite part surprisingly is the optional creative writing part. 
 

Math takes us the longest for sure but not my personal favorite. He has been enjoying the activity part a lot though but then that’s what adds to the time we spend on it.

[Clarita]

1 hour ago, Brooke said:

I’m curious about writers workshop. We are in the 3rd week of WWE and it’s going well so far. His favorite part surprisingly is the optional creative writing part. 

Basically everyday we have the same writing routine she gets a certain amount of silent writing time (5-15min) and a certain amount of writing time (10-20min).

During silent writing time she has to be silent (can't ask me for help) and working on:

• thinking about what to write
• looking at inspirational materials (including reading books)
• writing (including editing, revising previous work)
• or drawing a picture for her writing (this counts toward thinking about what to write).

During writing time (means she can make noise) she can work on:

• writing
• asking me for help (spelling, editing, asking for advice)
• sharing her writing (with me or sibling)
• asking me to read her writing
• discussing ideas, etc. with me

I'm still playing around with it, because a lot of stuff that does this is classroom teaching so I've had to reimagine what it looks like in a homeschool setting. You have to set up an "environment" for them so they can do the silent time. Just get anything that might be useful in writing and make it accessible to the child. As you get things whether they are for inspiration or use you introduce them to your child as part of your mini-lesson - see below.

In addition to this, you conduct mini-lessons that cover the writing mechanics (spelling, conventions, writing, etc.). So that's where parts of WWE could come in. You can use the topics outlined in WWE to start doing mini-lessons, but ultimately you'll just look at the student's writing and determine what conventions, writing and spelling lessons they need. You'll have to figure out how to reduce the workload of all these lessons compared to a writing reluctant child. So for my daughter I just have her do Explode the Code workbook and not a full spelling curriculum. Grammar/conventions/writing I tone it way down to just what conventions I'm seeing her need in her writing. Her copy work reflects the conventions I'm trying to get her to notice. In terms of writing skills, I look at her writing and I just don't see the need to explicitly teach her any at this point. I can see her using the word usage and things she hears in our read alouds and what she's reading herself. So in WWE terms I drop the narration and dictation of her narration. 

[Amanda1989]

My original plan for my advanced 1st grader was

Bible
(20 minutes)
Latin -  Latina Christiana (we already finished Prima Latina)
(20 Minutes)
Spelling - traditional spelling MP but might switch next year
(45 minutes)
Math - Rod and staff 1
(15 Minutes)
Grammar Rod and Staff English 2
(15 Minutes)
Reading MP 2nd grade lit
(30 minutes)
Science/ History science in the beginning and American Girl books for Social Studies
(20 Minutes)
Health - Abeka
(5 Minutes)
Writing - cursive
(10 Minutes)
Music/Art - She plays harp.
(20 Minutes)

 

but everyonr kept saying it was too much???? idk

 

[Nichola]

1 hour ago, Amanda1989 said:

but everyonr kept saying it was too much???? idk

 

I think it’s good to keep in mind a child’s age, even when they are advanced. Kids don’t need to spend longer doing schoolwork just because they’re gifted. They’re still learning a lot through play at this age.

A good rule of thumb for elementary-aged kids is one hour of seat work per grade level. So a first grader would be doing one hour’s worth of work, a second grader two hours, etc. A gifted child can do more advanced work if he’s ready for it, but that doesn’t mean that you need to spend more time doing it. Maybe a first grader can do math at a second grade level and read at a third grade level, but he shouldn’t be spending more time doing those things for school than other first graders would.

For first grade, a lot of people spend 20 minutes on phonics/reading, 20 minutes on math, and 5-10 minutes on handwriting. If you want, you could spend another 30-60 minutes on a morning basket with things like read aloud books, nature study, art, handicrafts, listening to music, etc. (spaced out through the week—not all on the same day). That’s enough for first grade, even for a gifted child.

Also, gifted children often choose to do things that look like school during their free time, but that’s different from being required to do them for school. 

[Amanda1989]

1 hour ago, Nichola said:

I think it’s good to keep in mind a child’s age, even when they are advanced. Kids don’t need to spend longer doing schoolwork just because they’re gifted. They’re still learning a lot through play at this age.

A good rule of thumb for elementary-aged kids is one hour of seat work per grade level. So a first grader would be doing one hour’s worth of work, a second grader two hours, etc. A gifted child can do more advanced work if he’s ready for it, but that doesn’t mean that you need to spend more time doing it. Maybe a first grader can do math at a second grade level and read at a third grade level, but he shouldn’t be spending more time doing those things for school than other first graders would.

For first grade, a lot of people spend 20 minutes on phonics/reading, 20 minutes on math, and 5-10 minutes on handwriting. If you want, you could spend another 30-60 minutes on a morning basket with things like read aloud books, nature study, art, handicrafts, listening to music, etc. (spaced out through the week—not all on the same day). That’s enough for first grade, even for a gifted child.

Also, gifted children often choose to do things that look like school during their free time, but that’s different from being required to do them for school. 

Thank you, this forum has been so helpful. As this is our first year homschooling I often feel like I need to do what public schools do and I have such a hard time not doing this. I am scared though I am not giving them the best education if I dont do all the subjects!! I dont know!

[Amanda1989]

On 8/17/2024 at 8:50 AM, Servant4Christ said:

Since our state's cutoff is Dec 1st, Middle will be a young 1st grader.

R&S 2nd Ed Reading1

R&S 2nd Ed Phonics 1

R&S 3rd Ed Arithmetic 1

Science/Health will be non-formal stuff like nature walks, animal identification, library books of interest, ongoing learning about hygiene, nutrition, ect. He'll also tag along and watch any experiments that Oldest (8th grade) does in his science curriculum.

History/Geography/Civics will also be informal stuff like geography puzzles, learning where continents and oceans are, basic compass directions on maps and gloves, bicycle/road safety, and community helpers.

Art and Music will be incorporated into other subjects with songs, poems, cooking, and crafts.

Sports are seasonal

How did you like going full Rod and staff. I am thinking of swtiching to this

[Penderwink]

On 8/29/2024 at 2:59 AM, Brooke said:

How’s everyone else doing with their first grader? 

First grader is doing well. After two more months of daily practice with Oxford Reading Tree, its unclear to what extent we would go back to AAR. Maybe we will do some activities to practice tricky phonics sounds.

Math through games is going well - we just bought sone other new fun ones, HWOT - slow and steady progress at his level, mixed up with an Usborne how to draw book.

Poetry is popular at the moment. Read alouds are getting longer and more complex. We will probably skip history this year, other than activity days at museums, and a few picture books about what we have seen.

[Servant4Christ]

On 8/31/2024 at 7:36 PM, Amanda1989 said:

How did you like going full Rod and staff. I am thinking of switching to this.

 

@Amanda1989  I really thought we'd like this program since we used their ABC series last year and are using it again this year with a younger sibling.

As it turns out, we are going to switch to what I used with our Oldest (CLE) for learning to read as the pacing is slower and the sequencing is better for this child.

Edited September 12 by Servant4Christ

[Amanda1989]

So we changed our minds and are going with a lighter year.

Bible: BSF Revelations Elementary

Latin: Latina Christiana - more for exposure. Not pushing too hard on this,

English: Learning Language Arts Through Literature Yellow book

McGuffey First Reader for extra reading practice. One lesson a week.

Math: Rod and Staff 1

Science: Science In the Beginning- we do this as a family study

and her social studies will be reading the American Girl books. This year we will start with Kaya and Felicity and take all year on these two.

Edited September 16 by Amanda1989

[BB13]

Hello everybody, 

I am new here. My (just turned) 5 year old started 1st Grade this September and I am homeschooling her. 

She can already read very well. So our current plan is this:

Math: Singapore Math

Teaching reading by Well Trained Mind: although she can already read well we decided to take her through this program anyway to make sure that she has covered ALL phonics. I used "Teach your Child to Read in 100 easy lessons" and we started that when she was 3.5 years old.  By the age of 4 she was a reader but in that program they dont cover all phonics so I am now using Teaching Reading to cover Phonics which she will probably complete in about 2/3 months and I will then swap Phonics for another subject. Will probably focus on Biology more.  

Grammar: we use Well Trained Mind Grammar 

Spelling: Teaching Spelling 

History: World History Ancients by Well Trained Mind

Science: We struggled on this - any suggestions are welcome. At the moment we have Biology, Animals, Space and Earth My First Encyclopedias but I am not sure about these as they are quite modern. 

Arts and Music: Piano for 1st Graders and we use Famous Artists re-creations for Children to inspire drawings. 

Reading: She reads Chronicles of Narnia for Instructional Level, for her At-level she reads Winnie the Pooh at the moment and her below level is Frog and Toad series - which she happily reads to her 3 year old brother. 

Literature: Poems are inspired by Scribblers at Home book

Penmanship: she can already write but not terribly neatly, thus we focus on improving her writing. She copies a sentence or two from History, Science,  etc. 

Not sure if I missed anything else... I will be adding to this as we progress but this is what we started with. 

[Clarita]

2 hours ago, BB13 said:

Teaching reading by Well Trained Mind: although she can already read well we decided to take her through this program anyway to make sure that she has covered ALL phonics. I used "Teach your Child to Read in 100 easy lessons" and we started that when she was 3.5 years old.  By the age of 4 she was a reader but in that program they dont cover all phonics so I am now using Teaching Reading to cover Phonics which she will probably complete in about 2/3 months and I will then swap Phonics for another subject. Will probably focus on Biology more.  

Just so you know if she can already read, learning to spell also covers phonics 

[BB13]

I see, okay, thank you for confirming. Good to know.