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homeschoolingfirstgrade

The Best First Grade Homeschool Curriculum | 7 Tips And Recommendations

July 2, 2024 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Let’s look at first grade homeschool curriculum recommendations that work for different types of learners and fit different budgets. Also, you’ll love my page Homeschool Curriculum for more ideas.

First grade is such a fun and exciting time when your sweet little baby starts to lose those squeezable cheeks as they get taller and are ready for a bit more structured learning in the important subjects.

The Best First Grade Homeschool Curriculum | 7 Tips And Recommendations

They are also usually working on reading and writing and it’s amazing to watch those little neurons fire in their brains as they’re absorbing and processing so much new information.

They may be learning to read or may be moving from picture books to simple chapter books.

As you know kids learn and grow at different levels not only physically but cognitively as well.

First grade typically brings about learning addition, subtraction, place value, skipping counting, time, shapes, geometry, and multiplication, upper and lowercase letters, storytelling, and punctuation.

I have 7 tips for putting together your own.

We will cover the main subjects, and touch on a few fun extras to make it special.

7 Tips and Recommendations

  1. Find your child’s learning style so that you can help them learn and grow to their greatest potential.
  2. While print can already be challenging it is a good idea to begin cursive instruction early. Even children with writing challenges like dysgraphia find this to be easier than print and they are really ready to pick up new skills at this age.
  3. Stay organized and have materials ready ahead of time, if you are spending 30 minutes scrambling around to find materials while your child waits at the table they will get bored very quickly.
  4. Continue to keep lessons short, extending them just a little longer than their Kindergarten year to make the most of their attention spans- 15 minutes per lesson is generally a good rule of thumb.
  5. Include lots of movement into your day, kids this age have a lot of energy and need to get moving to develop fine and gross motor skills but also it helps with brain function.
  6. If you haven’t started with chapter books for reading aloud incorporate them now, a chapter a day is a wonderful way to begin your morning snuggled up on the couch.
  7. Be sure that you have established a flexible daily routine/schedule so that your child begins to learn what is expected each day but allow for a change of plans when the weather is extra nice or someone is under the weather.
The Best First Grade Homeschool Curriculum | 7 Tips And Recommendations

More First Grade Curriculum Tips

  • First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography
  • Home Learning Year by Year, Revised and Updated: How to Design a Creative and Comprehensive Homeschool Curriculum 

Best Homeschool Curriculum By Grade

  • Homeschool Preschool Curriculum | Tips And Recommendations
  • Kindergarten Curriculum
  • First Grade Curriculum | 7 Tips And Recommendations
  • Second Grade Curriculum | Tips and Recommendations
  • Third Grade Curriculum | Tips and Recommendations
  • Fourth Grade Curriculum | Tips and Recommendations
  • Fifth Grade Curriculum | Tips and Recommendations
  • Sixth Grade Curriculum | Tips and Recommendations
  • Seventh Grade Curriculum | Tips and Recommendations
  • Eighth Grade Curriculum | Tips and Recommendations
  • Ninth Grade Curriculum | Tips And Recommendations
  • Tenth Grade Curriculum | Tips and Recommendations
  • 11th Grade Curriculum | Tips and Recommendations
  • 12th Grade Curriculum | Tips and Recommendations

Finally, look at these recommendations.

1st Grade Homeschool Curriculum Recommendations

The main focus at this age is math and reading along with social and important social-emotional skills.

Horizons 1st Grade Math Student Books 1 & 2

While it requires a bit of prep and can’t be considered ‘open and go’ this is a very solid math program, especially for the early years

Photo Credit: www.goodandbeautiful.com

Simply Good and Beautiful Math 1

The Good And The Beautiful offers a free math curriculum to print out yourself that covers an entire year of lessons. While they do recommend a purchase of a math box with manipulatives you can source these items elsewhere or make them yourself.

First Grade Math with Confidence Bundle: Instructor Guide & Student Workbook

Math educator Kate Snow gives parents the tools they need to teach math with confidence. This scripted, open-and-go program leads parents and instructors step-by-step through teaching all the concepts first-graders need to master:

Steck-Vaughn Core Skills Science: Workbook Grade 1

Something like the workbook Steck-Vaughn Core Skills Science is great for open and go learning. It introduces simple and easy to understand concepts in life, earth, and physical science. While just a
workbook can be dry, you can easily incorporate some hands-on experiments to demonstrate what they are learning to make it more exciting and memorable.

The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor

This first book in the four volume narrative history series for elementary students will transform your study of history. The Story of the World has won awards from numerous homeschooling magazines and readers' polls―over 150,000 copies of the series in print!

What terrible secret was buried in Shi Huangdi's tomb? Did nomads like lizard stew? What happened to Anansi the Spider in the Village of the Plantains? And how did a six year old become the last emperor of Rome? Told in a straightforward, engaging style that has become Susan Wise Bauer's trademark, The Story of the World series covers the s weep of human history from ancient times until the present. Africa, China, Europe, the Americas ― find out what happened all around the world in long ago times. This first revised volume begins with the earliest nomads and ends with the last Roman emperor. Newly revised and updated, The Story of the World, Volume 1 includes maps, a new timeline, more illustrations, and additional parental aids. This read aloud series is designed for parents to share with elementary school children. Enjoy it together and introduce your child to the marvelous story of the world's civilizations.

Discover! Science 1st Grade Set

Discover! Science incorporates reading, writing, and comprehension skills with suggestions for activities and answer keys. The pages are colorful and inviting, what I really like about this series is that they offer tips for teaching the different learning styles.

DK Workbooks: Geography, First Grade: Learn and Explore

Ideal for ages 6 to 7, this workbook is packed with simple, fun exercises that support the expanding geography skills of first graders. Your child will discover and understand new topics and curriculum-aligned exercises with every page. From the seven continents to countries and their capitals, this activity book will boost your child’s confidence in the field of geography!This first grade workbook unpacks geography concepts through fun activities and exercises. Your child will discover topics like the U.S. and its 50 states, plus their capitals and large cities. They will even learn how to map their neighborhood!

Geography: An Illustrated A-Z Glossary: An Introduction To Earth's Geographical Features For Kids

Welcome to Geography: An Illustrated A-Z Glossary by B.C. Lester Books! This book takes you across the world's main landforms and biomes, each with a colorful illustration accompanied with a child-friendly definition.

What is a mesa? Or an estuary? What is the difference between a swamp and a marsh?

Photo Credit: www.bfbooks.com

Early American History K-3rd - Homeschooling History Pack

Sure to ignite curiosity about our nation's history, this Early American History Through Literature study will take you and your K-3 homeschooling students through the first Indigenous people of the Americas, the Vikings discovery of America, the exploration, colonization, settlement, and establishment of the United States. Spanning 1000 AD to the mid-1800's this course makes teaching this literature-rich curriculum easy and fun!

Carson Dellosa Beginning Traditional Cursive Handwriting Workbook for Kids, Handwriting Practice

Workbook Features:• Ages 6-9, Grade 1-3• 32 pages, 11 inches x 8 ½ inches • Practice writing upper- and lowercase letters, number words, and more in cursive• Learn to form and connect letters together • Includes a lined practice page and an alphabet reference chart

Photo Credit: www.allaboutlearningpress.com

All About Reading Level 1

All About Reading Level 1 Materials Package includes: one Teacher's Manual, one Student Packet (Activity Book, Flashcards, Stickers), and three readers.

Photo Credit: www.abcmouse.com

1st Grade Spelling Words

Here is a great collection of printable lists that cover spelling for 1st grade from CVC words, to high-frequency words, and blends from ABCMOUSE.com

Hasbro Gaming Guess Who? Original, Easy to Load Frame, Double-Sided Character Sheet,2 Player Board Games for Kids

Include fun games like, Guess Who, to develop your child's critical thinking skills, vocabulary, and deductive reasoning.Many games that just seem like fun are wonderful for learning.

Square Soft Pastel Set - 24 Vivid Colors, Easy Blend for Artists

I like to offer new art mediums to younger children who are ready to move on from crayons, like
different types of paper, paint, and even items like oil or chalk pastels to pique their interest.

Leave a CommentFiled Under: Choose Curriculum Tagged With: boxedcurriculum, curriculum, first grade, homeschool, homeschool curriculum, homeschoolingfirstgrade

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

June 12, 2023 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I have first grade homeschool curriculum for history and geography. Also, look at my page Homeschool Geography for hands-on and simple ideas and tips.

Out of all the grades to begin choosing homeschool curriculum, first grade is really overwhelming.

Not from the point that it will necessarily be hard to teach, but it is the first formal grade.

You want to kick off your formal years right.

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

The first of anything can be tough just because of inexperience.

Add to that the mega choices we have in homeschooling and it can be downright stressful to choose curriculum.

Starting with history and geography (because they are two of my favorite subjects) I want to give you a bit of help in sorting out the choices.

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History

When starting with history for any grade and especially first grade, keep these two important things in mind.

1. Decide An Approach to History

When I first started homeschooling, studying history in chronological order made sense to me after I read The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Third Edition). I started my homeschool journey with classical roots.

I started off first grade using The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor, Revised Edition (commonly referred to as SOTW).

Story of the World covers history in a 4 year cycle beginning with the Ancients and moving forward to Modern. You spend one year on each time period.

The teacher’s guide is helpful and necessary because you have questions and answers to help review the reader. 

History is told in a story fashion and my boys found it delightful.

Homeschool Curriculum for History

However, after schooling for a few years, I realized that because of his younger age, my middle son wasn’t retaining as much information as my oldest son had retained.

So I questioned the chronological approach and switched to a literature approach by Beautiful Feet where my son could learn history through a famous historical character.

This made a huge difference to him and helped my middle son make a meaningful connection to history.

Using living books like George Washington by the D’Aulaires or Abraham Lincoln (Bicentennial Edition) helped my son to understand some of the major players in history. Chronological order came later.

So, using Beautiful Feet is one example of living books and is a literature approach to history.

Using classical books, history comes alive through people and events and it’s not chronological.

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

If you feel your background in history was lacking, there is nothing wrong with starting in chronological order and adding in living books too.

It’s taking the best of both approaches.

If you have it in your budget, there is nothing wrong with choosing one history curriculum as your spine or the essential guide you are using and another one you like to supplement with.

Now, please don’t make the mistake of doing two curriculum because that is overwhelming.

But using curriculum which fits your teaching style more and using the other one to help add other things your spine may be lacking is a good technique to keep you rounded out in your teaching.

Before you can make curriculum choices, you want to take stock of how you think best your children will learn and how much background help you need in history.

2. Determine If You Want to Tech History Using a Secular, Christian or Neutral View

The next biggie to decide is how you want to approach history.

Do you want the history of religion woven into your curriculum like Mystery of History, which too is taught in chronological order?

Or would you prefer a more neutral stand to history like The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor, Revised Edition?

Too, another reason for choosing a program like The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor, Revised Edition is because you may want to add your own Bible study information to it.

I didn’t need any help with a worldview and so I chose SOTW. I also used other resources which I’m going to tell you about in a minute.

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

Though some may argue that a secular and neutral approach in history are synonymous, it has been my experience that they are not.

In my earlier years of homeschooling I felt that you taught Bible based or used something that conflicted it and this idea is still popular among homeschoolers.

I still feel like that way somewhat but have expanded my view of what is neutral because of using so many different history curriculum.

More Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

  • Homeschool Geography Go To Resources
  • How to Find A Well Laid Out Homeschool High School Geography Curriculum
  • First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography
  • Homeschool Secular History Curriculum Dynamic Reader Asks 3 Best Teaching Tips
  • 35 Simple But Powerful American History Homeschool Resources K to 12
  • 15 Fun Resources For History for Kindergarten Homeschool
  • 8 Best Classical Style History Curriculum for a Classical Learning Style
  • 35 Hands-on Geography Activities to do in 15 Minutes or Less
  • 5 Steps to Choosing Geography Living Books Your Children Will Love
  • Learn About Indigenous Animal Geography Fun Activity for Preschool to Elementary

There can be some fine differences though it is tough to tell at times until after you have finished the curriculum in full.

Then there is secular curriculum that takes a more neutral approach in that they merely introduces the idea of the big bang theory but then talks about true history like making disciples during Roman times.

The book I am talking about and is an example of a more neutral view is a book by Virgil Hillyer, A Child’s History of the World.

I skipped the first two chapters of the book because of the mention of the big bang theory which I didn’t want to introduce at this age.

A Child’s History of the World makes history come alive for this age and it has been the one book that has held each of my boy’s attention as they started first grade.

I can’t say enough good things about this book.

Looking back now, I could have easily only used A Child’s History of the World and added in my own free resources.

For hands-on learning we’ve always used Home School in the Woods products.

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

Look at a couple of the ones for grades K to 2.

Homeschool Geography for the Littles

It is important to mix hands-on activities with formal learning.

I enjoyed using the series by Steck Vaughn called Maps, Globes, Graphs. It was a mix of coloring, crossword puzzles and search and find clues in the workbooks along with maps.

Another super resource for grade K – 4 is Galloping the Globe, which is a unit study approach.

It it not as easy to follow along because I feel it is more like a reference but it is meaty enough for this grade level to understand about the cultural of other places.

The beauty of this resource is that it adds in things like cooking and cultural, which certainly needs to be included to help a child appreciate that geography is more than just a map, which could be boring.

Galloping the Globe would compliment a workbook approach.

My other love to have at this is Geography from A to Z: A Picture Glossary (Trophy Picture Books).

This is a reference book along with pictures to explain different features of geography.  A must have if I were homeschooling this grade again.

I hope this background information along with some of the things I used will keep this process fun and exciting like it should be.

Also, another one that we love for this age and that fits my idea of what teaching history and geography is Beautiful Feet curriculum that I mentioned earlier.

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum for History and Geography

2 CommentsFiled Under: Geography, Teach Homeschool History Tagged With: history, history resources, historyspine, homeschoolingfirstgrade

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