After receiving requests from fellow homeschool parents regarding our First Grade Curriculum, I've been meaning to put this together. Finally, I was able to squeeze in the time to complete our recommendations.
When Miss Eager Beaver was in first grade, we moved to a new provider and it was the first time we're preparing her portfolio. You can only imagine the overwhelm I was experiencing at that time. Thankful for the many homeschool friends I got to meet who were very supportive and generous in sharing their own experiences and offering help.
I needed to find a semblance of direction and structure in our homeschool. And for me to reduce the overwhelm, I decided to use textbooks (which served as our homeschool curriculum guide). Then, I supplemented it with activities and other resources I believed would be helpful for my daughter.
But at the end of the year, I saw how exhausted she was from all the textbook exercises she had to deal with everyday and didn't enjoy fully the learning journey. She said to me that she would not want to go back to it again the next year.
The textbooks were just not right for us and we struggled through it. I have somehow managed to facilitate her learning experience with the use of other resources to augment the missing creative learning am looking for that would enrich her experience.
Some important notes:
Since I can't recommend the textbooks we used in first grade, am recommending instead what we are using now (I hope we have started it sooner) and the other resources we used to supplement her learning.
Language Arts
We used textbook for Language Arts but if we can redo it I'd recommend —
- The Good and the Beautiful (this is what we are using since 2nd grade which I hope we started sooner)
- Poem Memorization and Recitation
- Copyworks from book quotes
*Note: The Good and the Beautiful has a free assessment so you can check the level your kids
could start.
Literature (Read Aloud No Narration)
- Brambley Hedge Winter | Spring | Summer | Autumn Stories
- Winnie the Pooh Story Books (1-20)
- Beatrix Potter The Complete Collection of Original Tales 1-23
- The Giving Tree by SIlverstein
Literature (Read Aloud with Oral Narration)
- Choices from Winnie the Pooh Storybook and Beatrix Potter Tales
Personal Reading (No Narration)
These are books Miss Eager Beaver read on her free time.
- The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds
- Disney Books:
- Peter Pan
- Toy Story 2
- Tigger
- Cars
- Tinkerbell and the LEgend of the Neverbeast
- The Book of Mistakes by Luyken
- This Way That Way by Anne Louchard
- The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Pett and Rubenstein
Math
We used textbook for Language Arts but if we can redo it I'd recommend —
- The Good and the Beautiful
- Some activities we did —
- One More One Less
- 3D Shapes
*Note: The Good and the Beautiful has a free assessment so you can check the level your kid
could start.
Science
Science is not yet a requirement for the first grade here in the Philippines not sure with other
countries. However, you can encourage kids do nature study, learn life cycles or whatever your
child interests are. Sharing what we used or did at this time.
- A First Look at Philippine —
- Birds
- Fishes
- Butterflies
- Trees
- Science Experiments
- Earth Unit Study
- Nature Study
- Wild Animals
Filipino
Since we were textbook based at this time, I supplemented her learning with bilingual story books.
- Pambansang Awit (Memorization and Singing)
- Ang Alamat ng Palay
- Ang Kamatis ni Peles
- ANg Alamat ng Ilang-Ilang
Social Studies
Wished we had used this early on than the textbook we had.
- The Story of the World
- Puppet Show
-This activity was also a great practice for Filipino language
Biographies
- Marie Curie
- L.M. Montgomery
- Goergia O'Keefe
- Frida Kahlo
Arts
My daughter love arts and crafts. Artist and picture studies have always been part of our
curriculum.
- Pablo Picasso
- Vicente Manansala
- Nature Art
- Hand Printing
- 2D and 3D Art
Character
- Qur'an Stories
- Copyworks (verses and quotes from stories)
*Note: Use whatever is appropriate for your religion.
Physical Education
- Ballet
- Frisbee
- Biking
Hope you find this helpful as you make your own choices in planning for your kids' homeschool journey. All the best!
Happy 💗 homeschooling!
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