First Grade Thread - Page 3

[dotnetdiva]

I just blogged about our First Grade curriculum thoughts so far. We increased our load to three hours 4 days a week, and one day at school for homeschoolers. So far, it's going great! A few new things we're excited about are adding Spanish, Latin, Art Appreciation and learning more about grammar and writing. My daughter wants to write her first chapter book today.

[*Jessica*]

Originally Posted by muslimmama97

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the Mothering community...can someone tell me what "DD" and "DS" stands for? thanks

This is our first year homeschooling. Currently we're living in Damascus so resources are very limited. Fortunately there's a small library for children that has books in English. So between that and the books we have "story of the world", first language lessons, bob books and of course the internet we're going to piece together a curriculum. I'm really nervous. I have 3 boys and a girl...aged 7, 6, 3 1/2 and 1 1/2. We sent them to school here last year but the school system here is very strict. Not a lot of opportunity for free thinking or movement. so we're going to try homeschooling. Like i said i'm nervous. i'll definitely be checking back here for support.

Aziza

Welcome! What are you nervous about? Maybe we can help calm your fears.

[crunchy_mama]

We are between k/1st here(further ahead on some things than other). Our first official year doing anything more scheduled.

He turned 6 this summer;

What we are doing:
Reading: I See Sam (will be adding spelling at some pt this year depending on how fast he progresses here)
Math: RightStart Levl B
Writing: HWOT Letters and Numbers(he has really picked up his ability in writing as of late)
Science: BFSU
Nature Study: HNS- Outdoor Hour Challenge Fall 2010 currently
Art Appreciation and Music Appreciation: HNS Outoddor Challenge Music and Art for Fall 2010 currently and other things around here
Latin: Sing School Latin- starting in 2 weeks
Geography: Gallopping the Globe probably start in a few weeks, it is supposed to be finally arriving this week
History: US History- First Book of Am. History d' Aulaires biographies
Religion: Faith and Life series, Bible, and stories of saints
Lit: Fables, Shakespeare, Poetry and Lang's Fairy Tales- will switch up some books next term

We are probably pushing 3 hrs a day as well 4x a week. I thought it was quicker than that but really it is taking about that long.

[misidawnrn]

1st grader here too...
we are using an eclectic mix of stuff and have tried many things that I didn't like and have switched. I have my final mix down pat so far and we like it all.
Mammoth Math daily
Growing with Grammar daily
A Beka Letters and Sounds daily
A Beka Spelling daily
Zaner Bloser handwriting-manuscript for now for practice and will do cursive when done with manuscript book-daily
Bob Jones Univ Bible 2 days a week
My Father's World Bible Reader with journaling 2 days a week (opposite of BJU)
Story of the World 2 days a week
Elemental Science 2 days a week (opposite of SOTW)
A Childs' Book of Character-we read about 1 story/virtue a week and discuss it and work on it.
DD has to read at least 1 book a day.

The only thing I am not really loving is SOTW. I like starting in Ancients and working up through time but I do think that SOTW is too advanced for a 1st grader but haven't found anything else that I really like either so we are sticking with it. I don't put too much emphasis on it because DD will get it again in 5th and 9th grades more indepth each time and is getting exposure to it at least.
I like seeing what everyone else is using.

[sofysmommy]

subbing

[EviesMom]

We do 3 days a week about 3 hours a day for sit down school work. That doesn't count art, outside classes, PE, or our daily family reading time. We got into this routine at the end of last year, and I think it's a good level of scheduled versus open. DD also does 1 day/week of co-op school and we have a weekly museum/zoo day.

I did a standardized test at the end of last year, just for my own comfort level, and DD thought it was tremendous fun. (It was astounding the number of people who tried to tell her that it was horrible to have to do a standardized test, would interrupt her to say how horrible while she was going on and on about how cool it was, special pencils, neat little test booklet. Seriously, I always loved those tests, and it's probably part of why I always tested extremely well. DD seems to be the same.) Anyway, it did give me more confidence in our 10ish hours a week schooling versus the 35 hour a week public school because she tested 95th and 98th percentile for math and reading.

[EviesMom]

For those doing spelling curriculums, do you like them and find them useful? What kinds of words do they usually include? We have a "100 words to read and spell" poster and we've been doing some copy practice and then quizzing with them. I also downloaded some lists from somewhere... scholastic maybe?... of spelling words for different grades. Both of these are pretty simple words.. people, said, its/it's are about the hardest of them... and DD does fine with them with very little error.

Right now we have 3 "full" days and 2 "light" days with just some reading and music practice if desired. I could probably add a short spelling sheet to the light days though, or fun ones to her morning box of semi-educational activities to choose from. Hmmm...

[*Jessica*]

Originally Posted by EviesMom

For those doing spelling curriculums, do you like them and find them useful? What kinds of words do they usually include? We have a "100 words to read and spell" poster and we've been doing some copy practice and then quizzing with them. I also downloaded some lists from somewhere... scholastic maybe?... of spelling words for different grades. Both of these are pretty simple words.. people, said, its/it's are about the hardest of them... and DD does fine with them with very little error.

Right now we have 3 "full" days and 2 "light" days with just some reading and music practice if desired. I could probably add a short spelling sheet to the light days though, or fun ones to her morning box of semi-educational activities to choose from. Hmmm...

We're using All About Spelling. I'm not interested in giving my kids a list of words to memorize and then testing them, because although I'm a decent speller I don't think the spelling instruction, using lists of words, I had throughout my public school career was particularly helpful. I want them to understand why we spell things the way we do. AAS teaches the phonograms, short/long vowel sounds, syllables, and other similar concepts. It teaches them the why. My son isn't a natural speller, so AAS has been immensely helpful; his spelling has improved tenfold since we started using it.

However, it's not a cheap program, and it sounds like your daughter may already know the why if she's not having any trouble with the words on the lists you're using. Have you tried giving her words from the lists at the end of her grade level, or from a grade or two higher and seeing if those are harder for her? If she has no trouble with that I would skip the spelling instruction altogether!

[Marimami]

Another 1st grade mom here. We're laid back but we have available: All About Spelling (level 2 currently), HWOT (print and cursive), RightStart Math 1B, R.E.A.L Science--Earth and Life, some Spanish curriculums (from Discovery Education and LanguageQuest).

Mostly DD is heavily involved in activities, which she is loving. Most of her activities are with other homeschoolers, but she is in a couple with a mix of homeschool/schooled kids.

I'd say that the only thing we do reliably each day is reading. Every morning she and I work together on reading/spelling. This could be working with AAS, reading books together, playing reading games, etc. She really loves AAS because she is the type of kid who loves rules.

After we finish reading/spelling, I give her the option to work on Spanish or some kind of social studies with me. She often chooses Spanish.

I sometimes assign her a couple pages of handwriting if I notice she is frustrated with writing at all during our spelling. But, I'm not very consistent. She hates repetition and worksheets so I find it works much better for her to realize she is frustrated, explain that she has the tools to practice, and leave her to it. This has worked much better than any other attempt at handwriting instruction! She also really enjoys Draw Write Now books.

She does a lot of independent writing, though. Letters and notes to us. She loves ending me chat messages throughout the day (I work full time from home; DH is SAHD). She wrote a haiku last week, and a lovely poem in her nature journal this week. I really try to encourage her to not worry about correct spelling and handwriting during her creative writing. I feel strongly that at this age those are very different things. Heck, I'm a professional writer and I need an editor!

All and all, she is having a lovely start to her first grade year!

Holli

[elizawill]

Originally Posted by EviesMom

For those doing spelling curriculums, do you like them and find them useful? What kinds of words do they usually include?

currently, our reading curriculum incorporates writng and spelling (we use christian light education learning to read). it is a 1/2 year program. when we complete it, we'll probably use hooked on phonics grade 1 & also incorporate all about spelling level 1 (we own both already). we have used AAS a few time so far, but since CLE covers spelling, i think i'll just wait on AAS until after christmas (when we're done with CLE). so far his spelling words are just simple CVC words...i guess they'll increase in difficulty as he progresses. hth.

[EviesMom]

Thank you! I wonder if she's picking up some of the rules up through the Headsprout, which is phonics oriented. They do talk about long versus short vowels and such.

I've sort of figured that since she needs the handwriting practice too, I'd just give her a few words a week to practice spelling and writing. (She finds it fun to see how fast she can write them, and then how neatly she can write them). I'll probably just stick with this for a few months and then maybe check out a spelling program as we have more time in our schoolday routine.

[Smithie]

We finished Day Nine of 1st grade this morning! Only 171 days to go...

Seriously, things are great. This is our first year of independent homeschooling (we did kindy with K12), and WOW is it a better fit for for me and DS. Love it love it love it.

Singapore, SOTW plus many tie-ins for history and literature, Magic Tree House reading-loud for literacy, Song School Latin, Spelling Workout, First Language Lessons and HWOT are our main texts. We have a bimonthly science co-op, a monthly zoo class, and a weekly generalized co-op where the focus seems to be on reviewing basic concepts that mommies might find tedious to teach (like the calendar!!!) and practicing good behavior in a group setting. Basketball starts in November. Hebrew School is ongoing.

We are hoping to be Latin-centered homeschoolers. For this year, at least, it seems to be a wonderful choice. We only do about an hour of seat work per day, but it's really feeling like enough. Quid agis? Sum optime!

James wanted to share his history notebook with the world, so I guess I'll be scanning and posting it all year:

http://storyoftheworld.weebly.com/

[emilys_mom1]

For those Explode the Code users, due you buy the teachers manual? If not, how are you teaching the concepts?

[elizawill]

i used several of the ETC book with my daughter. i did not buy the TM for any of the books. i felt like the instructions were self-explanatory... the only time i can think the TM would have been necessary is at the end of the book there is a test (you dictate from the TM). i know some people here have said they've purchased them and found them very useful...but i didn't feel like we lacked without them. i also never purchased the 1/2 books. we never used ETC as a stand-alone program though, just as a supplement to our reading program.

[Lenore K.]

Relaxed and frugal - yup! that's what we are, too! Anna turned 6 in May. Her learning basically happens throughout the day. We take the time to expand on learning moments whenever we can!

We do a calendar regularly. She watches PBS and uses their websites for games which she doesn't see as "schoolwork." She loves to play Spore. Meaningful reading, writing and math comes in spurts throughout everyday living. She balked at writing and then all of a sudden was very interested - working through a bunch of dollar store books in a short time. We play with a Scholastic Phonics Reading Program - free from a local homeschooling family.

My oldest son, wife, daughter and baby-on-the-way are temporarily living with us, so we are working on finding that homeschooling 1st grade rhythm for now. We will be more intentional with our planning and documenting now than last year.

We will be moving in the near future so she is not in any formal outside activities. Locally we do not have a very active homeschooling group - nearly non-existent. There is a homeschool co-op near the town we are hoping to move to so we are looking forward to that! For now we are enjoying the day-to-day learning and new family life we are living!

[muslimmama97]

Originally Posted by *Jessica*

Welcome! What are you nervous about? Maybe we can help calm your fears.

Thanks for your note...i'm nervous about not doing a good job. Their education is in my hands; what if i fail? plus, i guess i'm just confused about how to start. Maybe you guys can tell me about your first day of homeschooling. Once you sat your children down what was your first step.

Would love some guidance...

[Mama Rana]

Originally Posted by muslimmama97

Thanks for your note...i'm nervous about not doing a good job. Their education is in my hands; what if i fail? plus, i guess i'm just confused about how to start. Maybe you guys can tell me about your first day of homeschooling. Once you sat your children down what was your first step.

Would love some guidance...

You won't fail. You will make mistakes, learn from them, and go on to have many more successes.

We started gradually. The first day we did a history read aloud, took a break, did some math, ate lunch, and then did some reading, and took the rest of the day off. Now, we usually do history first [RA, mapwork, narration & illustration--we're classically inspired doing SOTW]. Then reading; we're using the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. It's a bit dull, so I try to get through it pretty fast. Then I bought the Modern Curriculum Press Phonics Practice Readers. They don't line up exactly with the OPGTR, but they're close, and DS has some skills that I haven't taught just from his experience in PS last year, so he does ok. We read one or 2 of those 3-4 days a week. Other days we might do some hand-writing practice. We're using the Getty-Dubay Italics series, but I'm having to retrain his muscle memory from bad habits he learned last year from their LACK of handwriting instruction, so we do a lot of gross motor and sensory work first before getting to the WBs.

Then we have a snack and break. The baby often needs a diaper or a nurse, sometimes he's ready for an early lunch and a nap. Then DS and I get back to work. Math is from Singapore 1A. We're zipping through that. DS knows most of the concepts, I'm just going through and making sure he knows the "Singapore way". Plus he doesn't have his math facts memorized yet, and they rec that he gets those before moving on. Then we might do a read-aloud, which could be history, science, math, art, or some other topic he's asked me to get books on [recently it was boats & helicopters; now he's asking for stuff on vikings]. Then lunch. Then if the baby isn't already down, I put him down, and then DS and I do other fun things that maybe we couldn't do with the baby around, projects and stuff. Or we work on our "home economics".

I recently added in calendar at the beginning of the day. I don't have room right now for a wall calendar, so I just got a freebie calendar someone had sent me, and we color in the boxes in a pattern, talk about the date, any patterns he sees, any holidays [I sorta like that we're using a pre-printed calendar with holidays on it], etc. I've also started reading a little blip out of "What Your First Grader Needs to Know" [or whatever it's called] each morning.

On Wed. and Fri. I take him to the PS for speech. Wed. he also started swim this week. In a couple weeks, we'll start co-op "class" on Monday. Tuesday will become our library day [we were going to a story time for all ages on Wed., but now that's not doable], and I'm thinking I may try to start a playgroup for first graders on Thursday at a local park.

It sounds a lot more scheduled and organized than it is in actuality. Mostly I plan for what I want to cover that day, and as the day go, I do whatever feels right for the time.

Does that help at all?

[emilys_mom1]

Originally Posted by Lenore K.

Relaxed and frugal - yup! that's what we are, too! Anna turned 6 in May. Her learning basically happens throughout the day. We take the time to expand on learning moments whenever we can!

We do a calendar regularly. She watches PBS and uses their websites for games which she doesn't see as "schoolwork." She loves to play Spore. Meaningful reading, writing and math comes in spurts throughout everyday living. She balked at writing and then all of a sudden was very interested - working through a bunch of dollar store books in a short time. We play with a Scholastic Phonics Reading Program - free from a local homeschooling family.

My oldest son, wife, daughter and baby-on-the-way are temporarily living with us, so we are working on finding that homeschooling 1st grade rhythm for now. We will be more intentional with our planning and documenting now than last year.

We will be moving in the near future so she is not in any formal outside activities. Locally we do not have a very active homeschooling group - nearly non-existent. There is a homeschool co-op near the town we are hoping to move to so we are looking forward to that! For now we are enjoying the day-to-day learning and new family life we are living!

Your home and teaching sound wonderful, I want to move in too.

[425lisamarie]

I just subscribed to the ETC online for both kids (4 and 6) After using k-12 for 2 weeks, he decided he HATED school and never wanted to see another worksheet again LOL. So we are doing math full force which he LOVES and I am using math mammoth which I wanted to do like last year, until I went against my gut and signed on to WAVA.....anyways. I love that they can do something independently. I really need it with all my other home obligations and having 2, they really love the ETC.

I'm in the midst of trying to work out how to teach them both at the same time. DD4 is learning to read and LOVES learning with her brother. He is reading extremely well and actually teaches her quite a bit.

I'm trying to figure out what to do for some history. They love learning about the world but I dont' know what curric to use.

[cmoma]

I've got a first grader here..plus a pre-k girl and a babe.

This is our first year homeschooling and with a long relaxed summer that ended with a cross country trip out west we just finished out first week..and it literally took all week to actually accomplish something

We still have quite found our rhythm yet but I at least feel like today we got more than just math worksheets done. He also wrote in his journal and did spelling along with math! plus we found an awesome white line sphinx caterpillar! science!!

For the moment I only have a Math curriculum: Singapore so far so good.

I pulled some spelling lists for 1st 2nd 3rd and 4th grade, basic sight/wall words, plus the 200 most common words to spell lists so we are using those for now.

I'm still trying to figure out history?....looking into SOTW is it biblical/christian based does anyone know?

He journals almost daily. and I will begin some basic grammar as we go along to accompany his journalling.

Science will go along with the seasons and we are trying for one science experiment a week.

He will begin a once a week art class at the art museum next month and a once a week math class at the university next month also.

He is playing Fall baseball, and will do some rock climbing classes as well.

Any ideas on how to work with his reading comprehension? He is reading at about a 4th grade level...but I want to improve his comprehension and ability to retell what he just read with a bit more ease?

The 4.5 yr old is sort of just going along with us. She is picking up addition these days which is great!

He was in a gifted program last year that was really holding him back from his intense desire to learn so I feel like I am trying to pull out of him again, I'd be open to suggestions on how to do that. I'm trying to get him interested in learning again...ugh. I didn't realize just how must damage it did to him being where he was last year. Even the gifted program failed him. I hope I am able to do a better job