Who does history for first grade? Is it really necessary? Do you use a curriculum or do piece your program together? We have been using an e-school but we are going on our own for various reasons. The history program they were using was ridiculous (ancient history). I wasn't sure how much was really necessary for first grade.
With Rachael, we did American in 2nd grade. It was an old book I got at a garage sale, and it worked very well for us. Don't remember with Faythe. Phillip DID do "ancient", because by that time we were doing MOH with all three kids.
It's hard to remember exactly what I used way back then, but for my oldest I'm pretty sure we only did library books. I did not have any particular theme like American History or Neighborhood Helpers. We just chose books that interested him (or I thought would interest him). I remember in Kindergarten he was reading a book on the Titanic and he loved it. A friend was shocked I let him read it, but oh well. This son's passion is now and always has been history, so it was easy with him. As they got older the younger kids listened along to read-alouds and we did some hands on things like field trips and museums. But I was never real worried about history at that age. I believe when my youngest was a first grader and we were trying to become a little more structured in our homeschooling, I started using Story of the World with her and her 4th grade sister. I liked it and they liked it. We especially liked the first 2 books and we used the supplemental book with activity ideas and coloring pages.
We actually did ancient history in 1st grade and dd loved it. We added in lots of hands on projects. I did Sonlight Core B.
Take a look at Adventures in America. My dd loved it. I got some extra, not necessary, things to go along with it for the states (including a pack of stickers she could use on the AiA workbook....state bird, state flower, state name & abbreviation, state capital, state flag, etc).
We did Mystery of History volume 1 when my boys were first and K. They loved it and learned a lot. We did the reading and most of the activities and got a lot of books from the library for pictures or fun stories. I don't believe a formal history curricula is necessary for first, though. So much can be learned from library books, videos, museums, and crafts. I don't regret what we used for that age. However, if I could go back I may or may not make the same decision.
We don't do formal history at this stage. I focus on other things and try to give them a good grasp of geography. Next year my oldest will be gr 4, then we will focus more on learning history. In the early years we read historical fiction together, explore areas they are interested in, use teachable moments to expand on ideas when we see historical sites or celebrate a holiday with history attached to it. When the kids are young, I believe we need to keep history very relevant and tie it to their interests. My 6 yo wants to learn about knights and castles, so I'm thinking we'll do a bit of a medieval times study. Have fun with it, don't let it bog you down.
I didn't do history in first grade at all. I did things like Community Helpers, America, Canada and Mexico, continents, oceans, etc. Pieced it all together through things on the internet.
Thanks everyone! I think we will skip history this year and go with some Social Studies type lessons.
Yep, agree with other posters. For my first two kids we did SOTW (here and there-not every chapter), community helpers, geography and maps, and read history-themed picture books and watched interesting history-type documentaries (when appropriate). Nothing totally rigid but more interest-led. I think requiring history at this age is unnecessary. Make it fun and interesting.
For my oldest we did living books (I used books from the list on Old Fashined Education) and covered holidays as they came up-we'd dig a little more into the history than PS does) For my youngest who is in 1st grade now, we're doing Mystery of History (with his big brother) and they both love it. My oldest would NOT have loved it in 1st grade.
Josie, I've found that MOH is great with younger kids IF they're doing it with an older sibling. But it's NOT something I would use with a younger alone.
I haven't really found a "boughten" curriculum that I really like for first grade, so I made "little units" out of library books, books from the teacher store, stuff off the internet, coloring books, and whatever. We did with DGS a sort of "social living" approach, with some units of science and some units of social studies, and covered things of SS like community/family helpers, holidays, important people, and such as that.
I think you're right though I can't say I've tried to do it alone with a younger one...it seems to work well with my two at 7 and 10.
Same thing with Considering God's Creation. I did that when my kids were 4, 7, and 9. It worked pretty well, but I doubt I would have done it with the 7yo on her own, and NO WAY with my 4yo! (though he did tell Grandpa he didn't need to give our plants any "plant food", because "plants make their own food from the sun!")
I have just learned about Studies Weekly. www.studiesweekly.com I have used it yet but did order it for my daughter for next year. It looks good and it's also very affordable.
We were using K12's curriculum that is really SOTW with some extra commentary. I thought it was too much for my 6 yo. She can barely understand the concept of the United States let alone thousands of years ago in ancient Mesopotamia. LOL I think I will print out the Social Studies topics from Typical Course of Study and find some fun things to do with her. Thanks again!
Same here. First, I tried doing some American history through Easy Peasy. Then I switched to trying to read from ancient history using "What Your First Grader Needs to Know". Both became stale very quickly. Now we're happily just focused on the three "R's" for the most part.
