So....I just made the decision a little over a month ago to homeschool. Having a 6, 12 and 16 yr old, I figured it was more pertinent to focus on the needs of the older two first. Now that I am down to only needing to decide on Science for the 16 year old, I need to focus on the 6 yr old. So, anyone have any insight to share with me on what to look for? She is very strong in most areas, so I obviously want to hit the core stuff, but I know I will have to keep her challenged to keep her interest. Anyone have reccomendations that they would like to share for this age group? I am pretty excited about teaching her, since I can be a little more flexible than I can with the older two.
We've been working on 1st grade with Josh since January, so I can let you know what curriculum we're using, anyway We got our reading/phonics foundation with the LeapFrog Phonics kits (no joke!) with his kindergarten curriculum. So now we're using Rod & Staff for reading (unit 1) and phonics (unit 2). It's a Christian/Bible based curriculum. For Science & Social Studies, we're using ACE (Accelerated Christian Education). Mostly because they're one of the few that offer Canadian based social studies, but also for the Christian content. For French we're using Nallenart, another Canadian curriculum. Oh, for math we're using Singapore Math, which I just love. Josh is a little math whiz, he picks up the concepts really easily, and Singapore is keeping him both interested and challenged. Is that it? Um, lemme think... I'm such a scatterbrain LOL Oh yeah, we're also using Handwriting Without Tears.
Here's what I am using for my first grader, we are just continuing what we have been doing for kindergarten since it was workign well for us: Math = Horizons Math Phonics = Explode the Code Handwriting = free online worksheets from http://www.learningpage.com/pages/menu_basics/alpha_zaner.html , http://www.first-school.ws/theme/alphaletter/a.htm and http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/ Reading = books we own or from library Science etc... = thematic units, seasons, animals, habitats, whatever we are interested in. Tons of books from library. The units on www.learningpage.com are fun fro my kids.
For first grade science, we gotted down what we wanted to learn about, then headed out to the library and across the internet to find the information. One thing that most folks new to homeschooling are looking for is a primer, or a list of things to cover. Here is a general list, by no means do you have to follow it, just a suggestion... (First grade science is about hands on learning, no so much a "Worksheet" issue... they wanna see things blow up!) haha! We never did science every day... we did science one a week because we would really get into it... maybe twice a week.... Difference between living and non-living things. (We took a posterboard, wrote living on one side and non-living on the other, Drew a line between them.... then we cut out pictures from various magazines to glue to the appropriate side... then hung the poster in the childs room. We moved on to living things with animal babies and the names of the mothers verses the babies. sheep have kids, cats have kittens, etc... Make it artsy by drawing pictures of a sheep with it's kid, etc.... Habitats... All animals live in certain habitats.... Forrest, desert, ocean, arctic, grasslands.... Look in books and maybe websites that show which animals live in which habitats.. what animals live in an arctic habitat? Penguins? Polar Bears? What about oceans? Who lives there? (Again, can be done as a discovery time at the library, a discussion, a lapbook, or art pages.... or all of the above.... Life Cycles..... Chicken, frog, butterfly etc.... Plant Life... Plant parts.... How a plant makes food for itself.. how it changes light to energy.... what plants we can eat.... Earth Science... 7 continents, 4 oceans... the earth has a crust and a core, the core is very hot. the earth is the third planet from the sun. Weather...... The WATER CYCLE.....wind flood thunder lightening, huricane, tornadoes, ..e.tc.... and lets not forget the famous to all first graders..... VOLCANOES!.. make one at home with some mud (Dried into the shape of a cone) some baking powder and some vinegar and food coloring.. whooooo! Space.... WE live in a solar system, the sun is a ball of gas, there are 8(9) planets... the first four are rocky, the second four are gasy, they are divided by a ring of floating rocks called the asteroid belt... planets rotate on their axis and revolve around the sun.. some have moons, some have rings.... Apolo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, Neil Armstrong first man to walk on the moon... etc... Physics.... Light heat and energy and sound.... what these forces are and what we get from them.. (You should be able to find TONS of these books for free in your library, along with TONS of scince experiments books to do experiments at home! TOTAL FUN!!!!) Simple Machines... There are six total and kids have more fun than anything going on a simple machines scavenger hunt where they have a list and go out to find simple machines in daily life.. Can be done with a clipboard and a list, while driving errands... "Hey Mom! That car wheel is a simple machine, eh?" ... Or it can be done with library books, or web sites... Here are some sites to dive into..... http://coreknowledge.org/CK/resrcs/lessons/1.htm http://www.internet4classrooms.com/science_elem.htm http://www.rusd.k12.ca.us/4teachers/science/science1.html http://www.macomb.k12.mi.us/cc/Science/1stGrade/1stSciTofC.html How and what to teach first graders.... http://ezinearticles.com/?1st-Grade-Science-Project-Ideas&id=1057444 Typical Course of study... http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/learning/qt/coursesci1.htm Not sure what your state standards are, but we are in Texas so we have no rules... We do not use a boxed science curriculum for the elementary ages because it is all hands on for us... Hope this helps and good luck!
Thanks so much for these ideas. Sounds a lot like what has been rolling around in my head. I just dont want to short change her, kwim?
First of all, congrats on your decision to homeschool! We are loving it so much! For first grade, Scotty will be doing the Calvert 1st grade curriculum. If we weren't going with Calvert, we would be doing: Explode the Code Books 3, 4 BJU Science 1 Horizons Math 1 Reading - Children's classics (with me as the primary reader) along with a 1st grade Reader SOTW I A Reason for Handwriting and Bible Lessons Best of luck to you. Curriculum hunting, in my opinion, is the most challenging part of homeschooling. And for us, there was a LOT of tweaking. But we got there...and you will too!
No doubt. I actually started it out thinking it would be harder with the older kids, but at their age the things they need are more set in stone than with the younger ones. I do know that she LOVES lapbooking, so that will play a big part in her education till she gets tired of doing them.
