Our Home on the Range: First Grade and Preschool

2010-2011 School Year Books and Resources
First grade for First Son, Preschool for First Daughter
last updated April 25, 2011

I shaped my planning around the suggestions at Mater Amabilis, but did not follow it exactly.

Math

Saxon Math 1, the workbooks and two meeting books (so First Daughter can feel even more a part of math). Four days a week. See our review here.
I also purchased some Kumon workbooks. We haven't used these, but I think we might during the summer.

June 2018 note - We now use Counting and Number Bonds and Addition and Subtraction from Let's Play Math paired with games from our own stock for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade math. See my review of the games books here.

Reading - Again, First Son read aloud to me about four days a week in addition to all his independent reading. Here are the books he read during our reading lessons.
Handwriting and Writing

Practice (two days a week)

Handwriting 1 for Young Catholics (see my review here)
Correspondence - Last year First Son wrote out all his own thank you notes, starting in January or so. I'll have him do the same this year. I may also include a scheduled time for letter-writing for other purposes (probably notes to his cousins). I'm considering something like this once a month or every other week instead of his handwriting practice time.

Copywork / Dictation (two days a week) - We're going to follow the plan laid out by Ruth Beechick ("A Strong Start in Language") found in The Three R's. First Son will continue to write out the memory verses once he's memorized them. We'll be adding the memorized poems as well.

Faith - Our faith studies in kindergarten were far and away First Son's favorite, so I am confident in my decision to expand our "formal" catechism for first grade. We'll still be reading lots of faith-filled stories outside of lesson times.

Faith Formation once a month with our homeschool group - First Son will be a Blue Knight this year.
Catechism (once a week) - Our Heavenly Father (Faith and Life 1). I bought the teacher's manual and student activity book, too, but I won't push the activity pages if he'd rather not complete them. (See our review here.)
Scripture

We'll continue with our memory verses. I'm going to start using the system outlined at Simply Charlotte Mason. Here are the verses First Son memorized in first grade.
Each week, I'll pick a few verses from one of the upcoming Sunday's readings, something that will hopefully resonate a little with the 6-7 year old mindset. While there are tons of places to find the readings online, I opted to purchase a little missal. For a few dollars, I have a much easier time reading ahead and choosing our verses. At least once a week, I'll read the verses aloud. We'll talk about vocabulary, what the verses mean and how they apply to our lives. I may also ask him to copy them, but we'll see. (If so, it would count as his dictation time as well.)
We'll also be studying Old Testament history (see below). I'll probably supplement by reading non-assigned portions of the Bible when we don't have an official Bible history reading for the week.

Lives of the Saints - We'll be reading one story a week. First Son will narrate (verbally or with an illustration) and we'll probably incorporate some map work as well.

Celebrations of the Liturgical Year

Catholic Mosaic: Living the Liturgical Year With Children - Last year we just read the stories. This year, I'm going to try incorporating some of the discussion and activities suggested.
Marian Devotions in the Domestic Church
Advent, Christmas Epiphany in the Domestic Church
Lent and Easter in the Domestic Church

Literature

Poetry

This year we'll be working on memorization. First Son and I will read a selected poem together each week until he can recite it. I was delighted to find a used copy of The Harp and Laurel Wreath: Poetry and Dictation for the Classical Curriculum and think we'll start with "The Little Turtle" by Vachel Lindsay. You can find a list of the poems we memorized here, along with a description of our memory book.
Reading poetry - We just read from these books, a few poems each week, for pure pleasure. Read our list of poetry for the year here.

Fables - We'll be reading more from Aesop's Fables for Children. This year, we'll read two fables at a time (once a week) and First Son will narrate, verbally or, if he prefers, with pictures.
Tales - I'm going to start with Classic Fairy Tales to Read Aloud because I already own it. We'll read one fairy tale a week (I think I'll start with the shortest ones) and First Son will narrate.
Family Read-Alouds (These are not for narration, just for pure enjoyment.) I'll be adding to this list through the year, of course.

History

American History (twice a week) - I'll be following the suggested syllabus at Mater Amibilis with readings from This Country of Ours and The Catholic Faith Comes to the Americas (because First Son loves these types of stories most of all). End of year note: These did not work for us at all, especially This Country of Ours. We set American History aside for the year and concentrated all our history time on Ancient History instead.
Bible History and Ancient History (twice a week) - We'll be using Connecting with History volume one. Some of the activities will supplement or replace other subjects (like copywork, art, Bible stories, and so on). See my review here.

Science and Nature Study

I bought a used copy of Handbook of Nature Study. I'm not sure how much I'll read to the kids, but I plan to use it myself for background material. This book is HUGE and will not be heading out to the fields with us. (Oh, how I love having this book on my shelf!)
I'd like to include some local studies this year, so we'll be working on bird identification with The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hot Spots. If I have a little extra in the homeschooling budget come fall, I'll also pick up a CD to help with birdsong identification. Studying birds also makes sense for us as a start because we have some chickens we can observe.
We'll be starting a small nature journal as well. I'm going to ask First Son to sketch something outside (or bring a plant in) every other week or so. I've been inspired by Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You, but I'm anxious to avoid souring First Son on this type of exercise. There are years and years ahead of us for serious nature journaling.
Nature Stories for Young Readers - Book 1 (I'm not sure if this counts as science or reading, but it looked like something First Son would enjoy so I thought we'd give it a try.) End of year note: We weren't very excited by this.
Kansas Dad will start out leading our science class this fall. He and First Son selected Chemistry from Noeo Science. See our review here.

Geography

Map, Charts, Graphs Level A. First Son and I both love maps, so I thought this would be fun. It will also be an easy little lesson to complete while the girls are working on letters and numbers at story hour. See my review here.
Later on, I'd like to add some more Charlotte Mason style geography lessons with Paddle-to-the-Sea. We'll see how it goes. End of year note: We never did get to Paddle-to-the Sea but that's alright because Mater Amabilis recommends it in Level 2, Year 2 (grade 5).

Art and Art Appreciation

Child Size Masterpieces of Steps 1, 2, 3 - Matching, Pairing, and Sorting - Level 1 Easy
I've also discovered a fun program at one of the local art museums that runs about once a month and is free. I'm going to try to take the kids every other month or so.
We'll still have one day a week with access to special art materials. I may try to introduce something more advanced like watercolor paints or pastels (both of which I happen to already own), but I'll probably just let First Son play around with materials for another year.

Music and Music Appreciation

I splurged this year and bought the complete set of Music Masters. We'll study one composer every six weeks, listening to the full CD once a week. See my review here.

First Son and First Daughter will be singing in a homeschool choir with two concerts next year.
Piano - This will be interesting. I want to try to teach First Son some music theory and piano. We'll start with ten minutes a week, probably using John W. Schaum Piano Course: Pre-A : The Green Book because I have most of the series.

Latin - I thought about waiting a while longer for Latin, but Kansas Dad is excited about it. I picked up a copy of Song School Latin to start. Eventually, we'll be using Prima Latina, but there will be plenty of time to add that later. I don't know Latin, so I'll be learning right along with the kids. (Kansas Dad is already proficient, one of the benefits of being married to a theology professor.) See my review here.
Preschool - First Daughter still has two years of preschool before she starts kindergarten in 2012, so I'm trying to take it slowly. She'll be welcome to sit in on any of the other lessons that interest her and will most certainly be outside with us for things like Nature Study.

Weekly story hour at our local library where First Daughter and Second Daughter will work on letters and numbers.
I'd like to teach First Daughter all her letters. I'll then teach her to read, if she would like. We have a variety of alphabet books, including A is for Annabelle: A Doll's Alphabet, which she hasn't really seen yet.
Activities from Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Pre-School Years. You can see some of the materials we've made here.
I have some workbooks I picked up on sale to use mainly during quiet time when I'd like her to stay out of the way while I'm exercising. (She'll also have access to markers, crayons, colored pencils and essentially unlimited paper during the same time.)

Handiwork and Practical Skills

Gardening with Kansas Dad
Baking with Kansas Mom
more household responsibilities

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