Our First Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices
If you are looking for simple homeschool first grade curriculum choices for your homeschool, check out what we do for our first graders.
Since we are a busy young family, we used that to find something that would be simple enough to follow along with. We also made our choices taking into account that we had to cut costs.
A 1st grader doesn’t need every subject in workbook form, and at this stage simply learns a lot from observing real life and from being read to. If you follow similar philosophies, these curriculum picks might be just what you need.
What should a first-grader learn?
It is often agreed upon that by the end of first grade (except in special cases) children should know at least the basic operations of addition, subtraction, and counting. They should also be able to read most children’s books and write most basic words.
These days there is a lot of pressure to have a child know all their letters etc. before first grade. Personally I don’t think preschool and kindergarten are necessary. In fact, many children do better just starting from the beginning in first grade.
My parents just started me in first grade, and I never had problems in school even though I couldn’t say the ABCs when I started. (Even my 2-year-old could have beat me with singing her ABCs!)
That said, I do enjoy teaching my children preschool and kindergarten. We have a lot of fun with it. There is always no pressure, and we don’t use a particular curriculum. So by the time they are ready to start the first-grade books, they often can sound out basic words and do basic math.
What is the best 1st grade homeschool curriculum?
There are many wonderful curriculums and you need to research for yourself and choose what works for your family. You likely can’t go wrong or won’t miss out or have your child far “behind” with most curriculum choices.
If you instill the love of learning in your child, most any curriculum will just be a step for them to keep learning anything they might have “missed.” Check out other’s YouTube flip throughs, or curriculum reviews and you can get a taste of what different curriculums offer.
Once you find something, stick with it without fear for the year. Then change to a new curriculum if needed for the coming year.
You might always feel like you are missing out on something from another curriculum, but all the jumping around that I see many homeschoolers doing is what causes the most “holes” in a child’s education.
I have long loved looking at curriculums, and have a bit of experience with different kinds of curriculum from my experience being homeschooled and helping others homeschool or teaching school. But I have seen that the biggest difference in the outcomes has more to do with if children love learning or not, no matter how good or how poor their curriculum is.
First Grade Curriculum Choices
Learning to Read and Reading
I think the best curriculum for Learning to Read is from CLE. It is so thorough and I have always enjoyed teaching it. With my school teaching years I have used it 5 or more times, and recommend it to anyone.
It is true that it is a bit intensive, but I prefer spending two years on first grade, going at the child’s own pace, and getting it completely, to something less thorough. We will also be using their 1st-grade Reading when we are done with Learning to Read.
Language Arts
I also really like CLE’s Language Arts for the younger grades. It includes handwriting and writing activities. And in general I just like the thoroughness of CLE and their Teacher guides, testing system, etc.
That said, I know for older grades it can get overwhelming with intensity, so by fourth grade or so we will see if we continue to stick with it or go to a simpler Language Arts curriculum. At least the foundation will be well laid. You can also get a glimpse of it in my video on how to teach first grade.
Math
My top choices for first-grade math curriculum would be CLE Math, Saxon math, or Rod and Staff Math. We live in Costa Rica and so I don’t mind if my children get Spanish books. Since we have the Spanish version of Rod and Staff Math here, we chose that as it comes out way cheaper not having to pay shipping. It also comes through Mount Zion Literature.
CLE Math and Saxon Math are very good, but also very teacher-intensive and more expensive. Do a bit research to see which is the best one for you.
By the end of first grade I like if my children have memorized the basic addition and subtraction facts, so we also use Xtramath for help with facts memorization. This is one of the foundational skills that I think are very important.
Science
My top choice of science curriculum for the elementary and middle school grades is Science from The Good and the Beautiful. You can learn more about it in this article on how to teach science for the younger grades.
A friend also gave us a First Grade Science textbook and teacher guide from Abeka (though an older version than what they sell now). We don’t have the student workbook but we like to read through it.
I like Abeka science for the younger grades pretty good, but it is quite a bit pricier and requires more time and work, so you have to decide for yourself.
For younger grades science can often be learned just from observation, field trips, nature study, animal picture books, hands-on activities, and simple things like that. If your schedule is full, I wouldn’t stress about it for now.
Bible
For Bible we got the Spanish version of CLE Bible. I haven’t found any other Bible curriculum that I love, and getting the Spanish version here in the country turns out much cheaper for us too.
This is one curriculum at the moment we plan to stick with through all the grades as I really love how it is laid out, and have found nothing else that compares. In the early years it is very simple so that children can enjoy learning from the Bible.
Aside from that we have family devotions and I sometimes read Bible stories to my children, so they are learning from the Bible all the time.
Music
Music is very important to me. We do music theory, singing practice, recorder, and piano lessons for now.
Check them out in this article about our complete homeschool music plan for elementary grades. I list quite a few free or reasonably priced resources, and many of them are video lessons which are really helpful for homeschoolers.
Geography/ Social Studies
For first grade we don’t have any formal lesson plans for Geography and Social Studies. I read books about our country’s history together. We learn the names of the continents and oceans and things like that.
In older grades we will be using more formal curriculum. It’s another way to simplify homeschooling in the younger years.
Other
Besides that we don’t have any other formal curriculum, though we have our morning time or Circle Time to work on memory work. We also love to take walks and learn from nature. I also try to make sure we get in a lot of movement and exercise.
I try to regularly read to my girls from chapter books so we learn vocabulary and expand our horizons. If you have a local library that can be a good place to get books that you all can enjoy.
1st grade homeschool schedule or routine
How long does a homeschool day take with a first grader? I don’t really know. With my oldest daughter having three younger siblings, we just tried to dedicate about two hours on school day mornings to do as much school work as we could in that time.
We usually didn’t finish a day’s worth of goals, especially not with all the interruptions with littles. First graders are young enough that is won’t hurt if first grade takes two years.
Hopefully in the future when most of my littles are a bit bigger we can dedicate more time to formal lessons. For this stage of life as a busy homeschool mom, it is a perfect setup. We all have fun learning together.
You can check out more in this article about how we structure our days and do homeschooling. For us it is a fun adventure in learning!
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Please note that this is just information to help you decide for yourself. In no wise is it legal advice. Be sure to check your country or state requirements as you may be required to do more than what I do.
You might also be interested in how we do our first day of homeschool or all my other homeschool information.
What are your favorite first grade curriculum picks? Let me know in the comments!
