Math U See

Course of Study With Reviews: First Grade

I wrote about our course of study for my eighth grader here. Here is what we’re doing for my first grader, Soleil.

Bible

Tapestry of Grace Bible Survey/Church history selections

I love Tapestry of Grace (TOG) at both ages we’re doing now. We are working our way through the Old testament right now, and I love how it is all connected to our history and literature reading. Also, both girls are in the same time period!

A Little Girl After God’s Own Heart, Elizabeth George

Such a sweet little book! I just got this, and Soleil and I will be doing one character trait each week with our tea.

Scripture memorization

We use the Charlotte Mason system for memorizing scripture.

Daily devotional time

Read a little about Soleil’s quiet time here.

Language Arts

First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind, Jessie Wise. Level 1

People either seem to love or hate this book. I love it! Beyond basic grammar, it includes poetry memorization, picture study, story narration, and copy work. Soleil is always happy to find this book in her workbox. Often, we sit on the couch together for our “language lesson.” I love that it feels like we’re just sitting and chatting.

Abeka Phonics Sounds cards

Soleil reads at a fourth or fifth grade level. I am using these phonics cards mostly so she learns the rules which will come in handy later for spelling. We usually just go through two or three a couple times a week. She loves to be the teacher and go through them with me.

Memoria Press Copybook II

Instead of copying inane sentences about ants on logs, we’re now copying scripture and hymns. Love this book! We do use some of the verses for memorization, and Soleil loves the illustration pages that go with each copy page. Her penmanship has greatly improved with this book. Something about writing out Bible verses just calls for your best work!

Tapestry of Grace Literature selections

Again, perfect books! I have skipped a couple that were based on ancient gods. We briefly covered it and Soleil had a very violent reaction to the whole concept that anyone would worship anyone but the one true God. Another great thing about both girls being in the same time period in history is that Soleil reads her books to Coco and vice-versa.

Tapestry of Grace, Writing Aids

I am supplementing our language lessons with this. So far, we’re making a word bank with the parts of speech. FLL goes a little slowly for us, we’re still on nouns after 8 weeks of school. With this, we’re covering adjectives, verbs, and more.

Various readers

Because Soleil is so advanced in reading, I just let her pick chapter books from the library. She reads daily, and loves it. She loves the American Girl books, but even those can have some older themes. Fortunately, she loves reading the Bible, and that is always appropriate!

SpellQuizzer

I had not intended to do a spelling program this year, but the maker of SpellQuizzer gave me a free copy. It’s so fun, Soleil has been begging to do spelling, so I let her. I’ll write a full review on this soon!

Arithmetic

Math U See Foundations in Math (through Lesson 25).

This is an old version of Math U See I purchased used. It has the accompanying lessons that we’ve come to love, only on VHS . The book is supposed to cover grades 1-3, and I plan to cover first and second grades this year. We’ll hit everything up to multiplication, and cover that next year. We’re also still working on money and time. I do have Soleil watch the lessons with me, then we’ll work on that concept for a couple days or a week, depending on how long it takes her to “get it.” Love homeschool.

World History and Geography

Tapestry of Grace Year 1 Primary history and In-Depth history selections

Oh man, I love this course. The history selections are great! Interesting, fun to read, and I am learning from them, too. My favorite part of this course is our discussions we have before we even start our workboxes. We’ll cover the different threads and discuss the culture, Bible history, and other things I learn in my teacher’s notes. If you haven’t looked into TOG, I highly recommend you do.

Map Aids Geography, Grammar Level

We are doing a very light version of the maps that come with TOG. Sometimes, I do have Soleil label her own, but sometimes I’ll just have her point them out. The geography is pretty comprehensive for first grade. I had to look up many of the terms myself before I could teach them to her. I like to use a children’s dictionary because we can both understand it

Science

Apologia Exploring Creation With Zoology 3: Land Animals of the 6^th Day

This book is for grades 1-6. I only wish I had been homeschooling when Coco was younger so we could have done these! They are absolutely packed with information, and I am amazed at how much Soleil retains. I read this aloud to her, though she often takes over and reads it to me. We love the Charlotte Mason methodology. There’s notebooking, narration, and easy experiments at the end of each lesson. There’s also a cool map-it and track-it section that has me feeling like Kate on Lost. Anyway.

Kingfisher 1^st Animal Encyclopedia

This is just a fun photo-filled supplement. I was unhappy with some of the evolution references, but we just skip those for now. I like to stick this in one of Soleil’s workboxes in between some of the heftier science reading days.

Nature Study Handbook, by Anna Comstock

This is more of a reference for me. We are still getting the hang of nature study and this book is invaluable!

Latin

Memoria Press, Prima Latina DVD Course and student book

Another lesson I am doing alongside Soleil. This course is for up to third grade, so we are taking our time with it. I watch a small portion of the dvd with her and we do lots on the whiteboard. I plan to finish about half the book this year. We take a few weeks per lesson, absorbing the vocabulary, English derivatives, and prayers.

Arts

How Great Thou Art: I Can Do All Things

I wasn’t sure about this book when I saw the pages. It’s a little cluttered-looking, but we are loving it after all. I am having fun going through it with Soleil. There are hundreds of lessons, and we skip around from drawing to painting to markers. She has taken to drawing during much of her free time and has a sketch book nearly filled.

TOG fine arts and activities selections

Fun stuff! I combine our arts and activities for both grades, and the craft books recommended by TOG have come in super-handy. One of my favorites, Old testament days, I got free at our park day.

Classical Kids Music Cds

These are fictional CDs about different composers with their music throughout. They rock! My kids have started listening to classical music while cleaning their room and playing, and can identify several composers. We’ll be studying composers more in depth when we come to their time periods, but this is a great way to get their interest going. Not that we don’t still rock out to Hannah Montana once in a while. ‘Cause we do.

PE

Swimming, volleyball, workout videos, bike riding

I started Soleil out on a point system this year, like her big sister, but I’ve already let that go. She is naturally very active, and I just decided not to worry about grading PE for this year. If I find it becoming a problem to get her moving, I might rethink that. But I don’t see that happening. The girl is always moving.

These are just my main resources. By using workboxes, I can actually fit in many more books, games, and learning activities. It seems like a lot here, but we do very short lessons. One of the Charlotte Mason ideas I just love. We get to cover so much in a week, and short lessons are a good fit for my busy girl. Using narration and just every day conversation, I am very pleased with how much she remembers!

I’m not sure that would be the case if we were spending thirty minutes per subject. That being said, we do read for over thirty minutes aloud sometimes, but that depends on the subject. If it’s a pleasing story, she could listen for hours. If it is lots of new information, like science, I will read for no more than fifteen minutes.

Course of Study With Reviews

Our Course of Study with reviews

A course of study is a listing of the resources you will use for each subject for the year. In CA, homeschoolers are required to submit a Course of Study at the beginning of the school year.

For a typical course of study for grades K-12, check out this site.

http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?curriculum

Here is our course of study (it has already been updated this year!) You can read my notes on some of the books, but keep in mind that I am only a few months in, so take my reviews with a grain of salt.

Coco, 7^th grade

Bible:

I did not find any particular Bible curriculum that met my objectives for Bible class this year, so I put together my own Bible course. To find in more detail what this includes, click here.

Math:

Algebra ½ , Saxon Math.

I love Saxon math. It has a spiral review built in so concepts are continually reintroduced. It is straightforward, easy to understand, and offers a CD Rom tutor which I will definitely be taking advantage of next year.

English:

We started the year with Lifepacs by Alpha Omega and tossed them after a month. After studying and thinking more about the approach I wanted to take, I settled on these 3 individual books.

Grammar &Composition 1 by Abeka:

This is comprehensive grammar course and a pretty decent composition one. I am a big fan of this book. How many of us learned proper grammar? I for one had never diagrammed a sentence in my life. Next year, we will be able to just do a review course of daily grammar and focus on a more in-depth composition study. Then in ninth grade, we’ll go back for more Abeka grammar.

Spelling Power, Castle Moyle:

I just started this a couple weeks ago and the jury is still out. So far, we are liking it.

Vocabulary from Classic Roots:

I really like this book as well. We make flashcards each week of the key words and in addition to the exercises, review previous weeks’ words. This book focuses on the Greek or Latin roots of the words, and I have learned a few new words myself with this one. The challenge words are a bit much, I think we will come back to them when we have finished the entire course in ninth grade and do the challenge words. Why not?

Science:

Order and Reality, Abeka

This Biblical-based Science text is very well written, but covers so many subjects there is not a whole lot of depth to any subject. I am supplementing heavily and the book will last all year, as opposed to one semester as it is planned. There are lots of experiments to choose from and a workbook that goes along with it. Next year, I will be switching to Apologia Physical Science.

Healthier You, Abeka

This book is okay, we are not crazy about it but it does have lots of illustrations and photos and is easy to read. I don’t think we’ll be revisiting health until high school, but when we do we may very well use Abeka again.

Social Studies:

Lifepac Social Studies 7, Alpha Omega

Okay, I am not crazy about Lifepacs. They might work for independent “Perfect Paulas” (A learning type mentioned in Cathy Duffy’s Top 100 Homeschool Curriculum). But these books just do not work for my “Sociable Sue.” Frankly, the sight of them bores me as well. Note: Can’t wait to try Tapestry of Grace next year, a classical, unit study approach to History. I am pretty thrilled about this curriculum, I’m sure I will be posting about it someday!

Because we can’t stand Lifepacs, I added a couple units to give us a break. They are: Political Science and WWII (Unit studies include history, writing, literature, art and more.)

Foreign Language:

Spanish, Rosetta Stone Homeschool version

We have not actually gotten this yet; it is planned for second semester. It includes an audio component and is taught immersion style – no translating. I took 3 years of high school Spanish and 2 years at College level, but I plan to take this course along side Coco to be a better teacher. It offers multiple users, which is a bonus for big families.

Cheerleading, Volleyball, Fitness (gym workouts, setting personal goals)

Soleil (K)

Bible:

Abeka Bible story cards, Doctrinal drill

I use these story cards with big pictures on them for Soleil, and do doctrinal drill almost daily. As with Coco, I wanted to design a Bible class just for her. You can read about her course here.

Math:

Primer, Math U See

We are loving this math program. I chose it for its hands-on approach, perfect for my active five year old. It has a DVD with sample lessons. Soleil enjoys watching these with me and then we spend a week or two doing the assignments for each lesson. When it comes to teaching telling time, I think I may use my own Judy Clock instead of their manipulatives, as I started that with Soleil when she was 4. Because I think Saxon Math has a better program for the college-bound, I plan to switch her to Saxon in 5^th grade, when the use of manipulatives slows anyway.

Abeka Numbers Tablet

Great for practicing writing numbers.

Reading and Phonics:

Letters and Sounds K, Abeka

Abeka Readers

My Blend and Word book

I know some people detest Abeka because of the volume of busy work they incorporate into their lessons, but you don’t have to do it all! I have not found a better phonics program. I taught Abeka at a private Christian preschool and my entire class of 14 four year olds were reading before kindergarten. I highly recommend the flash cards for drilling. I also use most of the teaching aids, as I plan to use their phonics through third grade.

Writing with Phonics, Abeka

This a great writing curriculum, just remember you don’t have to do it all. I use the manuscript style. Sure, you can teach your kindergartner cursive. I just didn’t want to.

Science:

Science Excursion

This is a fun kit I bought at a convention. I bought it mostly for the supplies, we don’t really use the workbook that came with it. We’re talking kindergarten here, so for us science is all about the experiments. Next year, I will probably follow the Well Trained Mind science curriculum, with a Charlotte Mason influence in my approach. I plan to stay away from textbooks in science at least for the first few years.

Social Studies:

God’s World, Abeka

This is okay, what I really love are the giant-book visuals that go along with the workbook. Starting next year, Soleil will begin a classical history course, Tapestry of Grace. No more textbooks!

PE:

Cheerleading, Swim, fun physical activities at home (bike riding, dance, walks)