IF I HAD ANOTHER FIRST GRADER
The only purchase I would make is the Abeka Handbook for Reading. The remaining resources are free: handmade flashcards, a letter guide, and library books.
THE FIRST GRADE EXPERIENCE
For my son, formal first grade lessons took about an hour a day. We pared down formal courses to only math and English during the elementary years so our kids could develop strong skills in these subjects and not get burnt out by the fact-based courses like social studies and science. While important, these subjects can be learned through informal methods in the elementary years. Pushing out formal studies in these subjects to middle school had no negative consequences for my kids. But, for families who plan to return to the school system and face end-or-year testing, this probably is not the ideal plan. Read my post Rethinking Science and Social Studies in the Elementary Years.
ENGLISH
For my son, who was homeschooled from the start, I continued the phonics exercises that began in kindergarten from Abeka Handbook for Reading. Bob Books coordinated perfectly with the words he was learning in this phonics book. Later, Frog and Toad books were added. To keep up with his growing reading proficiency, I had to search for additional library books that used the words he knew. Cursive writing was continued by copying cursive words and then copying short sentences. He listened in on the books from My Father’s World: Creation to the Greeks that I was reading to my 4th and 7th grade children.
To figure out how to break English into its subcategories and choose separate resources for each read English in the Elementary Years.
MATH
We started with Math-U-See for all of my kids. This program is very popular, but it was not popular with my family. My husband, a math guy, felt that the math was too weak. My kids learned very little. For my son, the youngest, we spent all of first grade using Math U See but I regret it. If I could educate another first grader, I would use the “traditional” method that was used for centuries before the “new-fangled” math was birthed in the ’80’s. I trust that most readers are a lot younger than us tail-end Baby-Boomers and have never experienced traditional math like we did. What is the traditional method, you ask? Read how traditional math works: Math 1-5 grade Grade.
We did an about face for the second grade and resorted to the traditional method and have no regrets. This method built a strong math base for my son who ended up taking advanced math courses at the community college in high school. His math skills are well-aligned for engineering.
My argument for using the traditional method can be furthered by pointing out that math scores on standardized tests have not improved significantly over the past 30 years. If new-fangled math methods are so great, why have math scores flat-lined or decreased over 30 years? Besides scores, it seems to me that kids are simply not proficient in math these days.
The traditional method might not be a good fit for a student who will return to a traditional school and encounter the federally funded Common Core math curriculum. Why is the federal government involved in a function reserved for the states anyway? Federal involvement is apparently not leading to improvements in math scores or math proficiency.
ENRICHMENT COURSES
Enrichment type courses were taken at a co-op for fun. Read how we informally incorporated science and social studies our children’s curriculum during the elementary years: Rethinking Science and Social Studies in the Elementary Years.
EXTRA TIME
When formal lessons take an hour a day or less, there’s a lot of time for drawing and playing. Like I mentioned in my kindergarten post, my son did not have access to a computer, video games, or TV so he had to create his own fun. He was never bored. I feel that having copious amounts of unstructured time taught my son how to self-determine time usage. He made the decisions on what to do. This skill made me, a busy parent, very happy. And the skills he developed during these early years progressed into making income off of 3-D computer modeling during high school. He was even commissioned by Google for a project during high school. I trust that he never would have had the time to develop his interests to that skill level if he were in traditional school.
ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST GRADE YEAR
First I was thrilled that I could teach a child to read. My son developed the skill and became a voracious reader that year.
Second, I was amazed at how little time it took to learn what you need for the first grade.
Third, I learned that the most powerful way to learn math is to focus entirely on memorizing math facts.
Fourth, I learned that a curriculum that works for one family may not work for another.
Fifth, I discovered that first grade can be very low cost.
Sixth, the pared-back elementary years did not prove to be a hindrance to future learning.
Related post: Teaching My Child to Read
Musing: a period of reflection or thought. As such this post reflects my thoughts, opinions, and experiences on the topic. The choice to home school and the methods you choose are yours to determine.