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Here is the curriculum I decided was best for first grade. It took a lot of trial and error, but this is what I will be using with my kindergartner when the time comes.
History:
The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor, Revised Edition
The Story of the World, Activity Book 1: Ancient Times – From the Earliest Nomad to the Last Roman Emperor
Review: I struggled with history in school so I was very nervous when I started homeschooling my girls. Worried I wouldn’t be able to teach them properly, but this set of books are truly amazing. The workbook explains exactly how to teach, what to ask, comes with coloring sheets, map work, and craft ideas.
This is probably the best curriculum we chose. My daughter’s favorite subject is history! I’m also learning so much with her. It’s great.
The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History
Review: The book is beautiful and very useful when going through the chapters of The Story of the World. My girls love the pictures and the visual addition to our studies that it provides. If looking for a history encyclopedia, I would highly recommend this one.
Grammar/Language Arts:
First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Level 1 (Second Edition) (First Language Lessons)
Review: I really love this book. It comes with memory work and a lot of the learning is done verbally and with repetition. I wasn’t sure how Bobo was going to like it, but she has learned so much with it, and the poems are so sweet.
Because there wasn’t much written work and most of it was done in our notebooks, I wanted to get something to accompany this book, so I purchased Language Lessons for a Living Education 2.
Review: This is a Christian based curriculum. I just found out recently that there’s an assessment to see where your child should place and what level they should be using. I started this mid year with my oldest, after we were half way done with First Language Lessons, and it was a perfect fit. I really enjoy this book and I decided to continue on with it for third grade.
Science:
The Good and the Beautiful: Kingdoms and Classifications
The Good and the Beautiful: Anthropods
The Good and the Beautiful: The Human Body Part 1
The Good and the Beautiful: Botany
The Good and the Beautiful: Safety
I was so thankful to have come across The Good and the Beautiful’s Science Curriculum. I was truly struggling to find something that would work well with the plan I had for first grade science to follow a Classical approach.
Review: Kingdoms and Classifications was a bit advanced for Bobo, but I utilized some of the lessons and will be able to use it later on in her schooling.
Review: Anthropods is such a great curriculum. Full of great information and also has notes to help make a Science Journal. We loved this Unit.
Review: The Human Body Part 1: this curriculum is wonderful, though, with my girls being so young, we didn’t do an in depth look into the human body this year. With that being said, next year, I will review it again and use this curriculum again to dive a bit deeper into the logistics of it all.
Botany: This is such a great curriculum. We will be finishing this up before moving forward with our second grade science.
Safety: I love this unit because it really touches upon important safety information that is great for elementary aged children. The lessons are fun and my girls really enjoy it.
My First Encyclopedia of Animals (Kingfisher First Reference)
Review: We used this book a lot when we studied animals in the beginning. The girls loved looking through it and when we do an animal review over the summer to round out first grade science, we will utilize this book again.
Writing:
The Complete Writer: Level 1 Workbook for Writing with Ease (The Complete Writer)
Review: I do enjoy this book, but I don’t use it as much as I should. I usually have my girls do a writing workshop, but I may bring this back into the mix. It has copy work and summarizing short passages from books. I recommend it, I just have been using my own method of teaching spelling and writing, but again, I will bring this back into our weekly schedule just as a way to switch it up so Bobo doesn’t get bored. I would’ve stuck with this and will use it for my youngest when it’s time, I wish I would’ve utilized it more with my oldest and will most likely order the next level for her this year.
Math: The Good and the Beautiful
If you follow me in IG, you know the struggle I had with Math, I started with Saxon, moved onto math u see and then switched over to The Good and the Beautiful. This is such great curriculum. My oldest started late so it will run into the next year, I added in Kumon and I taught her double digit addition and subtraction on the side to keep her up to date, but I will definitely be using this for the years to come and with my youngest when she is in First. (Right now she is using TGTB-level K). I may supplement with Math U See because of the investment I made into it and because it is an amazing math program. If you have older children and you’re looking for a math curriculum that is fantastic, I do recommend Math U See. My oldest just gets easily bored and side tracked when doing math and all the hands on activities that come with The Good and the Beautiful make it a perfect fit.
Kumon: Grade 1 Addition (Kumon Math Workbooks)
Grade 1 Subtraction (Kumon Math Workbooks)
Geometry & Measurement Grade 1 (Kumon Math Workbooks)
Word Problems Grade 1 (Kumon Math Workbooks)
Review: All of these Kumon books were wonderful, we loved utilizing them when we were in limbo with math. Our math journey this year was all over the place, but these helped keep us up to date. If you have a full on math curriculum that you’re sticking to, I don’t think you’d need to utilize these.
Geography:
DK Workbooks: Geography, First Grade: Learn and Explore
DK Workbooks: Geography, Second Grade: Learn and Explore
Review: These books are very simple and effective. I loved using them and will continue to add them in as we complete the books.
Art: Discovering Great Artists
Review: I love this book, it has information about different famous artists and gives art craft ideas based of the style of the particular artist you’re learning about. Highly recommend.
Religion:
I Am: 40 Reasons to Trust God
The Ology
Review: I love this book, the illustrations are so gorgeous and the content is easy for my girls to follow. It’s such a great addition to our days.
The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories
Review: I purchased this book at a thrift store on a whim and it was such an amazing addition to our morning time routine. It comes with stories about the different virtues and the reading opens up such great conversations with my girls. I highly recommend this one.
Biblical Virtues and Values: Beginners
I just got this book and the girls and I are really enjoying the addition to the morning basket. I didn’t do much research before I bought it, so it’s a bit advanced, but I will just make it a group effort.
This is such a beautiful bible, it was bought recently to add to our curriculum.
LIVING BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS:
I was very happy to learn about living book and the benefits of having a lot of read aloud time with my girls. These are two series that I think are great places to start with your children (all of my living books come from a list found at simplycharlottemason.com)
The Little House on the Prairie
E. B. White Box Set: Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, The Trumpet of the Swan
***I have many more living books in my collection, but it would be unfair of me to recommend them on this post, as these are the only ones we have begun. you can see all of my living book purchases here.
First Grade Chapter book set that my daughter reads for her upper level reading:
The Never Girls Collection #1 (Disney: The Never Girls)
I’m not sure these are considered living books but my daughter got them as a gift from my friend and she really loves the stories.
Easy Reading Set she loves
Elephant & Piggie: The Complete Collection (An Elephant & Piggie Book) (An Elephant and Piggie Book)
My daughter got these for Christmas from my brother and it is by far her favorite set. She reads them every day and she laughs out loud at them EVERY.TIME. I highly recommend these books!
As always, feel free to contact me with any questions.