My youngest is now heading into 1st grade, and she’s excited to once again get her own school work. She started actively following along with big sis’ history, science and literature books when she was 3-4 years old and big sis was in 1st grade. I never meant to combine them since they’re 3 years apart but it sort of happened accidentally. Last year was the first time she had her own school books and she was so thrilled! Here’s a peek at what we chose for her 1st grade homeschool curriculum.
![Bookshark Level K History - 1st Grade Homeschool Curriculum](https://homeschoolgardens.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Bookshark-Level-K-History-1024x683.jpg)
BookShark Level A History
History
One of the most important factors I use when choosing homeschool curriculum is how much of it is consumable. I only have 2 kids but it is still a big money saver to be able to reuse materials. So, Sonlight and BookShark caught my attention right away. We’re heading into our fifth year of homeschooling with their programs and we absolutely love them! She will be using BookShark’s level A Reading with History this year. Although a few of her books were history books last year (as much as they are at her age), this year the history books look even more like “official” history books. I’m not talking text books or anything like that but she sees her new books as “big girl” books.
Many veteran BookShark and Sonlight users recommend staying in the mid to upper age range for these programs because the kids will have a better understanding of the material. Also, there is big jump in maturity of content in their level D. A common recommendation is do this level for 4th grade which is what we’ll be doing this year for Big Sis. So, doing Bookshark’s level A for 1st grade sets Little Sis up on that path as well.
*** Because almost all of BookShark’s materials are non-consumable, these pictures show their level A program from 2014. They may have changed out a book or two if you’re looking to purchase future packages.
![Bookshark Level K Science - 1st Grade Homeschool Curriculum](https://homeschoolgardens.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Bookshark-Level-K-Science-1024x683.jpg)
BookShark Level A Science
Science
She’s excited for another collection of science books that are all her own. She’s followed along with Big Sis’ science for 2 years now and has actually understood it fairly well. So, I’m not sure how this science level may be way too easy. We may end up digging deeper into many of these topics. Right now, she’s really excited about astronomy, so we’ll be adding the Big Book of Stars and Planets.
![Bookshark Level K Read Alouds - 1st Grade Homeschool Curriculum](https://homeschoolgardens.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Bookshark-Level-K-Read-Ablouds-1024x1024.jpg)
BookShark Level A Read Aloud Books
Read Aloud Books
Reading is central to BookShark’s program using both readers and read aloud books. At this level, the read aloud books don’t tie into history at all. These are just fantastic children’s books that we get to share as a family. Each year, more of the books tie into history but for now it’s all about developing a love of reading with lots and lots of books! Little Sis was 3-4 years old when we last did this program and, surprisingly, she actually remembers quite a bit. There are many books that she’s really excited to listen to again. I plan on substituting some of the books for new ones since she remembers them so well. I’ll also use audio books when I can find them to add a bit of variety and to give my voice a rest!
![Bookshark Level 1st grade readers - 1st Grade Homeschool Curriculum](https://homeschoolgardens.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Bookshark-Level-1st-grade-readers-1024x1024.jpg)
BookShark 1st grade readers
Learning to Read
Even though we don’t use BookShark’s Language Arts, we still use their readers as a supplement to All About Reading. These are the 1st grade readers. I was not a fan of the I Can Read It! series when I used it with Big Sis. We didn’t get even finish Book 1, but she enjoyed the rest of the readers. Little Sis is determined to do all of them so we’ll see how that goes. She picked up Book 3 the other day and did pretty well with it.
![All About Reading level 2 and All About Spelling level 1 - 1st Grade Homeschool Curriculum](https://homeschoolgardens.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/All-About-Reading-level-2-and-All-About-Spelling-level-1-1024x683.jpg)
All About Reading level 2 and All About Spelling level 1
She’ll be moving onto All About Reading’s level 2. She did very well last year and really enjoyed it. One down fall (if you can call it that) is that their readers are so well done that it makes other early readers seem quite pitiful. These are really great stories!
Related Post – How to Organize All About Reading
Spelling
This is a new subject for her this year. All About Learning Press recommends completing their level 1 reading program before starting their level 1 spelling program. After going through this process with Big Sis, I am so happy that we followed their advice! Spelling comes easy because of this offset between these two related but different subjects.
Related post – Using Phonics Rules or Sight Words?
![Singapore Primary Math 1A and 1B, Intensive Practice, Extra Practice - 1st Grade Homeschool Curriculum](https://homeschoolgardens.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Singapore-Primary-Mathematics-1A-and-1B-Intensive-Practice-Extra-Practice-1024x683.jpg)
Singapore Primary Math 1A and 1B, Intensive Practice, Extra Practice
Math
Last year she finished with Singapore’s Early Bird with plenty of time left in the year. We jumped right into Primary Mathematics 1A and she’s almost done with it. She’ll be kicking off first grade with 1B. I’m also including the Extra Practice and Intensive Practice workbooks for her. She is very strong in math right now and having fun with it.
Related Post: Six Ways to Teach Math
Handwriting
She’ll be moving onto Peterson Directed Handwriting’s 1st grade level. I haven’t heard much about them in the homeschool community although they do have products geared toward us. I’m glad I found them and we’ve enjoyed using their system. Handwriting will be a big focus this year as she moves from knowing all of the letters to being able to put them together without thinking too much about them. This is a really tough stage for handwriting because it relies a bit on spelling which is just now being introduced. So, she has to look back and forth to know what letter comes next. Speed slows down not because of handwriting itself but because of spelling.
Copywork
She really wants to do copywork this coming year. She did a bit here and there last year at her own level. She’d often grab a piece of paper and copy a heading out of Big Sis’ history or science books. She’s watched her do copywork for two years now and she wants her own official copywork passages that come from our read aloud books. She started Draw Write Now book 1 at the end of kindergarten and we’ll continue with that too. It has four sentences per drawing which fits perfectly into a week. She does one sentence a day and draws each day.
So, there it is… the big pieces of what we’ll be doing for 1st grade homeschool curriculum this coming year. It’ll be interesting to go through this program for the second time. There are some books that I’m excited to do again but there are also some books I will be changing out. There are so many great books to choose from out there so it’s hard to think about rereading some of these if the kids remember them so well. I’m starting to work on the details of how we’ll be customizing our read aloud book list this year. That’s the fun and flexible part of homeschool. We can take what works and change things up when needed.
What are your favorite early elementary read aloud books? What are your tops picks for 1st grade homeschool curriculum?
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