Curriculum for my 1st grader and kindergartner

Last year I read The Well-Trained Mind and fell in love with Susan Wise Bauer's philosophy of education. Before beginning homeschooling the children, my main reasons lay in their moral foundation and proper (supervised) socialization. Most people think of homeschoolers lacking in socialization, but really they are being socialized by the family and the family's closest friends instead of by "peers" in a setting where morality is skewed at best. However, after reading Bauer's book and experiencing my first homeschool review and finding out what the county's priorities lie I have a new reason. A classical education sounds much more rounded and inspiring than the education that public schools offer nowadays.

That said, it is not an easy one to teach since it is not a bunch of workbooks or independent work in the elementary years. It is a lot of preparation as well. So I am nervous about this year, especially with a newborn coming in to steal away my extra time and energy.

Since Genevieve is so far ahead for a Kindergartner, she will be joining Hannah in some of the first grade work.

Here is my 1st Grade Curriculum (I comment on each whether or not Genna's Kindergarten is combined with Hannah's first grade.)

Grammar: First Language Lessons by Jesse Wise

Hannah and Genna are using this together. It seems pretty straight forward without much prep on my part. Things I love about it are poem memorization, grammar with repetition, and copywork from the classics.

Spelling: (no text)

I will be using the lists and activities from this website...

http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/spelling-levela.html

I could not find a workbook that I liked, but a friend recommended this website and I like the way it groups the word lists. Plus, Hannah will be able to learn alphabetical order while practicing her words every week. This is just for Hannah.

Handwriting/Writing: Zaner-Bloser Handwriting 1

I was not happy with Seton Handwriting last year, so we are switching to this one for Hannah mainly because it teaches the continuous stroke alphabet to make a smoother transition to cursive next year. For Genna, I am going with the Handwriting Without Tears because she seems to need Handwriting to be fun. What's there to cry about when you are writing frog jump capitals, right?

I may use the Complete Writer: Writing with Ease for the 2nd semester for Hannah if she is finished with the Zaner-Bloser book.

Math: Primary Mathematics Textbook , Workbook, and Teacher's Manual 1A and 1B by Singapore

Hannah began the 1A books last year and so we are starting out reviewing in the textbook and then will pick up where we left off in subtraction.

Genna needs to finish the Kindergarten B Singapore book before she will start the first grade ones, but while we are reviewing, I have them combined during Math since the material is virtually the same during the review.

Religion: Faith and Life Series

Hannah will also be in CCD at our parish. The girls will be combined for these lessons since they all did the Kindergarten (Seton) religion last year. I liked the Seton, but was looking for something that came with a workbook/activity book. Someone recommended this to me, but I am not sure that it was exactly what I was looking for either.

Science: The Kingfisher First Animal Encyclopedia by John Farndon and Jon Kirkwood (August-November)

The Kingfisher First Human Body Encyclopedia by Richard Walker and Roy Palmer (December-February)

Green Thumbs: A Kid's Activity Guide to Indoor and Outdoor gardening by Laurie Carlson (March-May)

For Science, we are dividing the year into three sections, animals, human body, and plants. We are supplementing with library books each week. Hannah and Genna will be doing this together.

History: Story of the World 1 (textbook, activity guide, and teacher's manual) by Susan Wise Bauer

The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia by Charlotte Evans

The Usborne Internet Linked History Encyclopedia

This is an amazing curriculum for ancient history. The activity book is a must! It lays it all out for you and gives optional projects and a list of books to check out from the library with each chapter. It is highly focused on narration. So it is very much something I have to be involved in the whole time. It does require a little bit of prep as well...making copies, gathering supplies for selected projects, and getting library books. Both girls are doing this, but Genna is not going to be required to do as many activities or narrations as Hannah.

Art: Drawing With Children (1st semester)

This is a really nice book. I like how it forces me to start at the basics. Our first lessons were very abstract, focusing on getting familiar with the 5 elements of shape. It has many levels for each project so I can include all three kids and everyone gets something out of it. I am sure I will be posting about this one in more detail once we get further into it.

Discovering Great Artists by Kim Solga and MayAnn F. Kohl (2nd semester)

The second semester, I plan to work in more Art History, learning about famous artists. I have a lot of books already to supplement this text (which has projects covering each artist,) plus there is always the library, and I have quite the list on Amazon that I want to get if I can get a good deal on them.

Social Studies: (no text)

This is a Maryland state requirement, but they for some reason do not require History for 1st graders. So Hannah will be doing American Heritage Girls for this subject requirement as well as learning about the people in her History lessons.

Music:

Hannah will be starting piano lessons. Plus, we listen to classical music. I have some of the Beethoven's Wig CDs which is classical music with silly words (sometimes telling a story about the composer or the particular song,) and the kids love these in the car. We also are gradually collecting the story CD's about the composers' lives. We have Mr. Bach Comes to Call and Tchaikovsky Discovers America so far. These are entertaining and informative. Even Isaac enjoys them. The classical music is mixed in with the stories as well. I highly recommend them!

PE:

Hannah and Genna will be doing soccer and ballet/tap in the fall, basketball in the winter, and more dance and T-ball next spring. That should be more than enough!

Health: (no text)

This is another state requirement that I feel Science should include and trump. I will be getting library books on safety and health periodically throughout the year to satisfy this requirement. When studying the human body, I think it should be easy to work in Health.

So the main differences between Hannah and Genna's curriculum lies in Math, Handwriting, and Spelling. The rest I am fully or partially combining them. They are both reading well. We are still doing read aloud time, but less often for Hannah. Genna has to get to her 100 book goal to get her date with Daddy, and so those books still have to be read to someone, Hannah, Daddy, or me. Hannah is going to be reading some literature from ancient times, like mythology and fairy tales from the places we will be studying in History. These she will read with/to me depending on how difficult they are. Plus, I want her to do narration pages for some of them.

Stay tuned for Isaac's curriculum, lessons, and activities. I guess I am all about homeschool topics this week. Soon it will be all about newborn babies, I am sure.