curriculum

    ***Today's topic is "Curriculum".  Simply scroll to the bottom of this post to find links to the blogs of other participants or to post your own blog post URL.  Please feel free to join in!

I have gone back and forth on what I should post today.  A master list of curriculum?  My favorite curriculum suppliers?  Homeschool goods I can't do without?

Well, my decision is to post Aubry's 1st grade curriculum list.  I am doing this so that you can see that homeschooling in the early grades doesn't need to be book-laden or time intensive.  This is a time to read together, play together, work together and learn together.  Honestly, I have to try hard to stretch her "3 R's" time past one hour.  Generally we work together for about 45 minutes and then she gathers craft supplies and creates things.  Lots of things.  This time of creating is at least as important as the time we spend learning phonics and numbers.

I have five children, ages 5-19.  All of them are homeschooled and one has graduated and is in college, so you can trust me when I suggest that you don't sweat the early years.  These are the fun and simple ones!

Here is Aubry's little pile of books:

Math: Rod and Staff Grade One--These workbooks build on concepts slowly and the student reviews all of the math operations throughout the year.

Phonics: MCP Plaid Phonics--I have used this series with every one of my kids.  In Kindergarten the child learns letter recognition and sounds, and then moves on to short vowel word combinations and then to long vowel combinations.  The simple way of building on what the student has already learned makes this a perfect (and inexpensive) way to teach reading.  I use this series until 3rd grade when I move on to ABeka language.

Writing: A Reason for Writing A--All of my kids have loved these books because of the "border sheets" that they get to write and color on at the end of each week.  Scriptures are the basis of each week's lesson and the border sheets can be hung on the refrigerator or they can be mailed to grandmas and grandpas to show off the child's writing skills.

Reading:--Rod and Staff Readers for Grade One   and lots and lots of library books!  These readers have cute and simple stories with a focus on the Bible and family.  Reading aloud from these books daily helps the child to strengthen their reading skills.  A trip to the library is on our calendar each week and Aubry gets to pick five books to bring home.  We try to have all of these read before they need to be returned, and at this age I think that mom reading to child is just as necessary as child reading to mom.  If you can get your child reading within the first few years of homeschooling, you are well on your way to a successful education!

***I realize that not all kids are strong readers, but most children can master the basics of reading which will allow them to learn about anything!

If you look on my right sidebar you will notice a link called "homeschool helps and supplies".  Click on it to find the curriculum suppliers that we use most often.

Happy homeschooling!

Comments

[Dana]

Interesting...I am not familiar with any of those. I have heard of Rod and Staff but haven't seen them yet.

I am glad they are working so well for your family!

[Heather]

I do think the best advice is to focus on the basic math and reading and read aloud A LOT. We utilize the library a lot as well--a great resource for free books (as long as you remember to take them back) as well as a great place to meet new friends (which is why my kids like to go. :)) The most amazing thing to me is how each child learns to read differently. My oldest struggled and finally learned with phonics, my middle taught herself, and the youngest is a site word kid.

[Wendy]

Thanks for hosting Back to School Week, Randi. It's been great fun. I've really enjoyed reading all the responses to your questions.

[Tammy]

I liked reading what your choices were...especially from a "seasoned" home school parent like yourself!
And thank you so much for hosting this, Randi!

[jennifer at jennifer's joyride]

I am with you on trying to stretch those three R's to last more than an hour. We really focus on that for those early years- especially getting them reading. Reading is so critical to everything that comes later.

Thank you for a great week, Randi. Lots of reflecting!

[Amy (Milk & Cookies)]

Thank you so much for hosting this Randi. I know we all had a lot of fun this week. I learned some valuable lessons and made several new friends!

[Lawanda]

I love the Rod and Staff Math! Their English is pretty hard, imo, but we do it. My kids are pretty good readers too, and they blow right through the Rod and Staff readers pretty quickly. So we also utilize our library. Where our books are never on time. *sigh* Luckily for me, they have a lovely free day every Thursday! ;)

[Carrie]

Great stuff...this is a good topic because there is SOOOOO much curricula out there....

[Carol]

I'll say it again, I have totally enjoyed reading and writing about homeschooling this week.

I sit down with a cuppa-somethingorother, open up my laptop and *Voila!* its a homeschool mom coffee/tea/icycoldbeverage break in the middle of my day!

[Tracy]

I like your choices. I have looked at Rod and Staff before and may look more as Ethan gets closer to starting school.

[ComfyDenim]

What great ideas!
I will have to keep this in mind for My First Grader. We really need to work more on reading - and your words were words in due season. :-)
I'm always on the look out for writing stuff as it's not popular here (Mini-Me doesn't see the need of it).

Thank you so much!!

[Rhonda in TN]

Thanks Randi for this great week of posts. I have enjoyed it. I agree with today's post. The early years should be times of fun, creativity and going alongside Mom "helping."

Rhonda in TN
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/RhondaMama/

[Mama Squirrel]

Thanks again for hosting! Great idea!

[Elaine]

Thanks for such a great week! I enjoyed thinking through my own posts, getting me better prepared as we start next week, and I LOVED reading everyone else's posts and seeing how they did things. Thank you so much!

[DebD]

I've used R&S with several kids over the years. I have always been pleased with them.

[Sara]

Randi,

Thanks so much for doing this. I have really enjoyed reading everyone's responses.

Sara

[Tammy]

Whew! This has been a full week of thinking, eh? But what a wonderful way to be encouraged and excited as a new year of schooling begins.

I realize I didn't post an important part of unofficial curriculum - the library! What an incredible resource available all the time :-)

And, we, too, love A Reason for Writing!

Thanks again, Randi, for hosting this blog week. It's been a neat way to get to know other moms and I look forward to continuing to check out links I haven't had time to get to yet!

Blessings,
Tammy ~@~

[Ki]

I've got some reading to do for today, but just wanted to say you had a good idea. Keep on bloggin and thanks.

[Flo at Yieded Heart]

Randi-
Again, thank you so much for doing this. It has been a really neat experience and I'm already looking forward to the next one!

[melanie west]

Just wanted to tell you.. THANK YOU for hosting Back to Homeschool Week. It was a lot of fun finding new homeschoolers on the net, reading about their experiences etc. What a week that was! Now back to getting my schedules & planning done..

Have a blessed weekend!

[Dawne]

Whew, finally caught up!

[Barbara Frank]

An inspired idea, Randi. I wasn't able to link a post until today, but I figured better late than never :)

[Karen]

Thanks Randi, I love to talk hs'ing - glad I could participate!

[Susannah]

This one was really fun! I can't wait to read everyone else's thoughts. Thank you so much for hosting Back to Homeschool Week! It was a great way for me to celebrate our first week back.

[M Light]

Thanks for a great homeschooling idea week!

[Daja]

My contribution today was short and sweet. :-) It's not a long post, but very dear to my heart.

Thanks for hosting this Randi! It's been fun to write about homeschooling and very inspirting to read what others have to say!

[Jennifer in OR]

Thank you! What a wealth of great homeschooling helps you've gathered!! This is my first day posting, I just did the Friday assignment :-)

[Lynn]

Great posts! Lots of great ideas.

[AllyJo]

Beautiful site. I want to sew skirts now, but I guess I better get up and keep "organizing" for school. We start next week.