1st Grade Homeschool Recap, 2024-2025

Every year brings new excitement as we try new things and revisit some family favorites. But this year was extra exciting because it felt like homeschooling round two. My oldest son began 1st grade in 2016 and I added a child to our homeschool every two years as my three oldest children eased their way into our school routines. I learned on the fly while very busy with babies and toddlers. 

With Harry I got to do first grade again with the benefit of a little hindsight. But I also was managing three older homeschooling students and spending time with a preschooler. So it was both new and old.

Here is what we did this year for Harry's first grade year. 


This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Read my full disclosure to learn more.

Language Arts

Reading
Teaching Harry to read has been the most straightforward teaching-to-read experience I've had so far. Through watching Letter Factory [already owned $18.01 with digital credit] he already knew his letter sounds well. He had also used Nessy during his kindergarten year so he was ready to read. I used the following resources to keep moving forward with his language art skills. 

Gentle Lessons in Sight and Sound Level 1 [already owned $69.01 shipped]
I purchased this to use with Harry's sister and it wasn't a good fit for her. It worked really well for Harry and we completed the curriculum. 

Storybooks for Primary Phonics Level 1 [$26.18 on Christian books]
I found this series of readers when I was struggling to find easy to read books that were interesting enough to interest my second son when he was a struggling reader. At that time, I bought Level 2, so I decided to purchase Level 1 for Harry. I like them because they are great first books. Harry read through the entire set this year.

Other materials we used:

Treadwell Primer [Printed free from Google Books] 

Treadwell First Reader [already owned - free with gift card]

Explode the Code, Book 1 [$9.99 from Christian Books]

Moveable Alphabet [already owned]

Handwriting

Handwriting Workbook [$6.99 from Rainbow Resource Center]

Recitation
Recitation has always been close to my heart and my kids have been memorizing and reciting poetry since before I started following the Charlotte Mason Method. Nevertheless, we didn't do recitation last year. I didn't feel up to the work required in carrying in out. Instead, I took that energy and used it to focus on skills and habits for my older kids. I am happy with my choice for last year, but I was so happy to get back to our recitation practice again.

This year, Harry memorized and recited 15 poems and passages, including poems by the poets we studied, passages from the Shakespeare plays we were reading, the pledge of allegiance and some of my favorites by Robert Louis Stevenson, William Blake, and others. 


Science / Nature

Harry listened to me read and narrated from the following books:
We also read the following books at our together time in the afternoon:
Harry also enjoyed lots of free time in nature, including attending our local Wild + Free group which meets weekly in all weather. He also made entries and watercolor drawings in his nature notebook. 


Social Studies

Harry read and narrated from the following books:
For geography, he read and narrated from:
Also, I took all my kids on a 2.5 week road trip in September throughout Michigan and the upper peninsula. We camped on or near Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior and stayed at a hotel next to Lake Huron. We saw waterfalls and traveled through the American and Canadian locks at Soo locks. We visited museums, took a shipwreck boat tour, ate ice cream, and visited Sleeping Bear Dunes and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshores. I hope that it made Paddle to the Sea come alive for Harry and his siblings.

My 7th grader and 4th grader were studying the 20th century so we read and listened to lots of books about that topic. Some additional nonfiction or historical fiction books we read this year included:
  • Talking Leaves by Joseph Bruchac
  • Lines of Courage by Jennifer A. Nielsen
  • Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming
  • Underground Fire by Sally M. Walker
  • Only a Dog by Bertha Whitridge Smith 
  • Daughter of the Mountains by Louise Rankin
  • The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy
  • I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944 by Lauren Tarshis
  • I Survived the Battle of D-Day, 1944 by Lauren Tarshis
  • I Survived the Attacks of September 11, 2001 by Lauren Tarshis
  • The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy
  • A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus
  • Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
  • I Survived the Wellington Avalanche, 1910 by Lauren Tarshis
  • A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus
  • Louis Braille: The Boy Who Invented Books for the Blind by Margaret Davidson
  • Remember: The Journey to School Integration by Toni Morrison
And we watched CNN10 together 4-5 days a week. 


Math

Math has come easily to Harry so I just try to play it by ear and keep him working at a good level for him. We have used the following resources this year.
  • Beast Academy Level 1 Online [Purchased last year $101.76] I never used to throw money at my homeschooling "problems" but now I sometimes do. Last year during his kindergarten year, I impulse purchased this for Harry because I felt bad that I wasn't spending time challenging him while I was busy with homeschooling his siblings. Our subscription expired in mid-September so I had him start the year making the most of his remaining days. He completed about 80% of the program. 
  • Beast Academy 2A and 2B [Entire level 2 set already owned purchased for $40 at a used curriculum sale, plus new level 2A workbook $14 from Rainbow Resource Center] We got halfway through 2B and the complexity of the problems was making him not enjoy math anymore so we shelved that to pickup again next year and switched to Life of Fred.
  • Life of Fred Cats through Farming [already owned gift from grandparent]


Arts and Handicrafts

Harry worked on the following handcrafts this year:
We studied three fine artists this year and I decided to reuse some materials from the beginning of my homeschool journey:
We studied two composers using Tillberry Table Guides plus her YouTube playlists bought during a 20% off black Friday sale. I decided to only do two instead of three because it is more realistic for me:
We studied three poets this year using the Poetry for Young People series because I bought a bundle of them for $5 as a used curriculum sale last year.
We followed the Ambleside Online folksong rotation this year using materials shared on the Ambleside Facebook page and a YouTube playlist. In past years, I would select our own folksongs but because two families at our Wild + Free group follow Ambleside it is nice to have the kids learning the the same songs. 


Everything Else

I like seeing all the books and materials listed out. However, it always fails to capture the bigness of the picture of learning that took place. Harry played and played with siblings and friends, went to museums, and listened to Doctor Doolittle and Redwall. He spent time with his grandparents and helped in the kitchen and played board games. He played on a soccer team and he finally lost his first tooth. I started this blog when I was pregnant with him, and now he is such a big boy! 
By
Labels: , , , , , ,

2 comments:

  1. AflyonmyhomeschoolwallMay 4, 2025 at 2:14 PM

    I'm about to start high school with Ladybug and Mister Man. I have similar feelings about this as those you described about starting first grade with Harry. The older girls all overlapped in similar ways, and we were always just adding new kids to what we were already doing. Though Little Princess is still in high school, Ladybug will not be joining her in her activities, so it will be a "new" start for me. It's pretty fun to do something with past experience to draw on!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JenniferMay 4, 2025 at 3:26 PM

      I know you will savor it as I am trying to do. These years with them at home are so precious.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)