Kinder and 1st Grade | Homeschool Curriculum

 

It's so crazy to think I am here at the beginning again with our homeschool journey. We often refer to the kids and The Littles and The Big Kids or The OG's. Honestly, I am struggling a little bit with knowing that we are missing one of our Littles as she would be starting preschool this year. Hard to breathe still sometimes. Our two eldest are grown and graduated from our homeschool, our next OG is starting high school, and we are opening the Academy [phase one this year]. 

For us the focus for these tender ages is to lay a firm foundation. Primary subjects are phonetic mastery, beginning reading, base mathematical literacy, and then nourishing them through our faith. Secondary, we are exploring God's creation, and having lots of cozy reading time with mama. Anything else I add onto that either gets done or it doesn't. I don't sweat the small stuff anymore, this is my second time through. I've learned a thing or two. 

The Academy students do most of their independent work in the first half of the day with two shorter classes taught by me, so my focus is on The Littles in the first block of the day. We are using Catholic Heritage Curricula as our core curricula source. Zephyr needed some customization, so we did the whole pack for Kindergarten [almost] for Ocean, and then just added what we needed for Zephyr to do. I needed simplicity and planning done for me so that I could focus on the planning and teaching of the academy students.  Also, The Littles only school four days per week for the most part. 

Group Subjects

Science | Religion | Read-Alouds | Character | Enrichment

• Science | Behold & See Level K. I got them both their own workbook, and then selected some readers for the first part of the year and then just chose some from our collection of books to add to it, instead of purchasing anything else additionally. 

• Religion | New Catholic Picture Bible; reading one per day, Our Holy Faith Vol. 1 & 2 by Tan Books; we are reading book one followed by book two which will cover one school year. The first book is really short. This series has eight books and we have used books 5-8, I believe, and now we are filling in from the beginning with The Littles. The series is beautiful, comes with free video streaming bonuses to watch and, yeah, it's just well done. You can use this over Baltimore Catechism because it's included basically, but I love and use both because I love our faith and I can't get enough. 

• Character | Devotional Stories for Little Folks and Devotional Stories for Little Folks, Too from CHC [Catholic Heritage Curricula] are the readers that go along with the Building Good Character Level B resource, also from CHC. I don't care what curriculum you are using, at least get your hands on those two reader gems! The stories are just wonderful! 

• Read-Alouds | Using the devotional stories mentioned above, plus the recommended Aesop's Fables, My Book House, and The Adventures of Peter Cottontail, James Herriot's Treasury, A Child's Garden of Verses, along with whatever else we have in the house. 

• Enrichment | Music Enrichment for K-2 from Memoria Press; which we will use for both boys until Zephyr is in third grade and Ocean is in second. Art Masterpieces Rhyme Time Collection by Catholic Heritage is what we are using for artist study. They are also taking Pentatonic Flute Lessons by Daily Wonder. It's a video lesson that I teach to them and it is really not hard. We already had the flutes. I wanted to try Daily Wonder's Waldorf inspired curricula so bad this year, but now isn't the season. 

Primary Subjects | Ocean 

Language Arts | Mathematics

• Phonics & Reading | We will be moving into Elemental Phonics Level I as soon as he masters all phonetic sounds. You do not start Elemental Phonics until they are mastered. Just trust the process. I also got the My Letter Sounds Book by JDA Homeschool and we either use that or the flashcards once or twice per day but not both at the same time. They do the same thing, so you can use what you have. We had the flashcards on hand from Zephyr's Kindergarten year from Memoria Press. I punched a hole in the corner of them and put a ring on it. 

• Handwriting | Little Folks' Letter Practice, Little Folks Number Practice and Handwriting Level K are all from CHC [Catholic Heritage Curricula] 

• Mathematics | MCP Math K is what we are using this year because it was recommended by Catholic Heritage and it was solid and super affordable for this age. I got both boys' math from Rainbow Resource because they have awesome prices. 

• Faith Bonus | Even though we are doing religion studies together, we also got the Who Am I? Level K from our CHC package. I figured we can try it out and see how we like it. If I can't do this in addition to what we are already doing, no worries, I can gift it to someone. 

Primary Subjects | Zephyr

Language Arts | Mathematics | Add-Ons

• Phonics | We have been using Elemental Phonics 1 since late spring, but took time off for summer. Before that we also used Reading.com which is the BEST app reading resource I have come across in 15 years. Whatever you have seen me recommend before, replace it with this and only that for a computer/app type program. For old school paper, there's nothing better than Consistency + Elemental Phonics. It's simple, it's inexpensive, it works. Then end. Even if your child is dyslexic or  they are a slower learner or an average learner; just go at their pace and BE. CONSISTENT. We will finish book one and then move at his pace until we complete all three levels of Elemental Phonics. Once he is done with the first level of Elemental Phonics, then we will start the Pre-Primer Sight Words book, by JDA Homeschool also known as Jady Alvarez, and then move on to the Primer Sight Words book. Those sight word books go up to third grade and we will use them at his pace until we finish the sequence. 

• Reading | Zephyr loves the McGuffey Readers and almost all of my children have used the series. We also picked up the first set of Bob Books [not pictured] and a Catholic set of six readers, Ladybug Phonetic Readers, from a shop on Etsy called, My Holy Cards. Side Note : I also love the prayer books they sell and have bought several! 

• Mathematics | MCP Math Level A is the recommended math and for ease and cost, I just went with it. However, I typically use CLE [Christian Light Education] Math which is already affordable and prefer the CLE format, so I most likely will move back to it next year for him in their Level 2. There is no issue with MCP Math, it really is a personal preference. With MCP, I just tear the sheets out for the week and put them in folders. CLE has light units done for you so I don't need to rip sheets out.  

• Handwriting | I really love the whole handwriting series they have at CHC. I've seen many, even other Catholic ones and this one is the best. Short, sweet, faith-filled, open and go. What more could you want?

• Spelling | My Very First Catholic Speller by CHC is just perfect for this age. Their spelling, like their handwriting, is just done well and I don't need to worry or plan anything; open and go. 

• Grammar | My non-negotiable for every grade is Easy Grammar. Zephyr is in the Grade I book this year and he has enjoyed the short lessons. 

• Add-Ons | Because homeschool mamas be like that. I make rules just to break them. Science I for Young Catholics, Geography Skills I for Young Catholics and American History for Young Catholics are all from Seton Books Press. Why did I add these? I don't know. They looked good. We can use them as readers and discussion. We are starting with the American History booklet once per week and that lasts about half the school year, and then we can do the Science I if we wanter the rest of the year. He likes workbooks so the geography will keep him busy for a minute while I teach the academy students. 

• Faith Bonus | The Jesus Our Life is what CHC has for the second grade religion study, I got the book and workbook for him because he is going for his first Holy Communion of the Blessed Eucharist. This teaching is a VERY big deal because this is what made and keeps us Catholic for life. I also got the First Communion Baltimore Catechism because I lost the one we had for Everett, but just kidding because as soon as the new one arrived, the old one reappeared. So, now I have two.