Elementary grade 1

Grade 1  Keara age 6

After pondering the usefulness of quote "mastering" the Catechism in one shot, we decided that Catechism is done best when reviewed yearly.  So I have returned to Seton for Catechism instruction for the younger kids.  For some reason, I stopped reading the children the allegorical sacrament books by the Brindle family but I intend to revisit that series this year as we prepare Keara to make her First Confession next fall.  There is also a whole series of saint books by Brother Flavius and Brother Ernest that my children love.





 

Math will be done with Abeka.  Abeka was in my humble opinion the best pick that Laura Berquist made for her elementary school curricula. 
           



  
Phonics.  We have tried many things with the previous 4 children.  I always end up using Teach Your Child to Read for a time, but I hate the book.  It is so insipid.  It works to get my kids going but it never helps them progress to reading fluently.  This year Memoria Press started a K phonics program which we picked up late.  We are finishing out Book C and D of the First Start REading program.  We are using the "classical phonics" book by MP as well, even though I think the name is ridiculous.  The Classical Phonics book has some wonderful lists to it.  The lists are clearly phonetic.  I like the Classical Phonics better than Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading because it is short and sweet.  Drill the phonetic list of words.  I was getting tired of the stories in the Ordinary Parents Guide.  The stories were stilted in vocabulary that they almost don't make any sense.  I prefer the lists, at least the child knows that it is just a list of words and not a story that they should understand.  Because we are always a day away from another hospital crisis with Josh, I purchased multiple sets of phonics books for Keara.  If I am gone, I figure that she will always have something to work on.  So I have Seton phonics and Spectrum phonics as backups to keep her busy, just in case.
 

 
                                                                                                         
Spelling and Handwriting are straightforward.  I would love to use All About Spelling but I don't have time to commit to the program and I know it:(.  So we are just using Seton for spelling and Memoria Press Copybooks.  I do still print out worksheets from CLAA handwriting when she has errors but I would rather buy a book and be done with it than spend my time printing and sorting and saving handwriting worksheets.

       

This is the first time that I have ever bothered to do history or science with a young kid.  So we are doing an Abeka/Seton mix.  I just read the books to them and don't worry about it.  She retains whatever she retains.

                
The most important part of her curricula actually comes from teh Memory Press curricula guide for 1st grade, it is the recitation.  I make Keara listen to a recitation every day and then recite it back.  I plan on taping them from now on.  There were so many little gems that are hidden in those recitations and I so wish that they had been written when Josh was in First grade because he would have greatly benefited from them.

English.  Personally, I think that First Language Lessons is the best for teaching grammar.  My older kids could never have gotten through CLAA lesson 7 if they hadn't gone through this book first but it doesn't address some basic skills that just need to be done in a workbook, such as rhyming and alphabetizing.  One would think that if a child could read that they could therefore rhyme but I have found that is not necessarily true. 
  We will finish First Language Lessons but I don't care if it takes 2 years to finish English 1 because I think I will only do Seton English with this child every other year.  I don't think she will need to spend every year going over the same things.
 
Because I am not a crafter and I discovered that some little girls are going to craft anyway; therefore it is best to control the crafting.
 

I am still on the fence about piano lessons for my kids.  I like CLAA Piano because it is a set fee for a set course for any length of time but it is frankly too hard.  So for musical understanding I am starting this with Tegan and Keara.


 

Once Keara is "reading" as opposed to reading word lists, I plan on starting the Story time treasure plan from MP.  They read the stories such as Make Way for Ducklings and Little Bear and the workbook helps to guide them through their first literature study.  How I wish these were around for the older kids.