First grade. Our first year of formal lessons. I think it went pretty well! And I’m excited to share the curriculum we used with our eldest daughter for the 2022-2023 school year.
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First Grade Curriculum Choices for 2022-2023
It was quite an eventful year for us. This year, I had a first grader, preschooler, toddler, and we welcomed baby #4 in the middle of March.
The first half of the year was filled with field trips, games, and handicrafts. The second half was taken up by baby snuggles, bonding, and cozy reading in bed.
The year was not met without challenges, but overall, it was a great first year of formal lessons in our homeschool.
I’ve listed below what we ended up using for reading, writing, math, and much more. Like Charlotte Mason suggested, we tried to “spread a feast.”
Reading
I can’t say enough good things about the Delightful Reading curriculum from Simply Charlotte Mason. We started out with their Level 2: Words I Can Build program towards the end of kindergarten (closer to when my daughter was 6) and finished it about halfway through first grade. The games and activities were a big hit with my daughter, and I loved that it was minimal to no-prep.
We did include some Bob Books along the way, and around lesson 80, we were able to start with the Pathway Readers. These books are so lovely. My daughter completed the first three books in the series, which included First Steps, Days Go By, and More Days Go By. With the help of these resources, I’ve watched my daughter become such a strong and confident reader.
Handwriting
My daughter started out the school year finishing up Level 1 Handwriting from The Good and The Beautiful. She then moved on to their Level 2. She loves the coloring and activities that are included in this curriculum.
I also like to keep things fresh and interesting, so we include quite the variety for handwriting supplementation. My kids love the Wipe-Clean books from Usborne (Now PaperPie), and my daughter really enjoyed using Draw Write Now this year as well. Draw Write Now is awesome, because it’s handwriting, art, science, reading, geography, and more in one. My daughter also enjoys making cards and lists and doing copywork from her favorite books, so we count that as well.
Math
Math was probably our trickiest subject this year.
We started out using Simply Good and Beautiful Math 1 from The Good and The Beautiful. While my daughter learned a ton and enjoyed the coloring and games, it just wasn’t the right fit. I felt it skipped around too much, and there were certain concepts that my daughter needed to spend more time on before moving on to a different one. There were a few concepts that circled back around weeks or even months later, and it was like a brand new concept all over again. Some things just weren’t sticking because of this.
So, we decided to switch over to Kate Snow’s First Grade Math with Confidence, and this curriculum has been such a blessing for our homeschool! While you do have to gather some extra supplies for this curriculum, there are so many fun games and hands-on activities, and everything is explained in a way that your student(s) can easily understand.
This curriculum is mostly mastery-based with some spiral, and that is just what my daughter needed.
Literature
One of my favorite things from our homeschool year was reading aloud to my kids. This year we read:
1. The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver
2. The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel
3. The House at Pooh Corner (We were even able to attend a Winnie-the-Pooh play at a local theatre!)
4. The Family Under the Bridge (our Christmas pick)
5. Little House in the Big Woods
6. Farmer Boy
You’ll notice that we were able to cover some history and science topics through a few of our read-alouds as well.
Music and Picture Study
For Music study, we followed Charlotte Mason’s suggestion of focusing on three different composers each year, one per term. This year we studied and enjoyed listening to pieces from:
1. Beethoven
2. Tchaikovsky
3. Mozart
We used Music Study with the Masters from Simply Charlotte Mason and utilized YouTube and books from our local library. Tchaikovsky was the perfect pick for around Christmas time, as we were able to cover The Nutcracker. My kids loved watching clips from his ballets.
For picture study, we focused on the following three artists:
1. Vincent Van Gogh
2. Mary Cassatt
3. Claude Monet
The Picture Study Portfolios from Simply Charlotte Mason were so helpful, and again, we utilized YouTube and books from our local library to learn more about these famous artists.
I’d have to say, I was a bit surprised by how much my kids enjoyed music and artist study.
Nature Study
We did a great job with nature study the first half of the school year, but with freezing temps and a new baby in the second half, we hardly touched it.
We didn’t follow any specific curriculum, but quite enjoyed getting outdoors and going on nature walks. My first grader, preschooler, and I all had our own nature journals to document our observations.
Sometimes we would paint/draw outside, and other times we entered into our journals when we got home. Here are some of the supplies we used for nature journaling:
- Strathmore Watercolor Journal (140lb)
- Jerry Q Assorted Water Colors Travel Pocket Set
- Chromatek Water Brush Pens
- Micron Fineliner Pens
- Nature Anatomy by Julia Rothman
We also attended a handful of nature lessons that our local nature center offers for homeschool families. Some of the topics included insects, nocturnal animals, and volcanoes.
Art and Handicrafts
Art is one subject that I really feel hit the back burner this year in our homeschool. We had high hopes of practicing with watercoloring, block crayons, pottery, clay, etc. But, unfortunately, we just weren’t able to fit those in.
We did, however, do some art projects from Kids Art Box. We’ve been getting these art subscription boxes here and there for a few years now, and they are always a hit with my kids. They usually come with one science project and one food recipe as well.
We had a pretty basic introduction to handicrafts this year, which included rolling and decorating beeswax candles, making mason jar candles, painting peg dolls, and making bookmarks.
Safety
We completed the fire and water safety lessons from The Good and The Beautiful’s Safety Unit. Two very important topics that I want to routinely cover with our kids. This unit study is designed for 3rd-8th graders, but I found it still worked out great for my first grader, at least for these particular lessons. We are planning to complete more lessons from this safety unit next year.
Poetry
My kids love poetry tea time, but we only got to it a few times this year. Hoping to do a lot more next year and add in some poetry memorization. Our favorite poetry books are Eric Carle’s Animals Animals, A Child’s Book of Poems, and A Child’s Garden of Verses.
History
We started out our school year using Simply Charlotte Mason’s Genesis-Deuteronomy and Ancient Egypt curriculum but didn’t make it very far before accepting that it just wasn’t the right fit for us. At least not for first grade. Later in the year, a particular interest in Vikings sparked a mini unit study on Leif Erikson. We read Who Was Leif Erikson? and utilized the companion unit study from The Waldock Way. It was a big hit!
Bible
Like with history, we started out using Simply Charlotte Mason’s Genesis-Deuteronomy and Ancient Egypt curriculum. However, we ended up just reading some of our favorite children’s Bibles instead. We might try the SCM curriculum again next year.
Physical Education
Our eldest daughter participated in gymnastics again this year. She also learned how to roller blade and went bowling for the first time.
Piano
We did a VERY basic intro to piano this year. We may look into formal lessons for next year, but our daughter is more interested in the ukulele right now, so we will see.
That's a Wrap
And that’s a wrap for our 2022-2023 homeschool year. And what a year it was!
My daughter made leaps and bounds in reading and math. We explored nature, dove into Viking history, dabbled in handicrafts, and spent time bonding with the cutest new addition to our family.
I’m looking forward to seeing what next year holds for our homeschool.
What About You?
Which curriculum are you planning on using for first grade? Share your teaching picks in the comments below, and be sure to share this post with other homeschool parents.
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Thank you for sharing! I happened upon this from a google search and I so appreciate seeing your perspective, especially in areas like history where you admit to not having a perfect fit and letting it go. It’s really easy to feel like you’re the only one “failing” because you aren’t doing all the things. So thank you again!