First Grade School Plans (Core-Love of Learning)

8/13/2014

After reading Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning by Oliver DeMille over the summer I got the impression I needed to change things with my school a little bit. I realized the need for my younger children (under age 12) to lead out in what they wanted to study and learn about and that they needed to have fun and enjoy what they were learning. Hubby and I sat down with each child and asked what they wanted to learn, what they have enjoyed and what wasn't so fun. Little Man was so easy as he enjoys learning about everything and loves to read. He has a great love for all things in creation, especially animals as well as experimenting. Based on this, I referenced my favorite curriculum site, Ambleside Online Year 1 and went from there. I put the following things on his list to study for the year but this is open to what he wants to do and learn. If he decides he wants to study something more in depth or he doesn't like a particular book, than that is up for revision. This is a hard concept for me because I am such a schedule and list person, but what I read about the phases of learning rang true and I will follow the spirit's guidance in the education of my children.

Personal Scripture Study

These are Little Man's scripture study materials. Both the Scripture Stories and the Friend magazine are available to listen to online (so Mom can still do her own personal study the same time as the other children), there are also activities, games and so much more and of course my favorite, Bible videos. Little Man is encouraged to read one page of his scripture reader by himself before listening to more or doing any other activities. He also uses these as resources along with Behold Your Little Ones for his turn to teach devotional on Mondays.

New Testament Stories for Children

Bible Videos

The Friend Magazine articles and activities - both hard copy and online

Scripture Stories Online
New Testament Stories PDF

Family School

Family school takes place right after breakfast and starts with devotional. Family school consists of subjects we do together as a family before we break out to do individual studies. Some subjects we cover I will have additional books or activities for the younger ones so they can still participate. Family school was covered in detail in the2015 school plans post, and include:

Devotional
Nature Study/Outdoor Hour
Exploring Creation With... (science)
Art/Composer Study
Herb Fairies - Herb of the Month
Patterns of Liberty and Family History
Read Aloud Book

Literature & Poetry

Little Man will either listen to these books online while coloring or doing a project or I will sit down with him and read them to him. It is whatever he decides to do and what my time looks like that day.

Hard copy books

Books Should Be Free online listening or reading

Language Arts

According to the phases of learning this age wouldn't have a structured language arts program, but my Little Man loves the All About Spelling program that we started last year. He sees it as a game because it is multi-sensory and this was one thing he specifically ask for more of this year. We will probably finish up with the Level 1 and move onto Level 2 during this year. They also have a reading program called All About Reading that I think he would've loved! Last year I used what I have used with all my other children, How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Where the other children thrived with these lessons, this active/hands on learner did not enjoy the lessons and we ended up tossing the book half way through and just used the All About Spelling with his reader books. In hind site I wish I would've just gotten the All About Reading Program.

This child loves to write so I will also have copywork pages from scriptures, excerpts from the books we read and probably some patriotic things. I love NotebookingPages.com for copywork and notebooking which are a huge part of our home school. I purchased a lifetime membership a couple years ago and it has been worth every penny!

Math

As with language arts this is not a required subject at this time but Little Man loves math so he wants to continue on with the Math U See we did last year. This year we will do Alpha and just take one day at a time to see how much he wants to do and what he wants to do. I will have the manipulatives available to experiment and play with and also some other fun stuff I have picked up among the years. These would include tangrams, some foam shapes, a clock face with the hands, and some play money with a cash register. All of this is in a bin he can just pull out of the closet and explore at his own will.

Science/Geography

Little Man's favorite subjects! For family school we will be reading from the Apologia Exploring Creation Astrology and Anatomy. I wanted Little Man to have his own little book to follow along with the anatomy since that will probably be a bit much for him. I will be using Look Inside Your Body which is an Usborne flip book that has lots of flaps to open and discover all about our bodies. I will also let him choose what he wants to do out of Mudpies to Magnets for some hands on experimenting for younger children. After mapping Paddle's journey to the sea, we will watch the short film with the same name, I was able to find this at my local library.

Friends around the World: passport, articles and activities.

Natural History

As I mentioned above, Little Man loves anything in creation. Animals are one of his favorites and I have always loved any Thornton Burgess books, he has such a way a weaving a tale around animals that make them so exciting and fun to learn about. I will be having him listen to stories from the Burgess Bird Book about birds in our area while coloring a page for his notebook, Notebookingpages.com has the best bird study pages! I also found a great blog that has the birds from this book linked with their calls and more info. about that bird. We will then try to identify that bird in the wild during our outdoor hour time. He also keeps a little bin of bird figures that he can pull out if he chooses along with some dover coloring books for painting or more coloring.

Burgess Bird Book Companion from Satori Smiles

Bird Notebooking Pages

History/Government

I believe history and government are just as important to learn as reading, writing and arithmetic. I incorporate them into every level of learning, which is why my Little Man already has the preamble to the constitution memorized. Does he know what it means, maybe not, but he will. This is what I have planned for him to learn this year along with what he has chosen (Knight's, oh yeah!) I will also be using the music, coloring books and DVD's from the Kindergarten plans from last year.

Free Reading Books with Mom

A fun list of books no child should grow up without reading, all age appropriate for a six year old. Because this child is a hands on/active learner I like to include notebooking pages, coloring pages, lapbook or activities to go along with the story after we have read it. *Peter Pan has a naughty word that Tinkerbell likes to say so I make sure to read this one aloud myself so I can omit it. He loves the Magic Tree House books so he reads those to me and after a book has been read we go to the official website and get a sticker for his passport. He also gets to have 15 minutes of supervised time playing on the Magic Tree House website when he finishes a book. I have been able to find these books at my local thrift store and library.