Reading Prerequisite
We recommend ensuring your child can read well before commencing first grade work. If your child is not yet a proficient reader, please complete the Reading Skills component of the kindergarten curriculum as a prerequisite to first grade.
What's New This Year
In first grade, several new subjects are introduced: writing, math, art and (optionally) life science. Together with reading, these make up the core focus of the year.
Writing
The goal in writing this year is for your child to master the mechanics of forming letters, words and sentences. Each day, have your child spend ten to thirty minutes practicing writing. Over the course of the year, the curriculum progresses from tracing letters to writing independently.
Supervise your child's writing practice closely in the beginning to ensure that he or she is forming letters using the correct stroke direction and order. Incorrect habits established at this stage are difficult to unlearn later.
Don't worry about spelling for now. Allow your child to focus fully on letter formation, without the added pressure of needing to spell words correctly. Spelling usually improves organically in children who spend a lot of time reading, and can be taught formally at a later stage. However, basic rules of capitalization and punctuation should be introduced now.
The content of the writing doesn't matter much. One option is to have the child write out a sentence that you dictate or read from a book. You can also allow your child to compose sentences independently, or write notes to you or other family members. The important thing is to ensure daily practice until correct letter formation is mastered and your child writes easily.
Math
We use the fun and rigorous Beast Academy books for elementary math. (The name comes from the storyline of the textbooks, in which material is presented through comics about a school for monsters.) This curriculum is produced by Art of Problem Solving, which typically offers a higher level of challenge and more in-depth presentation of the material than most American math courses. We think this is a good thing. However if the math coursework proves too challenging, we recommend delaying its introduction for up to six months, or progressing more slowly than the curriculum default. It will do no harm for your child to complete the elementary Beast Academy curriculum and start the next course (Prealgebra) a year or two later. Alternatively, you may edit the standard curriculum to substitute a math program of your choice for Beast Academy.
Reading
Your child should continue to practice reading for at least 15 to 30 minutes per day. Once your child reads proficiently, he or she may transition from reading aloud with you to reading independently. We suggest a few appropriate series in the later months to facilitate the progression from easy readers to chapter books.
Allow your child to choose any easy readers, comic books or simple series books that appeal to him or her. The priority at this level is to establish the habit of reading for enjoyment. Once you see your child reading without being required to do so, you will know that this goal has been accomplished. (This is much more likely to happen if your child is not used to relying on TV or electronic games for entertainment. We recommend eliminating or limiting screen time to under half an hour per day at this age.)
In addition to your child's independent reading, you should read more challenging books to your child for a minimum of 30 minutes per day. This year's book selections under the Literature category are too long for most first graders to read by themselves, but they are fully capable of listening to them with enjoyment and will benefit from the exposure to more advanced works.
The reading selections for first grade are all quality literature that is designed to appeal to young children. That said, if your child does not take to a book after the first chapter or two, put it aside and move on. Do all you can to ensure that reading is a source of pleasure for your child, rather than a chore.
Art
This age is an ideal time to start art instruction, as fine motor skills are better developed, and young children are full of creativity and lack the inhibition and time constraints of later years. Our curriculum is unique in that it gives art a prominent focus on par with other subjects.
We recommend that you begin by reading Drawing With Children, and completing the exercises in the book together with your child. This book teaches realistic drawing as a concrete skill that results from learning rather than talent - a mindset that will set the stage for the rest of your child's artistic education. We then commence Artistic Pursuits, a comprehensive visual art curriculum designed for homeschoolers.
Science (Optional)
An optional Life Science course from REAL Science Odyssey includes lots of hands-on activities involving plants and animals.