We love SIMPLY CHARLOTTE MASON. I seriously can't tell you enough what a blessing this website and team of people has been to our life and homeschool! Most of our plans for Year 1, or First Grade will be coming from SCM, with a little Ambleside Online influence and some of my own ideas as well.
First off, our starting point are these new curriculum guides/ lesson plans from SCM called Keep It Simple and they certainly will. SCM aslo has free curriculum guides that you can find here.
This will take care of our History, Geography, and Bible. We will be starting with Genesis through Deuteronomy & Ancient Egypt and Visits to Africa This will include lots of living books (which you can see by downloading a sample), reading aloud, and narration.
Keep it Simple will guide our Enrichment Studies. We will be using Enrichment Studies, Volume 1 from SCM.
Keep it Simple will also guide our Individual Studies. Individual Studies, Grade 1
I recommend you read a little more about the Heart of the SCM Curriculum to understand the "why" behind it all. What makes SCM stand out for me is the intentionality of doing as many subjects together as a family as possible, and also of keeping the Bible as central through the history modules.
For our Enrichment Studies, these will actually coincide with our Spread the Feast Community Scope and Sequence, so I basically made up our own guide for enrichment, except for literature.
- Literature: The Trumpet of the Swan; All-of-a-Kind Family; The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh; Five Little Peppers and How They Grew; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; Mr. Popper’s Penguins; Pinocchio
- Scripture Memory: TBD, but I try to alternate between passages in the Old Testament and the New Testament. We choose to do longer passages as opposed to several shorter verses out of context. I've found it help them make more sense of what they are memorizing and it is also easier to memorize.
- Hymn Study: How Deep the Father’s Love, There is a Fountain, Joy to the World, What a Friend We Have in Jesus For our complete Hymn Study list, visit my post about Hymn Study We aim for one hymn a month throughout the entire year.
- Art Study: da Vinci, Van Gogh + One more TBD Simply Charlotte Mason: Picture Study Portfolios
- Composer Study: Bach, Chopin + One more TBD Simply Charlotte Mason: Music Study with the Masters
- Poetry: A.A. Milne, selections from Favorite Poems Old and New, selected International poems
- Recitation: Charlotte's standards for her 6-8 year olds: Recite a poem (each child may choose a different one), learn two hymns, a Psalm, and two suitable scripture passages of 6 verses each
- Physical Education: traditional children’s games, folk dancing from around the world
- Folk Songs: Traditional children’s songs, traditional children’s folk songs, traditional folk songs, International folk songs, songs to coordinate with Folk Dance American Folk Songs for Children by Ruth Seeger, & Wee Sing Around the World will be our main resources each year through Form 1. Likely these songs: Traditional Children’s Songs and Seeger Songs: By’m Bye, Hush Little Baby, She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain, There was a Man and He was Mad, Who’s That Tapping at the Window, Skip to My Lou Songs from Africa: Tue Tue Clapping Game- Ghana, Akwa Nwa Nere Nnwa- Nigeria, Bebe Moke -- Zaire, Kanyoni Kanja-- Kenya
- Music Learning: Solfa/Solfege Method Singing Lessons for Little Singers
- Piano: Music for Little Mozarts
- Ballet
- Foreign Language: Spanish
- Handicrafts/Art Learning: TBD, basic watercolor & painting instruction (dry brush), possibly crochet???
- Habits: Lamplighter Theatre
Now for our Individual Studies:
- Language Arts: from Simply Charlotte Mason-- Delightful Reading, First Steps, Days Go By, More Days Go By, and Delightful Handwriting.
- Math: Ray's Arithmetic : Grade One Math
- Nature Study: Nature Outings, Nature Object Lessons, Nature Journal, Handbook of Nature Study, Living Books, Outdoor Secrets (nature study is really more of a "family subject")
We will attempt to sprinkle in some "extras" for literature and Bible, and some preschool fun, which I will add later.
