Like many other parents, we have decided to homeschool our first grader. I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of homeschooling, especially after completing my teacher training and really seeing the scope of how broken modern American schooling is. But despite this, we sent our son to public school for kindergarten last year. He is an energetic extrovert and in the end, it seemed like the best choice for him.
But now with the pandemic, we were faced with the same dilemma many other parents faced. For us, we found the best choice for Dominik was to withdraw him from public school and homeschool.
I am so happy we went with this decision. It’s been a joy to spend so much time learning together. Of course, there have been ups and downs as we get our sea legs. The first several weeks were spent nailing down a curriculum and schedule and then using his interests to flesh it out.
We started with the standards and various subjects that his peers are learning in school. And after some tweaking here and there, we finally nailed it down. Incorporating his love of food with the first grade goals of learning to read maps and read literature such as folk and fairy tales, we decided on a “country of the week” approach. We have the larger subjects such as science and social studies broken into quarters of the year, with each country chosen to “match” the larger goals. For example, we began with fairy tales, with the most popular ones being from France, Germany, and Denmark. So that’s where we started.
For math and for grammar/handwriting lessons, we use the plans from EngageNY because they were free and easy to follow and customize. Everything else has been easily cobbled together to create a lesson plan. I also bought a spiral notebook as his “passport” and a way to practice writing and record things like recipes.
Here’s what we did for our week in France:
Language Arts:
Fairy tale read aloud for Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Little Red Riding Hood, and Puss in Boots. After we read each tale, we discussed and recorded the title, author, setting, characters, and plot. We also wrote the “problem” and “solution” within each story. For example, in Sleeping Beauty, she was cursed to prick her finger on a spinning wheel and die, which was the problem. The solution to that problem was for another fairy to change the curse from death to sleep. It’s a great way to get kids to start finding common traits of stories.
You can download a FREE worksheet outlining a basic fiction story HERE
We also drew pictures of the stories and used graphic organizers like venn diagrams or t-charts to compare characters and other stories.
Social Studies:
We kept it simple for social studies, using it as an opportunity to locate France on the map, study facts, identify the flag, and learn French words. We also learned about the Eiffel Tower and even took a digital tour of the Louvre!
Art and Music:
For music, we listened to French composers such as Debussy, French singers such as Edith Piaf, and learned children’s songs such as “Frere Jacques” and “Alouette”.
For art, we learned about Cezanne and completed an apple still life. For this, all you need is an apple, pencils, paper, and oil pastels.
Next, we learned about Monet and created our versions of his famous bridge paintings using oil pastels and watercolor. My first grader was so smitten with this project, it really surprised me! I also learned how accurate and amazing his eye for color is.
Finally, we did the classic Matisse paper collages. After learning about Matisse and his work, all we did was cut interesting shapes from colored paper and glue them down in a thoughtful manner. This is a great project for scissor skills and learning about abstract art.
Cooking:
The cooking part of our homeschooling schedule was what he was looking forward to the most. Cooking is fantastic for kids to learn about math, practice reading, and experiment with chemistry. We made: Ratatouille, Mushroom Bourgineon, Cassoulet, and Crepes.
Next week? Germany!
