1st Grade curriculum Archives

Our Homeschool Curriculum Picks for 2017

February 4, 2017 by Emilee Evans

Probably the question I get asked most often is “What homeschool curriculum do you use?” I have to admit, I find it amusing because I think I get asked this question from people who don’t homeschool just as often than those who do. Regardless who is asking, it’s a question that stops me in my tracks. It’s not that I don’t know what we’re using, it’s that it’s not so easy.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Please refer to my Disclosure Policy for more information.
I don’t use just one curriculum. We pick and pull from all kinds of curricula. I learned a long time ago a boxed curriculum doesn’t work for us. Even having two children at the same relative grade level they don’t use all of the same curricula. It’s the beauty of homeschooling! All three of my children are unique. I love being able to tailor each child’s learning experience to their needs.
I think it’s particularly great for homeschooling special needs children because they can learn in the way that is best for them and they’re not tied down to one grade level. For example, I don’t have to hold my oldest son back in all subjects just because he’s delayed in one. He’s significantly delayed in reading and writing but only slightly delayed in other subjects. Or if they’re ahead you don’t have to hold them back like in my daughter’s case.
All that being said, it’s time to reveal our homeschool curriculum picks for 2017!

Homeschool Curriculum Picks for 2017

When planning our new homeschool year I do ask the kids how they feel about our curricula. I love getting their feedback and definitely take it into account. Of course, my oldest says he doesn’t like anything, so I kind of have to go on what he’s done well with and go from there. B and A are both at about a 4th Grade Level and C is at about a 1st Grade Level.

4th Grade Homeschool Curriculum

B – 4th Grade. He’s on the Autism Spectrum and has reading and writing challenges.

Veritas Bible – We just love this Bible curriculum. Our family uses VeritasBible.com, which has been working well for my kids. Check out our Veritas Bible Review.
IEW Primary Arts of Language – This curriculum is generally recommended for K-2, but B is still delayed in both writing and reading. PAL is also recommended for children with special needs. View our IEW Primary Arts of Language Review.
Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization – This is another great resource from Institute for Excellence in Writing. It’s a fantastic supplement. Check out our Poetry Memorization Review.
Red Apple Reading – We’re using this as a supplement and he really likes it. It has multiple levels, and he has fun while learning. See our Red Apple Reading review.
CTC Math – We had the opportunity to review CTC Math twice, and it’s definitely been one of our favorites. View our CTC Math Review.
Times Alive – My older two kids have been learning their times tables with Times Alive and have been loving it! Stay tuned! Our review is coming soon!
Science Shepherd – This is a great online science curriculum that is faith-based. It’s easy to follow and offers hands-on projects as well. Check out our Science Shepherd review.

A – 4th Grade.

Aurora is slightly advanced. By age she would be in 3rd grade. There are some overlaps since she and B are generally at the same grade level, though she doesn’t have reading or writing delays.
Veritas Bible
Lightning Literature – This is actually a 1st Grade Curriculum, but I knew it was too advanced for my 1st Grader. We hadn’t yet finished it, and I thought it would be a good review and way to ease into our new school year. Learn more in my Lightning Literature Review.
Bible Heroes – This is the next step up from the Primary Arts of Language from the Institute for the Excellence in Writing. We will beginning this soon and will share our review shortly after! Learn more about Bible Heroes.
New American Cursive – This is another curriculum we had started but didn’t yet finish so we decided to revisit it. Plus I already got the next level! Read my New American Cursive Review.
Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization
CTC Math
Times Alive
Science Shepherd

1st Grade Homeschool Curriculum

C has Sensory Processing Disorder and has fine motor delays as well as reading challenges. We’re going really heavy on the language arts this year, and this was actually by his request. I’m really excited about it!
Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar – He has just loved this and wanted to keep going, and so we are! Check out our Jolly Grammar and Jolly Phonics review.
Can Do Cubes – The Can Do Cubes really are a great hands-on resource to use alongside Jolly Phonics, but really they can be a great supplement for any grammar curriculum. Read our Can Do Cubes review.
Logic of English Foundations – C has really enjoyed Foundations and he was excited to jump back into it. We had the opportunity to review both Foundations A and Foundations B.
Eclectic Foundations – This is a curriculum we’re currently reviewing and he has been loving it! Stay tuned because the review will be coming in a couple of weeks!
CTC Math
Various Bible Activities from Twin Sisters Productions – They offer a variety of great Bible resources for young kids. C’s favorite is the Bible Story Mazes & Puzzles.

What Homeschool Curriculum are You Using?

Although this is the base of our curriculum it’s very possible we’ll make some changes through the year. Sometimes we discover something isn’t going to work from us. Because I review curricula, sometimes we end up reviewing something else that we discover is a great fit for our family and we either add it in on top of our base or we replace something. We’re kind of all over the place with our arts because it works for us!
Are you an eclectic homeschooler as well or do you use a specific curriculum? Do you have a favorite homeschool curriculum?

TouchMath 1st Grade Review

March 11, 2013 by Emilee Evans

logo photo touchlogo_zps5760f524.jpg
TouchMath is a multisensory program for grades Pre-K through 2nd grade. It is a full hands-on curriculum with a lot of additional manipulatives you can purchase the correspond nicely with the program. TouchMath, to me, in itself is not a new concept as I used the same learning mechanism when I was young as well. With touch math you take the numeral and associate “touch points” with it to actually help count that number. For example, instead of just looking at the number “3” you actually have 3 “touch points” on the number to make the idea more concrete. So instead of just seeing the number you physically count the number.
We reviewed TouchMath First Grade. Both our daughter and son are doing Math at the 1st Grade level. Although our daughter (age 5) has been doing really well with Math, our son (age 6) has really been struggling. We tried to present this concept before being blessed with the chance to review TouchMath, but he was still having a hard time grasping it. He is a VERY tactile learner, which is something I am not, so you might say I had a hard time presenting it in a way he could understand best. So, when we first received the TouchMath curriculum his eyes totally lit up. Just looking at it he already knew it was going to help him over his Math hurdles. When we received additional manipulatives it just cemented that excitement even more because as I said, tactile learning is definitely the way he learns best!
TouchMath 1st Grade has 4 different Units, and each Unit is broken down into Chapters. It starts with the basics of counting and works through to Measurement, Time, and Geometry. We used TouchMath as recommended: 4-5 days a week for about twice the amount of time of their age. Usually it was 4 days because we have a homeschool Co-Op for 3 hours once a week, and we’re generally all tired by the time we get home! So since Brayden is 6, we would work for at least 12 minutes. We often worked longer because the kids really enjoy TouchMath and would just want to keep going! Each Chapter has worksheets followed by a “Post Test.” Although there is no set curriculum (meaning do these worksheets on “x” day, this on the next day, etc.) TouchMath has a wonderful guide to go along with the curriculum. It not only mentions how you can use everyday experiences to solidify the lessons as well as recommended manipulatives that you can optionally purchase. The guide also set very specific stopping points where it would indicate if your child hasn’t fully understood the concepts learned thus far you should continue with more practice before moving on. It even gives you a guide to tell you how to gauge whether or not they are ready to move on. I thought this was a very important key because many times you are just go through and you aren’t sure if you should just continue or if they need more practice – or where that point might be. I love that it takes the guess work out of it! The worksheets have very large pictures and numbers and were very easy for the kids to read and complete. They would often do 5 or 6 in one sitting and actually enjoyed it! Again, the guide would give ideas of what to say with each worksheet and would indicate if it was to be a guided worksheet or a practice worksheet meaning if I was to guide them through the worksheet or if they were to practice on their own. After I guided them through the first one both of them would often finish the guided worksheets that were similar before I could even say anything!
You can purchase TouchMath 1st Grade for $59.95 or you can purchase all 4 units for $199.95. In addition to First Grade this would also include: Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Second Grade.
TouchMath Worksheets
Touch Numerals In addition to the main curriculum we also received some wonderful manipulatives to go along with the program. Manipulatives are optional, but the guide does tell you how and when to include the manipulatives with the curriculum. For us, personally, the manipulatives were a huge benefit. With both of our children having special needs and unique learning styles the maniuplatives really help to solidify the learning. Particularly for our son, who was struggling more with the Math concepts. The maniuplatives we received were:
TouchNumerals. The TouchNumerals are foam numbers with addition, minus, and equals signs. They also include many dots for general counting and for touch points. Our kids absolutely LOVED working with the TouchNumerals, and they would ask every day if we could use them. It was really helpful for them to really be able to touch and visualize what they were working on. Again, this was particularly helpful for our son who is a tactile learner. Seeing it on paper and actually putting it together in front of him really opened him up to the TouchMath concept, and it really made a big difference in his worksheets then as well! TouchNumerals can be purchased for $99.00.
FlipCards. FlipCards are another great interactive approach to teaching TouchMath and are available for each Unit (many had more than one recommended set of FlipCards per unit). The teacher guide would inform you when the best time to use the FlipCards were to help facilitate learning. Again, this was something that was very helpful for our kids, and they really enjoyed them. In fact, I caught them a couple of time using the FlipCards with each other when it wasn’t even school time! The name explains how it works – there is a concept on one side like counting dots, number comparison, Math problems, etc., and you would flip them over to see the answer. I love how excited they would get in anticipation of seeing the answer! Not only were they learning, but we could turn it into fun games, and they really enjoyed it! The FlipCards can be purchased for $19.00 per set.
Student Number Cards. The Student Number Cards are yet another great visual tool to help solidify learning by having visual access to the touch points. You simply laminate them and cut them out and you are ready to go! They can be taken anywhere easily as well, so if you do schooling outside of the home sometimes (as we do), these are a great portable tool to take along. Student Number Cards can be purchased for $24.00.
TouchMath Tutor First Grade Software. The software is so much fun the kids ask to play it every day. It not only helps teach them TouchMath but they also get to learn a little bit of Geography along the way, too! They got to start in Washington D.C., which was fun for them because we used to live there! Once you complete the studies for that location other locations with different studies open up. There was a concern with this software not working on the latest version of Mac (Mountain Lion), but with a simple update of Adobe Air it worked perfectly. You can also view the software in action if you scroll down. There are many videos at the bottom of the page you can view! It’s a great concept of having fun while learning! The TouchMath Tutor First Grade Software can be purchased for $99.00 (Single License)

Touch Numerals

Overall, I am very impressed with the TouchMath program, and I love how they took the Touch Points concepts to the next level and made not only a solid curriculum but a lot of additional materials to complement the program. It’s not only been extremely enjoyable for our kids, but our son, in particular, is now really grasping concepts with which he was struggling. I love that they can work together with some of the manipulatives, which again makes learning fun for both of them and helps instill a bond between them in their learning!
For more wonderful reviews from the Review Crew (including reviews of the different grade levels) please click on the banner below!

A+ Tutorsoft Online Math Review

February 26, 2013 by Emilee Evans

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
A+ Tutorsoft, Inc. is an multisensory Math curriculum for grades 1-6. We reviewed the A+ Interactive Math Online Homeschool Edition for 1st Grade. We used the program for our oldest son. Our daughter is also in 1st Grade but gets easily frustrated by computer work whereas our son really enjoys computer work, so I knew this would be a nice program for him. It is interactive learning online designed for homeschoolers. It’s a feature rich program, so you can be sure to fill in any gaps you may have in your curriculum.
You can track your student’s progress online as well. It features a Teacher Dashboard as well as a Student Dashboard. The Dashboard features a place that keeps track of all of your child(ren)’s grades. When they do the worksheets and Exams online it automatically logs and saves the grades in the Dashboard. There are options to also print out the worksheets (and Exams as well), which we opted to do a couple of times. You can then go in and manually add grades for any worksheets and exams that were printed out.
For example, Brayden was having a hard time doing a couting worksheet online because he couldn’t cross out the items he had already counted. So, we printed out that worksheet (as well as that first exam), so he could cross out the items as he counted them. Then, I manually added his grade from the worksheet. It was really simple, and I liked that we were given the option to do either.

To get started I first looked at the Lesson Plan before doing anything else as I usually do. It’s also something I always recommend! 😉 The lesson plan was nicely laid out and easy to follow. The first week started with one lesson every day. I really liked that on “Exam weeks” they would only do one or two lessons so there was plenty of time for review. Each lesson starts with a video lesson for the child to follow along with a review following the lesson. I like how the video lesson encourages them to interact by answering out loud.
The first review after the first lesson was a little challenging because we had to figure out you have to click the frog’s belly to submit the answer before moving forward. Once he knew that, though, he never forgot to do it again! Because he is on the Autism Spectrum he is very “technical,” so seeing that he “didn’t answer” questions on the first review was enough to make him remember not to forget that step! Then they were to complete the worksheet for that lesson. Because the first lesson was counting that is the worksheet I printed out so he could physically mark off the objects he already counted. Otherwise, he did well with doing the worksheets online, and he enjoyed doing work on the computer and getting away from his desk for a while!
We completed the first 2 chapters during the review period, and it really did fill in some gaps – gaps I didn’t even know we had. It was very detailed and covered concepts like skip counting (counting by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, etc.), which is something we hadn’t done before, and he really enjoyed it and did well! It really helped him to count more easily because it’s obviously much easier to skip count when you have higher numbers rather than counting everything individually! There were a couple of points in the first chapter that were very frustrating for him, which were letter NAMES. Although he is slowly (but surely) learning to read, reading is very frustrating for him.
After one video lesson he was expected to know the names of the numbers, and he was literally in tears over it. I encouraged him to try to sound them out, but he was already too frustrated to continue. Although I do think recognizing letter words and names is important, I was surprised it actually went into details of double digit letters in the first chapter, and I did feel that is a little too difficult for some first graders – particularly one like mine that has a harder time reading.
I feel he would benefit from it further into the program, but he needed more time to learn them and recognize them. It was discouraging for both of us to see him getting grades like 60% on the worksheets due to this. Obviously it affected his grade on the exam as well. I was able to keep up his spirit, though, so he wasn’t too discouraged to continue! So, he was still excited and ready to start the second chapter.

Another thing I enjoyed about A+ Tutorsoft is that after we initially navigated it together he was able to navigate it on his own. After discovering the “frog” issue the next issue was finding the “Next” Button on the Worksheets, but once he recognized that button he was able to do that as well. This gave him a boost in confidence to do things on his own, and I was even able to work more one on one with our other two children. Brayden really benefits from independence and self confidence. I love that at the end it would show them a completion certificate with fireworks and everything. He would be SO proud to show us his completion certificate. I think it is wonderful that it makes such a fun display of their achievements!
A+ Tutorsoft is definitely a thorough online Math program and is good for learners that enjoy computer time and gives you plenty of options for those that prefer physical worksheets with the ability to still track everything online! This is a benefit for a parent like me that likes to “track” everything without writing it all down on paper. Aside from the reading frustration and after we got through some of the navigation concerns Brayden enjoys and has been benefitting from this program.
A+ Tutorsoft offers a free one-month trial so you can try it for yourself. It also offers online placement test to be sure you start your children at the correct grade level. A Yearly membership is $124.99. Or you have the option to purchase Monthly ($19.99) or Quarterly ($49.99) memberships as well. Right now A+ Tutorsoft is offering an AMAZING deal! 50% off through the end of March! The coupon is good on any product, any plan, and you can buy more than one! Make sure to use the code SPOFFER50.

To read more great reviews, including other great levels and the CD software – click the banner below!

Apologia Zoology 2 Review

February 13, 2013 by Emilee Evans

I have heard so many positive reviews for Apologia Educational Ministries that I was extremely excited to have the chance to review Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. In fact, I’m not sure who was more excited: the kids or me! We also had the opportunity to document our experiences in the Junior Notebooking Journal, which is designed especially for the younger learners like our two first graders. The Junior Notebook is also recommended for older learners that may not have mastered writing skills or have developmental delays.
When I first received the text book I was amazed at the wealth of information provided. At first, it was almost overwhelming at the thought of all the information and knowing with our kids’ special needs they have a hard time focusing. Luckily, they provide a recommended schedule (which can be found in the beginning of the Junior Notebooking Journal) that divides each Lesson into 4 days. So by their recommended schedule we worked on the curriculum twice a week, which means you complete one lesson every two weeks. This is just the recommended schedule per the Junior Notebooking Journal, so you could definitely tailor it to work on it more often as well. This schedule worked out very well for us given our kids’ short attention spans. With their developmental delays (one is on the Autism Spectrum and the other has Sensory Processing Disorder) they take information much better in short spurts, and it helps them retain it better, so this break up of the material was perfect. There were still times when reading from the text that I had to paraphrase in order to keep their attention but because it was a subject they want to learn about it, it really helped to keep them attentive. They were really surprised at the things they were learning about the sea creatures, and how there is so much more than they imagined. I really appreciated the Biblical references for the creatures of the Fifth Day as well. There were also a wonderful amount of hands on activities to really enforce what we learned in the text. I love how we were able to us personal experiences to reinforce lessons as well such as when we go fishing! The kids really enjoyed making hypothesis and then discovering the results of our experiments. It was great that many of the hands on experiments use products you generally have at home anyway. Just in case, though, the beginning of the Text Book thoroughly covers what to expect from this curriculum, how to use the book in a step-by-step guide, and items needed to complete each lesson. They definitely didn’t leave anything out! They have gracious provided a sample of Lesson 2 so you can see a lesson before making a decision. The Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day can be purchased for $39.
The Junior Notebooking Journal complemented the lessons very well, and we used it regularly. You can make your own notebook, but I appreciated the layout and ease of this Notebooking Journal because it flows so well with the lessons. Because there are a lot of activities I opted to have our children share the notebook and divide the work evenly, which worked out really well! I found it was divided perfectly for this, and it really helped both of them to not feel overwhelmed. I loved when we would go to the Junior Notebooking Journal because that is where I would discover what they had been learning, and it was so neat to me that they would both soak in different things that would be their “favorite” part of the lessons. They would each draw different pictures and write about something different, though sometimes they chose the same thing. Because they cannot write on their own yet I would ask them what they would want to say to remember what they learned, which I would then write on a separate piece of paper and have them write it in the notebook. Certain lines were smaller, so I would fill in their answers myself on those lines because they do both have motor skill delays with writing, so writing in smaller spaces can be very difficult. In the Junior Notebooking Journal they answered questions about what they had learned, drew pictures about what they had learned, colored pictures, made puzzle pockets and mini books, and copied Bible Verses. The Bible Verses were offered in both print and cursive, but because they haven’t learned cursive they would both copy the print verse. It really was full of great activities. For more check out the Junior Notebooking Journal Sample. They also have a Regular Notebooking Journal for older children and those that have mastered writing. Here is a Notebooking Journal Sample. Both Notebooking Journals can be purchased for $24.

Overall, we really enjoy Apologia Zoology 2, and it has been a great addition to our homeschooling. It is well written, full of great information, and has a great guideline for teaching. It offers plenty of hands on activities to really help the lessons sink in. I also love that this curriculum can be used for the wide range of Elementary students: grades K-6! For more reviews on Zoology 2 as well as other great Apologia Elementary Science Programs check out all the Reviews from the Review Crew Below!

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this product through the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family and may be different than yours. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. Please refer to my Disclosure Policy for more information.