Curriculum can sometimes feel overwhelming. As a parent, you want to do what’s best for your child. There are so many wonderful options out there, so what do you choose?

The answer to that question will always depend on your child. Even within a home, curriculum needs can be different. For example, my two oldest children do not always use the same books.

In this post, I’ll be sharing what we used for my oldest daughter for first grade and how it worked for us.

Every family is going to be different, but sometimes it helps to hear how something works for someone else. That’s what I hope to do here.

Keep in mind, this is all based on my opinion. What works for me may not work for you, and vice versa. I’ll be sharing the good and the bad experiences we have had this year.

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Horizons Math

I chose to stick with Horizons Math for first grade. We used it in Kindergarten, and I really enjoyed it. (Click here for some super fun math activities to go along with Horizons K)

We purchased Book 1 and Book 2, and that’s it. We did not purchase any sort of curriculum set from the company or the teacher guide this year. (I had the guide for Kindergarten and never used it.)

After my experience with kindergarten, I knew I wanted to have a few manipulatives on hand to use with the lessons. I purchased a small set of base ten blocks and uni-fix cubes. Both are used almost every week. I highly recommend having these to go along with the workbooks.

Horizons uses a spiral method to teach math skills.

This means topics are introduced and practiced throughout the entire book. The alternative to that is to introduce a topic, master it, and move on. Horizons is not set up that way. Each lesson reviews multiple concepts – old and new.

The student workbook is colorful and easy to follow. Lessons are usually front and back, and there are tests throughout. The tests look just like the lessons, so there is nothing surprising there. For the student, it may just feel like another lesson.

I would not describe Horizons as “open and go”, because at times there is a small bit of prep involved.

Once you get used to the book, the prep only takes a minute or two. Many curricula include a script for parents. In the Horizons student workbook, there are only directions for the student. You could definitely just have your child complete it, but I’ll tell you right now – that will get really boring really quick.

I’ve learned a little creativity is necessary, so I created math mats to make the planning and prep super easy! Having a go-to set allows me to just grab and go as I am getting the lesson ready. They are easy to store, easy to use, and fun to do!

Before we begin a lesson, I quickly look through the page and grab a math math that will go with it. I briefly look at the content to see if there’s any new skill to introduce. If so, I introduce that skill and help her practice. The rest of the lesson she completes independently. This works great for us because it puts less pressure on me. It only takes a minute or two for me to get it ready for her.

The teacher’s guide does include the steps to introducing the lesson and practicing the skill. It also gives an idea or two for an activity to do along with the lesson, but the guide is a separate purchase from the workbooks. Think of it as directions and not a script. (This was my experience with the Kindergarten guide since I did not purchase it for first.)

I personally love this curriculum because I can get creative at my own pace.

I can easily add manipulatives (base ten blocks, uni-fix cubes, coins) with simple math mats so that any lesson can be hands on. I can play basic flash card games or math games to practice a skill. This is always fun, because we are not glued to the workbook. We can move around and review. (Check out this flash card blog post.)

Or, if we want to just stick to the workbook page, we can. Some days it’s nice to just get it done! I don’t ever feel pressure to complete a planned out script.

I have four children and sometimes following a script gets tricky.

I love that the Horizons curriculum allows me to do as much or as little as I like, without feeling guilty. I can be creative and add simple activities. On the flip side to that, if I need to tend to other children or we need to work quickly, my daughter can work on her own without much help at all. For now, this is what feels good for our family, so we plan to stick with Horizons next year.

For More Horizons tips, check out this video on how we shorten a lesson.

Language Arts: The Good and the Beautiful

We started the first grade year with The Good and The Beautiful Level 1. When I first received the curriculum, it was exactly as it says – good and beautiful!

I loved all of the art and stories. It had activities and games within the workbook that we could play during the lesson. Everything was easy to follow and scripted. I always felt prepared when I taught the lesson, and I thought this would be perfect for us.

The Good and the Beautiful comes with a few different pieces.

There is the workbook, phonics cards, and a leveled reader with multiple stories.

I loved the reader because it was at my daughter’s level and the stories were really cute. The student is expected to read every day, but it’s not always from the reader. The reader was assigned in the lesson 4-5 times a month.

The included phonics cards are to be practiced a couple times a week. The lesson will specifically say when to practice the cards.  Honestly, I used them maybe 2-3 times and then quit. There is no guidance on which ones to practice or whether or not to practice them in a certain order. There are over 100 cards in the set. It can feel overwhelming to practice them and, to be frank, it’s quite boring.

We started the curriculum in August and by the time we made it to Christmas, I made the decision to switch to something else. We did not switch because the curriculum was bad. We switched because it wasn’t the right fit for our family.

The lesson itself takes anywhere from 30-45 minutes to complete.

Add on phonics cards and shared reading time, and it gets to feel quite time consuming. This is another reason why I skipped the phonics cards. I wish I could sit and do school with my daughter one on one all day. But, let’s be honest, I can’t! With a new baby in tow, it became really hard for me to set aside so much time each day for just one subject.

Eventually, the lessons felt like too much.

We both became bored and started skipping things…I just knew we needed something fresh and different. We needed something that could be more flexible.

We decided to switch to Christian Light Education Language Arts.

I picked this program because it is sold in small booklets. You can buy an individual booklet or the whole set. I bought one booklet for less than $5.00, and I thought this would be a great way to try it out.

The Christian Light Education Language Arts is set up very similar to the Horizons math program I mentioned above. This could be why I ended up liking it so much. The program covers phonics, grammar, punctuation, writing, and spelling.

It introduces new topics and reviews previous skills throughout. It’s easy for me to teach my daughter the new skill, practice it, and then let her work independently. There are no stories to read, no games to play, it is straight to the point.

Now, this doesn’t mean we can’t have fun with it. I can easily create or search for some sort of practice game or activity If I want to. I do not own the teacher guide, so I am unaware if there are ideas for activities to add along with the lesson.

When we switched to Christian Light, I decided to use classic novels to read aloud and practice reading skills. I’ll share those later in this post.

I loved that we finally had time do read alouds because our workbook didn’t take as much time to complete.

I love reading novels with my kids, and I was having the hardest time fitting it in until we switched to Christian Light. I plan to stick with this program for second grade (See second grade curriculum review here), and I will purchase the guide. There are many days I wish I had it.

If you look on their website, there are many other helpful resources you can use to enhance your language arts. Phonics cards, information sheets, and a handwriting workbook are all options I can consider next year. Their reading curriculum also correlates with the language arts. (I plan to stick with classic novels.)

Once again (just like math), I like that I can be as creative as I want with this program. If I want to search for a game to practice, I can. If I want to just let her work, I can do that too. It’s flexible for us.

I don’t feel stuck to a script, so it works for this phase of our life.

If you enjoy a script, I would definitely recommend The Good and the Beautiful. It really is well thought out and thorough. When it comes down to it, I just needed more flexibility.

Science/History

We are part of a Classical Conversations Community, so we do not purchase a separate science or history curriculum. However, we have loved reading the “Who Was…?” series this year. We read a couple in the first semester, and I’d like to read more! They are such a fun and easy read.

Before I had my baby, we were using a devotional book to determine our science lesson. I’ll talk more about this book below, but we had a lot of fun with it. Whatever the devotion was about, I would check out specific books related to that topic from the library. It was easy to read and so easy to do! However, it did require planning in advance (to check out books in time).

We are not consistent with either of these two science or history supplements, but we do love adding it in when we need something new and fresh in our routine.

Bible/Devotional

This year we have been reading “Indescribable: 100 Devotions About God and Science”. This devotional is awesome! They are short and so interesting, even for me as the parent. Every day is a different science lesson related to a bible verse. We never get bored with it.

This book would be great for all ages. I used to teach 5^th grade, and they would have loved this book!

If you have younger kids, you could definitely get creative and use this to help plan your science.

As I mentioned earlier, we did this at the beginning of the year, and it was a lot of fun. The only reason we stopped was because I had a hard time planning in time to get books from the library.

You know, this book would also be great for a summer read! If you take a break from your school books, you could still do mini science lessons along with the devotionals. Simply, look through the devotions for the week and check out library books on those topics.

Whether you use it to supplement your science or not, this was a great purchase! We will work through the rest of it this year, and I look forward to pulling it out again in a few years.

Handwriting

I chose The Good and the Beautiful for handwriting for two reasons. It was inexpensive and my daughter requested a program with three lines (with a dashed mid-line).

The workbook is put together well and can be completed independently. I love how there are lessons of good character and basic life skills like first and last name, phone number, and home address.

Each lesson has some sort of drawing or coloring activity at the bottom of the page. Eventually, we started skipping those, because my daughter was not interested. Overall, we were happy with it.

I think handwriting can be a tricky thing because it does get a little boring and tedious for the child.

However, I do think it’s good practice. I don’t know if we will purchase this one again only because I feel like it will be a waste to have all of the extra drawing and coloring that won’t get used. Most likely I will look for something without that.

We did change it up half way through the year. For a while we used the copy work from The Secret Garden Read Aloud Experience. We also use Draw Right Now to add some fun.

Read Aloud Novels

I wish I would’ve read more this year, but with the new baby, this is one of the things that got skipped for a bit. We did read a few great ones that I will share with you.

I mentioned before that we have used the “Who Was…?” series to supplement history. We read “Who Was Christopher Columbus?” and “Who Was Davy Crockett?” I love how these books are short, interesting, and easy to read.

Once I switched to Christian Light Language Arts, I really wanted to focus on a novel since the workbook did not have any reading portions (it’s a separate curriculum).

We started with The Secret Garden. We followed the free Read Aloud Experience that allowed us to have new copy work for handwriting and a simple craft/activity to do every day. It was super easy and it gave us something to look forward to every day.

The Secret Garden has 27 chapters, so it’s a definitely a time commitment. Even still, we thought the book was so wonderful and even enjoyed the movies afterwards.

I wanted our next book to be much lighter, so we chose Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. Once again we followed the free Read Aloud Experience. There is no copy work with this one, but we did add it into our devotion time, as each chapter is assigned a scripture verse.

We had a ton of fun with Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. Every chapter brought great discussion, and we continue to refer to the lessons we learned even after finishing. It’s great for all ages and it’s so silly!

It’s hard to believe we are headed towards the end of our first grade year.

Maybe you’ve thought about using something in your homeschool that I mentioned above. It’s even possible that you did use something and loved it, even though I didn’t. Whatever the reason is, remember that every child is different. You are the parent. You are obviously doing your research! (That’s why you’re here.) Be confident with what you pick, and jump in. You’ve got this!