Oh, first grade the beginning of learning and the beginning of you kids becoming little adults. Kids are full of hopes and excitement about growing up and doing big kids things. But if you are homeschooling it’s a little different.
As a homeschool mom, we want to create the best first-grade homeschool schedule for our kids to keep them engaged all year round while learning.
Below I am going to share with you my homeschool schedule for when my daughter was in first grade. Keep in mind that I work full-time and my husband stays home with the kids during the day.
Therefore, I introduce a subject or concept and he does the monitoring during the day. Also, I control my own schedule, so if one day I have to stay home and explain a new concept I will do it.
Here’s what our first grade homeschool schedule looks like. You can download the free template and make it your own.
Core elements of curriculum
- House chores
- Curriculum itself
- PE
- Free play
- Electives
Remember the schedule above is designed according to the needs of my house and me being a full-time working mom, while my husband supervises the kids during the day and helps teach some of the subjects I suck at.
Curriculum
This is the most important step before even starting to homeschool choosing the curriculum that works for your family. I chose Masterbooks and I love it.
We have been using them for a couple of years now and they really don’t disappoint. It’s an easy open and go curriculum that gives us the flexibility for me to teach during the day/night and my husband to follow what I taught.
Morning basket
Morning basket it’s essential to us and this is done in the morning before I leave the house to work. During this time my twins play with blocks and my daughter and I would sit on the kitchen table and read the bible and have a devotional, she works on review worksheets and I read aloud for a little bit, we usually do a couple of verses from the bible.
I cherish this time and love it. This time allows me to have a moment of intimacy with my daughter.
Read Aloud
The important thing about reading aloud it s for your child to be able to follow the story just by hearing it. My husband takes care of this part. But it’s usually 30-45 minutes long.
My daughter or I would choose a book that we are learning about and just read it. It took a while for my daughter to understand and be able to follow a story just from hearing it but she finally got it.
Language arts
This is writing time. I have to say not my daughter’s favorite subject. She doesn’t like to write. So often I find myself making up little stories and creating writing prompts to keep her engaged.
We spent around 45 minutes to an hour on this subject. This is a vital subject in my house since English it’s not my first language and my daughter it’s able to speak both English and Spanish. I want her to be able to write in both as well but the main focus it’s English for sure.
Math
Pretty easy for my child and myself therefore, it will only take around 40 minutes.
Science
Okay, let me just say this we love science. I’m a nurse so anything related to living things and creating life it’s good for me. If it was for my daughter this would be the only subject I would teach.
So since we both enjoy it and don’t really feel like this we have to do it. We do science 2-3 times per week for 30-45 minutes.
History
Husband it’s the one in charge of history since I am a history challenge!.
This subject is taught 2 times per week for around 30 minutes.
PE
My kids love this and in our house, this is very important because they spend most of the day indoors. That being said I take them to the playground which is next door to my house or we exercise together.
I have a subscription to beachbody on demand and we choose a family theme exercise routine and we just jump around.
The point to get them moving somehow and preferably out of the house.
Other educational activities for first graders
- Watch TV: documentaries, educational movies, cartoons
- Read whatever they want to read.
- Go on field trips
- Get together with your homeschool co-op for activities
- Play pretend with them
How many hours do I homeschool my first grader for?
In total it would be around 4 hours, 4 days per week. The point is to keep them learning as much as possible while enjoying what you are teaching them.
We incorporate learning on as many things as we can. At this age kids are like a blank canvas that needs to be filled with knowledge
Extracurricular Activities for first graders
I have found to work best for us it’s to choose something that my daughter it’s interested in. So, She likes to make clothes for her dolls so I got her a sewing kit which she loves and we learn how to use the needle and how to make something new for her dolls.
That being said, she also likes baking. We bake something on a weekly basis and at the same time teach about science and math when getting the ingredients together and the current state of the ingredients and what they will become.
Every month I go on Youtube and find kids friendly recipes and try them.
Art
I believe that kids can express themselves through art. They can create a whole world on a canvas or just create by using their imagination. My daughter is a singer. She has a gifted voice according to the pastor at my church. So I take her to church to practice with the little kids her age and she really likes that. We do this once per week.
Coloring
We use a lot of different coloring books as well as I create some of them according to the subject we are teaching. FYI, as you can see I reinforce my teachings a lot. The way I see it is learning without her noting that I am teaching her.
Field Trips
I joined a homeschool group and just joined them for field trips and sometimes classes. I believe it would be very beneficial for you to find a Homeschool group where they have field trips and teach/ reinforce what you are learning.
Library
I believe it’s extremely important to take my daughter to the library at least once per month. This is because I want her to know where books live and to be able to understand the importance of a library in our community.
This is not a must-do but a choice. But you might find it very rewarding. Also, sometimes the library will host kids activities that are very fun.
Chores
I believe that chores are a must. They teach our kids responsibility and also, it teaches them skills that they will need for the rest of their lives. That being said even the twins who are years old have their chores. Pick up all their toys after they finish playing. It’s not much but my little boy gives me such a hard time.
The most important part of chores is being consistent and holding them accountable. Do not try to do their chores because they didn’t do it correctly, instead teach them and let it be messy.
