Charlotte Mason First Grade Curriculum Plan

A Charlotte Mason Education

Our oldest is six years old (going on seven) and officially entering the formal years of her education. This year, there will be a lot more on both of our plates than what was done informally in our Kindergarten year.

We are a Charlotte Mason homeschooling family and follow her methods as closely as possible in this modern age. This means that our approach to education places God as the chief aim of all learning. Her method sees children as “born persons” meaning that they their unique personality will set the pace of their learning and will determine what portions of their education mean the most to them.

In order to find that out, a mother must provide a “feast” of ideas in all areas of learning so that the child has a wide and varied appetite in their education. This is because we don’t yet know exactly what may strike or inspire our children and their future. Charlotte Mason believed in only using the best of books with “living ideas” in the education of children. They must be literary in nature and interesting to read or hear in order to entice a child’s natural and curious thirst for knowledge.

You can learn more about Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education in her six volume Home Education Series. I highly encourage you to read Miss Mason’s words for yourself. I have read many books about her style of learning but none of them have been as excellent as her own words and ideas.

First Grade Curriculum Picks for a Charlotte Mason Homeschool

Let’s get right down to the “good stuff”. To implement Charlotte Mason’s methods in our first grade homeschool plan, we are using Ambleside Online as the backbone of our education. They are a free Charlotte Mason homeschool curriculum providing printable plans for years 1-12. You buy the books on their book lists and follow their schedule. Subjects include Bible, History, Natural History, Literature, Poetry, Artist Study, Composer Study, Hymn and Folk Songs and Geography. They are the most budget friendly and time-tested Charlotte Mason curriculum that I’ve found!

Ambleside Online Year One Schedule and Book List

We are also using Simply Charlotte Mason for math and Spanish resources as suggested by Ambleside Online since they didn’t have specific books listed for those subjects, rather, a list of resources you can choose from.

**I will receive a small percentage of books purchased through my Amazon affiliate links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support, friend! **

The Overview of our First Grade Curriculum Plan

Skill-Based Subjects

Math: Simply Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic Series Book One

Grammar: Gentle Grammar Level One by Sherry K. Hayes and C.C. Long

Reading/Phonics: We used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons in our Kindergarten Year and it worked incredibly well for my daughter. This year, my plan is to simply have her read every day with books on her current reading level. I will help her break down new words she encounters that she doesn’t know yet. Easy as that!

Readers we are currently using:

• Frog and Toad Treasury by Arnold Lobel

• Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel

• Little Bear Treasury by Elsie Holmelund Minarik

• Dr. Seuss Books

• Magic Treehouse Series by Mary Pope Osbourne

• Library Books

Handwriting/Copywork: For this subject, I bought a lined composition notebook for early writers from Walmart. Every day during the school week, my first grader will practice writing her name, date, day of the week and any letters that need extra practice in this notebook.

I will assist her to make sure she is taking time to form her letters well. She will also do copywork from our lesson readings, bible verses, poetry or anything else beautiful we come across.

Foreign Language: Speaking Spanish with Francois and Miss Mason Level One (Simply Charlotte Mason)

Ambleside Online Year One Curriculum

The following books are scheduled by Ambleside Online for Year One. You can print their free curriculum plan for first grade here.

Bible: We are using a large King James family Bible to read aloud lessons after breakfast.

• Old Testament - Genesis

• New Testament - Luke 1-18

• We will rotate between the book of Proverbs and Psalms on day where there is no scheduled reading so that we are still reading the Bible every day.

Poetry

• When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne

• Now We are Six by A.A. Milne

• A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson

• A Child’s Book of Poems by Gyo Fujikawa

History

• Our Island Story by H.E. Marshall

• 50 Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin

• Trial and Triumph: Stories from Church History by Richard Hannula

• Viking Tales by Jennie Hall

• Benjamin Franklin by Ingri D’Aulaire

• George Washington by Ingri D’Aulaire

• Buffalo Bill by Ingri D’Aulaire

Natural History (Science)

• The Burgess Bird Book by Thornton Burgess

• James Herriot’s Treasury for Children by James Herriot

Literature

• Parables from Nature by Margaret Gatty

• The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter

• Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb

• The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

• Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

Geography

• Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling

• Elementary Geography by Charlotte M. Mason

• Home Geography for Primary Grades by C.C. Long

Nature Study

• The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock

Recitation: Ambleside Online schedules Bible verses and poems for your child to memorize each term. For Year One, you can find the recitation passages on their Year One web page here .

Handicrafts: This is my weak point, to be honest. We will start with embroidery and will be learning basic embroidery stitches together. I will utilize YouTube videos, Pinterest and library books for instruction and project ideas.

We are following the AO rotation for the following subjects (follow the links to AO’s website and free resources for these subjects):

Artist Study

Composer Study

Hymns and Folk Songs (Folks and Hymns is our favorite YouTube Channel that performs the monthly songs for Ambleside Online.)

Free Reads/Read Alouds:

The following books are from Ambleside Online’s suggested Free Reads for Year One and can be found on their printable schedule:

• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

• The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin

• Peter Pan by James M. Barrie

• Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

• Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

• St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges

• The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

• Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

• Pocahontas by Ingri D'Aulaire

We already read several of these last year during my daughter’s kindergarten year and over the summer before homeschooling began. So, I have compiled a separate list of books we already own to read aloud. She will revisit some of these Ambleside Online suggestions this year through audiobooks.

The following list is books that we already have on hand and would like to read aloud together as a family this year:

• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

• The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson

• Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

• Matilda by Roald Dahl

• Heidi by Johanna Spyri

• The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

A Living Education

I’m so excited for the school year ahead! I will be redeeming my own education alongside my daughter as I encounter and pre-read many of these great classics for the first time.

To retain the ideas, we will be using narration as a tool for learning. This is suggested by Charlotte Mason and natural way of gaining knowledge that is far more beneficial than remembering facts long enough to pass an exam before losing them in your memory forever.

After each reading from Bible, History, Natural History or Literature, my daughter will narrate or “tell back” to me what she just heard. I will then give her the option to illustrate her narration.

What I love about Charlotte Mason is that her method is both simple and beautiful! Books and notebooks. No unnecessary fluff, flourish or busy work. Just rich literature paired with the arts to cultivate a living education that is a delight both to the child and to the mother-teacher.

If you want to learn more about Charlotte Mason’s method of education I highly recommend these books to get you started:

• Towards a Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason

• Home Education by Charlotte Mason

• For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Dear Homeschool Mama,

I pray you and your children have a wonderful homeschool year ahead. May you grow together in the knowledge and delight of God’s world. May you become closer to one another and our Creator.

May the Lord grant you patience, wisdom and understanding as you lead your children this year.

May He grant your children obedience, confidence, delight, curiosity and knowledge this year.

Happy homeschooling!

Humbly,

Haley

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