Structuring a grade 1 homeschool for a six-year-old: this is a case study because your six-year-old and MY six-year-old aren’t the same.
In fact, I’ve had four six-year-olds living in the same family, and they aren’t the same either.
So take my suggestions with a grain of salt. You can’t teach the same way to each child. They’re different. Your goal is to tailor an education for each of your kids differently.
I’d like to introduce a case study of my six-year-old so you have ideas for a grade 1 homeschool.
So let’s chat grade 1 homeschool and ideas you might be able to use for your grade 1 homeschool kiddo.
He’s logically precocious.
Zach has whipped me at chess since he was two (which speaks volumes about my chess-playing skills, not just his). At six, he was playing adults on Saturday mornings in hopes he would improve his skills to whip his dad.
(Which he successfully did when he was eight. That was a bet that earned him a LEGO set.)
So we include an online chess time in his morning studies, as a break from the more rote aspects of his day.
This grade 1 homeschool kiddo loves to play mental math games with ease.
And he likes it. He plays Legos with abandon, he’d be Minecraft-addicted if I let him, and he speaks frankly, not always tactfully.
But he has a winning, melt-me smile and has been generous with polite mannerisms since he was three: “thank you, excuse me, you’re welcome”.
He loves to read.
His present favourite bedtime story is from a Chess Strategy book…can’t believe that’s what I read to him…I don’t understand it, apparently, he does.
Naturally, his ease with reading makes my world so much easier. I know kids that didn’t have that ease until they were twelve. And my older three daughters didn’t read as voraciously as him.
They all learned to read differently.
What grade 1 homeschool extracurriculars might your child be interested in?
He enjoys his gymnastics class.
Zach gladly cross-country skis and canoes with us in season. He’s got a good arm for baseball which we saw at six months. But he’s more interested in the reward at the end than he is in actually playing. Naturally, he’s learning football strategy alongside daddy, but he’d rather learn strategy for board or card games.
Zach will join in on sisterly activities as he’s got three older sisters.
So he also likes his toenails painted, he can whip up a mean smoothie without me in the kitchen. And he played a hobgoblin in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”…a homeschool community theatre offering.
His participation was directly influenced by his sisters because he retired from his theatre career at nine and retired from his choir participation at seven. But his sisters have influenced his participation in activities anyway.
Things I’m learning about teaching my six-year-old…
He likely sits longer than most of his peers, especially his boy peers, but that’s because he’s been doing studies with us since he was crawling.
He can memorize poems just like his older sisters.
These kiddos have keen minds. The more they memorize, the better they get. Presently, he memorizes three-stanza poems.
“When I was One, I had just begun.
When I was two, I was nearly new.
When I was three, I was hardly me.
When I was four, I was not much more.
When I was five, I was just alive.
But now I am six, I’m as clever as clever.
So I think I’ll be six now, forever and ever”
A.A. Milne
He journals every study morning.
This means he draws a picture of what he did yesterday and dictates to me what his picture is about.
He usually draws pics of what he wishes he did yesterday like volcanos exploding and boats rescuing us from tsunamis.
Today he wrote: “It’s a football game that you guys are going to–Superbowl. Who you guys are cheering for is the people who are losing, but they will win in the end. Seattle Seahawks will win! ” (And he was prophetic too!)
The ideas are getting on-page, albeit through me. This is a beginner’s approach to story writing.
He’s got his own Math-U-See book.
And he’s zooming through it. He performs math equations like I rattle off my written opinion. Sometimes I’ll lay flashcards on the floor and have him use dried beans, Legos, or manipulatives to answer the questions.
As Steve Deme has taught me in his math program, introduce the concept with manipulatives, then repeat, repeat, repeat till they understand it, and until they ask to do it themselves.
Mastery is the goal. And if they get it, move on. Don’t let them be bored. So far so easy for this kid.
(PS Not so easy for other kids.)
This grade 1 homeschool kid began reading when he was five.
As in we sounded letters out phonics-style. We read his Dick and Jane book together. Then Dr. Seuss’s Hop on Pop. And now he’s reading Toad on the Road and Fat Cat on the Mat. He’s learning his blends, double vowel words, and why an e at the end of the word is silent.
Bananagrams, Scrabble Slam and simply building words from scrabble tiles are useful kinesthetic approaches to reading that he loves.
Even six-year-olds can learn vocabulary.
Funny that my cookie could explain the reasons for World War 1 beginning, but I discovered one day that he couldn’t put his alphabet in order. So he’s been joining us by tidying up our All About Spelling board after we do lessons with two older sisters.
I’ve got a lot of fun spelling-teaching ideas here.
Can a grade 1 homeschool include a second language? Nope.
We’ve done a lot of traveling, so we usually studied languages before we traveled:
- French for Paris (though we’re Canadian, so French for Canada too),
- Italian for Italy,
- Swahili for Kenya,
- Dutch for Amsterdam (turns out they’re English adept),
- and ASL just because the kids were interested.
We’ve done videos on YouTube or Ecoutez Parlez for French, French flashcards, memory games, Pictionary, and hangman too.
(Having older sisters means this six-year-old has had boundless learning opportunities.)
What does he do for science? Everything. At this age, he tags along with his older sisters.
But every time he has a question, we do a little research. In fact, a “curriculum” can be built on these curious questions. And how fun it is to wander down a rabbit hole into their curiosities.
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Teresa Wiedrick
I help overwhelmed homeschool mamas shed what’s not working in their homeschool & life, so they can show up authentically, purposefully, and confidently in their homeschool & life.
This was great…it’s nice to have concrete details of what someone else is doing. My six year old loves math and reading, too, and is interested in everything science. She likes the DK sticker books on rocks and minerals, and the Usborne lift a flap information books. The other day a friend brought us a stack of kids’ magazines called Chickadee and High Five, and she hardly stopped reading them for two days.
She often learns better standing up and jumps around when she’s really excited. Sometimes we do jumping jack math where she jumps the answer to the question. I like the idea of the math-u-see program. We also enjoy doing plays of illustrated kids books. They are often about the right length, and make for an easy drama class.
Other passions are baking with her kids cook books and teaching her little siblings how to draw and do crafts. She likes to play teacher.
My favourite thing with her and my 8 year old daughter is reading Narnia stories aloud before bed. Makes for great discussions, even of an ethical nature, and such fun for the imagination.
Anna
My second born likes to play teacher too. A natural born nurturer. Very helpful with her younger siblings. And she bakes too! Sounds like the same kiddo. Mine is blogging her cooking adventures at capturingthecharmedkitchen.wordpress.com
Too cool! What a great idea!
My almost 6 year old: Started riding a pedal bike, mostly on her own, after mastering a run bike. She loves to wash windows, dust plant tables, and is pretty good at washing dishes. She’s figured out that wearing the clothes left on her floor means there are less to pick up and put away, and her pile of clean laundry was easily 1/6 that of her next eldest sister. She will try to negotiate to get what she wants. She’s mastered everything in Kindergarten so far, tries reading I Can Fly (Little Golden Book), diligently does her homework (usually) on her own. Remembers her memory verses easily. At VBS a couple years ago, she had most of a psalm memorized (I lift my eyes up to the mountains….). I love that she plays with her younger brother and keeps him out of mischief when I need to do other things (such as shower). He loves her. Often, not always, quick to forgive. Sometimes has a fierce reaction to being wronged. She sings, making up silly new verses for songs she knows.
I love it when they figure out they need to keep their room clean. Freedom 5!