First Grade

Welcome to ​Old Fashioned Education's FREE online K-12 curriculum.
Before you begin, please read the introduction and license agreement. ​

Directions: 

1. Gather materials using the Booklist (below) for what to teach.
2. Print the free 40-Week Schedule PDF for when to teach it.
3. Order the Grade 1 Teaching Guide (optional) with lesson plans, worksheets, tests, and answer key for how to teach it or plan your own lessons using the FREE Homeschool Planner PDF.

Key:  *Free online   ❶  Our Pick!   ❷ Christianbook

First Grade

Age 6+
General American History

King James Bible

• King James Bible* ($1 at Dollar Tree) | All Levels

Bible Study

• The Nursery Book of Bible Stories by Amy Steedman* | Level 0-1 ❶ or
• Mother Stories from the Old Testament* | Level 0-1
• Mother Stories from the New Testament*​ | Level 0-1
• Reference: Hurlbut's Bible Atlas * | Level 1-2
• Child's Book of Prayers ❷ or Prayers for Children or Little Folded Hands* | Level 0-1
• Learn 9 prayers. Learn The Lord's Prayer.

​Optional Sunday Reading:

• Mrs. Gatty's Parables from Nature* | Level 1-2

Devotions

• Keys for Kids* or Kids 4 Truth Devotionals* or  More Than Words ❶ or your choice | Level 1

Arithmetic

Choose 1.

• ​CIMT, MEP, Primary Year 2* | Level 1
• Everyday Arithmetic Primer (First Half)* with Answers* | Level 1
• Ray's New Primary Arithmetic* and Ray's free video lessons* | Level 1
• Math program of your choice, purchase separately ❶ ​

Science

Choose 1.

• ​Enjoying Science Together (family together) or

Read through the following: 

• Among the Forest People*  ❶
• Among the Night People* ❶
• Among the Pond People* ❶
• Among the Farm-Yard People* ❶
• Among the Meadow People* ❶
• The Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children*

​
​Library Skills

• Go to the library once a week, learn how it all works. If you go on Fridays then you can check out the books you'll need for the following week.

​
Language Arts

• Phonics: Word Mastery: A Course in Phonics for the First Three Grades*, pp. 26-64
• Reading: McGuffey's First Eclectic Reader* ❷ and A Primary Reader*
• Writing: Handwriting book of choice or Enjoying Penmanship Book One ^, purchase separately
• Spelling: McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book, up to lesson 4 (included in Enjoying Penmanship) ​
• Grammar: Enjoying Language Arts 1 + Lessons in the Use of English: Book 1*, Part 1 (oral only) [1]

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................
If you are using all 3 programs of study, the reading below is optional.

Literature
Choose as many or as few of these books as you see fit.  You don't need to read all of them.  Just the ones you like.

• Andersen's Fairy Tales *or Andrew Lang's Fairy Books * | Level 1-2
• The Aesop for Children * or Here | Level 1
• Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by Edith Nesbit* | Level 1
• A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson * | Level 1
• Arthur Scott Bailey's Nature Stories *​ | Level 0-1

​
History

• Stories of American Life and Adventure *  

Biography

• Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans *

​
Geography & Social Studies

• The Seven Little Sisters who Live on the Round Ball that Floats in the Air by Jane Andrews
• First Lessons in Geography by James Monteith [2]
• ​Sampling Science & Social Studies*, figure on 1 or 2 books per month as desired​

Read Alouds (FREE at library or build your library - 1 picture book per two weeks) 

• Term 1
• Term 2
• Term 3

<

>

1. Bread and Jam for Frances – Russell Hoban
2. The Story of Ferdinand – Munro Leaf
3. This is the Feast – Diane Z. Shore and Megan Lloyd
4. ​The Little Fir Tree – Margaret Wise Brown
5. Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree – Robert Barry
6. The Twelve Days of Christmas – illustrated by Jan Brett

1. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening – illustrated by Susan Jeffers
2. Gregory’s Shadow – Done Freeman
3. Pancakes, Pancakes – Eric Carle
4. Paddle-to-the-Sea – Holling Clancy Holling
5. Come on, Rain! – Karen Hesse
6. The Seven Silly Eaters – Mary Ann Hoberman

1. ​Ox-Cart Man – Donald Hall
2. The Important Book – Margaret Wise Brown
3. A Tree is Nice – Janice May Udry
4. A House for Hermit Crab – Eric Carle
5. Owl Moon – Jane Yolen

Need additional picture books?  Little Jewel Books (Christian)

First Grade Syllabus​

Spend about 60 minutes daily on Program 3: Individual Study for Grade 1 as follows:

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4
Math ​(20 minutes)	Math ​(20 minutes)	Math ​(20 minutes)	Math ​(20 minutes)
Science ​(30 minutes)	Grammar ​(30 minutes)	Science (30 minutes)	Grammar ​(30 minutes)
Reading ​(10 minutes)	Writing (10 minutes)	Reading ​(10 minutes)	Writing (10 minutes)

Add in 1 lesson from Program 1: Christian Study and 1 lesson from  Program 3: Enrichment Study daily for a complete curriculum.

Have First Grade questions or comments?  See FAQ's

---

Notes
[1] Classical Phonics is based on the original Word Mastery (which is available for free). We picked the printed, updated version.
Grade 1 completes the oral recitation only, not written portion. Lessons in the Use of English by Mary Hyde is the FREE original work. English for the Thoughtful Child and First Language Lessons were both based on this work. For the first time teacher, First Language Lessons really digs in and teaches the child with instructor/teacher scripted lessons. For those with more than one elementary child, you could choose level 1 and teach all your children together, moving to the next level the following year.
[2] A few details in the geography books are out of date. We recommend that you get a world map and use an ink pen to update the text as needed.
^Consumable books less than 10%