MADE FOR FAMILIES TEACHING AT HOME
1st Grade homeschool, planned around your child
Tell Kuraplan what your 1st grade student is working on. It writes the lessons and printables for the week, and adjusts them for siblings at other levels.
1st grade homeschool curriculum: the year reading clicks, and how to plan around it
First grade is the first year of real academics, and it has one job above all others: get the child reading. Everything else, math, handwriting, science, history, is important but secondary, and most of it can be done through read-alouds and play while the phonics lessons do their work. A first grader who ends the year decoding fluently is set up for everything after.
This guide gives you what a first grader should learn in each subject, a realistic two-hour day, the programs families use most, and the milestones that tell you the year worked.
What to cover
1st Grade goals by subject
A checklist for the year, drawn from what most state standards and the major homeschool programs expect. Skip what your child already has; linger where they need it.
Reading and phonics
- Completes a systematic phonics program: short vowels, blends, digraphs, silent e, common vowel teams
- Reads decodable books daily and begins early chapter books by year's end
- Knows about 50 high-frequency irregular words by sight
- Listens to chapter books read aloud and retells them
Math
- Counts to 120, reads and writes numbers to 100, understands place value in tens and ones
- Adds and subtracts within 20 fluently and within 100 with strategies
- Tells time to the hour and half hour, counts coins, measures with non-standard units
- Works with shapes, simple fractions (halves, quarters) and data in pictures
Writing and handwriting
- Forms all lowercase and uppercase letters correctly; copies a sentence a day
- Writes a few sentences on a topic with capitals and full stops, spelling phonetically
- Dictates longer pieces for a parent to write
Science and nature
- Observes living things, weather and seasons; keeps a simple nature journal
- Explores states of matter, light and shadow, magnets, floating and sinking through play
- Reads nonfiction picture books on topics of interest
Social studies
- Family, community and holidays; maps of familiar places; a first story-based pass at history
- Begins a chronological story of the world if using a four-year cycle
Art, music, PE
- Weekly art, daily singing and music in the house, an hour of outdoor movement a day
A sample 1st grade day
One family's rhythm, not a rule. Move the blocks to suit your household; the point is that formal work is short, front-loaded and finished.
- 8:30Morning basket: read-aloud, a poem, calendar and weather (20 min)
- 8:50Phonics lesson and decodable reading (20 min)
- 9:10Handwriting and copywork (10 min)
- 9:20Break: snack and run around
- 9:40Math lesson and practice (25 min)
- 10:05Science, history or art, alternating days (25 min)
- 10:30Done. Outside, play, errands, library
- 13:00Quiet time: audiobook or looking at books
- 19:00Bedtime chapter book read-aloud
End of year
Signs the 1st grade year worked
- Reads simple books independently and sounds out new words
- Adds and subtracts within 20 without fingers most of the time
- Writes two or three sentences on their own with mostly readable spelling
- Forms letters correctly with a good pencil grip
- Sits for a 20-minute lesson without a fight, most days
Program picks
Curriculum families use for 1st grade
Not the only good options, but the ones that come up most among families who finish the year. Secular and faith-based choices are noted where it matters.
All About Reading Level 1–2, or The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
Both are systematic and scripted; AAR is the deluxe version, OPGTR the $30 version.
Math Mammoth 1, Singapore Dimensions 1, or Math-U-See Alpha
Mammoth is cheap and thorough; Singapore builds strong number sense; MUS is video-taught with manipulatives.
Handwriting Without Tears 1st grade
Developmentally sound letter order and a style that transfers.
The Good and the Beautiful Level 1 (Christian) or Blossom and Root First Grade (secular)
Both bundle language arts with gentle science, art and read-alouds so you buy one thing.
Story of the World Vol. 1 read aloud; library nonfiction plus a weekly experiment
No textbook needed. Stories and doing.
One lesson. All your kids.
$49/yr flat, no per-child fees
Write one family lesson, then adjust the reading level, the practice and the response format for each child without rebuilding the day.
1st Grade homeschool FAQ
What should a first grader learn in homeschool?
Reading through systematic phonics is the priority. Add math to 100 with addition and subtraction within 20, handwriting and simple sentences, and science and history through read-alouds, nature and play. Art, music and daily outdoor time round it out.
How many hours a day is 1st grade homeschool?
About one and a half to two and a half hours of formal work, in short blocks with breaks, plus read-alouds. A first grader cannot do six hours and does not need to.
What is the best 1st grade homeschool curriculum?
There is no single best. The most-used combination is a systematic phonics program (All About Reading or OPGTR), a mastery math program (Math Mammoth, Singapore or Math-U-See), Handwriting Without Tears, and read-alouds for everything else. The Good and the Beautiful or Blossom and Root bundle the language arts side.
My first grader is not reading yet. Should I worry?
Not in the first half of the year. If by the end of first grade, after daily phonics, the child still cannot blend simple words, ask about a reading assessment. Many children click late in first grade or early in second.
Do first graders need tests in homeschool?
No. You see their work every day. A few states require an annual assessment from a certain grade; check your state's guide. Otherwise, keep a folder of work and a reading log.
Requirements differ by state and country. Check your state's guide before deciding what must be covered or assessed.
Your 1st grade year, in one place
Plan lessons, make printables and keep each child's finished work together for the records you choose to keep.
Plan with Kuraplan