How to Develop a Home Instruction Plan for First Grade
Homeschooling allows you to tailor instruction to your child’s specific learning style and interests. Using educational resources and support services, your instruction plan can be designed with relative ease.
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Instructions
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Check with your state’s department of education for specific homeschooling requirements and laws. Many states require you to maintain a curriculum log and a portfolio of the child’s work; while others require specific assessments and tests be administered periodically.
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Contact homeschooling resources and support groups in your area. At the time of publication, websites such as Homeschool World and Home School Curriculum Advisor, and national organizations such as the National Home Education Research Institute and the Home School Legal Defense Association provide curriculum ideas and local support group contacts for socialization with other homeschooling families.
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Purchase and read curriculum books such as “Making the Grade: Everything Your 1st Grader Needs to Know,” “What Every Parent Needs to Know about 1st, 2nd and 3rd Grades: An Essential Guide to Your Child’s Education,” or “The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child: Your Complete Guide to Getting Off to the Right Start.”
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Develop an overall plan for each subject area you want to cover. Common subject areas for first grade are Language Arts (reading, writing, listening and speaking skills, study skills); Mathematics (number sense, operations, money & measurement and geometry); History and Geometry (American history general and chronological, world history and geography); Science (physical science, life science, earth/space science); Foreign Language; Art; Music; Health and Physical Education.
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Work backwards when developing your curriculum ideas. This is called a backwards design. Start with your learning goal in mind first. Ask yourself what it is you want your child to know about a specific area. Plan your instruction around these desired outcomes. Use the state standards to help guide your expected outcomes.
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Design multiple assessments along with the instruction to help you gauge learning and the effectiveness of your instruction. Assessments can include portfolios, work samples, observational recording and projects.
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Create a file folder for each subject area and place your ideas for curriculum, instruction and assessment in each one. You can also write and keep your curriculum files on your computer.
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Create weekly files of what you expect to introduce and work on. Include activities, projects and ideas which will reinforce newly learned skills and assessments you will use.
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Transfer your weekly ideas into the daily blocks of a weekly planner. You can be flexible day to day. If your child is deeply engaged in one area one day, let him stay focused. You can move other subjects to the following day.
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Tips & Warnings
Be flexible when designing curriculum and instruction. Children gain knowledge and master new skills at varied rates.
Incorporate hands-on opportunities and make learning authentic and related to a child's everyday life.
References
- Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School; Rebecca Rupp; 2000
- On Excellence in Teaching; Robert Marzano; 2010
Resources
- Homeschooling Resource Guide
- Homeschool World: Homeschool Organizations and Support Groups
- Home School Curriculum Advisor
- National Home Education Research Institute
- The National Home School Defense Association
- “Making the Grade: Everything Your 1st Grader Needs to Know; Laura B. Tyle; 2003
- "What Every Parent Needs to Know about 1st, 2nd and 3rd Grades: An Essential Guide to Your Child’s Education”; Toni S. Bickart;1997
- “The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child: Your Complete Guide to Getting Off to the Right Start”; Linda Dobson; 2001
- Photo Credit Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images
