First Grade Benchmarks from Home Learning Year by Year (Scope and Sequence)

I've typed up in Google Sheets all the First Grade and Kindergarten benchmarks from the book by Rebecca Rupp called Home Learning Year by Year. Benchmarks are things a typical school kid "needs to know." But you be the judge of that.

Obviously, some stuff like knowing the alphabet and basic math is important and leads to learning. There are other things on this list that you might just say, "sure, but we can hit that hard later on." And you would be fine. If you are teaching one child right now, it will be no problem to hit all these points. If you are like me and teaching 3 older kids and thinking about doing kindergarten with a 5.5-year-old soon while wrangling a younger one, you might choose to put some first grade things off (like surveying Ancient Greece) while focusing on things like telling time and spelling.

Other grades can be found under the Blog Category of Benchmarks, as well as by grade.

Here are the benchmarks for First Grade. As I'm putting them into Excel and uploading them to Google Docs, the spreadsheet doesn't split into sheets there, so you have to just scroll from Kindergarten on down. I'll be adding the others as fast as my fingers can type!

I suggest buying the book so you can also benefit from all the wonderful resources the author provides, as well as a longer description of each benchmark.

Update: Working on the high school benchmarks right now!

Swimming Pools, Waterparks, Swim Beaches & Splashpads in Kansas City

You can find all the Swimming Pools, Waterparks, Swim Beaches, & Splashpads in Kansas City on my main site, Homeschooling in Kansas City.

See you over there!

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148 Sports & Physical Fitness Opportunities for Kansas City Homeschoolers

You can find almost 150 Sports and Physical Fitness Opportunities for Kansas City Homeschoolers at my main site, Homeschooling in Kansas City.

See you over there!

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Social Opportunities & Events for Kansas City Homeschoolers

You can find Social Opportunities and Events for Kansas City Homeschoolers at my main site, Homeschooling in Kansas City.

See you over there!

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Kansas City Area Homeschool Co-ops, Drop-offs, & Hybrids

Have you just moved to the area? Considering moving to Kansas City, the best place in the world to homeschool? Lived here your whole life? New to homeschooling entirely?

Is your homeschool curriculum religious, secular, eclectic, rigorous, relaxed, or a mixture of a few of those? Whatever — you're in the right place!

I've curated a popular post full of Kansas City homeschool co-ops (parents pitch in), drop-offs (parents get a break), and hybrids (a couple of days at a school building or other place to learn, and the rest of the work is done during the week at home)! 

Please check out the list and details for almost 60 Kansas City Area Homeschool Co-ops, Drop-offs, & Hybrids over at my main site, Homeschooling in Kansas City.

See you over there!

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Where to Check for Homeschool Books and Save Money

You can now find the post Places to Check for Homeschool Books and Save Money over at my main site, Homeschooling in Kansas City.

See you over there!

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College, Junior College, University, and Other Career Options in the Kansas City Area

Please check out the list of College, Junior College, University, and Other Career Options in the KC Area over at my site Homeschooling in Kansas City!

See you over there!

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Enrichment Opportunities for Kansas City Homeschoolers

This post of Enrichment Opportunities for Kansas City Homeschoolers has moved to my main site, Homeschooling in Kansas City.

See you over there!

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Summer Camps; Reading, Lunch, & Free Programs; & Other Summer Opps (Homeschoolers and More)

 You can find my always-growing list of Summer Camps; Reading, Lunch, & Free Programs; & Other Summer Opportunities on my main site, Homeschooling in Kansas City.

See you over there!

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Kansas City Area Homeschool Facebook Groups and Pages

You can find the massive list of Kansas City Area Homeschool Facebook Groups and Pages at my main site, Homeschooling in Kansas City.

See you over there!

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12 Articles I've Written About Homeschooling

I've been writing articles for parenting articles almost as long as I've been homeschooling, so I figured I should pair my two loves and make some money for my family at the same time. This income even paid for a trip to Florida with my family for two weeks in October 2017 :-) (roadschooling!)

Most of these articles have been published in multiple magazines, so I've just picked a few magazines to represent. Thanks for checking them out!

*And if you are also a parenting writer or want to be one, please check out my self-published book full of advice on how to get started, as well as contact information for hundreds of parenting and family publications. You can get it here as an instant download and get started immediately, or you can wait for the print version to be ready for purchase on Amazon. Shoot me an email at mommykerrie@yahoo.com if you'd like to know when the print version is ready, or join my Facebook Parenting Magazine Writers group!

Back-to-Homeschool Tips and Traditions in Birmingham Parent

Conquer Homeschool Clutter in Calgary's Child

Find Your Homeschool Circle in Calgary's Child

Homeschooling 101 in Baton Rouge Parents

Homeschooling High School in Calgary's Child

How to Start Homeschooling This Fall: Lessons from a Homeschooling Mom in ParentMap

Mistakes to Avoid when Homeschooling (10) in Montgomery Parents

Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Homeschool (5) in ParentMap

Unique Benefits of Homeschooling (10) in Calgary's Child

Venturing Into Unschooling in North Texas Kids

Virtual School: Where Homeschooling Meets Traditional School in Orlando Family

Mom's Homeroom: How to Work and Teach at Home in Sonoma Family-Life

First Day of School Signs Set PreK-12th Plus College and Adult!

I love when the first day of homeschooling rolls around! The first day of school is usually sometime at the end of August at my house, and we do some light schoolwork during the summer as well. My kids know that when the first official day rolls around, it's time for the photo of them holding their "first day" signs.

Now, it looks a little different now since I have two kids left homeschooling and three adult kids. It's not so easy to get all five of them together to hold their signs and smile for the smartphone. Plus their ages are 14+ and this means they are kind of "over it." Still, they'll do it for me if I beg them enough 😂

Lately I might have a photo of my two youngest, another of my adult son who has a career now, and then another of my two who are in college. (I created a "First Day at KU" sign for one of my sons for this fall, but it's just for us since I'm sure the logo is protected.) 

Likewise, your homeschool might look different each year. Maybe you have a couple at home, a couple in public school, and your oldest in a private Christian school. 

I got tired of trying to find these signs every year online, figuring out if they were free and if they were easily printable (you know when you download something, but the size is all wrong and you can't make it work?). So I decided to make my own set of 21 First Day of School Signs and sell it in my Etsy shop. That's how I seem to do a lot of things in my entrepreneurial mind: write non-fiction books I need (writing markets, cookbooks, etc.), create signs I need every year, create printable lists and planners I will use myself and then realize others might also find them useful — you should try it! I bet you have some great ideas for products you could sell on Etsy or TeachersPayTeachers, etc.

I pray that your school year is amazing and full of friendships, fellowship, faith-filled adventures, and lots of fun and learning!

P.S. Please let me know if you have suggestions for signs I could add to the set of 21 (and I'll keep the price the same). I don't want to leave out the babies and the in-the-womb little ones, and everyone deserves a "first day of" sign.

Pastel Printable Multiplication Table

In third grade, I had no choice but to memorize multiplication facts using flash cards. My parents would practice with me at home, I would practice at school, then I would get tested by the teacher on how well I knew them. I had to learn one set before moving to the next. I remember the 8s and 9s kicking my butt. I also remember my mom giving me a little prize, like a book, after I'd mastered the harder ones.

These days I notice that public and private school kids alike don't know their facts. I remember trying to do it with Joel and failing miserably. Kids in school have a handy dandy multiplication facts table like the one below that I created. I think the reasoning is that they will learn them this way if they have to look them up over and over, and I've found it to be a really helpful resource.

I created a cute multiplication table in my Etsy shop for just $1.00 and would love for you to come over and check it out.

Happy mathing!

Childhood of Famous Americans Book Series -- Alphabetical List

I love it when you can combine more than one subject at a time, and I think it's essential to the successful homeschooling of more than one kid. 

That's what I love about the Childhood of Famous American series of books. It combines Language Arts with history in an engaging way, not like a boring textbook. 

Below is a list of the entire series of books. I hope to print it out and cross them off as we read them as a family. Some are Easy Readers and fast to get through. Some are full books. 

Enjoy!

Prepare Your Kids for Liberal College Stuffs (and Loving Those Who Are Struggling)

*Originally written in 2023 but I had to sit on this post a bit. I'd love to hear your respectful comments.

First day of community college for a couple of my kids, and it's the same old story in a couple of their classes...

Don't want to start a Facebook war, so I'm keeping this post on my very own blog. And here is my question:

Why do so many teachers at places like a local Kansas City community college try to insert their liberal agenda into places it doesn’t even need to be? 

Why start Intro to Psychology class on the first day talking about how we came from monkeys? 

Do these teachers think their way is the only way, or do they just not care about being respectful? And is it even necessary to insert certain things into the lesson? 

Pretty sure if I went into my first day of teaching at JCCC for a Comp class and was like, “So we all know Jesus died for our sins so let’s all write a paper about that,” I would be booed off the campus. 

The best teachers are the ones who you don’t have a clue at the end of the semester if they are religious or not, gay or not, vegan, etc. Nothing much personal is shared unless it’s boring, like an allusion to their children or the fact that they like to swim.

During my 10 years off and on at community college from 1989-1999, I don't remember much about my teachers' personal lives or opinions. There was one teacher who I suspected was gay, but she didn't say a word and never hit us over the head with it. 

Now I follow her on Instagram because she was a FANTASTIC teacher, and, yep, she's gay and is free to share all her opinions on her social media. Where it should be kept. Not in the classroom.

As a teacher, I am not there to teach about my own personal opinions and profess them as the only way. Nope, not even when I teach high school at the Catholic homeschool coop. Of course, we are mostly all Catholic there, so that makes it easier.

Heck, even in the Dave Ramsey Personal Finance class, where I am supposed to teach that CREDIT CARDS ARE EVIL, I listen respectfully to the kids who say their parents have a credit card that racks up mad points for trips and such, and they pay it off monthly and always have. I acknowledge that Dave Ramsey is not a financial god and that everyone has to do what's right for their own family. (I now advocate for my kids to get a credit card when they hit 18 because you can't get an apartment if you have zero credit, as we found out when my 21-year-old with plenty of money in the bank tried to get an apartment in the town where the college is located where he got a full scholarship.)

Side Note: 

Please teach your children to be respectful of other people and their different views. I'm not talking about being respectful of someone who knowingly does horrible things with no regard for humanity or animals. I'm talking about things like this:

My daughter mostly keeps to herself on matters of religion, as she's currently struggling.

Someone says something to her about, "Thank God..." and she says something back like, "I don't believe in God."

Unhelpful responses might include: "You're crazy!" or "That's dumb." or "But your whole family does."

Nobody knows God's plan for anyone else. My daughter who currently does not believe in God could very well end up being a nun or a pastor's wife or a very helpful person in the Catholic community. To judge her harshly at the age of 15 is not only wrong, but it's also potentially harmful to her coming back to being a believer.

Will I love her and support her either way? Yep. And I know you don't have to. But you also don't have to cause harm.

So, yes, my kids are respectful to the teachers who say we came from monkeys or like to insert things about trans rights into lessons where they don't even belong.

106+ Co-op Class Ideas

 

Homeschooling moms have brains full of so many things that it can be difficult to think of what to teach in a co-op situation. 

It is my hope that this list of co-op classes will be inspirational 🙏

GENERAL ELECTIVES

1.     ACT/SAT Prep

2.     American Government (high school)

3.     Art (all grades)

4.     Business Law (high school)

5.     Business Management (high school)

6.     Catholic Schoolhouse (K-2)

7.     Choir

8.     Classical Enrichment

9.     Cooking/Baking (2 hours) (Advanced or Basic)

10.  Consumer Education (high school)

11.  Debate (middle and high school)

12.  Drama (all grades) (one semester)

13.  Drawing (middle and high school)

14.  Emotional Health Class

15.  Handicrafts (7 Benefits of Homeschool Handicrafts: Handicrafts, part 1 — Simply Charlotte Mason)

16.  Health and Nutrition (one semester)

17.  Health for the Whole Person (high school). High School Health for the Whole Person - 7sistershomeschool.com

18.  Hospitality (7^th through 12^th) (one semester) 

19.  How Media Influenced the 20th Century

20.  Improv 

21.  Leadership

22.  Liberty, Justice and Economics (5^th through 8^th) 

23.  Logic (and Critical Thinking; Informal) (one semester)

24.  Medieval Projects (one semester)

25.  Morning Basket

26.  Music and Movement (PreK through elementary)

27.  Music Appreciation

28.  Photography (middle and high school)

29.  Physical Education (all grades)

30.  School Newspaper Class (published monthly)

31.  Sociology (high school)

32.  Study Skills (middle and high school) (one or two semesters). Resources were: (first semester) Study Smarter, Not Harder and (second semester) What Color is Your Parachute for Teens

33.  Theology of the Body for Teens (middle school through high school; two-hour class one day or one hour each Monday/Wednesday)

34.  Yearbook Class 

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

35.  American Sign Language

36.  French

37.  Latin (First Form)

38.  Latin (Henle)

39.  Spanish (all grades) 

GEOGRAPHY

40.  American Geography (all ages).

41.  World Geography 7-12  

HISTORY (also includes some Literature, Philosophy, Fine Arts)

42.  American History (middle school)

43.  American History (high school) 

44.  Ancient/Literature

45.  Art History

46.  Church History

47.  Greek History/Literature 

48.  Egyptian Mummification (one semester; middle school) 

49.  History and Philosophy of the Western World (7 Sisters Homeschool)

50.  History of Fine Arts (middle and high school) (one semester) 

51.  Medieval History/Literature 

52.  Missouri 

53.  Modern World History (7^th through 12^th)

54.  Roman History/Literature 

LANGUAGE ARTS (some Literature combined with HISTORY)

55.  Book Discussion/Book Club

56.  Creative Writing (all grades) (one semester)

57.  English

58.  English Grammar and Composition (high school)

59.  Fairy Tales (K-1^st)

60.  Film as Literature (high school)

61.  Great American Short Stories (high school)

62.  Great Books. Books can be acquired on Amazon, ABE Books, ThriftBooks, eBay, etc. (Sample lesson plans for Series 6-8 on the Homeschool-Life website). Can be paired with Art with younger grades into one class.

63.  IEW Writing 

64.  Letter of the Week (preK-1)

65.  Literature, American (high school)

66.  Literature, World (high school)

67.  Modern Literature/History

68.  Phonics/Reading

69.  Socratic Book Club (middle and high school) (one semester) 

70.  Speech (one semester). 7 Sisters Homeschool has a good program.

71.  Storytime (preK)

72.  World Literature (Seton, Memoria Press, etc.) 

MATH (middle/high school classes not generally taught at co-op anymore)

73.  Accounting

74.  Algebra

75.  Build a Business (5-8; high school) (one semester) 

76.  Economics (high school)

77.  Geometry

78.  Personal Finance (high school; Dave Ramsey) 

RELIGION/VIRTUES

79.  Apologetics/Sacraments (high school)

80.  Bible History and Catechism (1^st through 4^th)

81.  Bible Timeline (high school) 

82.  Book of Virtues (Based on The Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett … huge book and could cover all 10 virtues in stories and activities over a year. Book of Virtues - Shiver Academy)

83.  Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

84.  Faith and Morality 

85.  Intro to Catholicism 

86.  Lessons with Father Mike (high school) (one semester) 

87.  Little Flowers 

88.  Religion

89.  Saints 

90.  Understanding Scripture  

SCIENCE

91.  Astronomy

92.  Biology (middle school)

93.  Chemistry (high school)

94.  General Science (Apologia)

95.  Human Anatomy and Physiology (high school)

96.  Life Science (CHC) (optional workbook and lab manual) (7^th grade)

97.  Physical Science (middle school)

98.  Physics (high school)

99.  Psychology (high school)

100.         Science Experiments

101.         Science Lab  

STEM

102.         Engineering, Introduction to (one semester)

103.         LEGO Robotics (one semester)

104.         Math Games

105.         Project-Based Learning (create a zoo, build a city, etc.)

106.         STEM Projects (all grades)

 More ideas!

Homeschool Co-op Class Ideas- [Over 50 Classes] Elementary to High School (rookiemoms.com)

The Ultimate List of Homeschool Co-op Class Ideas - Walking by the Way

100+ Homeschool Co-op Class Ideas – Line upon Line Learning (rebeccareid.com)

The Unlikely Homeschool: Mega List of Homeschool Co-op Class Ideas (sign up to get it by email)

150+ Excellent Topic Ideas for Your Homeschool Co-op Classes (reallifeathome.com)

Homeschool Co-op Class Ideas ~ The Ultimate List! - Teach Beside Me