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Getting Started
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I need your help please. Is there somewhere on the SCM site where I could see a complete list of what I would need to do a full grade 1 year and how much it would cost? It is so overwhelming to try to figure it all out with 4 busy little ones underfoot. 🙂
So I just added everything we would need to do a full year of all SCM and the amount is crazy! My cart is filled with $500 of things just for the first year and that isn’t everything. I cut out artisit study and a couple others I could pull together cheaper myself. Then $200 in my amazon account for the things I couldn’t get on SCM website.
And I am Canadian so add $161 for shipping and goodness know how much for exchange and it is looking like $1000 for a year’s materials. I love SCM and all they do but wow!
Tell me how do you all do it?
What do I do? 🙂
I select a history guide and buy all (or as many as I can) of the suggested books used. They are a lot less expensive (usually $2-$4 used/book, ABEbooks is a great resource), and though still an investment they will be used again and again as we cycle through and the kids pick up and read for fun.
I then select math – we use math u see but there are other great options
For language arts in 1st grade – all it would be is copy work. SCM has some great copy book options. They are worked through slowly, a line at a time to start with so one book will last a while. There is no independent spelling books required.
Reading – depending on the student you could use Delightful Reading, but if they are already reading, then simply continue with reading a loud. Pathway Readers, Dick and Jane books… select a variety and continue reading.
Science – SCM has some great science guides for elementary. Once again buy any needed books used.
Artist Study – Picture Study portfolios are fantastic! We do 3/year but maybe do one this year.
You could split your enrichment subjects to be one per term. 1 artist, 1 composer and 1 poet doing only 1/term. Or select one of each and do one/week. Week 1 – artist, week 2 composer, week 3 poet (and repeat the 3 week cycle). The biggest thing with enrichments is that you do not have to do them every day. We do picture study on Mondays, composer on Wednesday, Poet on Friday for our family.
Nature Study – go outside, no guide needed 🙂
Family Literature – read a chapter/day from a book. Winnie the Pooh, Five Little Peppers and How they Grew… These are great suggestions https://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/curriculum-guide/literature/ You don’t have to do them in a certain order either 🙂
SCM offers their guides in PDF format so you do not even have to pay shipping. You can then choose if you want to print or use off the computer/tablet.
What I really like about the guides is they tell you what to do each day for each subject, even though all the guides are not in one book. History tells me what to do on day 2 in history, science tells me what to do on day 3 of science…
Did you review this chart https://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/curriculum-guide/overview-chart/ I find it really helpful. If you click on the blue “headings” on the left, it will open another window that breaks down by grade expectation and suggestions.
And remember you don’t have to do everything suggested 🙂
We are just going to venture into Shakespeare and my oldest is going into 6th grade. For hand crafts we keep it simple, origami and sewing plastic canvas when young and moving into paper sloyd as they got older.
When young keep it simple is so true. Seat work will not take long, spend time outside and learning through play. Take your time and ease into 1st grade and CM methods 🙂
I’m cheap and the idea of going to the library or thrift store alone with 4 kids (including 2 toddlers and a 4-month-old!) makes me want to run for the hills. In order to be able to pay our mortgage AND have a home library, I’ve done a lot of searching and price comparisons. So here you go… 🙂
Other than the SCM guides, I try to buy everything used. I buy most of my books through ThriftBooks.com. You get free shipping on orders over $10 and for every $50 you spend, you get a $5 coupon to use toward your next order (this is their Reading Rewards program that you have to sign up for). They also do 20% off all orders twice a year. Anyway, you can get a LOT of books for not that much money on there, so I always recommend them. You can buy used materials on Amazon, too–they just aren’t as cheap as ThriftBooks.
I don’t use picture study portfolios. I just buy (used!) coffee table art print books. If I can’t find a large book, Dover sells booklets full of postcards by various artists for about $3.
I also don’t use the composer study kits from SCM. For composer study, I have a bunch of the composer biographies by Opal Wheeler. We read a few pages each week and listen to that composer’s work all throughout the term. I look for CDs at the thrift store. Often I only pay about 75 cents each. You can also just use YouTube, but I like to keep the computer off as much as I can.
Some books can be found for free for the Kindle, but you don’t have to have a Kindle to read them. Our Little Athenian Cousin and Our Little Spartan Cousin (both used in the Ancient Greece guide from SCM) are both free.
For Shakespeare, we just read from Leon Garfield’s “Shakespeare Stories” or Edith Nesbit’s Shakespeare book. SCM recommends the Arkangel dramatized recordings of Shakespeare plays. I’ve found those on eBay for about $5. Amazon’s prices range from $16-23.
I don’t use the enrichment or grade-level study guides. I have a checklist that i use that works better than any other schedule I’ve tried.
I use either AO’s poetry selections or the poetry books I already have.
I’m not evangelical so I just use my church’s hymnal for hymns, and pick my own scriptures and quotes to memorize and use for copywork as well.
The SCM resources I use are the history guides, Visits to Geography, nature study (Outdoor Secrets Companion and Pond & Stream Companion), Stuff They Left Behind. I’ve tried to buy as much as I can through the Scratch & Dent part of the site. Buying digital is even cheaper, but I like having a physical book or picture to hold and look at instead of doing everything on the computer (this is why I don’t use a Kindle… I bought one and used it for our year with AO, but I didn’t like it)… Plus, I like the postcards that SCM ships with each order.
TLDR: Buy used, buy used, buy used!
I agree with those who say BUY USED and KEEP IT SIMPLE! (I’m not yelling, really.) We do just as Happykratzers does for music – Opal Wheeler bios (and you could use books by someone else, whatever is available to you) and listening to the music while going about our days. If you want to add in some coloring sheets, you can find those free online.
For picture study, if you want to combine it with doing art, you might look at Artistic Pursuits. We love this program because it combines picture study, art history, and hands-on art, andI find it easy to use. If you look at samples and like what you see, it might be a good investment because you can use it with the rest of your kids when your oldest is done. I’m using the same ones for my 7yo as I did with my 23 and 18yo. (There are levels for all ages.)
I have found a lot of things free to download and print just by diligently searching online. This is a time-consuming way to do it, but it has been helpful. For instance, although I do have the Burgess Bird Study from SCM, what I’m actually doing is using free copywork I found online that matches up with the chapters and includes a space on each page to draw the bird learned about. My daughter (going on 8) needs lots of work on penmanship and this is working great for us, just reading a chapter (book is free online, too, if you need it) and doing the copywork page. Google is your friend! (Not suggesting this necessarily for first grade, just as an example of something I found free that I didn’t expect!)
Take heart – your student is so young and you will be able to find so much at the library that will be perfect for your studies.
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