How to Homeschool Your First Grader for Free

When I was a new homeschooling mom, I spent way too much money on a complete homeschool curriculum for my sons, who were then in 2nd grade and Kindergarten. It was not a good use of my money. You can read about my experience in my article How to Homeschool Your Kindergartener for Free.

As I looked for alternatives to the curriculum that didn’t work for us, I happily discovered that I could find quality homeschooling resources outside of an expensive boxed curriculum. I found that homeschooling could be inexpensive and even completely free.

As my children have grown, so have the free homeschooling resource available online. No matter how often I look for free homeschooling goodies there are always more to be found. In this post I will go over what a first grader should learn during the first grade year and list lots of free resources for each subject.

But first, pin this information for easy access later.
Pin This Article for Later

What Your First Grader Should Know

The first step to homeschooling your first grader for free is knowing what your child needs to learn in this stage of his or her education. Below are the basic concepts usually taught in a U.S. first grade classroom. I won’t include grade-level standards for history, science, health education, religious studies, foreign language or fine arts.

In my own home, I’m apt to teach these subjects in a more child-led, unschooling manner. I often include all three children together when doing lessons in social studies, science, arts, etc, regardless of grade level. My focus is making sure that my children are on target in the big three — reading, writing and arithmetic.

First Grade Reading and Reading Comprehension Skills

Review letter sounds (phonemes) Your child should have learned these in Kindergarten, but review and reinforcement may be necessary.
Identify root words and common word endings
Know 1st grade Dolch sight words
Read and use contractions
Identify and use punctuation (period, question mark, exclamation point)
Understand plurals (irregular plurals might come later for some)
Be able to answer the “five Ws” about material they’ve just read (who, what, when, where, why)
Use context clues to understand new words or phrases
Learn literary terms like plot, setting, characters, etc
Understand and use a book’s table of contents

First Grade Writing Skills

Print all upper- and lower-case letters
Identify nouns, verbs and adjectives
Spell first grade level sight words
Write 3- and 4-letter words from phonics skills
Identify synonyms, antonyms and homonyms

First Grade Math Skills

Recognize and write numbers to 100
Count by 2s, 5s, and 10s
Identify ordinal numbers first through twelfth
Compare numbers through 100 using greater than, lesser than and equal to
Learn place value for 1s, 10s and 100s
Learn halves, thirds and fourths
Understand simply picture and bar graphs
Perform addition and subtraction with two numbers without regrouping or borrowing
Understand that numbers can be added in any order (commutative property)
Solve simple word problems
Identify all coins (pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters)
Identify days, weeks and month (using a calendar)
Tell time to the hour and half hour
Be able to use common measuring instruments (scale, ruler, thermometer, etc)
Compare objects by measurements (weight, length, etc)
Draw common two-dimensional shapes

Sources: Home Learning Year By Year, What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know, Core Standards.Org, PBS.org, Reading Rockets. Org

How to Homeschool Your First Grader for Free

Fortunately for us homeschoolers, we live in the digital age. This means greater access to educational tools, both free and paid. Below I will list the free homeschooling resources for each of the three knowledge categories I listed above. (This is the part you’ve been waiting for!)

Free First Grade Homeschool Curriculum

Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool Curriculum

Ambleside Online – First Grade

Discovery K12 – First Grade

Free First Grade Reading Resources

Starfall.com
Education.com
Dolch Sight Words (I suggest making homemade flash cards with these.)
PDF Printable of Dolch Sight Words
ABCya
Knowledge Adventure
TLSBooks.com
Jump Start
Kidzone.com
K12Reader.com
Super Teacher Worksheets
K5Learning.com

Free First Grade Writing Resources

Free First Grade Math Resources

Free First Grade Homeschool Resources – Other Subjects

As you probably noticed while clicking around the websites I listed, many of the websites have a variety of subjects to offer. Although I only focused on the specific subject listed, you should certainly take advantage of the science, social studies, art and other subjects to homeschool your first grader for free.

Other Free Homeschooling Resources

If you’re like me and enjoy the organization aspect of teaching your children, you’ll like this list of free homeschool planning printables I grouped here.

Check out this Free 1st Grade Homeschool Plan from WayPastFab.com.

My homeschooling board on Pinterest is full of great homeschooling ideas, many of which are frugal or free! Go check it out and don’t forget to follow!
Follow Our Small Hours ‘s board Homeschooling on Pinterest.

Check out my lists of free homeschool resources for individual subjects. These lists aren’t grade-level specific, but are helpful nonetheless.

Free Homeschool Science Resources

Free Homeschool Social Studies Resources

Free Homeschool Math Resources

Free Homeschool Reading Resources

Free Homeschool Language Arts Resources

If you find that you have a little cash to spend on homeschooling your 1st grader, I highly recommend these resources that can be bought on Amazon for less than in bookstores. (Especially if you sign up for Prime!)

What your First Grader Needs to Know

Spectrum Math — Grade 1

Spectrum Writing — Grade 1

Bob Books 1st Grade Sight Words

Homeschooling your first grader doesn’t have to break the bank. It’s so easy to homeschool your firs grader for free. The internet puts so many free resources right at your fingertips. Combined with your public library and a local homeschooling co-op, you’ve got everything you need to be a frugal homeschooler while giving your children a quality education.

Share or Save for Later