We disappeared for a year and a half and I'll probably write a separate blog to reveal all that God has taken us through, in those months but, this post is about our Grade 1 journey!! I loved doing all the informal learning with Ahna but I was truly waiting for the formal learning to begin. Charlotte Mason recommends waiting till the child is 6 to begin with formal lessons. These are short lessons (15-20 minutes), following a schedule and timetable and requiring discipline. The age of 6 welcomes discipline; an area I thrive in naturally! So this year, we have been combining different subjects, books and doing them in the CM way as much as we can. Let's get into it!
Citizenship: One of the reasons I love the CM way is because of the rich books we use for character building that also support our faith in Jesus. For citizenship we are using Hero tales which has been so amazing for us. I am learning a lot of things first hand while doing it with Ahna because I am a new christian myself. We complete one unit a week, which allows us to focus on on historical Christian figure per month. We supplement this with torchlighters videos on youtube. We have also had many a deep conversations using this material. We will probably continue with this next year as well as recommended by Ambleside.
Bible: For our bible time this year, I have started using the adult McArthur bible because I saw Ahna(6) understands it, engages with it and we have discussions while reading it. I do this at breakfast and try to aim at one chapter a day but sometimes we discuss a lot and don't end up finishing a chapter which is fine. Gods Word won't return void and the days I am just getting through the words, without my brain registering anything, is still worth it because I am reading Gods Word out loud.
Art: We have been using this book for picture study and art appreciation. Although CM has a rotational picture study option on the website, it was not sustainable for me to use once a week because if I took my phone fot it and began looking for the picture of the week, I saw myself getting distracted and the kids getting too excited about the screen time they would get. So I switched to this book which has been great for us. We do one painting a week and use the CM way to do picture study. How to Do Picture Study in a Charlotte Mason Homeschool Here's a link if you are unfamiliar. Apart from this, the girls are always creating things but that is not limited to the time table.
Geography: We started the year light with Usborne Stories from around the world and using the ambleside recommended geography book(I think by Haul). I submitted a pdf to my husband and he transformed it into an App we use on my phone. He has done the same with converting a hard-to-read and hard-to-access online book into an app for science. So we do these subjects using my phone as well. Paddle to the sea is heard on audible in the car home and we are yet to get into the hard copy book. We are half way through the year so we Hope to do paddle to the sea in the 3rd semester after finishing A to Z indian cities.
History: For History we are doing world history using an audible (audio version) for Island story, which is working so well with our literature reads of shakespeare and some of the pictures we are studying in art history. We are also doing church history with Trial and triumph on kindle. This one was hard to find but we got a kindle version. We are listening to 50 famous stories on audible but that is not as consistent as I'd like so I might get the book for the sake of consistency.
https://tejal.mcmahon.in/uploads/2026/91fe0e23fefaef8581fc6acd-1650x2200.jpg
Nature study: We LOVE James Herriots stories for children and it is loved by my middle child too. There is something beautiful about authors who treat children with the intelligence they are capable of demonstrating. I find his writing refreshing and nurturing to the mind. So we started the year with this and will do Burgess bird book in the 3rd semester. I am hoping to finish the online pdf book in term 2 but if I don't we will push Burgess to next year. I also got the Burgess animal book on kindle and I am excited to add that to our reading next year.
Science: I am trying to separate nature and science for my own benefit. I am more likely to then do experiments that way since that does not come naturally to me and I see the importance for a child to do them. I am only reading and discussing the cambridge text and not really doing any writing work with it. I believe that writing work is unnecessary drudgery if done in all subjects. When there are experiments to do, we pick one out of 3-4 options on the same concept to do and do it together. We LOVE the Usborne books and they spark such a heightened level of curiosity in Ahna. We were so blessed to get these books donated through friends from a church in the US.
Math: We had some catching up to do with Math so we spent half a year completing our Oxford books and will now get into Cambridge Grade 1. Although I find the Cambridge books more advanced(and unstructured) for this age, I would like to use them as a point of reference since that might be the curriculum we choose for the girls' board years.
Grammar/Handwriting/Phonics:
I printed out some bible verse copy writing/tracing sheets for Ahna to do on her own once a day. We completed the Oxford books for grammar, handwriting and phonics in the first semester, alongside her reading her levelled readers. For her birthday in May, family gave level 2 readers as presents, and she finished them all within a month. She then gobbled her way through levels 3 and 4(like the hungry caterpillar) and continues to read more books not pictured here on the blog. This is probably one area of documentation I can't keep up with. However, I might write a separate post at the end of the year to record all the books she went through in Grade 1 so we have a good database for my own future children or your children dear readers! 
Literature and read alouds: We are mainly following the AO recommendations and we love it so far. Such rich language and beautiful noble ideas. The girls have probably never asked me to stop reading. It has to come from me.
Hindi: We are using this book for Hindi, which we bought from another family so it has been used before. We are learning the letters using a board. Although this is not my forte, I believe consistency and diligence will bear fruit.
Apart from these main subjects, My first Grader is learning the guitar once a week through an instructor, she does handicrafts some evenings, a lot of nature walks, some meal prep or baking every day, with lots of chores done with a happy heart. I do have a desire to get her some formal progressive exposure to art but we'll see if an opportunity presents itself.
Her favourite thing to do at this age is "Watch tv and read books". She gets screen time once a week and reads for a few hours every day. I have to mandate going out for a walk or playtime every few chapters to hopefully keep her eyes healthy.
We are halfway through the year and end our official school year mid-May 2027. I am so excited to learn alongside my first grader!