Homeschool Complete REVIEW

Homeschool Complete provides all-inclusive homeschool complete curriculum and we were excited to try out their First Grade Complete curriculum.  I received a digital download of both the Teacher Manual and the Student Workbook.  The PDF file downloads were quick and easy but the books are large!  The Teacher Manual is 600 pages and the Student Workbook contains 300 pages.  Both have color in them so if you can print that much in color they are nice.  I printed the cover pages in color and plan to print most, if not all, of the pages in black and white.  I printed a week at a time just to keep it simple.

Working hard on our writing skills

Little Bug is still in Kindergarten and I had hoped to get that level but getting the First Grade Complete level was not so bad considering it is only the Semester 1 book and she is in her second semester of kindergarten and doing quite well.  We have a kindergartner reader which is a HUGE difference from my son who wasn't reading until the middle of second grade.  I have become aware that we need help with our writing as we have worked on the lessons.  Once downloaded the files are viewable and printable from the free Adobe Reader program.

She just loves math!

The Teacher Manual is very detailed and pretty much walks you through your lessons.  It includes copies of the worksheets that are in the Student Manual and includes an appendix of additional resources to use in the lessons.  I really like that it included the three pledges (The Pledge of Allegiance, The Pledge to the Christian Flag, and The Pledge to the Bible) and a list of materials needed for the different lessons.  The lessons are broken into units that include Family, Seasons, Graphing, Animals, Geometry, Safety, Measurement, American Government, My Body, Pilgrims, Manners, The Life of Jesus, Money, Benjamin Franklin, Transportation, Hibernation, U.S. Symbols, and Water.

When they say "all-inclusive" and "complete," they mean it!  The Teacher Manual is just packed with information, resources, and guidelines.  You can see from the Table of Contents what is provided and as you read through the introduction you will find the following also covered:

• School Year Overview
• Subject Area Content and Skills List
• Daily Lesson Plans
• Organization and Planning
• Teaching Procedure
• Calendar Skills
• Handwriting Guidelines

Suggested school year schedule

Extensive skills list divided by subject area

It walks you through your daily lesson plans

This is really nice if you are new to teaching, it gives you sample scripts

For each unit there is a suggested list of books to read.  Each day's lesson includes a list of skills learned, materials needed, and a calendar exercise.  The rest of the lesson includes the following or a mixture depending on that day's lesson plan (not all subjects are covered every day):

• Language Arts
• Social Studies
• Math
• Bible
• Art
• Physical Education

The time it takes to complete a lesson depends on the day and the skills covered.  For Little Bug, it could often take an hour or so if the lesson went well.  Remember, she is in Kindergarten and even though she is reading, I read the books as read-alouds (especially since this is a first-grade curriculum).  There are 18 Units that include 72 lessons so you would need to work through a lesson a day to get through the lessons in a semester.  Since she has her other work to do and this is currently a review our plan was to work on it 3 days per week.

I like that this is literature-based and that it is so organized and easy to use.  I also appreciated that it is geared toward a Christian worldview which is important in our household.  It might not be a good fit if you have a child at different levels in different subjects, but it also works great as a supplement if that were the case.  Little Bug found it fun and engaging (who doesn't like play-doh!) so it is a pretty good fit for her (although sometimes above the level she is at).  The curriculum as written is good at covering all subjects in a variety of ways that allows different learning styles to easily gain knowledge through the lessons.  There are plenty of hands-on activities and manipulatives.

Plenty of hands-on activities

We plan to continue working on this and it is a possibility that we will use this for our curriculum next school year.  We give First Grade Complete a thumbs up and recommend that you visit their website and check out their other complete grade curriculums (grades K-4), unit studies (grades K-6), and resources.  You can even download sample lessons.

You can connect with Homeschool Complete on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, and YOUTUBE.  Be sure to also check out my fellow crew member reviews, especially since everyone reviewed different resources.