Year 1 (ages 6 to 7)

Year 1 corresponds to Charlotte Mason's Form IB year, the first year of Form 1. Charlotte Mason advocated that children should not receive formal lessons until the age of 6. Year 1 is the year in which your child will learn to read and write and it is an introductory year for all of their subjects and Charlotte Mason's principles.

Blog Article: A Typical Day in the Life of a Year 1 Child.

Browse our selection of open-and-go lesson plans and book lists for this age group below. More plans will be added on an ongoing basis.

Year 1 subjects and book lists:

Morning Reflection and Sunday Reading

FOR CHRISTIANS:

The Bible for School and Home, by Dr J. Paterson Smyth: Volume I - The Book of Genesis & Volume VII - St Matthew's Gospel of the Kingdom
Any Bible atlas
Any children's book of prayers
Sidelights on the Bible, by Eliza Elder
Parables from Nature, by Mrs Gatty

FOR NON-CHRISTIANS:

Either replace with prayers and readings of your own faith, or use the time for some meditation, breathwork and journaling.

English Tales, Writing, Recitations & Reading

Between the Lines Year 1 English Lesson Plans covers tales, writing, recitations and reading!

Reading taught using The Young and Field Literary Readers Book 1, by EL Young and WT Field.

Fairy tales and fables are read from:

Andersen's Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
The Aesop for Children, by Aesop

FOR NON-CHRISTIANS:

For recitations, you can replace the Psalm and Bible passage recitations with readings from your own faith or from your child's Reading books. Replace hymns with songs from your own faith or secular songs.

Mathematics (Sums)

Between the Lines Year 1 Mathematics Lesson Plans

Picture Study

Between the Lines Picture Study Lesson Plans
(choose one rotation for the whole family)

Handicrafts

Any book on clay modelling
The Little Girl's Sewing Book, by F. Klickmann, H. Cowham & HT. Miller
Needlecraft in the School, by M.Swanson
Paper Folding, by HG Paterson (Book I of Charlotte Mason Beehive series)

Foreign Languages

Charlotte Mason recommended children learn one foreign language in Form I, starting with French. However feel free to replace this with a different foreign language relevant to your culture.

We recommend using the resources listed at Mason's Living Languages: French – Mason's living languages (masonslivinglanguages.com).

Brushdrawing

We recommend using these videos by Richele Baburina to learn the art of brushdrawing:

https://charlottemasonpoetry.org/brush-drawing-resources/
Do brushdrawings as per the Nature Study and English History lesson plans as well as scenes from people read about in Tales.

Musical Appreciation

Between the Lines Musical Appreciation Lesson Plans
(choose one rotation for the whole family)

Music (Instrument)

Teacher's Guide to Mrs Curwen's Pianoforte Method (The Child Pianist)
Find student videos and resources at the Curwen Music website.

Singing

The Book of French Songs, by LS Costello (learn two French songs per term)
Songtime, by Percy Dearmer (learn two English songs per term)

Drill / Phys Ed

Syllabus of Physical Training, issued by the Board of Education in 1919
Rhythmic Games and Dances, by F.Hewitt
British Marches for Schools, by Martin Shaw

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