Curriculum Choices First Grade

I am so excited to begin working more with Sunshine! She was not quite six when we decided to pull her from the Montessori classroom and begin homeschooling. I debated between ordering a kindergarten or a first grade curriculum for her and eventually decided on a first grade curriculum because I thought that she would enjoy it more. Here's a run down on our first grade choices.

• History - BookShark First Grade Package. I am as excited about this as she is. The book selections are wonderful! I'll probably read Story of the World aloud too, but not because I feel that the curriculum is lacking, we just really like to read.  I know that some people cringe at the idea of a boxed curriculum, but it really appeals to me. I feel that it will give me the confidence to know that the girls are meeting all of the basic requirements for each grade level and also the free time to add in exciting extras as I see fit. 
• Reading and Language Arts - We will be using BookShark for this too, but I've chosen the second grade regular readers with language arts. The first grade readers would have been way too easy for Sunshine, she takes to reading like a fish to water. I gave her the placement test from the BookShark website and she actually placed into the second grade advanced readers. For anyone else considering BookShark, I think that the child's age comes into play when choosing a level just as much as their reading ability. The second grade intermediate and advanced readers are significantly longer and more challenging and the language arts requires more writing and focus. Even though Sunshine has the ability to do the work, I don't think that she would enjoy the more advanced work. Her little fingers would fatigue with so much writing! The second grade regular language arts is absolutely jam-packed with wonderful things, so we won't be missing out by not going to a higher level.
• Math 
• Singapore Math - We started working through 1A and 1B last year and will finish up with those before moving onto the level 2 books. I really love Singapore Math and add Montessori materials as necessary. I am hoping to document some of the ways in which I use Montessori materials to support the Singapore Mathematics program in a future post. 
• Life of Fred - We are about to finish Apples and will move onto Butterflies soon!
• Science 
• BookShark Science - This is the only area where I'm not sure I'm going to like BookShark. She loves the videos, but I'm not sure it's quite enough science in this era. I would prefer a more rigorous project-based science. I've chosen a few other science options to keep us occupied.
• REAL Science Odyssey by Pandia Press - She chose Earth and Space Science level 1. I received this in the mail last week. We haven't started it, but it looks absolutely fantastic. It's incredibly meaty and we are so excited to get started! The experiments and the detail are great!
• Kiwi Crates 
• Nature Study - We will continue to do nature studies throughout the spring and summer. I've found some great living books to support us and we are lucky to live in a location where resources abound. I will post more on our nature journeys as I have time. 
• Phonics - We will be continuing with Book 4 of Explode the Code! It is scheduled in the BookShark second grade language arts.
• Handwriting - Zaner-Bloser 2C handwriting, Sunshine has always really wanted to learn cursive so I figured we'd forge ahead with the cursive book. I'm a little concerned with this choice, as a general rule she thinks handwriting is torture. I'll let you know how it goes!