First Grade Home School Social Studies and Websites to Make Learning Fun

You have to be very imaginative when teaching social studies to homeschooled children. The subjects are pretty simplistic, and can be difficult to delve very deeply into. If you plan to follow the recommended national course of study, you can also find fun resources to help your homeschooler not only learn but get excited about social studies subjects. Here are the subjects that should be addressed and websites you can use to teach them.

Community lessons for first grade homeschoolers: For social studies, first graders typically begin learning about themselves and the world immediately around them. Topics like family, neighborhood, community, and neighborhood helpers such as police and fireman are a good place to start. Teachnology.com websites have lots of lesson plans you can use.

World culture lessons for first grade homeschoolers: Holidays, traditions, and customs teaches topics about the world outside of the home in an engaging manner. Homeschoolers can be taught culture and traditions of other countries and ethnicities while celebrating their own, in order to compare and contrast, all while following the yearly calendar. The Holiday Spot website follows a format that teaches the these topics by the calendar. To teach more about different cultures at different times, check out the Social Studies for Kids website.

Career lessons for first grade homeschoolers: First graders start thinking about "what am I going to do when I grow up" early. Lessons in jobs and careers is also an important part of social studies. This is followed up by important subjects like farming, the zoo, social skills, and responsibilities. All of these things start giving kids ideas about what direction they may want to head toward. Homeschoolers can teach all of these subjects by just visiting different people at work and visiting businesses. If you are looking for some web resources to help, check out the Lesson Plan Central website, The Teachers Guide for farm lessons, and a-z Teacher Stuff for zoo lessons.

Heritage lessons for first grade homeschoolers: Our American Heritage (patriotism) is a major part of first grade social studies. As homeschoolers, we get to decide to what degree we teach this, but if you wish to use websites to stay on top of recommended curriculum suggestions, here are some links you can use. Kids.gov does and excellent job of teaching this social studies topic.

Geography lessons for first grade homeschoolers: Finally first graders should learn to read maps and learn geography. National Geographic.com has great lesson plans for Geography and Enchanted Learning has tons of worksheets on maps.