How Do I Know What To Teach and When to Teach It?

Posted by Peggy | 0 comments

One of the best things about homeschooling is being able to study what you want – when you want. On the other hand there are certain topics that do need to be covered. If you are new to homeschooling or just in panic mode (a place I visit a couple of times a year), then you would like to know what “typically” needs to be covered and when.

There are a variety of places a homeschooler can find a list of topics and the grades they are generally covered in. Some are free – others are not. Here is a list of my personal favorites: (Most of these are in e-book or Kindle format though there is an option for print edition in all cases except for the World Book Typical Course of Study)

• Core Knowledge Sequence: Free Download. This is the first place I went as these are detailed in some of my favorite reference books – ‘What Your __ Grader Needs to Know When’. I have K-6 and they are great supplements to the books I already have for curriculum. This is a large file but worth a look in my opinion. This only covers Preschool to 8th grade.

• There is also the Common Core Standards Initiative. I know North Carolina has already signed on to streamline their standards with these. You can download the Math and English Language Arts Standards here.

• World Book: Typical Course of Study – Free. This covers from Preschool to 12th grade.

• Here in North Carolina we can look at the NC Standard Course of Study – even down to the textbooks the public school classroom is using. It’s not the easiest site to navigate but it has a lot of information and links to resources. It is free.

The following are my top paid sources of what needs to be covered.

• The Checklist by Cindy Downes. The PDF is 9.99 and there are print and combo options as well. There is a nice sized sample. This is more of a scope and sequence that is not grouped by grade levels but by topics. There are also links and suggestions for using it in your homeschool to develop unit studies on the website.

• Robin Sampson’s What Your Child Needs to Know When – $15.00 for the e-book. It has a wealth of information besides the evaluation checklists – an in-depth look at education and goals – the state’s requirements vs. God’s requirements as well as advice on implementing God’s goals for education. The evaluation checklists go up through 8th grade.

• This is a paperback that I own that is dogeared and gets a lot of use. You can now buy it on Kindle as well. Rebecca Rupp’s Home Learning Year By Year. As well as giving guidelines arranged by grade level – the book gives you suggestions of websites, items to use and books as resources. The Kindle edition is $11.99 and you can get the paperback version a little cheaper.

• If you are a classical homeschooler, then The Well Trained Mind is a must have for your bookshelf. It is also now available for Kindle. Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise do an excellent job of explaining classical education and how to implement it in your homeschool. The Kindle version is $19.99 with the hardback print version slightly higher – it’s a large text.

I hope these resources can help you plan your path and reassure you that you have set your children’s education on the right path.

Peggy Dalley has been married to her best friend and husband for 14 years. She uses the eclectic approach to homeschool their three sons, 12, 10 and 7. Her interests include writing unit studies, Bible study, history and she is working hard to become a Proverbs 31:10 woman instead of a Proverbs 21:9 woman.