Over the past month or so, I have compiled the typical course of study from grades 1-12. The purpose is to let you know what public school children around the country are studying, and to give a guideline to anyone who might want to write their own curriculum based on what most kids are learning at the same time. As homeschoolers, however, many of us are free to deviate from that typical course of study (depending upon the rules in your state). The question is, however, just how much should we deviate? While we want our kids to have unique … Continue reading →

Middle school is a time when students are growing physically at break-neck speed and also going through a bit of emotional turmoil. Perhaps that is the reason many school and curriculum designers spend these three years teaching the same subject matter each year, adding slightly more detailed level each year. This may also be the reason that many homeschoolers, who have a bit less social stress than middle school public schoolers then do complete middle school in one or two years instead of the usual three. In summarizing the basic curriculum for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, I have condensed … Continue reading →

Middle school science is repetitive and repeats subjects learned during the elementary years. Instead of repeating the same subjects over and over, I feel that homeschoolers should look for experiences that will help the children learn the subject in a hands-on way and in greater depth. Look for experiments, museum and zoo trips, educational movies and things of that nature. With that said, the subjects they should learn are: Learning to classify and discover through science: Students must learn to classify living things, they must learn scientific classification, and must also learn scientific method, scientific nomenclature, and scientific measurement. Laboratory … Continue reading →

In middle school, Language Arts tends to be repetitive in order to help a student gradually improve his or her skills. The basic subject matter that a middle school student must know before beginning high school is as follows. Reading: A student needs to be able to read silently and with fluency, skim a story for information, and read independently. They must have critical reading skills, as well as literal, inferential, and evaluative reading skills. Literature: Students must be familiar with numerous types of literature such as mythology, poetry (lyric, narrative, and dramatic), novels, short stories, plays, myths, legends, and … Continue reading →

Middle school math, i.e. 6th 7th and 8th grade math are generally the same math concepts repeated at a slightly greater difficulty each year. It basically prepares students for algebra. If middle school students do, very well with middle school math they can start Algebra in 8th grade. Here are the concepts your middle school student must master (at 90% accuracy) before moving on to Algebra. Place Value: Students should be able to name place value up to a billion Decimals: Estimating, rounding, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing and conversion to fractions Percent: Students should be able to calculate a percentage … Continue reading →

World book has a list of topics that your students should learn from grade school through high school. For middle school years, I strongly disagree the way in which the topics are arranged for each of the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade social studies. It is basically set up in a way that is segmented and not cohesive at all. I feel these topics can be set up in a way that is based on time period, or at least region. For this reason, I have re-arranged the topics a bit to help it flow better. As you can see … Continue reading →

For the fifth grade, I like to move homeschoolers from passively learning to actively learning. This means I like to move from learning games to books and research. This of course can be done slowly over time. This following list details what a fifth grader needs to know. Fifth Grade Math Curriculum builds upon lessons learned in previous years, but with greater difficulty. In this post I listed websites that can help you teach important fifth grade concepts. In Fifth Grade Language Arts Curriculum Part 1, and Fifth Grade Language Arts Curriculum Part 2 , I discussed important grammar, reading … Continue reading →

Science in fifth deals with life sciences. This is basically plant biology, human cells and body, and earth science as well. In teaching fifth grade science, in my opinion, you will need two books. I suggest your purchase a Grade 5 science textbook or curriculum set and a book on science experiments. While previously I suggested fun ways to learn science through field trips and other fun activities. Beginning in fifth grade to middle school, however, students should start using books more. Subjects your biology books should are: Biological adaptations: Changes in a species due to environmental stress Biotic communities: … Continue reading →