"What your _ Grader Needs to Know"

[Blueone]

I was wondering if anyone has used this series for homeschooling. I was looking through them and liked that they had all the subjects and thought of supplementing with a language or something other on the side.

Are they good?

[elizawill]

yes, i think they're good. they follow the core knowledge sequence. i don't incorporate them a lot, but use it more-so as a point of reference. however, many people use them as a spine successfully. you can also incorporate a lot of the free lessons from www.coreknowledge.org (i specifically love the baltimore curriculum project lessons). hth.

[Blueone]

What do you do when they hit high school then?

[elizawill]

i'm not thinking past 3rd grade right now. high school is very far away. *if* i were following core knowledge though, i'd just use the recommended high school resources at the CK website. honestly though, assuming we're still homeschooling then, my kids will have so much ownership of what they want to study then, i can't imagine it being an issue figuring things out.

[Blueone]

Ok! I really shouldn't be thinking that far, but I wasn't sure they even had resources. Thanks!

[karemore]

We're doing K right now and I use the book as a resource but not as our main curriculum.

There's just not enough to it, I think it's a minimum program a child should have, not a complete one.

Also it doesn't take into account that a child may be at K (or whatever level) in one subject but not others.

I like the books but I see them as more of an overview.

[elizawill]

yes, i totally agree it isn't a complete curriculum. i also agree that it doesn't take into account a child may be at varying levels. those are good points.

OP, the books were written for parents with children in public school that don't follow the CK model. the series was simply intended to help fill in the gaps. but you can use the books successfully as a spine to build a curriculum around. the lessons at the CK website fall in line with the series perfectly. you can also buy specific curricula that follow the ck sequence. they have a list of publishers at their website that model their curriculum after the CK sequence. i have thought about purchasing the CK sequence itself, but it's more than i want to spend honestly. the series you are referring to though is so cheap used, it would be well worth the money to buy the grade you need. i also LOVE rebecca rupp's, home learning year by year. i actually rely on that much more.

[StormySar]

I like them as a reference but that's about it. I feel they lack a lot in each subject to be a complete curriculum, and don't really touch on HOW to teach certain things, just what your child "needs" to know when.

I do buy these books each year for my oldest to use as a reference though.

[SoCaliMommy]

You should be able to search on the school districts web site that your child would go to if in public school. They list what they need to know and its free.

[ocelotmom]

I agree. Not a complete curriculum. I have the 1st-3rd grade books, and they have 1-2 pages of material per day, which can be covered within about 5 minutes as a read-aloud.

One thing to keep in mind is that they are some random person's idea of what a ___ grader needs to know, not a canonical refererence. He may be a well-educated person with good idea, but still not an official source. Following it may or may not keep you in line with state/national standards. I know that the 1st grade math, at least, falls behind California state standards, while social studies covers entirely different material than the state standards. So, if your goal is keeping in line with state standards, you need to look at those directly.

(Of course, the same is likely to be true of any curriculum.)

I do think that they're a good resource and worth getting (especially if you can find them used for cheap, like I did!). Unlike the state standards, they have a lot of material right there in the book, which I find much more accessible than the rather vague state standards. It's not particularly in-depth, but it's a good quick overview or jumping off place for further exploration. It's written at a level that's slightly lower level than I'd prefer, but much better than the California state curriculum for the same grade. And I like that they have a more global focus than the California state curriculum.

And yeah, don't worry about whether a curriculum extends through high school unless your child is nearing that point already. I think few homeschoolers stick with one curriculum the whole way through, and high school is a very common transition point.

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by elizawill

honestly though, assuming we're still homeschooling then, my kids will have so much ownership of what they want to study then, i can't imagine it being an issue figuring things out.

This is absolutely bullseye true! Lillian

[Lillian J]

I had them, but never thought of them as a guidance reference so much as just a collection of interesting things. My feeling was that Hirsh was excessive about sorting out what a child "should" know at any given age. I never found a good reason why a child should know any specific thing at any given age - homeschooling makes it possible to live outside that kind of box. My neighbors, both responsible professionals with advanced degrees, had some good chuckles finding things in there that even they didn't know. If you feel as if you want something to refer to now and then for interesting ideas, they can be fun, but I wouldn't worry about trying to follow them. He has a book I like - Books To Build On: A Grade-by-Grade Resource Guide for Parents and Teachers.

- Lillian

[heatherdeg]

Originally Posted by karemore

There's just not enough to it, I think it's a minimum program a child should have, not a complete one.

Well, when you actually look at the Core Knowledge curriculum it makes your head spin. Seriously. I even got the day-by-day planner to figure out pacing and unless I wanted to school my kid 6+ hours/day there was no way all of the objectives were being met.

So I love these books because they're like CK "lite". I agree they're not a complete curriculum, but for those who don't see the need to push hard in the early years, I think it COULD be (except in math--I honestly didn't look at the math section because we use Saxon for that because mine is a math-a-holic).

I think it depends on what you want. But I could definitely see where some would find them plenty for a full curriculum in the early years.

OP: you can also get CK's "Scope and Sequence" that covers all the objectives from K-8 (I'm not sure they've incorporated their newer pre-K curriculum into the S&S). This way you would know what they think you should learn and you can just figure out if you want to cover it and how. That's really the beauty AND the beast of CK: you can hit the objectives however you see fit. But then, you have to figure out how to hit it. LOTS of resources (many free) to help you, but it's more work than a boxed curriculum or something more laid out (where you then don't have the flexibility you have with CK). Vicious cycle.

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by heatherdeg

I think it depends on what you want. But I could definitely see where some would find them plenty for a full curriculum in the early years.

And then some! Lillian

[elizawill]

Originally Posted by Lillian J

My feeling was that Hirsh was excessive about sorting out what a child "should" know at any given age.

lillian, i totally agree with you. but the premise behind the CK sequence isn't intended for homeschoolers at all. it was only intended for public schools. the CK sequence is an attempt to fill the educational gaps across schools. for example, two children in kindergarten at the same school (but with different teachers) were going into first grade, having been taught very different things (as the teachers weren't following a detailed scope & sequence). therefore, some kids were ahead...some behind....some had already been taught "this or that", while others had not been introduced to those topics yet. ed hirsch and others tried to fill that educational gap by creating the CK sequence. it list specific things to cover per grade level, but still leaves teachers and schools the freedom to choose the curriculum that best fits their students. the series discussed in this thread is just for parents that don't have their kids in a CK school.

anyway, i don't follow the CK sequence, but i like their free stuff

[Lillian J]

Interesting, Amy - but I wonder if the original books published so long ago weren't just more or less children's versions of his Cultural Literacy book for adults. I wasn't aware of a curriculum plan when we had those - could it be that it was added later? - Lillian

[elizawill]

Originally Posted by Lillian J

Interesting, Amy - but I wonder if the original books published so long ago weren't just more or less children's versions of his Cultural Literacy book for adults. I wasn't aware of a curriculum plan when we had those - could it be that it was added later? - Lillian

i have no idea honestly. it's a great question though!

[Blueone]

Thanks, I'll look at Books to Build On. I was looking at them as a starting point, then supplementing with other or build on the subjects. I do plan on using a few work books and I am also considering a Co-Op. But, he won't be in school for another 3 years or so. I'm just trying to gain as much knowledge as I can about homeschooling. I was thinking Classical Education, but it seemed too complicated.

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by Blueone

Thanks, I'll look at Books to Build On. I was looking at them as a starting point, then supplementing with other or build on the subjects. I do plan on using a few work books and I am also considering a Co-Op. But, he won't be in school for another 3 years or so. I'm just trying to gain as much knowledge as I can about homeschooling. I was thinking Classical Education, but it seemed too complicated.

In that case, I honestly think you'd be just as well off to forget about homeschooling for those three years and simply focus on the everyday here and now with him - I think that will blend right into picking and choosing the right educational elements for him when the times come for each of them to come into play. Lillian

[fruitfulmomma]

I've only looked at one and it wasn't really my thing, but I thought I'd mention this site http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?curriculum which has Course of Study listings for all grades. It might be helpful in getting your bearings as far as what is "average" for each student.

I do have a couple of the Core Knowledge classic paperback books and thought they were pretty well done. They are abridged, which I normally don't like but for getting the basics of certain literature that you are not really otherwise interested in reading it was good and they have side notes to explain some things. I read them for myself, my children aren't old enough for them yet.