Several people have asked me this question recently. I have plenty to say about this, but I try to resist launching into it in casual conversation. So I thought I'd document the details for those who may be curious or trying to piece together a homeschool plan of their own.
To clarify first:
Standards are the expectations for what students should know and be able to do by the end of the year.
Curriculum refers to how you get there-- the lessons, activities, teaching plan.
The Common Core State Standards for math and language arts, Next Generation Science Standards, and C3 Framework for social studies are my basis for the standards in the academic areas.
Some homeschool families rely a lot on online or video-based programs that their kids work their way through. There also is something called "all-in-one" curriculum that some use, where some person or outfit sells a package of plans and materials to use for every day in every area. And of course some homeschool families are doing something called "unschooling," informal learning based on their kids' interests and what pops up in life, and they aren't using any curriculum at all.
I can see how all of those things might make sense for some homeschool parents. But I was coming from a teacher's perspective, as well as the perspective of a parent who had long wanted my child to have a more challenging and personalized academic experience. I was starting out with ideas about what practices mattered in good teaching and learning, and an awareness of programs out there. I couldn't really imagine buying into many programs marketed to homeschoolers because I just felt my needs were so different from the homeschool-specific options I was finding. I wanted to choose research-based programs that were aligned with the standards to help ensure I was teaching well, so I didn't have to reinvent the wheel (or disregard the wheel entirely). I just needed to make sure what I chose would reasonably work for one kid.
Here's what I'm using. (Separate post coming about my attempts to find the right balance in how I schedule all this...)
Writing: Units of Study in Writing (Teachers' College Reading and Writing Project)
I've been in love with the writing workshop approach for over a decade, and there was no question this was what I wanted to use with W this year. It involves teaching a brief (ten minute) "minilesson" on a specific skill, strategy, or habit each day for students to add to the repertoire of things you've taught about the type of writing you're working on. Then you send them off to spend the bulk of their time on their independent writing (because kids learn to write by spending time really writing, just like they learn to read by actually reading). Students are never "done" during writing time. It is a workshop; they create and stay busy, whether planning, drafting, revising, or editing. There is regular self evaluation and goal setting using checklists of what narratives/opinion pieces/informational writing at their level should include. They usually choose their own topics to write about; the teacher doesn't assign topics. Part of the process is studying published writing of the type students are trying to write. They try to approximate techniques they find in a "mentor text" or two that they get to know really well through the unit. Writing workshop teaches ownership, initiative, and fosters a growth mindset. Most of all I like that it teaches writing explicitly, as a skill in itself, and writing is not just "integrated" into everything else. I've seen huge growth with it over the years in first grade, and so far this year with W. Our first unit was on writing realistic fiction stories, we're just beginning our second on personal and persuasive essays. There will be literary essays and informational writing about history research later in the year. I hope we'll also get to poetry.
Reading: Units of Study in Reading (Teachers' College Reading and Writing Project)
Reading workshop is the exact same approach as above which I am passionate about, but with reading instead of writing-- the short minilesson on a specific reading strategy, techniques, or habit, then plenty of time for students to read their independent books while the teacher periodically checks in with them individually and pushes them along where they can be pushed, supports where they need to be supported. At the first-grade level where I used to teach there was a mix of lessons on decoding strategies (learning to read) and lessons on reading habits and skills, fluency, comprehension. At the fourth-grade level, beginning with a fiction-focused unit, it is mostly so far about comprehension, thinking intensely about books, discussing with others the ideas you have about books, jotting your ideas occasionally as you read to "grow" ideas, thinking about theme and character traits and how characters change. There are rubrics and learning progressions and checklists to help students reflect and set goals and make progress. W is a strong and voracious reader. And yet it has been a big learning curve to pause, think, SHOW comprehension by discussing a book coherently, and find evidence in a text to support an idea. There is so much in these rich lessons that are perfect for him. Having the language of these lessons thread through our talks about the books W is reading independently as well as the one we are reading together has helped cause huge growth already.
Science: Mystery Science
For a very reasonable fee, homeschoolers can access the Mystery Science web site (but this, also, was something I used in my classroom). It is aligned with Next Generation Science Standards. It is inquiry-based. Every session is a "mystery" for kids to explore and figure out, step by step: How can some animals see in the dark? How does your brain control your body? Why do some volcanoes explode? How can you figure out where a rock came from? It is a web site, where you click on one "mystery" at a time and go through it step by step. You have to have your materials ready to go, but they are minimal and easy to acquire. The lesson part might be ten minutes max, then there is lots of stop and talk times and tons of hands-on learning to do. This outfit is run by a (former) science teacher in California. I am not normally one to go for online programs or videos to teach, but this site has won me over. It is fun and engaging and really helps kids understand what they are learning. I think that "Mystery Doug" as kids know him is a far better science teacher than I am on my own, but with his guidance we have some amazing sessions.
Math: Singapore Math
The school I taught in used a "spiraling" math curriculum. (Spiraling is hitting on each topic multiple times over the course of the year. The idea is you add more depth each time you revisit it during the year. I was always advised by math curriculum trainers to not worry if students don't "get it" because the topic will come back later in the year. But that never felt quite right and it felt that some just don't ever catch on this way.) I'd become less than convinced that a spiraling math approach was the way to go. So I was ready to try a whole new approach... I like Singapore Math because in contrast to spiraling, it is mastery-based; we study a topic until W understands it, then move on (while it is still brought into cumulative reviews periodically). I like that the program aims high. It gets right into things. It is focused on straightforward math. There is a very affordable set of program books for homeschoolers: textbook, workbook, home instructor's manual. As far as I can tell, the homeschool version is not a lot different than the other versions, just inexpensive and not dependent on a lot of specific materials. The teaching of a new skill progresses from concrete to pictorial to abstract (e.g. blocks/cards/manipulatives, to representative visuals, to algorithms). It brings in estimating, number sense, and mental math with each section.
Social Studies: A Mix of Things
This is where I had to dig deep this summer and couldn't just buy a program or use one I already had access to. There is a relatively new C3 Framework that lays out not standards, but guidance for states to establish social studies, or "global citizenship," standards. It is vague, focusing on approaches that are best (start with a compelling question, use an inquiry process, do projects with lasting impact, etc) and broad categories to be studied. So I had some background info from that, but still didn't know what we needed to learn in fourth grade. I attempted to communicate with teachers from my son's public school at the end of last year about what their social studies curriculum was from grade to grade...long and frustrating story, but the short of it is that they wouldn't tell me. I met with a former colleague who was very generous with her time and knowledge about social studies at the upper elementary level and she gave me some big ideas to work with about what fourth graders often study at least in the state of Vermont. I got the gist that many schools teach the same set of big ideas on a different scale in different grades-- like rules and laws, citizenship, and history about your town in third grade, your state in fourth, and nation in fifth. With this basis of my C3 reading and my colleague's guidance, I still needed to fill in the details on what I was going to teach when. I found the curricula of some schools I respected online. I also found the Core Knowledge Foundation, which we were aware was used by a nearby private school. I also felt more assured I was on the right track by reading through some general sites intended to give parents an overview of what their fourth graders will learn in social studies by the end of the year, such as Scholastic and Greatschools.org. From all this I began to see overlaps and themes and was able to start to sketch things out. This year we plan to study: map skills, a survey of U.S. history pre-colonization through the American Revolution, our state history and geography and culture, regions of the U.S. and states and capitals, and some current events and their comparison to New Hampshire and relevance to us. My plan is to study these things through a combination of: borrowed free units online, a New Hampshire history for homeschoolers course once a month at the New Hampshire Historical Society, my own hodge podge of things I've put together through research, and some good kid-friendly web sites like Newsela.
Spelling/Word Study: Words Their Way
As a teacher I participated in a book study of the Words their Way approach to spelling instruction. While I'd never taught it myself in the primary grades, I had a good understanding of this program. The idea is that you assess students to find out exactly what stage of spelling development they are at. Then the program provides lots of word lists. Students get a word list targeted at their level each week. Students sort the words in their list multiple times, getting familiar with them. They discuss meaning and "discover" what the spelling rule is. The words all have a certain characteristic to them such as different ways to make the /k/ sound and students figure out the generalization of which words are spelled which ways, as well as the "oddballs" that don't really fit with the rule. There are various activities we can do during the week to work with the words, looking them up in the dictionary, making sentences with them, and spelling games. There's a test at the end of the week. I like that it's not a random list of spelling words and it's not a spelling list on a content-area theme; it's a list of words that have a similar feature so students really have to figure out when to use which spelling. W has challenging words each week, right at his level.
Social-Emotional Learning:
Obviously kids need social experiences to learn social skills. We are working hard to provide W with at least as many social experiences as he always has had, minus the actual school day itself (more play times with friends, the sports he wants to play each season, attending the school Halloween dance and all-school hike field trip, attending PE in the public school twice a week). That said, there are some kids who naturally develop great social skills and others (most, I'd argue) who need some explicit teaching and practice on these matters. So while we value all those social experiences W is having, I also felt he could use a little more guidance sometimes and that there are in fact typical developmental social issues that kids deal with at different ages worth focusing on. Because of this, I managed to get access to the Second Step social-emotional curriculum. It is a simple lesson each week focused on a topic. It includes a 1-2 minute video (max) showing kids his age engaged in incredibly typical scenarios (fighting over who's out in a four square game, for example). We discuss the issue from different perspectives and there's usually a little activity to do to help us be really aware of and intentional about the issue. It might seem a little silly to be doing social skills lessons at home with one kid. Yet it's quick. He enjoys it and it has caused important topics to thread through our week and our conversation-- things like showing empathy, and being assertive rather than aggressive or passive. I think it impacts how he is with his sister or on the soccer field or in other situations. It feels well worth the 20 minutes per week we spend on it.
I think that's all of our official curricula...I'll share soon about some other fun stuff we're doing, including art and music.
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