Curriculum and grade level books.

When home schooling your child it is important to know that companies that produce your curriculum have attempted to align the grade levels with the public school level grades.  This is helpful to many that are new to home schooling, as they can grab curriculum straight off the shelf, without much thought.

This isn’t always the best way for your child though.  And, thankfully, many good publishers have devised exams that help determine where your child should begin.  Hurray for them!

It’s much more beneficial to the child and us if we teach them based on their ability rather than either boring them with something that is not challenging, or frustrating them because something is too hard. 

If your child is farther along than others, then keep him challenged and he will most likely stay ahead.  If your child is behind in some ways, it’s OK.  Don’t freak out.  It is better to allow them the time they need to perfect their skills before moving on to more challenging tasks.  If they consistently work on things they may be behind in,  it will most likely all even out in the grand scheme of things.

I currently have my 8 year old in 5th grade math, 2nd grade handwriting, and his reading level is in  5th -6th grade level books for science.  On the other hand, I have home schooled kids which were in lower levels compared to their grade level too.

Recently, I was schooling a child that was 15 and was working on 5th grade level math.
The child had transferred out of a public school where he was having difficulty with his 7th grade subjects.  When we tested him to see where to start him in math, we had to go back a good ways to where his level of proficiency was.  While this may be disturbing to some, the important thing is that the child continue to master things at his own pace, not to force things on him that he couldn’t possibly understand, let alone master.

It is important to realize that a child's math ability is directly linked to his reading level.  That 15 year old's reading level was on a 5th grade level as well.  We can’t expect a child who isn’t a strong reader, to be strong in anything scholastically. 

If a child isn’t reading at a progressive rate each year, his math will probably not be moving along either.

I always stress the basics, regardless of age or grade level.  If you do this, and allow a child to focus on learning to read well, everything else can fall into place much easier for him and he can learn much faster and more efficiently. 

Happy Home Schooling!

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