Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool

If you are starting out with “Getting Ready,” then you only have to worry about if your child is ready to learn to read, but if you are thinking of jumping in further along, I wanted to offer some insight. The reading level in this curriculum for English is two years ahead of public school level since they are learning to read for two years before they begin first grade. I do it this way because reading paves the way for learning. If you have been following a public school scope and sequence, your 8 year old might be ready for “level 1.”

I called them levels instead of grades in the hopes of making people more comfortable with starting at the right level and working from there. An eight-year-old can start in level 1 and still be reading at an eighth grade level by age 13 and can still finish calculus by twelfth grade. The math levels are more like public school grade levels. I do take my time with math, but it is tracked so that they can get through calculus if that’s the route you and your child choose. You can decide to have your child use a different level for math. Just tell him or her to select what math you like from the page menu on the side when they get to the math section each day. I know I don’t have all the levels up yet. If I don’t have the math you need, you can provide your own math until they get to the 10 and up stage. Here’s my approximate math schedule:

• level 1  addition and subtraction facts 1-5; number concepts: more and less, odd and even, ordinals, patterns; counting to 10o, by 5, by 10; introduction to money, time, graphs, fractions, measurements, geometry
• level 2  addition and subtraction facts 1-10; counting to 1000; place value; adding and subtracting two digit numbers; counting by 2, 3, 5, 10; continue with the introduced math concepts
• level 3  multiplication and division facts; adding and subtracting large numbers/decimals; continuing with other math concepts
• level 4 multiplying and dividing big numbers/decimals; continuing with other math concepts
• level 5 and up — I have them start at Kahn Academy adding 1 + 1, so it’s okay to skip right to this step. They can move through it in a month if they already know all of their arithmetic. It’s okay to work on it for a year or two as well. It lacks in some of those kid math concepts, but those are really things they will learn just living (like taking measurements).

The program years are bunched first through fourth, fifth through eighth. The two groups learn mostly the same material. The older group has harder readings which go into more detail and also has more writing to do. I try to keep it simple to focus on understanding concepts instead of having a focus on accumulating facts.

Most things are taught in circles, concepts are visited and revisited as they go through the years. I make no claims for you children’s future if they use this curriculum, but I do know my children scored exceptionally well when they had to be tested (state requirement). It works for our family. I hope it works for your family too!