{Day 3} What Are Homeschoolers Supposed To Teach?
{For an overview of all 31 Days of Homeschooling click HERE.}
To advance to the next lesson, look for the “NEXT LESSON” link at the end of this article.
Today’s education professionals know there is much more to learning than spitting out numbers and facts. Homeschoolers apply these principles at home, too. Even better, homeschoolers have more flexibility and more choices than teachers in standard classrooms do. Simply put, homeschool learners may expand far beyond the boundaries of what is being taught in traditional schools. In fact, shattering those boundaries is the trademark of homeschooling — meaning that families may study whatever, whenever, however they like.
But, surely there are mandatory requirements for homeschoolers, right? Aren’t there some things that homeschooled students absolutely must be taught?
To answer these questions, we must first turn to the legal system. Different regions require different things from homeschoolers, and it is up to families to discover what those requirements are. In the United States, laws vary from state to state, meaning that homeschooled students in one state may be required to study different things than homeschoolers in others. In the U.S., some states have relatively strict requirements, while others have few to no requirements at all.
Knowing what is legally required is the first step to discovering what to teach in homeschool. In a later lesson in the 31-Days program, you’ll discover where to find this information.
The second way to determine what is required is to apply common sense. No responsible parent would graduate a homeschool student from high school without the ability to read, write and perform basic computations. Most also understand the importance of studying the sciences, history, and arts too. Covering those basics, combined with adding in any other concepts or skills a family believes are important, is just what good parents do. Pushing traditional limits by allowing students the opportunity to study the things that interest them is important for a child’s future, too.
Still, some parents want to have guidelines about what to teach. Understandably, creating a curriculum from nothing seems daunting to those who have never done it before. This is where the third answer to this question comes in. Locating guidelines for what to teach, and following them year by year, is the final way to know what to teach. Guidelines for what to teach are available in several places, including these:
- Books about what to teach, such as: What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, Jr.
- Guides to accompany standard school textbooks, such as: Prentice Hall Literature Scope and Sequence
- Guides to accompany homeschool curriculum products, such as: Saxon Homeschool Math Scope and Sequence
- Online web sites, with year-by-year suggestions, such as: World Book Encyclopedia Typical Course of Study
- National, state or local standards, such as: Common Core Standards
- Department of Education web sites for each individual state, such as: Florida Department of Education
Keep in mind, though many homeschool parents enjoying have a guide for what to teach year-by-year, many parents also like the freedom to teach and learn any subject at any time, without following any kind of pattern at all.
I offer a book on my web site designed to help parents plan an entire year of homeschool curriculum. The book acts as a guide to help assemble all of the materials families plan to use for the entire year, along with a clever set of forms to schedule the year and write lesson plans for every course. You’ll find that book in my online store.
Other articles you might like:
Creating Homeschool Lesson Plans — The Easy Way!
Dr. Marie-Claire Moreau is a college professor who traded in her tenure to become a homeschool mom 20+ years ago. A homeschooling pioneer and the founder of many groups and organizations, she works to advance home education, and is an outspoken supporter of education reform coast to coast. Her book,