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What Your X Grader Needs to Know
- This topic has 9 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 8 months ago by
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I posted a few months ago that I am working on a conference session I am giving where I will address the challenges CM homeschoolers face. One challenge I will be looking at is the difficulty parents have in asessing the effectiveness of their teaching/whether their child is learning what he needs to learn. I am just compiling some resources that parents might find useful and was wondering about the popular series of books by E.D. Hirsch, What Your __ Grader Needs to Know. Does anyone own any? (My library only has the preschool one.) While, of course, when we cover different things will vary from home to home, has anyone found these books helpful for reassuring yourself or assessing your homeschool program? Or, are they for something entirely different?
I have all of them. I’ve had them for years, but I don’t really use them. They go over what your child “should” know at each grade. You know, what “everyone else” is learning. (Like everyone else is learning the same things.) They have a section for each subject. The History section reminds me of Story of the World a little.
I’ve never used them to reassure myself or assessed my homeschool program by them, but that might be of use to some, since everyone is different. For those just starting, I would say they might be quite a help. I thought they were great 15 years ago! And I referred to them more before I gave myself permission to do anything like CM.
They are for the kids to read or have read to them. They address the kids directly. They are well done, and they provide a nice overview (more interesting than a textbook). My husband loves them, but he is a little easily impressed. He compares everything to the boring textbooks he had in school.
I don’t know if any of that made sense; I’ve had a headache this week. That makes me a little confusing!
I have the 4th grader one and I had one other (can’t remember which one). I don’t use it either. I think I read a snippet of info from it one time this year and I don’t really know why I keep it! Maybe I will have my kids read it too. I was using it as a door stop… I happened across DPI information for what your child “should” know in each grade, like a scope and sequence type list for math, science, language arts, phy ed and social studies, and I use that as a reference but I haven’t looked at it lately either. HTH
I have looked at them over the years. They have a certain program, like American history in such and such a grade, that may not be how you choose to do things. Perhaps their criteria for things like math and language woudl be more universal. But this is all part of the core knowledge school of thinking which is really about learning the information they decide is important and I think the philosophy behind it is very un-CM so personally I wouldn’t encourage it.
You know CM has in oneof her books lists of attainments for various ages? They are not usually the things we think of (things like “learn 5 bird calls”) but they could be interesting to look at. I can’t remember if she has much for the core subjects like math.
Nebby
Thanks, ladies. I was thinking they’d get mixed reviews. Does anyone know of a good reference where parents could just have a look at for help in assessing whether or not their child was ‘on track’ with other children of a similar age? Funny, I actually discourage parents from comparing since our CM program will be so different from that of other children. (In a lot of ways, I think traditionally educated children should be comparing to US! LOL!) However, I know that some parents, often hs dads, would just like some reassurance that their child is doing just fine, that the CM method is working. Ideas? I am speaking to Canadian moms, if that makes any difference.
Kristin, what is DPI?
World book has lists:
http://www.worldbook.com/typical-course-of-study?wbredirect=1&Itemid=216
Again they assign certain things to certain years that need not be done then, esp in history and science. But mostly it is a pretty bare list so I think it could be helpful.
Nebby
I don’t care for those books either. There is always an abundance of them at Half Price Books. For literature, they use snippets of great books – you know, like a graded reader from public school. So, for example, they will read a chapter from the middle of Anne of Green Gables which will do nothing to encourage them to read the actual book. Ruins a great book!
If they want to compare, I would think a scope and sequence, like from World Book, would be more helpful.
I had all of them from the Preschool to the 4th grade and got rid of them. They stressed me out. 😉 My child does not know everything in every book and it didn’t line up with what I was trying to do with CM. Hence the stress!
One book that I recently finished and found to be so encouraging, so uplifting, and made CM seem so much more managable (again, lol) was A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola. I have used all the SCM materials to get me going and have loved them – still use them. But I found A Charlotte Mason Companion inexpensively somewhere and read it over several months. It just reinforced all my reasons for choosing CM and gave me a great enthusiam boost. =) Trust the method, DO the method consistently and it works. I don’t need all the newest and latest of everything. Use what we have. Those kinds of things are helpful to me.
I have the K-6 books and I like them even though I don’t use them as much as I though I would. I periodically take them out and go over some of the “sayings” with my Ds. I plan to use the graded books over the summer to keep things fresh. We’ll doing the 4th grade and K book every other day. It doesn’t really matter to me if we finish the book or not.
These books would stress me out. I have looked at them, but do not own any. Sometimes just knowing what everyone else is doing, what their dc have accomplished/read/been accepted into is enough to make me feel like I have missed the boat with my dc. Trying to keep up, or just knowing, everyone else’s schedules and not just continuing w/ our own already causes panic to run through me (and then the pressure is put onto my dc to perform).
They could use their state’s standards as a guide if they can understand them, LOL, and how to use CM methods to meet them.
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