Curriculum Guidelines for Homeschooling: An Overview

1. Your children are going to grow up and move on to college. It is important that they enter college with as much knowledge (if not more) as other children their age. They are going to be expected to keep up, and they can't if they lack the knowledge to do so.
2. Your children should be able to discuss history and science with other children their age. Keeping up with current curriculums will help you give your children the ability to have intellegent conversations with their friends
3. WIthout guidelines a parent won't know whether their child is ready to graduate to the next grade level.
4. Guidelines can help a parent know what topics need to be covered in summer school.
5. Parents can get some great ideas for projects and experiments by reviewing the guidelines.
6. Having a good grasp on the guidelines can boost a parents confidence. Parents will know that they are doing what is required for their child and that will make them feel good.

How can a parent use the guidelines:

1. Open the link to the guideline page for the grade your child is currently in.
2. Review each subject one at a time and compare the points to the curriculum you are using.
3. Take a note of subjects not covered in your curriculum.
4. Buy supplemental material or print out workpages online of the subjects you are missing.
5. Teach your child those points and make sure they understand what they have just learned.
6. Or...review each subject and if your child understands the material or is excelling at it you can be sure your child is ready to move on to the next grade level.

Where you can get information on curriculum guidelines:

1. Curriculum guidelines do vary by state so to be safe you should always check your state's guidelines. To do that click on the word Parent Center and when the screen pops up click on your state.
2. Conduct your own search by typing in the grade and subject you want to learn more about. For example, I would type in "8th grade math curriculum guidelines" if I wanted to get the details on 8th grade math. You can do this with any subject and any grade.
3. Visit various homeschool forums and chat with other homeschooling parents. Many of them have teaching degrees and can tell you exactly what your child should know for each particular grade level.