How to Get Started on the Robinson Curriculum

The existing approaches in the market today to educate your child at home is creating pressure for parents to find the right curriculum. The common thread in the homeschool movement is the realization that it does work. However, the nemesis of parents is the tendency for both the child and parent to be burnout. Thus, homeschooling parents have been buying and switching curriculums to attain a practical schedule that will avoid creating stress. Many do trials and errors until they finally settle into the Robinson Curriculum (RC). The ease in starting it and maintaining the schedules are the top reasons RC has been an effective curriculum for many users.

The Robinson Curriculum is a K-12 homeschool curriculum with emphasis on teaching the students the habits of self-teaching. Dr. Arthur Robinson, founder of the RC curriculum, has used this method successfully with his 6 children after his wife died several years ago. In charge of both supporting the children and educating them, Dr. Robinson developed what is now known as the Robinson Curriculum (RC). The Robinson Curriculum suggests a 5-hour daily study schedule for six days a week, year round.

The RC Curriculum proposes the following unsophisticated schedule for 3rd grade and up:

Saxon Math - 2 hours

Essay - 1 hour

Reading - 1 hour

For Kindergarten to 2nd Grade, Dr. Robinson suggests the mastery of phonics and math facts.

The math component of the RC Curriculum takes up approximately the following minutes:

Math Facts - 20 minutes

Mental Math and Problem Solving - 10 minutes

Lesson presentation - 10 minutes

Practice 10 minutes

Problem Sets, 25 to 30 exercises for each lesson - 60 minutes

Checking of work - 10 minutes

The essay consists of writing for an hour on a topic of the child's choice. Children less than 10 years old do copywork. Parents spend a few minutes giving feedback to the child.

The Reading part of the schedule is about 2 hours. The Robinson Curriculum has 250 books in its list. The child reads from book 1 and goes to the next book in the sequence after a few days. The literature classics chosen cover many subject areas. Many were derived from the famous Harvard Classics, known to many as the Five Foot Shelf of Harvard President Charles W. Elliot in 1901. Dr. Elliot advocates the books to get a solid liberal education.

The Vocabulary studies are integrated into the schedule after reading a book. Some parents find it invaluable to preview the vocabulary words before tackling the literature material. The traditional Science subjects like Chemistry, Physics, Biology, for instance, are read after a child finishes Calculus. Dr. Robinson, being a scientist, surmised that math is the language of Science. Thus, the real in-depth study of science requires a solid footing in Calculus.

Grammar study is only recommended if parents notice a severe gap in this area. Otherwise, the list of recommended books, considered classics and written by great authors, ensures a grasp of grammar through the assimilation of usage like how a native learns a dialect. The form of language usage becomes instinctive and natural. The RC curriculum has its grammar and vocabulary books, if needed.

The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica and Book of Knowledge are also recommended to be leisurely read either inside or outside of the reading schedule.

With this above-mentioned schedule, children are able to finish the high school curriculum by the age of 16 on the average. The next two years prior to senior graduation can be utilized for community college attendance, job internships, and AP and CLEP preparations.

Dr. Robinson recommends Math to be done first thing in the morning as it conditions the brain for greater receptivity in other subject areas. RC parents allow their children to build up their math time and scope until it gets on a comfortable level. Many highly distractible children may have a difficult time initially with this schedule. To address this problem, Dr. Robinson suggests that parents slow down to half the normal load for the day on math.

New users of the RC curriculum can build confidence in their children by reading aloud in the first few days or alternate reading the pages of the book. Then, the parent can let go and proceed to allow the child to get into the habit of studying independently.

Since there are no workbooks to check, math is self-directed, essay is a freely written expression of ideas, books read guarantee reading level advancement, literature selections encompass World and American History, Social Studies, Science, Geography, the RC curriculum removes the typical stress triggers of parents in the home education of their children.