Joe:
Thank you Rebecca for stopping by to answer a few questions about your latest book.

You have written wonderful several books such as The Home Learning Sourcebook and Getting Started on Homelearning, which give parents great resources to organize their home education programs.

In your latest book, Home Learning Year by Year, you outline everything you need from Preschool to High School. How is this book different than your previous books and what is the best way to use it.

Rebecca:
This book is intended as a guideline for homeschool curricula: it lists what kids are generally expected to learn each year in each academic subject, from preschool through grade 12. It’s an annotated curriculum – that is, rather than just a bare list of points to cover, the book includes definitions, descriptions, examples, and suggestions for resources, teaching techniques, and approaches. Subjects covered include Language Arts (Reading, Literature, Writing, Listening and Speaking Skills, and Study Skills), Mathematics (and its many permutations), History and Geography (World and American), Science (Life, Physical, Earth, and Space), Foreign Languages, Art, Music, and Health and Physical Education.

Home Learning Year by Year is different from my previous homeschool books in that it is organized on a grade by grade (year by year) basis and can be used to create complete annual programs of study for kids of all ages. It’s also intended to help parents puzzled about sequence – "Molly has mastered fractions; now what?" – and to serve as a reference for those of us who must submit annual grade-appropriate curricula to local or state educational authorities. ("Grade-appropriate" is often a sticking-point for homeschoolers – in our household, "What grade is he in?" was a question generally answered with a baffled look and a feeble "Well, he’s ten…") Home Learning Year by Year provides the nitty-gritty of what the hypothetical average child is expected to know at each step of the way through school.

Joe:
You recommendations year-by-year are very helpful and specific. How did you compile these resources?

Rebecca:
Resources are often the name of the game in homeschooling – finding good ones, that appeal to the interests and learning style of your particular kid, often makes the difference between a rewarding educational experience and a miserable unproductive household-disrupting flop. I’ve been researching, accumulating, and compiling vast numbers of resources for years – both as a homeschooling parent, a writer, and as resource editor for Home Education Magazine, for whom I’ve written a column of study units and resources for the past ten years. The graded curriculum lists and goals in Home Learning Year by Year were developed from a synthesis of the educational standards of all fifty states, plus an assortment of published private-school and other accredited curricula.

Those of you who have resource questions or are looking for suggestions, please please write anytime – I have resources up to my ears here, on everything from the Egyptian pyramids to Australian snakes to the moons of Jupiter. I love to hear from you.)

Joe:
So is Home Learning Year by Year essentially a complete education in a book?

Rebecca:
Well, yes and no. In my opinion, there’s no such thing as a complete education in a book. A true education is never a matter of "what kids should know when;" instead it’s an incandescent interaction between a learner and the outer world – and by outer world, I mean everything from the bluebirds at the birdfeeder to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Education – as in what we truly learn as opposed to what we have been determinedly taught – is an eccentric and lifelong business. We have three teenagers now – the oldest just tackling college; the younger two in homeschool/high school. Their three educations have been and continue to be very different; not only from each other, but – though sharing many basics – from the standard curriculum of the public-school system. This led to some shocks and bumps in our early years, when – accosted by acquaintances, relatives, or perfect strangers at the supermarket – the boys would fail to produce the names of the months of the year in order, the words to the Pledge of Allegiance, or the capital of North Dakota. (Months of the year in order: generally learned in Grade 2; Pledge of Allegiance: generally in kindergarten; state capitals: Grade 4.) On the other hand, nobody ever asked if they knew the plot of Hamlet, the workings of photosynthesis, or the speed of light in metric to five decimal places, all of which, I must say, our various sons have found more useful than the capital of North Dakota.

So where does this leave us? Home Learning Year by Year is a detailed list of the educational basics, a thorough outline, a yearly plan, a reference, a general road map. Every parent will use it differently; every child will take it in different directions. There’s an old joke here in Vermont that applies in a sort of roundabout way to education – particularly to homeschool education. It’s about a farmer giving directions to a lost tourist: at the punchline, the farmer shakes his head and says "You can’t get there from here."

That’s not true.
Believe me, you can get absolutely anywhere from here.

Joe:
Thank you Rebecca for stopping by and now here is FREE excerpt of your latest book. I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy it.

The Truth About Curricula
Or, There Is No Such Thing as a First Grader
by Rebecca Rupp
Excerpted from: "Home Learning Year by Year:
How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School"

Home Learning: Year by Year
Home learning Sourcebook
Meet the author
Rebecca Rupp
"The Truth About Curricula"
more Curriculum Guides
more homeschooling books
Frequently Asked Questions

more grade school education
more homeschooling books
"Is Homeschooling Expensive?"
Frequently Asked Questions

• The integral subjects to be covered within each grade.
• Standards for knowledge that should be acquired by your child at each level.
• Recommend books to use as texts for every subject.
• Guidelines for the importance of each topic: which knowledge is essential and which is best for more expansive study nased on your child’s personal interests.
• Suggestions for how to sensitively approach less academic subjects, such as sex education and physical fitness.