Interview about this book with Rebecca Rupp

Don’t panic

Douglas Adams
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Advantages of homeschooling
One of the primary advantages of homeschooling is the ability to bypass the decreed norm. Homeschoolers can design their own curricula, assembling resources ad using approaches that best suit their own children’s needs. Your child is enthralled by marine biology? Invent a curriculum that builds upon this interest. Read games; collect seashells; conduct experiments on water pressure, temperature, and salinity; visit an aquarium; adopt a whale. Your child is fascinated by ancient Egypt? Read ancient Egyptian myths; build a model pyramid; experiment with hieroglyphics; locate Egypt on a map; visit a museum to view ancient Egyptian artifacts. Find out how to make a mummy; read a biography of archaeologist Howard Carter; learn about the Rosetta stone.

Homeschoolers, given this situation,
have a wide range of options.
No curriculum is written in stone. Perhaps an alternative math program will do the trick – or math games and manipulatives rather than workbooks; a computer software program; or real-world math exercises involving cooking, carpentry, and other hands-on projects. Perhaps the best course is to drop math altogether for the time being and concentrate on something that sparks Johnny’s interest – say, space travel, rock collecting, or raising tropical fish – all of which willy-nilly, eventually involve math. Our long experience in homeschooling has shown, time and again, that an intense interest in anything inevitably leads everywhere.

The puzzling question of sequence
On the other hand, almost all homeschoolers, at some point or another, run into the puzzling question of sequence. Where do we start? How do we assume that our kids have an adequate grounding in the basics? What are the basics? What comes first? What should we tackle next? While the public school curicula vary somewhat from starte to state, all have similarities in that they attempt to present an appropriate developmental sequence of skills. Kids learn the letters of the alphabet first, then letter sounds, then the art of blending letter sounds into whole words. Addition and subtraction precede multiplication and division; studies of holidays and famous peoepl prepare beginners for more structured studies of the world and American history. Invented spelling precedes conventional spelling and grammar; basic algebra is a prerequisite for chemistry and physics.

State requirements
Many states require that homeschoolers keep step with the public school curricula and demand proof – in the form of written assessments or tests – to ensure that they are indeed doing so. Colleges, though increasingly enthusiastic about accepting homeschooled students, often require a specific battery of high school background courses. For all of these reasons, it’s to the homeschoolers’ advantage to be familiar with the general course of the standardized educational curriculum. The basic curriculum, however, should be used as a reference point and a guideline rather than a set of predetermined assignments. In many cases, there are equivalents and alternatives to the course described here; and parents should adjust and adapt to best meet the needs of their own children.

Using the curricula as a "guideline"
Finally, no parent should view the standardized curriculum as cause for worry. Children vary, and homeschoolers inevitably will find that their more-or-less first-grader isn’t quite the standard. He or she may be reading at an advanced level but lagging is such essentials as arithmetic, time-telling, and the competent tying of shoes. Or, alternatively, he or she may have whizzed confidently ahead in math, but be struggling with the awful process of grouping letters into words. As needed, move forward or back in the curriculum for lists of concepts and suggestions. The standardized curriculum can indicate academic areas in which kids need extra help and support – or creative substitutes and alternatives, or stress-reducing periods of being left alone. Variation, though it is normal, and our many individual differences are what make the world the interesting place it is.

Kids are natural learners, and each will find his or her own best way to learn. There are many roads to an educational Rome.

Interview about this book with Rebecca Rupp

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Rebecca Rupp
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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.