Effective Home School Curriculum for K-12
My son has had a lot of trouble with the public schools in our community. Due to large class sizes and harried, overworked teachers, he hasn’t received the extra help or attention he needs in order to be successful in the academic arena. As a result, he is reading below grade level, and his math skills are lacking as well. Since he’s just in third grade, there’s still a chance to correct these problems before he falls too far behind his classmates. But in order to do that, I think I have to educate him myself so he can receive individualized instruction. I’m currently putting together a home school curriculum, and will take over teaching duties prior to next term.
Since I am not a licensed teacher and have no experience teaching kids, I’ve been doing a lot of research to find out what goes into an inspiring and effective home school curriculum that will fit my child’s needs and skill levels. The first thing I’m going to do is administer some special standardized tests that will help me evaluate my son’s abilities in various subjects. Once I get the results from those proficiency exams, I can start building a custom home school curriculum to pick up the slack in my son’s education, and bring him up to the level of his peers. Once that happens, we can sit down and discuss whether or not a move back to the public system is in the cards.
The Internet has been an invaluable tool in helping create a home school curriculum for my third-grader. I have found tons of terrific websites that are chock-full of lesson plans, activity suggestions, printable worksheets, textbook reviews, and more. I’ve also found numerous forums and message boards where other parents meet to discuss problems and successes, and provide reviews for various products and books that they’ve used with their children. These types of sites have been a huge help in guiding me along as I try to decide on the proper elementary level home school curriculum for my boy.
At this point, I have a good idea of what subjects I want to teach, so now I’m just trying to get ahold of some guidelines to ensure that I can offer an accredited home school curriculum that the public schools will recognize should I later decide to re-enroll my son in the system. Once I satisfy state guidelines on that score, I can go ahead and start ordering textbooks, posters, flashcards, workbooks, practice sheets, and other learning aids to help make the experience more challenging and rewarding.
I’m confident that I’ll end up with an effective home school curriculum that will help get my student back on the right learning track. I know that most teachers in the public schools try their best, but they’re usually faced with an overwhelming workload and don’t have time to give each kid extra attention. I think my decision is the best one for all involved.
