Your nine- or ten-year-old is ready to enter the fourth grade. If you’re following the classical model of homeschooling, your child is still in the grammar stage, a time when memorization of poetry, historical dates, math facts, and grammar rules is encouraged. But what else does she need to know?

You can check with your state’s fourth grade standards online, or you could follow the recommendations in books such as What Your Fourth Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch. If you’re following the Charlotte Mason course of study, you might want to refer to the book Teaching Children by Diane Lopez. This book was written to serve as a curriculum guide, giving you direction as to what children should learn each year through the sixth grade. Or, you may have purchased a set curriculum for your fourth grader and are simply following the established course of study. Whatever approach you take, as a general rule, by the end of the school year, your child should be able to:

• Acquire and use new vocabulary
• Identify synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms
• Read fluently
• Identify the main conflict in a story
• Identify the speaker or narrator in a story
• Compare and contrast the characters, settings, and events in a story
• Use strategies for planning and organizing writing ideas
• Write and revise a rough draft
• Write simple and compound sentences
• Use dialog in a story
• Use periods, question marks, exclamation points, commas, colons, and quotation marks correctly
• Use paragraph breaks
• Use nouns, action verbs, adjectives, personal pronouns, and conjunctions in simple sentences
• Spell high-frequency words correctly
• Write a narrative that includes a setting, plot, characters, and sensory details
• Write an expository paragraph that includes a topic sentence and supporting sentences with relevant details
• Write a persuasive paragraph that attempts to persuade the reader
• Write whole numbers, fractions, percents, and decimals
• Add and subtract decimals through 100ths
• Know multiplication and division facts through 12
• Create and solve one-step equations using addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division
• Measure length, capacity, and mass using metric units

Of course, this is not a complete list. As your child moves up from one grade to the next, there will be more information for you to cover each year. The fourth grade year is no exception. However, remember that your child is still young; she still enjoys the hands-on activities that make learning fun. If you find the task of schooling her becoming overwhelming, however, you might want to consider a University Model School.

University Model Schools are schools set up for homeschoolers — schools where students can go to take a few classes taught by someone other than their parents. For the smallest students, enrichment classes such as art and music are offered, while for older elementary students like your fourth grader, academic classes are often added, such as Grammar or Geography. Middle school and high school students can take upper-level math and science courses including Algebra II, Geometry, Biology, and Chemistry.

Enrolling in classes at a University Model School is much like enrolling in a university. Students can choose the classes they want to take from the ones offered; there’s not an established student schedule. Students attending a University Model School are in class two or three days a week, depending on the classes they choose. Parents are involved as they help with class homework as well as teaching all the other subjects at home.

Why choose a University Model School for your child? These schools have a number of advantages. Children can sign up for classes that the parent doesn’t feel they have enough experience to teach, whether they be enrichment classes like painting and creative writing or academic classes such as Physics or Economics. They can also sign up for subjects that require a larger group, such as P.E. or chorus. Also, because the teachers and not the parents give the students the assignments, students become accountable to someone else for their grades. Older children learn to meet deadlines and be responsible for their work, a skill they’ll need in college and even when they’re out of school. University Model Schools also offer opportunities to meet other homeschoolers and establish friendships.

If there’s not a University Model School in your area, you may find a co-op that operates in a similar way. But remember, you don’t have to have your children attend one of these schools to homeschool your fourth-grader effectively. A University Model School is just one more option available to parents who want to teach their children at home. If the approach you’re using isn’t working, try different ones until you find the one that works best for you and your child — and enjoy the fourth-grade year!

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Photo from Wesley Fryer

Homeschooling Curriculum and Stories for Kids by SmartTutor.com

If your child is 8-9 years old, he’s probably entering the third grade. By now, he’s used to your homeschooling routine and knows what’s expected of him. In this grade, you might choose to continue with unit studies or lapbooking, or you might move more into workbooks and practice sheets. You might begin using a formal spelling or grammar book, or you might have your child write a journal entry every day. As a homeschooler, the choice is still yours.

There are several resources you can use to get a basic idea of what your child should learn in the third grade. You could check with your state’s educational website for the third grade standards. Or, you might refer to books such as What Your Third Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, which includes sections for language arts, social studies, math, the fine arts, and the natural sciences. Either way, some of the things your third grader should be able to do by the end of the school year include:

• Alphabetizing a group of words to the third letter
• Reading words with more than one syllable fluently
• Reading common abbreviations fluently
• Identifying the meaning of common antonyms, synonyms, and homonyms
• Identifying and compare story elements such as plot, settings, and characters
• Using sources such as books, magazines, encyclopedias, textbooks, and computers to find information
• Writing simple and compound sentences
• Using capital letters for proper nouns, abbreviations, and titles
• Punctuating sentences using periods, question marks, and exclamation points
• Punctuating dialog with quotation marks
• Using nouns, action verbs, and adjectives in simple sentences
• Writing a paragraph that contains a topic sentence with supporting details
• Writing a thank-you note, a friendly letter, a business letter, and an invitation
• Addressing an envelope
• Writing a book report or book review that identifies the setting, the characters, and the main events of the story
• Writing whole numbers through six digits
• Counting money using coins and bills up to $100
• Adding and subtract whole numbers up to four digits
• Solving word problems using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
• Knowing multiplication and division facts through 10
• Using U.S. customary and metric units to measure objects
• Planing and conduct a simple science investigation based on a formulated question
• Organizing data with tally marks, pictographs, and bar charts
• Using timelines to show the sequence of historical events

This list is in no way exhaustive; there’s much more your third grader can learn. As you look at curricula, you’ll find there are just as many different types available to you now as in the earlier grades. You might purchase a complete curriculum set, or you might put your own curriculum together using books from different publishers. You might base your curriculum on good literature and create a plan using library resources. Another option you may want to consider involves computer-based learning.

Switched on Schoolhouse, by Alpha Omega Publications, is an example of this type of curriculum. Designed for grades 3 – 12, Switched On Schoolhouse offers entertaining lessons featuring video clips and 3-D animation. Lessons are available in science, math, history and geography, and language arts, as well as a number of electives. Features of this software includes automatic grading, advanced lesson planning, customized projects, games, and more.

The Robinson Self-Teaching Curriculum is another option. Developed by Dr. Art Robinson, a scientist and a widower with six children to raise and educate, the Robison Curriculum encourages students to think effectively and learn independently. Although all the coursework for twelve years of school is contained on the 22 CDs, they are actually just for parental use; the materials are designed to be printed out and assigned to the student.

There are also web-based programs available to homeschooled students. InternetHomeSchool.com is an accredited K-12 online school. Students can enroll at any time to take classes in math, science, English, history, foreign languages, art history, and computer science. Certified teachers are available during the weekdays, and records are kept in an online grade book.

KeystoneHighSchool.com is an online high school that offers four years of high school credits. Over 80 online courses, including Advanced Placement classes and electives, are available to choose from.

Many private schools now also offer classes online for homeschooled students, and some public school systems do as well. As you consider your curriculum for the year, keep the option of computer-based studies in mind. However, remember that no one knows your third-grader as well as you do. You are not only his parent but also his teacher, and if you’ve homeschooled him in the earlier grades, you know his learning style. Find the curriculum that fits your child best, and enjoy the year!

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Photo by sean cambodia4kidsorg

Homeschooling Curriculum by SmartTutor.com

Whether or not you’re new to homeschooling, the Core Knowledge book series edited by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. is a valuable resource for those teaching children from kindergarten through sixth grade. Designed to be used by both parents and teachers, the books discuss the important knowledge a child should learn as he completes a particular grade. Titles include What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know, What Your First Grader Needs to Know, What Your Second Grader Needs to Know, and so on.

Each book is divided into five major sections. In language and literature, you’ll find poems, stories, and sayings and phrases. Next, the history and geography section includes map work, land features, and American and world history accounts, while the fine arts section covers music and art activities. The math section discusses the basic skills for each particular grade; for the younger grades, the author also suggests math games you can play with your child. Each book concludes with a section for science, covering biology, earth science, physical science, and chemistry at age-appropriate levels.

How would you use these books? You could use them as a guide for developing your own curriculum and expand on the information presented. For example, in the fourth grade book, the respiratory and circulatory systems are introduced; you could easily find additional books at your library and activities online to make this section into a complete unit study.

You could also use the Core Knowledge Series as a supplement to your existing curriculum. Because of the concise way it’s written, it’s easy to add it to what you’re already using. The text is designed in a storybook fashion, making it fun to read aloud with your child. Choose the information you want to cover, then add those pages into your lesson plans.

Whether you decide to use these books in your homeschool or not, take some time to look through them – there’s a lot of good information in there!

Guest Blogger: Samantha Bell

Homeschooling Reading and Math Curriculum by SmartTutor.com