Phonics, Spelling/Vocabulary

Reading / Literature

   A comprehensive phonics program can be  either “pieced together” (based on your child’s level of need) or can be purchased as a pre-packaged kit. Phonics is the foundation of reading, which is the foundation of learning. Phonics is usually taught from kindergarten through around 3rd grade and obviously overlaps with spelling.  
   Traditional spelling texts (which are usually designed for grades 1-6) will include a variety of other skills like word usage, dictionary skills, prefixes and suffixes, definitions, writing etc. 
   Vocabulary building programs are usually designed for grades 7-12 and are often workbooks which will include a variety of exercises and may include Latin.

History/Social Studies
   Your basic grade level history text for grades 1-6 usually covers a number of topics like American history, geography, world history, social studies etc. No matter which one you choose for what ever 
grade level you’re teaching, just know that you’ll cover that same material on a higher level again in grades 7 -12. 
   In these middle to high school grades, most traditional publishers will have one text for American history, one for World history, one for Geography, and one for Government & Economics or Civics and hopefully a state history book. You can either use these 7-12 grade texts by grade level or you can teach whatever you want whenever you want (keeping your state home school law in mind).  
   The hands-on approach, unit study method, or reading so called “real” books works well especially in the elementary grades. We encourage you to supplement this more random teaching style with the basic grade level texts mentioned above to help prepare you child for standardized tests (as this seems to be a concern of many parents). Your child may use these traditional texts as readers or in a read aloud/discussion setting. 
   We have also found that most home school parents prefer the traditional text when their children reach
 the upper grades (7-12) to insure their child doesn’t have gaps in their knowledge. These “gaps” seem 
to be a concern of parents with middle to high school age students who are preparing for college prep tests.

   Once your child learns to read there are obviously a million things from which to choose. In the very beginning, I suggest you choose phonics readers which usually include only a limited number of sight words and will supplement any phonics program you may have chosen.   
   Traditional reading programs are most often designed for grades 1-6 and come in a variety of formats.  
   Literature is usually taught in grades 7-12. We recommend that you invest in a literature library. Find a publisher you like and invest in a “set” (student book & teacher edition) for each grade (7-12). Having this complete set will give you many years of use and your student an overall understanding and appreciation of literature. You can easily correlating your literature with your history. For example if you’re studying world history - also study world literature.

English Grammar and Composition
   There are many ways to teach English grammar and composition. Here are two: 
   1. Your child (any grade) can study English by using a traditional text which will teach both grammar and composition. Because we have found that so much of the information presented in a traditional English text is duplicated from year to year, it is not always necessary for you to buy an English program every year, rather choose a publisher you like and buy a few elementary level books, a middle school book and a few high school books (especially grade 12 because it usually contains everything!) Use each book for more than one school year instead of trying to cram in a whole English book every year!
   2. Another method of teaching English is to teach using two books- one that teaches just grammar to be combined with a product that teaches just composition.

Mathematics
   You’ll find that all math books for grades K-6 usually contain pretty much the same basic concepts for the particular grade level. Choose the one that best suits your child’s particular learning style. After completing grades K-6 you may then move on to 7th & 8th grade math books which should “pull together” and build upon all the basic skills learned in previous grades. Consumer math can be taught any time you want, but most publishers design their consumer math texts for middle to high school. Your child may desire to move on to Algebra, Geometry (usually touched on in the preceding grades), Advanced Math, Calculus and Physics. 
   We highly recommend that you always purchase answer keys because they are a time saver. “Solution manuals” are especially helpful when you are teaching the higher maths as they give you the answers to the problems in your student’s text “worked out” step by step.

We hope the information contained here is helpful.  Please feel free to call if you have questions.

Copyright © 2002
Webmaster
The Back Pack