Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School [Paperback]

Rebecca Rupp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 14, 2000

Finally, homeschoolers have a comprehensive guide to designing a homeschool curriculum, from one of the country's foremost homeschooling experts. , Rebecca Rupp presents a structured plan to ensure that your children will learn what they need to know when they need to know it, from preschool through high school. Based on the traditional pre-K through 12th-grade structure, Home Learning Year by Year features:

The integral subjects to be covered within each grade
Standards for knowledge that should be acquired by your child at each level
Recommended 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 based on your child's personal interests
Suggestions for how to sensitively approach less academic subjects, such as sex education and physical fitness

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Finally, homeschoolers have a comprehensive guide to designing a homeschool curriculum, from one of the country's foremost homeschooling experts. , Rebecca Rupp presents a structured plan to ensure that your children will learn what they need to know when they need to know it, from preschool through high school. Based on the traditional pre-K through 12th-grade structure, Home Learning Year by Year features:

The integral subjects to be covered within each grade
Standards for knowledge that should be acquired by your child at each level
Recommended 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 based on your child's personal interests
Suggestions for how to sensitively approach less academic subjects, such as sex education and physical fitness

About the Author

Rebecca Rupp, Ph.D., has homeschooled her three sons for more than ten years. The author of The Complete Home Learning Sourcebook, Getting Started on Home Learning, and Committed to Memory: How We Remember and Why We Forget, Rupp writes a monthly column for Home Education Magazine and produces and hosts a local homeschool television program. She lives in Shaftsbury, Vermont.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (November 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609805851
• ISBN-13: 978-0609805855
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rebecca Rupp has written nonfiction articles for many national magazines on topics ranging from the history of blue jeans to the science of ice cream. She is also the author of THE DRAGON OF LONELY ISLAND, THE WATERSTONE, and several nonfiction books, both for children and adults. Of THE RETURN OF THE DRAGON, she says, 'I hope all of you enjoy the return of Fafnyr's cave - and hearing from Aunt Mehitabel again - as much as I have. Much as I love the three-headed dragon, I also love Aunt Mehitabel. I plan to be just like her when I turn eighty-five.' Rebecca Rupp lives in Vermont with her husband, three sons, three cats, and a tarantula named Immanuel Kant.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

305 of 305 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have, April 3, 2002

By 

Laura Brown McKenzie (On a mountain in AL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School (Paperback)

We've homeschooled for 13 years. I co-founded a homeschool group and buy for the group's library. I purchase many books every month and read even more than I buy. If I had to chose what two books I wouldn't be without, my choice would be two authored by Rebecca Rupp, this book and The Complete Home Learning Source Book.
In our homeschool group the comment I hear most from other parents about homeschooling is "I'm just not sure we're on track". Home Learning Year by Year provides the information parents need to guage if they are covering what their child needs to learn. I'm a believer in letting the child's abilities set the pace but by using Rebecca Rupp's book, I have now made a checklist of what I want my children to cover and I have confidence that we're on track.
If you don't homeschool your child, you'll still want this book. As a former special education teacher, I remember parent meetings where parents were lost about whether their child was being taught what he/she needed to learn. Home Learning Year by Year can guide parents in taking charge and making good choices for their child's education regardless of whether that education takes place in the home or in a classroom setting.
The book gives the most complete listing of education goals grade by grade I've seen in any book. Ms Rupp suggests resources for each grade and its apparent to me that her suggestions and her goals have been carefully researched.

126 of 130 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource, November 28, 2001

By 

apoem "apoem" (Bosque Farms, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School (Paperback)

I was looking for a book that had just checklists of what to teach when- for example, when a child is finished with first grade in a public school what do they typically know.

What I got was a book that had this information and much more. It lists one thing that kids should be able to do (identify colors and mix them to make new colors) and then provides some resources or books that will help teach this concept.

To get the information I wanted I am forced to wade through the references and suggestions. That is why I rated it four stars. I think I'd like to have a checklist at the end of each section that has just the expectations of each grade. However, I'm not sorry I bought this book. I have a feeling that as time goes on I'll refer to it more and more.

Great resources. There are a variety of books and webpages that are given in this book as places to look for more information. I have looked at many of these references and found them to be high quality.

81 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful, not overwhelming, May 20, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School (Paperback)

I agree with the previous reviewers - this book is a great little resource. It begins by telling you that all kids are different and how that one of the great things about homeschooling is that you can adapt to your child's personal needs. That being said, for those of us interested in a guide to what types of things are generally covered at what ages, this is very helpful. I appreciate several things about this book - it does cover all ages preschool through grade 12. It gives some specific comments about what is expected - for example: identify pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar bills; recognize dollar and cent signs under money and measurement for kindergartners. It also gives information about books and resources to help the parent and student. It does not, however, dictate how the child should be taught (ie Grade 3 month 2 do the following, the progress to X in month 3). As the children progress (mine are only 4 and 2 at this point, but I look ahead of course!) this infomation gives you broad headings to cover as ideas - for example in Grade 10 History: Western Europe in the nineteenth century. Topics include the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna, the growth of democracy, the Revolution of 1848 and the British Reform Laws, the unification of Germany under Bismark, and the unification of Italy under Garibaldi. Subjects covered include math, history, literature, grammar, art, music, foreign language, health and physical education, sciences geography (this is not necessarily an all inclusive list).