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

Rebecca Rupp (Author)

Book Description

Release 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.

See all Editorial Reviews

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: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,699 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Education & Reference > Schools & Teaching > Homeschooling

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.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

337 of 337 people found the following review helpful

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

By Laura Brown McKenzie

Format: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.

135 of 139 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource November 28, 2001

By apoem TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

88 of 90 people found the following review helpful

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

By A Customer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

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).

60 of 60 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good resource, but don't let it throw you into a panic December 20, 2008

By Laura

Format:Paperback

I agree that as a resource this is a quite useful reference, especially if you need to find book titles for a myriad of subjects. However, and I say this with new homeschoolers in mind, do not expect to cover half of what Rupp recommends for each academic year. You'll drive yourself and your child insane. My criticism of this book lies in the way it positions itself; that is, as a comprehensive guide for what your child *needs* to know each year. The degree of content per academic year (or, the "integral subjects" as the back cover has it) is overwhelming and unrealistic. Had Rupp positioned this book as a resource list divided by age and then, further, by subject, it would be less threatening and more heartening for newer homeschoolers. Of course, a person can take or leave what one cares to. But my fear is that a person contemplating homeschooling, or a person not yet having found their sea legs, might take a few looks at this book, break out in a cold sweat, and send their child to school.

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I refer to this book constantly! January 27, 2003

By Sharon Wilharm, author of Patchwork Primers unit studies

Format:Paperback

As a homeschool mom as well as author of homeschool materials, I feel it is important to make sure that I cover all the bases and don't leave anything out. I've seen a lot of scope and sequences, but most of them are so vague, they don't tell me anything. Home Learning, on the other hand, is extremely detailed. It also has high standards, rather than being watered down education. I know that if we cover what is listed in Home Learning, that we'll be right where we should be and doing even better than what is expected in the public schools.

It's not the kind of book you read once and pack away. It's a book that you keep pulling out again and again.