Customer Reviews

What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know (Revised) (Core Knowledge Series)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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I bought this book to prepare my child for Beestar online tests for sixth graders. Due to the vast differences among schools and teachers in teaching science and social studies, students often receive a rather unbalanced treatment of the subjects in their classroom. This book comes as a rescue of the situation. It tells you clearly what your child needs to know as a sixth grader. My child studied several important chapters from this book that somehow were never taught by his teachers. And yes the knowledge is essential and is needed in state standardized tests.

I highly recommend this book for aiding in the preparation for any general knowledge test. It takes you all the way through iambic pentameter to Benito Juarez. The math and science sections are wonderful as well. It provides very complex information in a very user-friendly manner. I'm very glad that we had this book.

My oldest daughter is finishing fifth grade, and we have used The Core Knowledge books for every year up to this point. Because we are homeschooling, we feel that reading through these books gives us confidence that we are keeping up with what might be expected of a student of a particular grade.

Wanting to get a jump on the next level, my daughter read through What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know over the past two weeks. You might want to be aware of some errors. In the math section on page 269, an addition problem is written with a minus sign, and the wrong answer is given in Step 2. At the top of page 271, we read, "In the following diagram line ZC is parallel to line TS, or line ZC is parallel to line TS." There is also an error in an illustration in the science section on page 328. Two cans of soda are pictured on scales with an earthly landscape behind each with a caption indicating that the can of soda would weigh less on the moon than it does on earth. We are missing a picture of a lighter can of soda with a moonscape behind it.

I don't think the editing of this book is any worse than what we find typically in educational material, and the series is useful; but perhaps they ought to hire kids to proofread.:)

I have been homeschooling my youngest since he was in 3rd grade. Every year I use this series as part of our weekly curriculum. We take all school year to read through the book as we are in no rush. I don't depend on this book solely of course, but it is a great base to work from. I'm only sorry it doesn't extend through 8th grade.

I've purchased our very first "What your Kindergartner needs to know" before our firstborn was five. Ever since then we had a copy for each grade of our three children. Nowadays, with limited communications, international schools not using enough books, I would feel very much left out if I didn't have my trusted copy. Parents, please be aware that you may have to supplement at home. Don't entrust your children completely to the school but be involved. It's easy enough to read the pages to the children or have the older ones read it for themselves (with guidance and feedback). A must have for every child's home!

This is an essential reference book if your child is a sixth grader in a school using Hirsch's "Core Knowledge" curriculum. An amazing amount of information is packed in to this book and is presented in an understandable and interesting way with helpful pictures (mostly in color in the visual art section) and maps and graphs as needed. All major sixth grade subjects are covered (with the exception of PE and foreign language). If your child's school doesn't follow core knowledge don't expect this to be a guide to what he is learning in sixth grade as it may be quite different. However it could still be an interesting supplemental book for your child since it is filled with information a well educated adult should know.

I am a fourth-grade teacher and bought this book to have an idea of what students do in sixth grade. This is a very helpful book, well written, and full of information. It is divided into sections for subject areas. As I read I thought that it would be a very good book for homeschooled children, too. I will keep it as a resource in my classroom.

This series of books says it all! I'm a teacher and I love this resource!

Want to know what your child should be learning??? This is a great book to help your child along, help keep up, keep interested, or keep learning in the summer. Excellent reference for interested parents.
Jeannine C

I love this series of books and recommend them to all parents. I use them to review concepts with my own children to ensure that they have the basic understand of concepts needed for their grade level. I often review with them over the summer. In addition, it has many things that are overlooked during the school day as a teacher only has so much time. I particularly appreciate the fine arts, cultural literacy, and geography sections of these books. This book is not a complete curriculum but rather an overview of the minimum amount of knowledge your child should have at each grade level.

This is a great book for homeschoolers. I designed a summer curriculum around it for my sixth grader going into seventh. I made up some worksheets, checklists of sections to just read, and for the science sections she is notebooking. It will be put into her summer portfolio along with photos of her summer activities. It has been wonderful! This is only our second year of homeschooling (through our Board of Education) which has been great. They give you the textbooks and they hold workshops for the students, but a lot of the teacher manuals and what they should know per grade can be very confusing. I like how straight forward this book is, it helps me keep my daughter on track, and feel more confident.
Of course,this is not a complete curriculum, I would not use JUST this book for a traditional school year, but for summer and to supplement it is fantastic! My only complaint is they do not make the books for seventh grade and up.