Homeschooling Update: We’re on Track

Our daughters are now on track, having caught up with both Common Core and Texas standards as of this week.

Understand that such standards are flexible and you need to match the needs of the student, but our girls were far behind in some areas, particularly reading comprehension and writing.

We did migrate away from online learning, using Khan Academy and Khan Kids as supplements to physical books and paper.

Accepting that technology wasn’t working, especially the over-gamification of educational software, allowed us to recalibrate the homeschooling to better meet our family’s needs.

By using the Texas standards as checklists for outcomes, I searched for materials that would help us achieve specific goals. As I wrote previously:

The Texas Education Agency adopts the state standards, known as the “TEKS” (long E sound), the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for students. Though the state officially doesn’t embrace the Common Core standard, the TEKS magically align with the Common Core. Of course they do, since parents want their children prepared for college.

Khan Academy materials align nicely within math and English grammar, and the video lessons reinforce what my wife and I demonstrate. But, there’s simply not enough content to make Khan Academy and Khan Kids the foundation for homeschooling.

After researching books, we adopted the Shell Education materials as our primary resources.

And then… we bought books. A lot of books. If a name or topic appeared in the TEKS or Common Core checklists, we purchased an age-appropriate book on the topic. Or two books. Or more.

The Who HQ series has worked well. They’re short and simple, easing the girls into learning about complex historical figures. I don’t know how many we own, now. A friend also gave us a bag of lightly used Who HQ books, helping us build the library.

Any books by DK (Dorling Kindersley) are wonderful. They are beautiful and informative.

Because I’ve been shopping almost exclusively at Costco for basic needs, I stop at the book tables each trip. I’m sure I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on books in the last nine months or so at Costco. It has probably been a year since we’ve been inside a bookstore. I miss browsing for new finds. Still, Costco has had some great boxed book sets for incredible prices.

Our first-grader has made stunning progress.

In the month since moving away from technology, the little one has started reading her first early chapter books. A set of Heidi Heckelbeck stories was a birthday gift from her cousins. The books are considered mid-second grade “guided readers” to build vocabulary and comprehension skills. As a first-grader, she’s quite pleased with herself to be reading the books.

Her math skills are now at grade level, too. We used toy money, a wooden clock puzzle, and a lot of plastic bottle caps to work through the early skills. She’s now adding and subtracting numbers through 100. We’re proud of her.

The third-grader is moving along, too.

She’s reading a lot. Maybe too much. The third grader will have two, three, or even a half-dozen books scattered about her room. She reads and re-reads some favorite stories. I’m not a fan of Dork Diaries or some of the other series she loves, but she’s reading.

Math, science, and social studies reports are possible because of the non-fiction library we have assembled. The oldest reads books on assigned subjects, takes notes, and writes short reports. We’re thrilled with her progress.

We definitely made the right decision for our girls. In time, they’ll be ready for more technology time. For now, we’re carefully setting limits on screen time.