State Standards

[cdrumm4448]

Is there any way to determine which state standards any curriculum meets, other than information provided by the curriculum producer? All of a sudden I'm all concerned if we are meeting Illinois state standards with what we're doing. Although having the state determine what and when my child should learn something is not necessarily something I agree with.

 

I guess I just want to see how what we are doing compares to the state standards. KWIM?

[QueenCat]

Does your state require you to meet certain standards?

 

 

Is there any way to determine which state standards any curriculum meets, other than information provided by the curriculum producer? All of a sudden I'm all concerned if we are meeting Illinois state standards with what we're doing. Although having the state determine what and when my child should learn something is not necessarily something I agree with.

 

I guess I just want to see how what we are doing compares to the state standards. KWIM?

[PiCO]

I guess I just want to see how what we are doing compares to the state standards. KWIM?

 

I can't answer your original question, just wanted to chime in...

 

Colorado state standards are very good, but schools are not actually required to meet them. There are standards for science and social studies from grade 1, but most schools don't even teach these subjects.

 

So- if you strive to meet your state standards, you may be staying ahead of the curve, not just keeping up.

[MgoBlue]

When I first started homeschooling last year, I felt quite inadequate. I started by going to a used curriculum stores & the lady there walked me thru my first curriculum choices and pointed me to the state standards as used by the public schools. I was frustrated because I'd gone to a meeting hosted by our local home school group and they didn't want to direct me towards that site. I googled state standards for IL & came up with this site: http://www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/

 

If you click around you should be able to find the standards for each grade & subject. I was able to find it for Indiana & the h.s. curric store had hard copies of this info as well.

 

Good luck. Paula

[cdrumm4448]

Thanks for all your help. In Illinois we don't even need to concern ourselves with state standards. I had a little freakout session there, worrying about my son keeping pace with ps kids. Although a classical education is more rigorous, so he should be performing work that exceeds the state standards for Illinois, from what I can tell.

[mommaduck]

I was going to say, Illinois doesn't have any particular standards that you have to meet. Given the education system within Illinois, it doesn't have much in the way of standards period.

[cdrumm4448]

We're lucky that we don't have any hoops to jump through. We need to teach in English and teach the equivalent of subjects taught in ps. That's it. Although I pulled my son from a private school that is about a year ahead of the PSs around here, so I want him to stay ahead since he's already made that progress. Although I think most of his progress was from what we did at home, not necessarily from private school.

 

On a completely random note, I was thinking about how the hours are spent at his school. One hour for going to the bathroom (34 kids required to go four times a day, probably takes about 15 minutes each time), one hour for lunch, recess and prayers. That leaves five hours for learning. About half of that was moving activity. They alternated seatwork with movement. I was delighted to find that this morning we completed 2.5 hours of seatwork with very minimal interruptions or breaks. So, it works out to about the same work time, he's getting one-on-one instruction, he's free to eat or whatever while we work, we stop to talk about misc. things while we work, and he's not only completing core material, he completed music and science, too. Other days will be a little longer as we will be covering History and Art on those days and those things take more time. I'm just excited.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I have also found that state standards and actual practice are two very different things.

 

 

 

My experience trying to write lesson plans to follow the Viginia standards of learning is that in some areas it can be difficult to determine what sucess would be. How much is enough and how much is too much.

 

For example, this is from the English 6th grade standard.

 

Reading

6.3 The student will read and learn the meanings of unfamiliar words and phrases.

a) Identify word origins, derivations, and inflections.

b) Identify analogies and figurative language.

c) Use context and sentence structure to determine meanings and differentiate among multiple meanings of words.

d) Use word-reference materials.

 

Does this mean that you should do a lesson on it? Or that they should do it for every unfamiliar word? Or have practice with this be a part of regular classroom routine weekly? Monthly?

 

This is from the upper elementary/middle school US History to 1865 standard.

 

Revolution and the New Nation: 1770s to the Early 1800s

USI.6 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the causes and results of the American Revolution by

a) identifying the issues of dissatisfaction that led to the American Revolution;

b) identifying how political ideas shaped the revolutionary movement in America and led to the Declaration of Independence;

c) describing key events and the roles of key individuals in the American Revolution, with emphasis on George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry;

d) explaining reasons why the colonies were able to defeat Great Britain.

 

This could be the basis for an entire college course.

 

In general, I'm glad that there are standards for state schools. It is a bit like a fast food menu. When I walk into a chain restaurant, I expect that my meal will closely resemble what is offered in other restaurants with that same branding.

 

But the downside of standards is that they leave little room for anything else. Your local chain restaurant won't be offering the special creation of its chef. Classroom teachers are often required to note which standard each lesson or class activity supports. If there isn't a standard attached, then it isn't supposed to occur.

 

There are times when the familiar standardization of a chain restaurant is just the right thing. But I don't want to make a daily practice of eating only what a committee of analysts has approved.

 

I home school for the same reason that I home cook.

[cdrumm4448]

as well as the goals and standards of the Archdiocese (when we were deciding whether to homeschool or not) they all kind of read like stereo instructions to me. Very vague. I guess that gives good teachers a lot of leeway in determining how to best teach?

 

There is so much to learn!