What your ______needs to know...question

[kfeusse]

are these books useful in any way? If so, how do you use them in your school? I have picked them up and looked through them before, I have seen them being sold on the "for sale" boards, but I just have never been able to figure out what the purpose is...so I am curious what others think.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

:lurk5:

 

I've done the same thing. I've flipped through them, and wondered how you would use it in a school setting, but that's the farthest I've got.

[kfeusse]

I am hoping someone will enlighten us then....

[Beth S]

When I first started homeschooling (15 years ago?), I bought the First Grade book. It gave me a great overview of what general topics/general level we would be addressing in the next year or so. I was a non-textbooker back then, so this was an easy "scope" type of book.

 

I ended up eventually acquiring the whole series, but really didn't use them as much as I did the 1st grade one. I remember thinking if I had to move overseas in 10 minutes, I would just grab this book & be able to (roughly) homeschool our dd. At least half the book is filled with all the wonderful fairy tales and nursery rhymes and fables and stories you remember as a kid (e.g. Cinderella) that you want to read aloud to your child.

 

Again, if I only had a K or 1st grader AND could only take one book to a desert island (OK, in addition to the Bible), this would be my quick grab.

 

Basics of Math, Famous Artists & Scientists, Familiar Sayings, Geography, Early Amer History, Music, Science.

 

Again, if you're NOT on a desert island, you would choose more specialized books for each subject! It was just a good overview or reference book for me.

[redsquirrel]

I could never really reconcile them with the classical method. People try to give them to me all the time because I home school, but I've never really seen the point. I have a math program, a history program, a grammar program etc. Those programs are tried and true. I don't need some other set of goals and standards.

[myfunnybunch]

I was given several of the books. I give them to my children and ask them to read approximately 15 minutes from the book each school day until they finish. Once the year's "What Your ___ Grader Needs to Know" book is finished, I give them books of fairy tales, myths and legends, tall tales, stories of heroes, etc. The books give a basic overview of the stories and topics that are considered shared knowledge in our culture. The stories/topics are just about the perfect length to use to WWE-style narrations, too, so we'll sometimes use them for writing.

 

I do like the books, though I don't consider them a necessity. We use them because we have them on the shelf and they suit our purposes. I have read quite a bit of E. D. Hirsch's cultural literacy philosophy, and agree with much of what he has to say. But I certainly wouldn't use the series as more than an interesting supplemental resource, as they are not intended to be a stand alone resource. I believe that the original intent of the series is to supplement public school curriculum, as what is taught in public schools is so varied and many topics and stories are skipped or skimmed over.

 

Cat

[ThatCyndiGirl]

We have most of them. We use them as books that the kids read casually. They are not assigned any special readings from the books, nor is any of it required. I like them for that, even though we don't use them as a curriculum or a textbook.

[Farrar]

I know of some people who use them as quick little reads for content things and I think that makes sense.

 

But otherwise, I think they're just laundry lists of unconnected bits of knowledge. I understand why some people find them comforting to have this document that says, know this by this age, but I'm much more about exposure for content in the early grades and consistent progression with skills instead of going by someone else's idea of when my child should be able to do a certain thing.

[Mrs Mungo]

The early grades contain lots of fairy tales and basic knowledge-type things that I found useful. The upper grades, not so much.

[chepyl]

I use them for the poetry and literature selections. I used it as our core for kindergarten. I would find more easy reader books in the topics in the book. It was a great year and very easy. We used that and a math book.

 

This year, we will read the lit selections and cover the science topics when we finish our science text. I may read the us history selections to DS as well. If we don't get through it all....oh well. I do like them as a resource.

[Ann@thebeach]

I think they are a good general guide or jumping off point. I refer new hsers of younger kids to them.

 

I tell them you can see the topics covered and add books and resources to what they outline.

 

I wouldn't use them by themselves, but I think they are nice resource.

 

And they would be good especially for someone needing to do the basics one year, add a math book and some writing and you'd cover what is needed I think.

[kfeusse]

thank you everybody for your thoughts on these...I really appreciate it.

[ocelotmom]

I call them What E.D. Hirsch Thinks Your X Grader Needs To Know :p They're not based on state or national standards - just a bunch of stuff a guy thinks is essential knowledge for cultural literacy, split up over a number of years in a relatively developmentally appropriate order.

 

I don't think they're bad, and you could totally use them as a basis for a curriculum, especially since they're so widely available used. It's just that people see the title and think that it's authoritative, not just some guy's personal opinion.

[MeghanL]

We use the poems at the beginning of the book as our poetry memorization guide. They are fun poems and ones that the kids like. I also read one heading per school day. Since we follow a more classical approach to history, I don't want the kids missing all the American history questions on their annual assessment. These books help me to cover all the highlights without having to do an entire curriculum per subject.