REQUIREMENTS BY GRADE OF WHAT A HOMESCHOOLED CHILD SHOULD KNOW

GUIDELINES FOR WHAT A CHILD COULD POSSIBLE KNOW AND LEARN

Use what you see here as merely a guideline- one of those "what every nth grader should know" kind of thing. You, in NO way have to follow this at all-that is the beauty of Home-schooling. It is left up to you, the parent, as to what you teach your child. I use these as merely a guide to help me along through the years. You should too.

Many thanks to Rita and Tony over at Caring Parents Registry for all this information.

Use these to jump around or read it all...

[Kindergarten Requirements] [Grade 1 Requirements] [Grade 2 Requirements] [Grade 3 Requirements] [Grade 4 Requirements] [Grade 5 Requirements] [Grade 6 Requirements] [Grade 7 Requirements] [Grade 8 Requirements] [Grade 9 Requirements] [Grade 10 Requirements]
[Grade 11 Requirements] [Grade 12 Requirements]

Kindergarten Requirements

SOCIAL STUDIES

Meanings of holidays, traditions, and customs
Understanding and appreciating other cultures
Individual's role in family, home, school, and community
Relationship of the individual to the group
Work and jobs
Safety rules and symbols
Basic human needs
Self-respect and self-awareness
Awareness of others
Location of home and school
Diagram of home and school
Science
Observation of everyday, familiar things
Common animals and plants
Interrelationships of animals and plants
Classification of living things
Farm animals
Care of pets
Like and unlike plants
Indoor plants
The sun: our principal source of energy
Weather and seasons
Temperature
Light
Colors
Senses
Earth, moon, stars, planets
Simple measurement
Beginning experimentation
Language Arts
Phonics
Choral reading
Listening to literature, music, poetry
Nursery rhymes, fairy tales, fables
Social listening
Constructing visual images while listening
Oral communication skills
Role play
Following and giving directions
Paraphrasing and summarizing
Organizing ideas
Experience stories
Relating events and experiences using complete sentences
Listening for correct speech habits and word usage
Beginning writing process
Manuscript handwriting
Health and Safety
Personal hygiene
Good eating habits
Good grooming
Care of teeth
Major body parts
Physical fitness
Safety to and from school
Mathematics
Simple counting to 20
One-to-one relationship
Concepts of more, less than, same
Sequence of events
Correspondence of quantities
Ordinal-cardinal relationship
Number-numeral relationship vRecognition of basic sets
Meaning of addition and subtraction
Introduction to number line
Estimation
Elementary geometry (shapes)
Calendar and clock
Denominations of money
Basic problem-solving strategies
Basic chart and graph concepts

Grade 1 Requirements

Holidays, traditions, and customs

Our American Heritage

Different cultures at different times

Family, school, neighborhood, community

Neighborhood helpers

Jobs and careers

Social skills and responsibilities

Basic geography terms

Making and reading a simple neighborhood map

Grouping and classification

Living and nonliving things

Zoo and circus animals

Woodland animals

Plant and animal habitats

Seeds, bulbs, plants, flowers

Weather and seasons

Solids, liquids, gases

Fire and temperature

Sun, moon, stars, planets

Simple machines

Beginning experimentation

Scientific method and scientific inquiry

Phonetic analysis

Structural analysis

Establishing sight vocabulary

Reading informally: names, labels, signs

Simple pantomimes and dramatic play

Creating stories and poems

Telling favorite stories

Organizing ideas and impressions

Enunciation and pronunciation

Presenting information orally, in sequence and with clarity

Book reports and critiques

Discussion skills: taking part in group discussion

Beginning dictionary skills: alphabetizing

Beginning spelling

Beginning grammar: nouns, verbs, adjectives

Introduction to punctuation and capitalization

Manuscript handwriting

Using table of contents

Development of a class newspaper

Health and Safety

Personal hygiene

Good eating habits

Exercise and rest

Dressing for weather and activity

Safety rules to and from school

Counting and writing to 100

Counting by 2's to 40

Simple number patterns

Beginning ordinal numbers

Using 10 as a basic unit

Simple properties of zero

Simple properties of sets

Beginning addition and subtraction facts

Number-line use

Place value and numeration

Concepts of quantity and size

Concepts of equality and inequality

Concepts of ordinal and cardinal numbers

Using 1/2 and 1/4 appropriately

Geometric patterns and figures

Basic customary and metric measurement

Recognizing time: clock and calendar

Value of penny, nickel, dime, quarter

Solving simple word problems

Basic probability and chance

Basic chart and graph concepts

Grade 2 Requirements
- Social Studies
- Holidays and festivals
- Patriotic celebrations
- Communities in other lands: past and present
- Family and family history
- Families around the world
- Neighborhoods
- Community services and helpers
- Shelters, stores, and food
- Citizenship and social responsibility
- Interdependence of people
- Basic geography: oceans, continents
- Map skills
  Science
- Useful and harmful animals
- Life cycle
- Birds and insects in winter
- Animal babies
- Animal defense of themselves and their young
- Plant and animal food
- Dinosaurs and other extinct animals
- Food chain
- Plant reproduction and growth
- Habitats and homes
- Weather and its effects on earth
- Effects of the seasons on the lives of people, animals, and plants
- Climate
- Water cycle
- Air and atmosphere
- Magnets and forces
- Gravity
- Earth and sky
- Sun, moon, planets
- Simple constellations
- Exploring space
- Scientific method and scientific inquiry
  Language Arts
- Reading silently for purpose
- Dramatizations and interpretative or oral reading
- Use and meaning of quotation marks in reading
- Story development: beginning, middle, end
- Simple book reviews
- Listening skills
- Organizing ideas and impressions
- Alphabetizing through second letter of a word
- Using dictionary guide words
- Vocabulary development
- Homonyms, synonyms, antonyms
- Methods of word attack
- Ways to study spelling
- Simple punctuation and capitalization
- Refining manuscript handwriting
- Writing independently in manuscript form
- Brief and simple letters and journals
- Narration, description, letters, poetry
- Increasing skill in handling books: table of contents, and index
  Health and Safety
- Personal cleanliness
- Dental hygiene
- Basic food groups
- Communicable diseases
- Preventive measures against disease
- Neighborhood safety
  Mathematics
- Counting, reading, writing to 1,000
- Counting by 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, and 10's
- Ordinal numbers to 10
- Zero as a place holder
- Using sets and number facts
- Addition and subtraction facts to 20
- Basic multiplication and division facts
- Multiplication and division facts as inverse operations
- Multiplication properties of 0 and 1
- Place value through 100's
- Fractions in daily life
- Decimal numeration system
- Basic concept of ratio
- Geometry puzzles and activities
- Estimation
- Common customary and metric measures of time, weight, length, volume, shape, temperature
- Telling time and using the calendar
- Handling money (coins)
- Problem solving
- Charts and graphs

Grade 3 Requirements

Social Studies
Holidays and folk customs
Native Americans
Explorers and pioneers
Appreciation of different cultures, races, religions
History and development of local community
Community helpers
Consumers and producers
Sources of food and clothing
Shelters of animals and people
History and development of transportation
History and development of communication
Citizenship and social responsibility
Basic human needs and wants
Local geography and topography
U. S. geography and regions
The continents
Flat maps and globes
Science
Animal helpers
Dinosaurs
Life cycle
Plants and animals of the desert
Plants and animals of the sea
Common birds, trees, flowers
Forest plants
Conservation of plants and animals
Weather and climate
Earth's changing surface
Magnets and electricity
Compass
Gravity
Light and color
Energy and its sources
Force and work
Machines
Moon and stars
Earth satellites
Scientific method and scientific inquiry
Language Arts
Silent reading
Reading prose and poetry aloud
Oral presentations: reporting experiences orally with accuracy
Alphabetizing through the third letter of a word
Dictionary skills
Developing word-attack methods
Synonyms, antonyms, homonyms
Spelling
Beginning cursive writing
Concept of paragraph
Using period, comma, question mark, apostrophe, quotation marks
Writing short, original stories and poems
Postwriting skills: editing and proofreading
Increasing indexing skills
Health and Safety
Care of eyes and ears
Dental health
Proper balance of activities
Healthful leisure activities
Prevention and control of diseases
Parts of the body
Nutrition
Health with relation to food, shelter, clothing
School and community health services
Home safety hazards
Safety in the community
Simple first aid
Mathematics
Reading and writing numbers to 5 places
Beginning Roman numerals
Rounding numbers
Positive and negative numbers in daily life
Simple fractions and equivalents
Properties of one
Numeration systems
Addition and subtraction facts to 25
Multiplication and division facts to 100
Perimeter, area, volume
Geometric constructions
Similar and congruent figures
Properties of solid figures
Customary and metric measurement
Time to 1- and 5-minute measures
Estimation of outcomes
Problems-solving analysis
Word problems
Charts and graphs

Grade 4 Requirements

Types of community life

History and development of the local state

Relation of the state to its region, nation, and the world

Reasons for our laws

Regions of the world

Earth's resources

Climatic regions of the world

Map skills: longitude, latitude, scale

Structure of plants

Environment of the local region

Biological organization

Classification systems

The insect world

The reptilian world

Plants and animals of the past

Structure of plants

Balance of nature

Weather's influences

Weather instruments

Cause of seasons

Earth and its history

Oceans and the hydrosphere

Air and water pollution

Magnets and electricity

Light and color

Solar system and the universe

Living in space

Scientific method and scientific inquiry

Silent and oral reading

Listening skills

Telephone skills

Making and accepting simple social introductions

Summarizing simple information

Listening to literature

Critical reading

Short stories, chapter books, poetry, plays

Increasing dictionary skills

Cursive handwriting

Simple outlining

Writing letters and informal notes

Written and oral book reports

Creative writing

Developing skills in locating information

Increasing indexing skills

Developing encyclopedia skills

Utilizing parts of a newspaper

Health and Safety

Personal and mental hygiene

The body and its functions

Skeletal and muscular systems

Care and proper use of the body

Principles of digestion

Basic food groups

Good nutrition habits

Substance abuse

Reading and writing numbers

Roman numerals to C

Prime numbers less than 100

Prime factoring

Numeration systems

Decimal and fraction equivalents

Addition and subtraction facts to 7 places

Multiplication and division facts to 144

1-, 2-, and 3-digit multiplication problems

2- and 3-digit dividend, 1-digit divisor problems

Meaning of mixed numbers

Finding simple averages

Geometric concepts

Customary and metric measurement

Time to the second

Problem-solving methods

Charts and graph

Grade 5 Requirements

Exploration and discovery

Establishment of settlements in the New World

Colonial life in America

Pioneer life in America

Revolutionary War in America

Westward movement in America

Industrial and cultural growth

Democracy's principles and documents

Life in the U. S. and its possessions

Geography of the U. S.

Natural resources of the U. S.

Canada and Mexico

Relationship between the U. S. and Canada

Comparative cultures of Canada

Countries and cultures of the Western Hemisphere: Central America, West Indies, South America

Map and globe skills

Biological adaptations

Biotic communities

Animal and plant classification

Plants and their food

Properties of air and water

Time and seasons

Temperature and thermometers

Magnetic fields

Use and control of electricity

Conduction and convection

Light and optics

Chemical systems

Sun and solar system

Space and space exploration

Scientific method and scientific inquiry

Silent and oral reading

Types of literature

Presenting original plays

Listening skills

Dictionary use for word meaning, analysis, spelling

Common homonyms

Homophones and homographs

Synonyms and antonyms

Using a thesaurus

Plurals and possessives

Kinds of sentences

Parts of sentences

Cursive handwriting

Paragraph writing

Writing letters, stories, reports, poems, plays

Preparing a simple bibliography

Proofreading skills

Parts of a newspaper

Using study materials: keys, tables, graphs, charts, legends, library catalogs, index, table of contents, reference materials, maps

Health and Safety

Our water supply

Sewage disposal

Care of the eyes

Nutrition and diet

Germ-bearing insects and pests

Community health resources

Elementary first aid

Bicycle and water safety

Preparing for puberty

Human reproduction

Substance abuse

Reading and writing numbers to 10 places

Set of integers

Numeration systems

Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division of whole numbers

Fundamental processes: whole numbers and common fractions

Common and decimal fractions

Decimals to the thousandths

Ratio and percent

Customary and metric measurements

Extension of geometric concepts

Word problems in daily life

Charts and graphs: picture, bar, line, and circle graphs

Concept of sampling

Grade 6 Requirements

Global and regional studies

Countries and cultures of Africa, Latin America, Asia, Australia, the Pacific, and Europe

Native American cultures

The Roman Empire

Relationships among nations: customs, traditions and beliefs, political and economic systems

Milestones in human achievement

Transportation and communication

Citizenship and social responsibility

World geography

Map and globe skills

Classification of living things

Ecology and the environment

Algae and fungi

Food for growth and energy

Climate and weather

Recycling of resources

Elementary geology

Electric and magnetic interactions

Electricity and its uses

Sound, light, and heat

Nuclear energy and radioactivity

Solar and geothermal energy

Elements and compounds

Simple astronomy

Space and space travel

Scientific theory

Inventions and discoveries

Reading silently and skimming

Critical reading skills

Introduction to mythology

Types of literature

Lyric, narrative, dramatic poetry

Listening skills

Nonverbal communication

Extending dictionary skills

Vocabulary building

Homonyms, synonyms, antonyms

Using roots, prefixes, and suffixes

Concepts of noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb

Sentence structure

Diagramming sentences

Cursive handwriting

Types of writing: narration, description, exposition, persuasion

Simple note taking

Writing outlines, letters, factual matter (reports, newspaper articles), verse (limericks, ballads), creative prose (diary, stories)

Bibliography building

Organization of a book

Using reference books and indexes

Using on-line information services, CD-ROM's, and other electronic reference materials

Health and Safety

Personal appearance

Health maintenance

Our food supply

Exercise and fitness

Cure and prevention of common diseases

Accident prevention

Safety and first aid

The health professions

Understanding emotions

Coping with stress and anxiety

Preparing for puberty

Human reproduction

Substance abuse

Operation of powers

Set of the integers

Fundamental operations with fractions, and decimals

Fundamental operations with compound denominate numbers

Multiplying and dividing common fractions and mixed numbers

Relationship between common and decimal fractions

Problems in percent

Properties, identification, and construction of geometric figures

Identification and measurement of angles

Concepts of similarity, congruence, and symmetry

Customary and metric measurement

Problem analysis

Interpreting graphs

Concepts of averaging and sampling

Use of calculators and computers

Grade 7 Requirements

Social Studies
Lands and peoples of the Eastern Hemisphere
Prehistoric peoples
Greek, Roman, and Middle Eastern civilizations
The Middle Ages
Renaissance and Reformation
Scientific Revolution
Age of Reason (Enlightenment)
Industrial Age
Yesterday and today around the world: Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific
World trade and resources
Contemporary problems and issues
Environment
World geography
Advanced map and globe skills

Science
Scientific classification
The cell
Heredity and genetics
Effects of weather and climate
Properties and uses of water
Atmosphere
Air pressure
Rocks, soil, and minerals
Ecology and environment
Conservation
Heat and temperature
Laws of motion
Energy
Scientific method
Laboratory techniques and safety

Language Arts

Arts
Improving reading skills
Literary terms
Novels, short stories, plays
Myths, legends, ballads
Types of poetry
Biography and autobiography
Planning and producing dramatizations
Speech activities
Listening skills
Refining dictionary skills
Spelling
Parts of speech
Person, number, gender of nouns and pronouns
Punctuation of conversation
Clauses and phrases
Compound sentences
Writing descriptions, reports, journals, and letters
Note taking and outlining
Extending reference skills: atlases, directories, encyclopedias, periodicals, on-line information services, CD-ROMs, and other electronic reference material
Library organization
Health and Safety
Good grooming and posture
Dental health
Healthy habits and lifestyles
Exercise and fitness
Effects of stimulants and narcotics
Functions of the body
Circulation and respiration
Germ theory
Sexually transmitted diseases
Family life
Toxins and antitoxins
Antibiotics
Immunization
Chemotherapy
Genetic disorders
Personal and public safety
Accident prevention
Personality development
Substance abuse

Mathematics
Prime and composite numbers
Square root
Order of operations
Absolute value
Inequalities
Numeration
Properties of nonnegative integers
Rational numbers and fractions
Ratio, proportion, percent
Finite, infinite, and empty sets
Basic geometry concepts and terms
Development and use of formulas
Perimeter, circumference, area
Metric and customary measurement
Reading and constructing graphs
Measures of central tendency: mean, mode, median, range
Elementary business mathematics
Use of calculators and computers

Grade 8 Requirements

Social Studies
Our African, Asian, and European backgrounds
Exploration and discovery
Growth and development of the United States
Colonial life
Struggle for independence
U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights
Westward movement in America
American Civil War
Reconstruction
U. S. as a world power
Meaning of democracy
Our American culture
U. S. political system
U. S. economic system
U. S. government
U. S. geography
Advanced map and globe skills

Science
Scientific method
Scientific nomenclature
Scientific measurement
Ecology and environment
Conservation
Composition of the earth
Ocean, atmosphere
Weather
Water and its uses
Weathering and erosion
Recycling of resources
Magnetism and electricity
Heat and light
Forces in liquids and gases
Wave, mechanical, electrical, and nuclear energy
The earth's movement
Newton's three laws of motion
Machines
The atom
Periodic table of elements
Compounds and mixtures
Chemical changes
Astronomy
The universe and Milky Way
Space and space travel

Language Arts
Independent reading
Literal, inferential, and evaluative reading skills
Literary terms
Novel, short story, narrative poetry
Nonfiction
Biographies of great Americans
American poets and storytellers
Creative dramatics
Listening and speech activities
Advanced dictionary work
Extended vocabulary
Figures of speech
Spelling
Infinitive, participle, gerund, predicate nominative, predicate adjective, direct and indirect object
Kinds of sentences and their parts
Functions of sentence elements
Writing simple business letters
Report-writing skills
Improving skills in using basic reference sources
Inductive and deductive reasoning

Health and Safety
Grooming
Functions of the body
The body's utilization of food
Types and functions of foods
Environmental hazards
Community sanitation and health
Health care services
Sexually transmitted diseases
Accident prevention, safety, and first aid
Mental hygiene
Substance abuse

Mathematics
Maintaining skills in fundamental operations
Factoring and products
Sets and simple sentences
Numeration systems
Using fractions and decimals
Ratio, proportion, and percent
Equalities and inequalities
Simple formulas and equations
Graphing an equation
Powers and roots of rational numbers
Polynomials
Metric and nonmetric geometry
Pythagorean Theorem
Scale drawing
Right-triangle trigonometry
Customary and metric measurement
Permutations
Probability statistics
Statistical terms
Mathematics of insurance, banking, and taxes

Grade 9 Requirements

Social Studies

Grade 10 Requirements

Social Studies

Grade 11 Requirements

Social Studies

Grade 12 Requirements

Social Studies