How to Use Public School Websites for Your Free Homeschool Curriculum

If you find yourself at a loss for what to teach your homeschooler, do not fear. Many state and local public school websites fully detail everything your homeschooler needs to know. This information is generally published for the benefit of the parent, but there is not reason why you could not use it too.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer with Internet Connection
• Printer
• Notebook binders

1. Look up your local public school website. In a Google search, type the words “your state” and “public schools” or “your state” and “department of education. This should lead you directly to your state public education page.

2. Look for a heading that says something to the effect of academic standards, or curriculum standards. In most cases, you will see that these standards are divided by subject.

3. By clicking on a subject matter for a state, you should see an overview of what the states what is doing in that subject. This page should also give you links to numerous lesson plans, worksheets, and websites that the school district has provided for the teachers use.

Finding Local Teacher Websites and Curriculum Guides

4. Look up the names of local schools in your area. Type the names of these schools, the city and state into your search bar.

5. You will find that the school will have pages of links for supplemental information, or a step-by-step syllabus for each grade level. Search more than one local school, as you never know which school or teachers may be very web savvy and provide many resources for the parents. Do not forget to look up the school in your area with the best reputation.

6. Searching through the sites, looking up each subject of your student's grade level. Take note of which site and links have the most complete information. You may find that a teacher has posted point-by-point information for the whole year for one subject or all. You may find that a teacher posted a full year’s spelling list, and another posted a full years reading list.

7. After you have compiled what looks like a full years curriculum for your child, check it against a couple of others school sites for consistency.

Tips & Warnings

• Print out curriculum guides and make a notebook to use with your child. Take note of the websites that school systems link to as they are often free for public use.
• Review the material before you give them to your child to make sure they are in line with your morals and standards.

[Desula]

on 5/24/2008 That's such a good use for the internet.

[AutumnLeavz]

on 4/28/2008 Great article, thanks for the tips!