New to Homeschool? Here's What you should be Doing

This post will help you design your homeschool day to custom fit your lifestyle and your children's educational needs. In a previous post, I detailed some resources that many homeschool parents use to design their curriculum in an affordable manner. In this post, I help you figure out your child's academic level.

Content Standards are generally the same from state to state with slight differences in wording or achievement examples. You can look up your state's specific standards with a quick internet search "your state+subject area content standards+grade." Common Core Standards were originally designed to level the field across the United States by grade level, so that every school would be teaching the same skills to students of the same grade level. Which ever set of standards you look at, you will see general information which you can use to start designing your school day.

Content Standards
All schools start in the same place when developing a curriculum plan for students-- average developmental stages of learning by age/grade set the educational standards for each classroom. Your homeschool does not have to meet content standards because you can assess your children's academic levels and then teach appropriate lessons to achieve growth. 
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However, I find that knowing the content standards by grade level, can set homeschooling parents minds to rest when they wonder, "Am I doing enough? Are my students learning the same skills as their public school peers?"
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Here's the link to the the Common Core Standards Website to begin your search.

HSLDA
The Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is also a great place to start learning more about homeschooling and designing a program that meets the needs of your children. 
From their website:
"HSLDA is a non-profit advocacy organization that advocates for homeschooling by protecting homeschooling families and equipping them to provide the best educational experience for their children."
This website is a wonderful resource for almost every question you may ask yourself as a homeschooling parent.

What to Teach 
The HSLDA website offers a multi-faceted checklist and survey to help you find your child's academic level and discover where to start your home education journey. 
Here's the link to the What to Teach area of the website.

Placement tests - FREE
You can search the internet for free academic placement tests or free grade level placement tests and get a number of great website resources in the results. Two reliable resources are listed below.
I used Math Mammoth curriculum with my children when we homeschooled and they offer free placement tests for grades 1-8. 
K-5 Learning offers Math and ELA (English-Language Arts) assessments.

One last thought
If you have chosen to homeschool, you probably have a good feeling about your child's academic level to get started.  As your child's teacher, you get to determine where to place your child. Do not let the social constructs of public school determine your child's reading or math level.  Some children operate far above their grade level peers and others need more support. Homeschooling is the perfect way to custom design your child's academic days to best suit their needs!