Common Core State Standards as Defined in Missouri:

“The standards:

• Establish consistent learning goals for all students – regardless of where they live.
• Provide a clear roadmap of academic expectations at each grade level.
• Are relevant to the real world and prepare students for post-secondary education and a globally competitive workforce.
• Were developed by a diverse team of educators, researchers and parents from across the country‒including Missouri‒to be academically rigorous, attainable for students, and practical for teachers and districts.

The New English Language Arts Standards

Shifts in the new English language arts standards include:

• Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction and information texts, in addition to literature.
• Reading and writing grounded in evidence from the text.
• Regular practice with complex text and its academic vocabulary.

The New Math Standards

Shifts in the new math standards include:

• Focus: deeper learning in two to four areas at each grade level.
• Coherence: concepts logically connected from one grade to the next and linked to other major topics at each grade level.
• Rigor: fluency with arithmetic, application of knowledge to real world situations and a deep understanding of mathematical concepts.”  dese.mo.gov

How Common Core Standards Affect Missouri Homeschooling:

“45 states–including Missouri–took the bait, gave
up the right to choose what their children would learn, and promised
to create a system that would require all public children to learn
exactly the same things.

This could affect homeschoolers profoundly if it is not stopped.
College admissions tests are already changing to submit to Common
Core. The ability to enter college or get a scholarship could one day
depend on having learned the Common Core. Getting a job or getting
into the military could one day depend on learning the Common Core.
Even some homeschool curriculum providers have announced that their
books comply with Common Core!

Once all public school children are learning exactly the same things
nationwide, the path is laid to force private schools and homeschools
to comply. After all, why should some non-conformists be allowed to
teach their kids anything they want when “everyone” is learning Common
Core? It is not unthinkable that your freedom to teach your children
what you know they should learn could vanish–or it could be penalized
beyond anything we might now imagine.

The federalization of education content would be a huge step toward
turning the clock back and ending homeschool freedom.”  HSLDA

Section 3 of the Missouri Homeschool Law:

“3. Nothing in this section shall require a private, parochial, parish or home school to include in its curriculum any concept, topic, or practice in conflict with the school’s religious doctrines or to exclude from its curriculum any concept, topic, or practice consistent with the school’s religious doctrines. Any other provision of the law to the contrary notwithstanding, all departments or agencies of the state of Missouri shall be prohibited from dictating through rule, regulation or other device any statewide curriculum for private, parochial, parish or home schools. “ FHE-MO

Brookie-Lee’s Perspective:

I’m glad to know that it’s currently illegal for the state of Missouri to tell me what set of standards(Common Core) or curriculum to use in homeschooling my children.  The freedom to teach my children based on our beliefs, learning styles, and each individual student’s pace is imperative to education.  We switched math programs to find one that worked better for us.  We picked our history based on it’s broad inclusion of events, peoples, and biblical history.  Our Language Arts is a combination of many different curriculum and materials to ensure the depth of learning.  We are teaching in an environment and with materials that we believe in.  Curriculum that we are confident will educate our children thoroughly despite any lack of education we ourselves may have.

I am confident in the schooling we are doing and am not currently concerned about the SATs.  We will fully educate our children, and unless the SATs turn into tests on presidential memos, I’m sure our children will know what they need to in order to score well.  As a concerned, involved parent I will keep my eye on the progress of public education in America.  Adjusting our own course as we see necessary.  While I don’t see higher education as a necessity to success, I believe that everyone should have the choice to choose that path. I have a stronger belief in entrepreneurship and real life to teach true and useful knowledge.  But CHOICE and the FREEDOM to choose is what made this country great.  And we will teach our children and supply them with all they need to have those choices open and available to them.  Apprenticeship, Business, College, Government, Family, Travel.  The world will be available to them because we aren’t limiting them to “post-secondary education and a globally competitive workforce.”

One of the things we emphasize is doing what you love.  We’ve discovered in our own journey’s for happiness that doing work you love is imperative.  Helping our children discover their gifts and talents and making a living at it is our goal for the next three decades.  Passion for what you do makes all the difference in the world for having a happy life.  My husband loves to design and now works for a successful solar company that he helped grow to what it is now.  His love for his job and his satisfaction for what he’s contributing to the world is a wonderful example to our children.  We hope to find each child’s passion and talent as we homeschool.  Devoting more time on areas where passion shows.  Allowing the child to blossom and become an expert by the time they are old enough to go out into the world.  Thankfully there is not a law or set of curriculum that will limit us from doing that.

We attended the Midwest Parent Educators conference and curriculum expo this past spring and got all our supplies and curriculum for next school year.  We purchase mostly from Rainbow Resource because they have the lowest prices but we got some things like our Math-U-See program direct from their booth at a show discount.  It’s a great place to look at the different curriculum that are successful on the market.  We are all set to go and we are spending any down time this summer finishing up the last few chapters in our 2012-2013 curriculum.

Zavien, 3rd Grade

• Grammar: First Language Lessons II…  this is a short lesson that uses repetition in a constructive and non-monotonous way.  We’ve both enjoyed it and he retains it.
• Writing: Writing with Ease II… this is also a short lesson but you have to be engaged the whole lesson to make sure the child is writing correctly.  This is when I’m the most strict with writing.  Cursive Without Tears… we did one lesson of cursive last year and it was a disaster so I decided to wait until 3rd grade.  My son is young for this grade so we are a little behind in some subjects(cursive) and right on target with other subjects(math).
• Spelling: Phonics for Reading & Spelling (spelling)… this is a good program and works best with consistency.  I’ve considered Explode the Code as an alternative as well.
• Literature:  Classical House of Learning/Grammar Stage/Middle Ages.. my son loves to be read to and to draw.  This is a great program that ties into our history lesson too.
• Reading: McGuffey Readers… great classic curriculum to reinforce reading skills.  Christian Lighthouse Education Reading (readers and workbook)… I really like these readers as it teaches good character along with reading.  I got the workbooks to help with comprehension but it’s been less about comprehension and more about reading skills.
• Math: Math-U-See Gamma… we love this program and the boys really thrived on it last year.  It’s a very hands on program and teaches in sequence.
• History: Story of the World II… this is a great program that my son loves to listen to.  He will sit and listen to the audio while coloring and I will ask him the workbook questions to make sure he was listening.  Then we do map work and take the test.  We don’t get into the projects much due to time but we try to do some of the literature suggestions and encyclopedia reading.
• Science: Apologia Zoology 1 & 2…. we did Zoology 3 last year and will be going back to do 1 & 2.  The children really enjoying learning about the animals.
• Religion: Bible Stories… we read a chapter at bedtime and it’s been great for all of us.  Mom included.  Getting through the Old Testament is easy with these Children’s Bible Stories.
• Art & Art History: Artistic Pursuits… my son loved the few lessons we had time for last year.  I’m going to try harder to do a lesson at least once a week this next school year.  We do plenty of non directed arts and crafts at our house but this program teaches art history along with technique and I really need to buckle down and work it into our week better.
• Music & Music History: Lives of the Musicians… this book is so fun.  We read a short bit on the musician, I will play the music over the month, and we read books from the library about the musician.  Piano Lessons… we take lessons with Michelle Sherer and it’s been great.  It’s so fun to see them at their recitals.  Voice Lessons… we take lessons with Havilah Bruder and we saw a drastic improvement in our older son’s singing in church.

He also will be doing soccer in the fall & spring, DHA 1 day a week, and Trail Life.

Jaxon, 1st Grade

• Grammar: First Language Lessons I
• Writing: Writing with Ease I
• Spelling: Phonics for Reading & Spelling (phonograms, writing, & spelling)
• Literature: Classical House of Learning/Grammar Stage/Middle Ages
• Reading: McGuffey Readers & Christian Lighthouse Education Reading(readers)
• Math: Math-U-See Beta
• History: Story of the World II
• Science: Apologia Science Zoology 1 & 2
• Religion: Bible Stories
• Music: Piano lessons, Voice Lessons

He also will be doing soccer in the fall & spring, DHA 1 day a week, and Trail Life.

Tylea, Preschool

• Reading: Phonogram cards, Discover the Code series
• Math: Math-U-See Primer
• Writing: tracing over letters and numbers with dry erasers
• Enrichment: Busy Bags!
• Music: Piano lessons

She also takes ballet during the school year and loves that.

Vaylee, Toddlerdom

• Busy Bags!  We have like 50 different busy bags that I can turn to and entertain my little one.  I love it!

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Supplement Resources:

• DK Smithsonian, Animal, The Definitive Visual Guide
• 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language
• History of the World(White Cover)
• The Random House Book of Poetry

Weekly Enrichment Program: Discovery Homeschool Academy(DHA)- homeschool enrichment one day a week.  All the fun classes that you liked in public school: PE, Art, Music, Spanish, Science, Social Studies.  We have class parties, field day, grandparents day, field trips and other fun activities with the fellowship of other homeschool families.  They also have homeschool 101 classes for parents that were great.

Annual Trip to Mini Town: My children loved this program.  They got to experience being a consumer and Z also experienced being a producer.  So much fun and great learning!  I will be helping run the program this next year and I’m very excited!

Homeschool Support:  I really enjoy The Well Trained Mind forum online and the book has been so helpful in navigating available curriculum.  I also attend the Lee’s Summit Home Educators monthly meetings when I can and have found great information there.