Homeschool Quick Start Guide, Part 2

What in the world are grade levels anyway?

Have you ever just stepped back and asked yourself that question?
I will be honest, I never really did growing up. My mom did her best to just keep us on the normal track of Kindergarten right on up to 12th grade.
That was totally normal. And we were basically homeschooled in a fairly traditional educational approach. We used stuff like Abeka and Bob Jones. And, each year, we would move along to the next age-appropriate grade level.
(I would never use either of those curriculum, but that is a story for another post.)

But, how did it get this way?

When did our level of knowledge on a broad spectrum of subjects get neatly divided into 13 convenient levels. And, if your knowledge does not correspond with the grade level your physical age says you should be at, you are labeled as behind or ahead?
Is this a race?
I thought this was all about educating children so they could grow up and hold stable jobs and balance their own check books.
Why did we make it into a glorified (and expensive) rat race?

My great-grandfather was a 2-room school house teacher. He taught the boy's side of the school house and a female teacher taught the girl's side. Their ages ranged from 7 to 18...and he taught every subject.
Yep. Every subject. Math. Reading. Writing. Science. History...
Man...that is pretty impressive. Especially since it was for about 50 boys!
And, guess what???? He didn't have any computers to grade things for him. He didn't have plagiarism software to do his job. He actually had to know his students well enough to know if they were cheating.
I could go on and list all of the advantages he did not have. I could also talk about the fact that he never had 30% or more of his students graduating from his classroom who couldn't read or do math.
He would have been fired. Frankly, knowing Old Avery, he would have fired himself out of pure shame if he ever had such an abysmal number of students he had failed.
Yet, our overly-paid, uselessly educated government school teachers are completely fine with this number of failures pure class. In fact, teacher programs all over the country prepare their teachers for this exact thing. They are taught that there will be around 30% of kids you simply cannot help. So, don't even try. Just pay attention to the ones who keep up and shoo the other ones over into "special needs" classes.
Oh...my...goodness.

Grade levels were created in order to usher in communism. And to make schools into factories that produced worker-bees, not intelligent citizens.

No matter how many times you watch old westerns or an episode of "Little House on the Prairie," do not ever buy into the nonsense that one room school houses were government schools.
They were not.
They were community schools that were run by local people. Teachers were carefully selected and watched.
Parents knew what their children were being taught. Parents had a say in what their children were taught. And, the parents had most often already taught their children to read, write and do basic math.
Government schools are only here because evil men like John Dewey and Horus Mann loved Communism. Specifically, Prussian Communism.
Now, if you are not familiar with Prussia, you should look it up. But, in the mid to late 1800s, it was the jewel of Communism. It had the strictest school system in the world.
They kept rigid records of all births so that if a parent had not sent their child to the state-mandated school system by the age of 5, they were visited by the military police who would then take the child via escort to the school.
Yes. That happened.
And, our American government school system is based on that exact model.
I could go on about how Christians were fooled into participating in the government school. And I could go down so many rabbit trails my fingers would be burning from typing. So, instead of that, I will list several amazing resources if you want to dive deeper into the true history of America's school system.
The Crimes of the Educators by Sam Blumenfeld
The Underground History of American Education by John Gatto
Is Public Education Necessary by Sam Blumenfeld
The Harsh Truth About Public Schools by Bruce Shortt

These are just starter material, mind you...

Do grade levels even matter now that you are a homeschooler?

Guess what?
You are no longer a part of that communistic education method. You do not need grade levels. Why would you want to stress over them anyway?
You want your child to succeed. That means giving him or her the time they need to learn what they need. Not to teach them everything! Just to give them the tools to learn everything if they want to!
If you talk with experienced homeschoolers, many of them will have stories about having their 10 year old in high school math. But, that same 10 year old still needs assistance reading.
Or 16 year olds who are doing college level reading, but geometry is still coming slowly.
When was the last time you saw 10 five year olds do one thing at exactly the same time and in the same way?
Each child develops on his or her own schedule. They don't all walk at the same time. They don't all potty train at the same time. And they certainly don't all magically learn to read at the same time. That's not how their brains work.
Before we leave this section, let me just say this: check into your state's requirements. This exact issue gets homeschoolers in terrible states into trouble. Because, even though the government schools are allowed to make excuses for why students are "behind," homeschoolers are not often given such consideration.
So, just be aware of this and know your state's laws. This is another good time to remind you about Homeschool Legal Defense. They are an amazing organization to have on your side.

Why do we separate subjects?

I will admit that this is kind of a pet peeve. When did we decide that subjects could, or should, be separated?
It seems to me, that daily life contradicts this very notion. We use reading, math, science and knowledge of past occurrences throughout the day. Don't we?
Yet, that is one thing I have yet to see in a homeschool curriculum. An all-in-one package that mirrors real life. Just a thought...

So, I think that wraps up this edition series. Pretty soon, I am hoping to dive into a full length book which will go over just about anything you can imagine on homeschooling!
Until then, Just Keep Swimming' Y'all!

Kari Erdly