Standards are, well, standard, in that most standards are things that we would hope all children, at the least would be exposed to during their education, and ideally master by the end of it. At the same time, many standards are debatable on an individual basis. Does each child need to master a standard in the year listed? I’d say no. It takes several years of exposure to master a concept, rule, or idea. It does give us a good idea of what to touch on each year though, and that is what this list is meant to do. Make it slightly easier for you to have a checklist of concepts, ideas, or items that you may decide you want your child exposed to.

It’s also debatable when different concepts or ideas should be taught. Is it important to begin literary analysis in fourth grade or should it be in sixth? Again, there is lots of room for adaptation so that it fits your family. Because of this wiggle room and difference in when and how often the standards are taught, there is a lot of repetition in these checklists (except for spelling). Please adjust these lists to accommodate your learning with consideration of your child, your family, and your curricula or sourcebooks. These are not meant to be hard and fast rules of what to teach and when. It’s meant to be a short cut on work for you, so you aren’t having to create these lists from scratch.

This list is mostly sourced from the book Home Learning Year by Year by Rebecca Rupp. The spelling rules for spelling are sourced from Logic of English’s website. A few additional items have been added from my own experience. Standards are standard in that they usually are across the board for most States. However, some states may differ slightly in their requirements. Because of this, these standards may not apply to you and your State’s requirements. Make sure you adapt these to conform to the requirements of your State.

Again, these should be adapted to fit your child and family. These should be used as a tool, but not be so rigid in the form that they interfere with the education and learning of your child. You will see that there is a good deal of repetition from one year to the next. This is because there needs to be repetition and practice for mastery as well as some people introduce different concepts at different ages. Adapt the checklists as needed for your child. If you feel your child is not ready for an item, then remove it from the checklist. If an item your child needs more practice with is not on the check list for that year, add it.

A list of the phonemes is included in this packet. The phonemes are included in the Kindergarten checklist because this is usually the earliest a child learns to read, but after this, they are not. It is expected that the phonemes will be taught and reviewed through elementary school even though they are not included in the checklists. To accommodate for this continued review, I’ve included the list by itself.

Spelling is particularly adaptable, and I have added some of the rules (not all) in the order that I found most useful for us. If you are using a spelling curriculum, go by what they teach each year for your checklist. Add or remove items in the spelling list to accommodate your child and family.