How does your homeschool curriculum align with common core and NGSS standards? [What you need to know]
Child-Led learning - Children learn much more when they are following their interests
The flexibility of homeschooling helps asynchronous learners thrive
Does this homeschool curriculum align with NGSS or common core standards? This question is a lot more complicated than it sounds. We were recently asked to share this information with a homeschooling nonprofit organization of religious affiliation. NorthStar Educational Explorations makes secular homeschooling unit study curricula. Our company is science-based and decidedly different from the organization which interviewed us.
In terms of aligning with common core and other standards, we should clarify that our secular homeschool unit studies are designed to foster child-led learning. This means following the child’s interests; therefore, our priority is not as much on the goals of an outside institution as the child. We understand that kids progress at their own speed - being able to accommodate this is a huge benefit of homeschooling. At the same time, our secular homeschool science curriculum takes an inquiry-based learning approach, this IS something that NGSS promotes.
If you are homeschooling, do you have to teach the standards? In short, NO. Homeschoolers desire to teach their values. Education is undeniably linked to philosophical and cultural values. Our educational products also teach our values - favoring mainstream science and values of inclusion. As a firmly secular program, our products are not “neutral” science. We will talk about evolution, for example. A book about worms mentions gender fluidity. If you don’t share those values, you get to choose how and whether or not to use our resources. That is one of the freedoms of homeschooling.
We felt like the full interview might be helpful for customers, so I’m sharing it here:
Let me start by saying - I am supportive of NGSS, even as I seek to share my company's own philosophical approach to science. We value kids taking ownership of their own learning and being very involved in the scientific process. So, to the degree to which the standards do not conflict with that, we will be aligning with them.
NGSS does support Inquiry-Based Learning and Project-Based Learning
1. Have you already altered any of your materials for the purpose of aligning with the Common Core Standards (CCS) – alternately known when relevant as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework (C3)? If so, which materials? And what, specifically, have you changed?
I went through several units to see if they aligned with ngss. Many of the standards already matched my existing materials, so I will be providing that information for people as desired. I understand there are a lot more people homeschooling with a charter school now. This information will be helpful for them. I have not altered any products, aside from doing a check to see what standards align already. I have only done this check for my three activity guides so far which are smaller unit studies, and I will be adding this for all of my units over the next month or so.
2. Do you have future plans to alter your materials – in large or small ways – in order to align with the CCS/NGSS/C3? If so, which materials and what changes do you plan to make? When will you make the changes?
Child-led learning can mean trying things that don’t work
It did occur to me that a few topics associated with later year’s engineering topics could easily be addressed in my stem challenges, so I have thought of adding a bit more depth to the stem challenge card resource as well as one or two of the stem labs in different units. I think the change would be beneficial to the unit. I have also thought of creating additional materials targeting a few of the standards that I have not addressed in current products. I will be trying to make these small changes over the next year.
3. Have you chosen to advertise any correlations between your materials and the CCS/NGSS/C3 even if you haven’t changed any content in the process?
I have added a standards alignment checklist on the webpage for each activities guide so far and plan to provide this for all products.
4. Do you incorporate materials from other vendors into your program? If so, which companies?
Learning is not about a test. It’s about experiences and exploration.
Our program is self-contained, but we provide many book recommendations and web-based media (such as YouTube videos and things like NASA's kids learning resources) as a supplement to the activities.
To sum up, our curricula are not being altered to “meet” standards. We don’t believe in teaching to a test. There isn’t a pre-defined common core of knowledge kids need to have. Skill development is important for life, but we also don’t believe in teaching skills in isolation. Our philosophy is that the most important thing is to expose kids to interesting and important topics and let exploration of those topics guide development of skills. All this said we will provide information on the standards as it will be useful to some homeschool families. I hope this helps you understand the role of standards in our homeschooling curriculum.
