Homeschooling ~ North Carolina VS Arizona?

Question

My Scenario.

My bf's son who's 8 1/2 is going to be coming to live w/ us from North Carolina. My bf says the schooling there is far behind Arizona ~ which is where we live.

N has repeated 1st grade twice while bumped around in Foster Care. He finally completed 1st grade in NC.

Being the void in schooling between here & there, & that here I dont feel that our school will test him the way I feel he should....

Im looking for a website that will tell me where N should be according to Arizona standards as a reg 9 yr old. & that will have some pdfs I can print out & have him try to do asap while we're waiting on the slowww County Court in NC. Im still trying to find out what is req'd there to go from 1st to 2nd.

School here starts Aug 11th, there it starts Aug. 25th. Not to mention we're being told he wont get here until after school starts.

I'd really like to see him start in 2nd and not 1st gr all over again because the school there failed him. He's been thru too much.

Answer 1

As Mary said, I also recommend starting him in AZVA:

http://k12.com/azva/

Also, you should be able to compare the state standards of both states from their state board of education websites:

NC standards:

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculu...

AZ standards:

http://www.ade.az.gov/standards/contents...

Also, see if his former school (if you can call it that!) has their "scope & sequence" of their curriculum online, or see if you can access it.  It should be public information, available to anyone.  Then you can see specifically how that school's curriculum meets (or doesn't) the state's standards.

Best wishes!  I truly hope you'll consider using a virtual public school like AZVA to educate him for at least a year, or until he catches up.  It will really boost his confidence and allow him to ease into B&M schooling when he goes back (if he does...you may like it so much you don't change ;-) )

Answer 2

If you check the dept of ed for AZ you should be able to find the AZ standards for each grade.  I would also suggest the books "What your ... grader needs to know".  If the child has been bumped around, and now is moving across country I would think he may be quite stressed.  I would suggest not worrying so much about state standards as much as interesting him in learning.  Start with reading some good literature and more 'fun' learning.  I would recommend checking this site www.amblesideonline.org for some good suggestions.

Cara

Answer 3

I would definitely home school him at least until he gets to where he should be. There are 2 free online charter schools in AZ that will help you. Arizona Virtual Academy is the one I feel is the best there. They will give him an online placement test and then give him the curriculum that is on his level and allow him to work at his own pace to get where he needs to be. They specialize in this. The K12 Curriculum is great, and they will send you everything you need for him.

Many online charter schools are popping up all over. Many of them are now using k12 products. k12 schoolsare good for many reasons. Each student is given a placement test and then given individualized curriculum based on his or her individual needs. With the help of online charter schools today, homeschooling can be much easier than it used to be. They provide you with everything you need, a computer, a printer, books, supplies, and teachers that you can both email and call for help and assistance. This is free and there are no charges. Online schools are definitely becoming a way of the future for the children in generations to come.

Arizona Virtual Academy

Arizona Connections Academy