I, Kid (part IV)

My ideal curriculum:

Grade 1:

  • Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, simple division.
  • English.
  • Latin.
  • Reading.
  • Spelling.
  • Art.
  • P.E.

Grade 2:

  • Large scale addition, Subtraction with Borrowing, Multiplication, Long Division.
  • Latin.
  • English.
  • Choice of Japanese or Chinese.
  • Spelling, Grammar.
  • Drawing.
  • P.E. (swimming)

Grade 3:

  • Mathematic Theory
  • Reading.
  • Japanese or Chinese.
  • Choice of French or Spanish.
  • Spelling, Grammar.
  • Painting.
  • P.E.

Grade 4:

  • +-x/ of fractions and decimals
  • Reading.
  • Japanese or Chinese.
  • French or Spanish.
  • Spelling, Grammar, Writing.
  • Painting (various media)
  • World History.

Grade 5:

  • Pre-Algebra.
  • Japanese or Chinese.
  • French or Spanish.
  • Prose and Poetic Writing.
  • Art appreciation/history.
  • World History.

Grade 6:

  • Algebra.
  • Japanese or Chinese.
  • French or Spanish.
  • Biology.
  • Musical Instrument or Voice.
  • Writing.
  • World History.
  • Art or Drama.
  • Sex Ed.

Grade 7:

  • Algebra II
  • Japanese or Chinese.
  • French or Spanish.
  • Musical Instrument or Voice.
  • Biology or Physics or Chemistry or Geology.
  • Ancient History.
  • Essay Writing.
  • Opt Art or Drama.
  • P.E.

Grade 8:

  • Geometry.
  • Japanese or Chinese.
  • French or Spanish.
  • Geography.
  • Biology or Physics or Chemistry or Geology.
  • Musical Instrument or Voice.
  • Research Writing.
  • Opt. Art or Drama.
  • P.E.

Grades 9-12 (required):

  • Advanced Math (2 years, one in grades 11 or 12)
  • English (4 years)
  • Languages (min. of 2)
  • Dance (one year. Trust me on this: at some point, everyone wishes they could dance)
  • National History.
  • Economics/Law/Media/Current Affairs
  • World Religions/Anthropology.
  • Biology.
  • Physics.
  • Literature.
  • European History.
  • Asian History.
  • World History.
  • Philosophy or Debate.
  • Ethics.
  • Comm. Skills or Drama or Public Speaking or Debate.
  • Health or Finance or Home Ec. or Mechanics.
  • P.E.

Grades 9-12 (electives):

  • Latin or Greek or German or Italian or Portuguese.
  • Alternate Sports or Weight Training.
  • Chemistry, Anatomy, Astronomy, Geology, etc.
  • All AP Classes
  • Music, Drama, Art, etc.
  • Psychology, Sociology, etc.
  • Study Abroad (3.5 GPA and higher).

No classes shall employ ‘busy work.’ All teaching shall lean towards practice over theory and constant refreshers will be employed until the comprehensive final of each year. Graduation shall require satisfactory completion of all coursework and a satisfactory mark on the statewide examination.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

(and if I hear one more person say that I’m overestimating children, I will to scream)

My ideal curriculum: Grade 1: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, simple division. English. Latin. Reading. Spelling. Art. P.E. Grade 2: Large scale addition, Subtraction with Borrowing, Multiplication, Long Division. Latin. English. Choice of Japanese or Chinese. Spelling, Grammar. Drawing. P.E. (swimming) Grade 3: Mathematic Theory Reading. Japanese or Chinese. Choice of French or Spanish. Spelling, Grammar. Painting.…

14 Comments

  1. You are overestimating children and you are putting too much emphasis on language. We learned better than to do that from the cold war. And don’t tell me you disagree with Kennedy, I loved guy.

  2. Bah. Ever seen Stand & Deliver? Kids will rise to meet their expectations.

    As to the language. Just think: I’m completely fluent in two languages and know chunks of three more and I still run into people that make me feel completely inadequate by being fluent in four or five languages. There really isn’t sufficient emphasis in languages (especially asiatic languages) right now. Especially in the United States.

  3. The one thing I challenge, in terms of practicality, is the math. It’s unnecessary for middle schoolers to be diving into algebraic theory, and high schoolers into calculus, because so few of them will use those ideas later in life. Much of that information should be reserved for college, when students are pursuing a career that will require them to know the Pythagorean Theorem, et cetera.

    Oh yeah, and dance. What’s with that?

  4. I love math. It’s essential. I don’t think that high school classes should have a standardized curriculum whatsoever, because, by that time, student should be allowed to branch in to the fields which they wish to pursue.

  5. Hmm, lemme clarify that. I think they should still have to take a few classes in field outside of only what they want to study, so not really “whatsoever,” but I still think they should have the main say in what they take in high school.

  6. I would have loved a curriculum like this! Kids will rise to expectations, although there might be a few problems with the amount of language to be studied towards the end. People who lack linguistic aptitude would probably struggle with at least 2 languages on top of all their other courses.
    Other than that, I love it!

  7. You are overestimating teachers. Many teachers teaching elementary school cannot do higher education material and those who can are either teaching in high school or are in a field where they get paid better. After all, living off a teacher salary once you have a family isn’t all that grand. Also, you need more sciences in the early grades.

  8. I have a problem with you lumping world religion and anthropology together. While ethnology (or cultural anthropology…which is just one of five subfields of anthropology) may include relgion, it is unfair to group the whole of anthropology with it. Kind of like putting animals and fur together. Fur is just one of the characteristics that an animal can possess but my no means defines the word animal or is present on every animal.

  9. Preschool would be important to the success of this ambitious curriculum. I wonder why the emphasis on a dead language? If you are using it as a foundation language, I must point out what a wise person once told me after my three years of Latin. “If you had spent those three years learning German or Spanish or Italian, you would have been bilingual by now and still had most of the grammatical lessons you have learned in Latin.” On the other hand, I regret not learning Greek.