b - State requirements
bas
Each state has different requirements for homeschooling, so just what a parent needs to do will vary. No one using Enki in the home or classroom has had difficulty meeting these requirements. We recommend looking at the curriculum and skills charts on the web site to get an overview of the grade level work. The progression in our curriculum is very thoroughly laid out so it should not be difficult to keep any necessary records.
We do work on a somewhat different timetable than the public schools - a developmental one. As a result, there are areas in which Enki children are generally ahead of public school children (math), and areas where they are generally behind in the early years (decoding).
In Grade One we expose the child to all the avenues to become a successful reader, but we do not push any of them. As is true in any approach (public, private, accelerated, slow) about 1/3 of the children will read very well in Grade One, about 1/3 will be starting but stumbling along, and about 1/3 will not have a clue. What is different for us is that we do not push or shame those who are not ready - their day will come. It is important to realize that while the accelerated programs can push the children to decode, they cannot actually push them to “read.” Reading is a bringing together of decoding, sight words, meaning, rhythm and intonation into a pleasurable and meaningful whole. This is often undermined by the pushing of phonics skills.
There are children for whom delayed reading is a signal of a learning problem - and that we address immediately (see special needs questions). But the simple fact of reading later than others does not tell us much.
Homeschoolers can often opt out of state testing, and we would recommend that, until Grade Six, you do so if you have the choice. If the child has to take the tests, then make it a game and expect the child to do rather poorly until Grade Six, because the tests have no meaning until then.
When the children enter pre-adolescence, they are developmentally focused on seeing themselves in relation to others (developing an identity). This is a time when testing can have positive meaning - and they should be able to take the state tests and do very well at this point.