Primary Grades Pre-GED

Home educating parents often ask what to do in the primary grades, pre-GED. They ask about which curriculum products they should use in the primary grades and early high school years before the GED, to give their children a strong academic foundation and prepare them for the GED Tests as a Grade 12 credential, in the future.

Questions like the two below are common, so the post which follows is intended to provide some guidance to families with younger children, who intend to take the GED exams when they reach age 17. It ends with recommendations of specific curriculum products.

“My child is 11. From what age can we start working on GED or from what age can we start preparation? I just want to know how we are going to go about starting work on GED for our “matric”. Which curriculum or books should we consider to help us walk the right path please.”

“I feel a bit stuck with my eldest. He has turned 10 years and we are definitely also aiming for GED as an exit exam. I would like to ask for some advice in planning the years to come.”

What to do Before the GED in the Primary Grades

Here is Shirley’s answer:

One of the great advantages of the GED® is that there are no prescribed topics that you must study in order to achieve good scores on the tests. There is no prescribed curriculum that you must follow in the years before you take the official tests. The GED is quite different from traditional school exams, where very specific topics and content are prescribed.

For example, a few of the topics for the Cambridge history exam are:

• The Industrial Revolution in Britain, 1750–1850, 
• US–Soviet relations during the Cold War, 1950–91
• The End of minority rule in South Africa and Zimbabwe, 1948–94

The GED does not give such detailed specifics. Why not?

The GED tests SKILLS rather than memorised facts and prescribed content. It tests a range of skills, such as reading comprehension, critical thinking, analysis, interpretation and evaluation etc. This is vastly different from traditional exams, where you have to cram the night before to try to remember all the important information!

The broad content areas and the skills the GED tests are described for each subject here:
What’s on the GED Tests?

Mathematical Reasoning
Reasoning Through Language Arts
Social Studies
Science

The format of the tests is similar to a set of comprehension tests in most of the subjects. Candidates must read a text, a chart, graph, map or diagram and use the information provided to select the correct answer from a multi-choice list of possible answers. They might get questions on topics they have never studied, but if they can read, comprehend and think critically, they will be able to find the correct answer to the questions because they have developed the necessary SKILLS!

Freedom in the Primary Grades Pre-GED

Families choosing the GED® as a grade 12 alternative have more time and freedom to allow their children explore the things that delight or fascinate them, in the primary grades and early high school years. Then, at about age 15 or 16 (or roughly grade 9 or 10 level), they can enrol with Go Prep to develop and fine tune the required skills to ace the exams and achieve the GED credential.

The GED is really not difficult to pass, especially for home educated learners who have had a good education and enjoyed the privilege of individualised attention from their parents. You don’t have to stress about it. I find that it is students who have previously struggled in the school system, who suffer from low self-esteem and anxiety or children who have serious learning challenges, who take longer to prepare for the tests. Even these students generally cope well with the GED and they usually experience a great deal of healing of their self-confidence in the process.

Enjoy Carefree Years

You can relax and enjoy learning alongside your child, using whichever resources take your fancy. The primary grades are such a fun time and they should be almost carefree for both parents and children. Unfortunately, we parents are still so inexperienced and nervous at that stage, that we often spoil it for ourselves by worrying too much about things like:

• Am I doing enough?
• Am I doing it right?
• Am I going to mess up my child’s future educational options?
• Are my kids going to turn out ok? etc.

You won’t mess up your child’s future. Just carry on being diligent with whatever you choose. 

One caveat: 

Keep screens to a minimum in the primary years

We all spend way more time on screens than is healthy for us, both physically, mentally and relationally. Don’t be tempted to invest in a full-service online curriculum in the primary grades that requires your child to do most of their learning on a device. Also strictly limit any recreational activities they enjoy on screens.

Use physical products as much as possible in the early years – products where you can engage in learning together a lot of the time and in so-doing build your relationship with your child and your shared memories.

Below are my recommendations for the four subjects that the GED tests. In addition to these, be sure to add anything else that you have capacity for or that your child wants to pursue.

Pre-GED Recommended Curricula

2. Science

The GED® tests mainly SKILLS, rather than the knowledge of any specific curriculum or content. The GED® Science test covers three main categories:

1. Life Science (45%)
2. Physical Science (physics and chemistry, 35%)
3. Earth and Space Science (20%)

In the primary grades and early high school years, you can use multiple science programmes to expose your children to these areas of science. Here are my top picks:

Why do I recommend it (besides that I wrote it!)
This programme will boost your children’s reading comprehension and thinking skills, expand their vocabulary and language abilities, which are also essential for the GED, and teach them to think critically about the pros and cons of environmental issues. What’s more – you will have fun enjoying outdoor experiences in your local environment and do activities that promote real-life learning together. Screens can wait for another season – the Go Prep season!

Why do I recommend this series?
Jeannie’s love for science and nature pervades every page of the beautiful full-colour textbooks. It feels as if she is talking directly to you. Each book immerses you in its topic, building an in-depth knowledge and appreciation for the intricacies of creation in that field, which is preferable to teaching superficial trivial facts about a wide range of topics, which is what many other textbooks do. The student notebooks are optional. Most of my children didn’t use them – we just read the textbooks.

Again, any alternative reputable science programme that will develop your child’s knowledge and skills in this subject should be adequate.

3. Social Studies

Why do I recommend Footprints? (Full disclosure: I co-authored the series)
Researchers found that the brains of children who listen to stories are more agile and receptive to narrative. This suggests that they have a greater ability to process what they hear and at faster speeds than their non-read-to peers. In other words, reading aloud boosts brain function and academic performance. There is now so much evidence confirming this that social scientists now consider reading aloud as one of the most important indicators of a child’s prospects in life!

All of our Footprints programmes in both English and Afrikaans are designed to make reading aloud and rich learning a seamless process – we’ve sifted through hundreds of books, to give you the most engaging and delightful, as well as educationally-loaded stories we can find. Everything you need is at your fingertips, when you need it. You just open the books and read and in so doing, you boost your children’s language and other abilities to (probably) among the best in the world!

Most school textbooks and workbooks focus on trivial information, such as names, dates and details. They are often ‘dry’ and boring! Learning research shows that focusing on trivial facts
(a) is a waste of our learners’ limited attention,
(b) detracts away from the main points, and
(c) develops an unhealthy practice of encouraging learners to focus their attention on trivial details rather than concentrating on more important ideas and the intricacies of the bigger picture.
This is not the kind of learning that the GED tests. It tests critical thinking and skills like being able to analyse and evaluate information.

In contrast to trivial facts, stories help us appreciate the complexities of social life. Children get a deeper understanding of people’s intentions, motivations and the consequences of events through stories. They are able to empathise more deeply as they have experienced the world from the perspective of other characters. The Footprints programmes are designed specifically to teach children to consider opposing perspectives on history and current events. They aim to develop critical thinkers who are media-savvy citizens of the 21st century! Even though they focus on South Africa, they are ideal preparation for developing the SKILLS needed to score well on the GED tests! They are great preparation for adult life too!

3.2 Sonlight Curriculum
A good follow-on after the Footprints history programmes would be Sonlight’s Core F – Eastern Hemisphere Nations or Core G – World History or any other Sonlight Core you fancy. These are also wonderful literature based programmes to read aloud together. Just read the stories, you don’t even have to use the Instructor Guide! In the primary grades, Core D and E (or the combined D/E package) give a super overview of American History. We did not enjoy the high school American history Core 300 as much.
I recommend Sonlight for the same reasons as I recommend Footprints – reading aloud stories develops a multitude of vital skills.

Otherwise, read aloud whichever books you would like to with your children.

3.3 American History Products
3.3.1 For an overview of American History that is not tedious or heavy-going, try the paperback book for kids,  Don’t Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know about American History but Never Learned by Kenneth C. Davis. You can order it from online bookstores.

3.3.2 Here’s a child-friendly website too that focuses on civics and government, which is on the GED Social Studies test: Ben’s Guide to American Civics and Government

4. Reasoning Through Language Arts (RLA)

Good English and especially good reading comprehension skills are essential in order to do well on ALL the GED tests, not only the English exam. The Reasoning Through Language Arts test requires candidates to understand the deeper meaning of texts – things like inferences and suggestions…so again you can use reading aloud together and discussing what you read critically to develop reasoning and thinking skills.

For English, as with the other subjects, you can choose the materials that you prefer or try the recommendations which follow.

Mastering Language Arts involves the following four skills:

1. Listening and Speaking
2. Reading and Viewing
3. Writing and Presenting
4. Language Structures and Conventions

4.1 Footprints programmes

The first three list items above are covered by the Footprints, Voetspore and Nature Quest/Natuurskattejag programmes “across the curriculum” – listening to and reading literature, narrating, discussing, completing written assignments and presentations about the topics that are covered. In a Charlotte Mason-style education, these language skills are not pulled out as separate subjects, but instead are integrated into the learning of other topics and subjects, across the curriculum.

The Footprints programmes also cover Language Structures and Conventions by encouraging copywork and dictation. There is an optional Language Arts programme in English to go along with the Footprints – The Early Years programme.

Stories are also about problem-solving. Characters face all kinds of challenges and have to overcome them – antagonistic relationships, fears or enemies. These are good life lessons for our children. As you read, encourage your children to think critically about the story or text.

4.2 Developing Language Skills workbooks
In addition, you could use any Grammar programme you prefer. In our home, we used some inexpensive workbooks called Developing Language Skills from SA Homeschool Suppliers for grammar drills in the early years.

4.3 Structure and Style from Excellence in Writing in the USA
This was a very comprehensive writing and language programme that is suited for both the primary grades and offers higher levels for the high school years. 

4.4 Writing with Skill
Another product recommended by experienced home educators is the book, Writing with Skill by Susan Wise Bauer. This may be more suited for high school level.

There are many other excellent language programmes but look out for those created specifically for the home education context as they are usually more enjoyable and more suitable for home use!

Summary of Recommended Products

Although more than one product was listed in some categories above, to make it simple, here are my top picks for starting out:

1. Maths – Maths-U-See
2. Science – Footprints Nature Quest/Natuurskattejag
3. Social Studies – Footprints – The Early Years /Voetspore 1 – Die Vroeë Jare
4. English – Footprints Language Arts and/or Developing Language Skills workbooks

In closing, embrace the primary years as a time to give your children a broad, rich and generous education. Develop a love for reading, a love for exploring and a love for learning. Encourage them to develop the self-discipline to do the not-so-fun activities, such as maths and writing drills and train their characters to be diligent, respectful and kind. In adult life, good character, traits such as perseverance, good communication, good relational skills and motivation are often greater predictors of success than academic scores. Focus on what is really important and don’t sweat the ‘small stuff’.