What Does My Schooler Need to Know?

As a teacher, I loved Back to School night. I got to meet the parents, tell them what fun things we will learn in all curricular subjects, talk about homework and how important it is, school rules, class rules, and the questions.

The questions.

Oh, you loving parents have so many of them, all of which are equally important.
My favorite question was always, "what do I have to know about the subjects my child is learning? I like to help with homework but I'm not good with math, that's my husband's strong point." I'd laugh and all the others in the room would laugh too.

My favorite book recommendation (I have many of them) is The Core Knowledge Series. It's a series of books for parents to read depending on your child's grade. If your child is in Kindergarten, for example, you would want to purchase "What your Kindergartner Needs to Know." The series goes from preschool through 6th grade and has information that you need to know about your child's grade level in all curricular subjects. Here is the link to the Core Knowledge site and a link to the What Your __ Needs to Know page. Of course on Amazon you can get these books for cheaper, but check out their site first. They have many elementary education lesson plans, activities, and resources.