We do not follow a set curriculum at WonderWild, and academic standards are not our primary focus. However, we use a custom standards outline to help plan activities and pay attention to each learner’s development.
Our WonderWild standards outline is based on Tennessee Academic Standards. In order to ensure a comprehensive, age-appropriate understanding of best teaching practices, our outline is further refined using other quality sources, including:
- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics process standards
- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics
- Next Generation Science and Engineering Standards
- National Council for the Social Studies framework
Not all academic standards and topics fit well into our program. Some are better suited to full-time programs. Some cover topics that our parents would rather approach from their own perspectives at home. Some topics are better suited to a calmer, more studious environment. Some don’t lend themselves well to a play-based program. Additionally, some items listed in academic standards are so well included in our program that there’s little need to put them on a list.
After all the additions and subtractions, we arrive at our custom outline, and that still doesn’t exactly describe our program. As homeschoolers, our learners are more likely to follow non-traditional learning paths. They may avoid a subject for a long time and then suddenly make big leaps forward. A child may be at a 2nd grade level in one subject and a kindergarten level in another. This is especially true for our neurodivergent learners. At WonderWild we never see learners as “ahead” or “behind”. Each young person is on their own path, and we’re here to support them along the way.
Every single moment at WonderWild is an experience tailored by the learners themselves. Not every learner at WonderWild will engage with every activity we offer. Young people who only attend one day a week, for example, will encounter fewer options. Learners who prefer solo work will engage with different options than those who prefer group projects.
And in the end, as a self-directed environment, whether or not to join in is always up to each individual learner.
All that said, if you want a peek behind-the-scenes, here is the WonderWild academic standards outline for Kindergarten, 1st (italics), and 2nd grade (bold). This document is a work in progress. Some sections are filled in with more detail than others. We’ll continue to develop this outline over time.
Language Arts
Reading Foundations
- Listen to and engage with texts read aloud
- Recognize, name, say common sound for all uppercase and lowercase letters
- Recognize name in print, Read some common words by sight
- Match and produce words that rhyme
- Hear and say separate syllables in words
- Dictate stories or events to be written down
- Know sounds for two letters that represent one sound
- Read regularly spelled one-syllable words (words that follow general spelling rules)
- Know that a final e teams up with a common vowel to make long vowel sounds
- Identify number and separation of syllables, break words into syllables to help with reading
- Recognize and read many grade-appropriate words with regular and irregular spellings
- Use knowledge of prefixes, suffixes, and roots to decode words
- Read grade-level texts with accuracy, fluency, and sufficient understanding
Reading Comprehension
- Identify title, cover, author, illustrator of books
- Identify events, characters, and settings in a story
- Know and use text features (table of contents, index, glossary, headings)
- Compare/contrast experiences, settings, characters, within a story or between stories
- Understand informational text, describe main ideas, arguments/points
- Understand texts that tell stories; retell stories, describing characters, setting, relating central ideas and key details
- Identify differences in points of view of characters
- Explain how visual images and graphics contribute to and clarify a text
- Compare and contrast different versions of the same story or texts on the same topic
- Take part in shared research and writing projects, gathering information for a specific purpose
- Use texts to find information and answer questions following a step-by-step inquiry process
Writing
- Print own first and last name, write many uppercase and lowercase letters
- Use pictures, designs, scribbles, letters to represent events/objects/ideas/info/stories
- Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a story or event
- Write all upper and lowercase letters, Write complete simple sentences
- Use correct spelling for grade-level words, spell new words phonetically
- Write opinion, informative, or explanatory pieces that state a topic or purpose, supply relevant facts and reasons, and give a conclusion
- Write stories that include details, put events in order, and provide a conclusion
Language & Grammar
- Use clues within a sentence to decide the meaning of a word or phrase
- With help, show understanding of figurative language
- Sort words into categories
- Distinguish shades of meaning among words with similar meanings
- Show understanding of features of sentences and paragraphs
- Use and identify common, proper, and possessive nouns
- Correctly use collective nouns, regular and irregular plural nouns, reflexive pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs
- Produce complete simple and compound sentences
- Use of beginning dictionaries and other reference materials
- Capitalize names, including holidays, product names, and geographic names
- Use end punctuation, commas, and apostrophes
Communication & Expression
- Take turns listening and speaking in conversation with peers
- Ask and answer questions
- Share ideas with a group
- Collaborative communication skills – negotiating, explaining, persuading
- Adapting communication — adjusting language for different audiences or situations
- Participate in collaborative dramatic and imaginative play, using language to develop shared stories, characters, and scenarios.
Social Studies
History
- Tell the difference between past, present, and future events, put events in sequential order
- Distinguish past, present, and future, create simple timelines (own life, recent events, etc)
- Learn key US historical figures
- Compare lives of people in communities past and present, past and present technologies
- Sequencing events and using time period designations (decades, centuries, millennia)
- Major inventions and their effects
- Effects of science and technology through history
Geography
- Physical characteristics of places (landforms, bodies of water, natural resources, etc.)
- Discuss ways that human characteristics of a place (shelter, clothing, food, activities, etc.) are connected to features of geographic location
- Locate community, state, and country on a map or globe
- Locate places using the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, west)
- Using and interpreting maps/globes
- Labeling continents, oceans, North and South Poles, equator, and prime meridian
- Location of countries and major features in home continent (Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America, Oceania/Pacific Islands)
- Relationships between physical geography and people’s lives and activities
- Natural resources of a place, including human resources
Mathematics
Number Sense
- Name written numbers to 100, write to 20, count to 100 by 1s/10s
- Count objects from 0 to 20, name the set with a written numeral
- Understand 11-19 as 10 ones + additional ones, compose/ decompose into 10 ones & additional ones w/ drawings/objects
- Start with any number less than 120 and count forward, skip count by twos, fives, and tens
- Write numbers to 1,000
- Read, write, count, and compare numbers up to 1,000
- Identify a number as odd or even
- Understand and explain place value through one thousand
- Skip count by twos, fives, tens, and hundreds within 1,000
- Understand the concept of zero
- Write numbers up to four digits in expanded form to show place value (Example: 1,234 = 1,000 + 200 + 30 + 4)
- Compare numbers using >, <, =.
Measurement & Data
- Compare objects by shape/size/length/weight/capacity, longer/shorter/bigger/smaller
- Organize/represent/interpret data w/ up to three categories on tables and simple graphs
- Measurable attributes (height, weight, etc), put 3-10 objects in size order by some attribute
- Measure and estimate lengths using inches, feet, centimeters, and meters
- Represent sums and differences within 100 on a number line
- Explain relationships between seconds, minutes, hours, and days
- Represent data on a bar graph or circle graph
- Analyze and solve problems with data on line plots, picture graphs, or bar graphs
Geometry & Spatial Relationships
- Describe relationship positions of things (in/on/under, inside/outside, between, beside)
- Identify/describe main shapes, identify as 2/3-dimen., build/draw/combine to create picture/design
- Recognize, extend, and create simple repeating patterns
- Compare and describe attributes of shapes, build/draw 2/3D shapes with specific attributes
- Divide circles/rectangles into two/four equal shares, using the words half/quarter
- Recognize and draw shapes with specified attributes
- Identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, cubes
- Partition a rectangle into rows and columns of same size squares
- Describe a whole as two halves, three thirds, or four fourths
Operations & Algebraic Thinking
- Represent addition/subtraction w/ fingers/objects/claps/drawings/explanations
- Use objects/drawings to solve add/subtract problems within 10 (inc word problems)
- Use place value and properties to add and subtract within 100
- Write/solve problems involving addition and subtraction
- Create and work with addition and subtraction equations, find missing numbers in equations
- Use objects/drawings/equations to add/subtract within 100
- Mentally add and subtract within 20 fluently
- Work with equal groups of objects to build foundations for multiplication
- Mentally add 10 to or subtract 10 from any given number 100-1,000
- Add and subtract within 1,000 using models, drawings, or place value strategies
- Estimate sums and differences with multiples of 10 or 100
Science
Earth & Space Science
- Characteristics of soil, rocks, water, and air
- Weather and seasons, sunlight, precipitation, temperature
- Patterns of motion of the sun, moon, and stars
- Roles, descriptions, and locations of water (including ice) on Earth’s surface
- Physical properties and classifications of rocks
Life Science
- Living vs non-living things, basic needs of living things
- Plants/animals and their habitats
- Simple life cycles (butterfly or frog)
- External animal parts and their functions
- Concept of plant/animal offspring, inherit traits from parents
- Animal features and traits that help growth and survival
- Basic structures and functions of the human body
- Biodiversity of living things in any region
- Plant needs, parts, functions, and structures
- Plant growth, reproduction, and pollination
- Plant life cycles, life spans, responses to environment
Physical Science
- Effects of common forces (pushing/pulling, kicking, wind, gravity, magnetism, etc.)
- Observe ways that substances mix with a liquid; define mixture
- Observe and describe objects that float or sink
- Understand that sound can make matter vibrate and vibrating matter can make sound
- Identify and discuss different forms of energy, such as light, heat, and sound
- Objects can be seen when light illuminates them, explore translucent/transparent/opaque
- Explore the ways that mirrors reflect light beams and images
- States of matter (solids, liquids, and gases)
- Physical properties (size, texture, shape, weight, color, freezing/melting, sinking/floating)
- Predict and identify changes in materials caused by heating and cooling
- Forces: push and pull, relationship between force and motion
- Characteristics and effects of gravity
Arts
- Listen to a variety of music; sing age-appropriate songs
- Learn and create simple dances and movement patterns
- Move to different musical beats and rhythms
- Improvise music with instruments
- Dramatize events, stories, or ideas using language and objects
- Take part in experiences in script writing, making props and sets, and acting
- Observe patterns in nature and works of art
- Create original works of art in various media and dimensions
- Express observations, ideas, or feelings through music, drama, or visual art
- Demonstrate appropriate audience skills for live performances
Scientific Inquiry
- Ask questions based on observations to find more information about the natural and/or designed world.
- Use appropriate tools (magnifying glass, rain gauge, basic balance scale) to make observations
- Investigate real-world problems or challenges using multiple sources of information
- Collect, record, and share observations.
- Communicate solutions and scientific explanations to others
- Use writing, images, or modeling to share information
Engineering & Design
- Brainstorm ideas & solutions
- Understand engineering as creating/building something new, a structure, computer code, an organization system, etc.
- Understand engineering uses science and math as tools
- Define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
- Practice defining a problem before beginning to design a solution
- Experiment with building structures
- Explore how to make engineered building designs stronger
- Explore how length and height affect stability
- Analyze data from tests to see if a solution worked as intended
- Use models (i.e., diagram, drawing, physical replica, diorama, dramatization, or storyboard) that represent concrete events or design solutions
- Recognize that to solve a problem, one may need to break the problem into parts, address each part, and then bring the parts back together
- Explore how to apply ratios to engineered designs
- Experiment with designing and building simple machinery
- Investigate how you can increase efficiency, speed, load, or torque through engineering principles
- Compare and contrast different solutions using evidence to point out strengths and weaknesses of the design.
- Revising designs based on testing and evaluating
Digital Literacy
- Follow directions to operate software programs
- Know and follow age-appropriate practices for safe use of technology
- Show appropriate care and maintenance for digital equipment
- Follow a plan to locate, process, and use information digitally
- Summarize and evaluate information gained digitally
- Beginning keyboard skills
- Basic skills of opening, closing, saving, and storing files and programs
- Create and publish works
- Use digital tools to pursue inquiry projects