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Home School Program

About Pearl Academy Home School Program

Home School Robinson Curriculum 

Pearl Academy Home School Program is proud to use the Robinson Curriculum.

Each person needs to distinguish Propaganda from Truth.

By Dr. Arthur Robinson

  It is essential that each home-school (Program) provide a good foundation in science. Although most children will not become scientists or engineers, science and technology play such an important part in the modern world that adults who cannot think logically and effectively about these subjects are at a significant disadvantage.

  Each person needs to be able to distinguish propaganda from truth, logic and reason from irrationality, and wisdom from foolishness in order to be an effective citizen and to avoid being misled by those who would exploit his ignorance to his own disadvantage and that of his family and others for whom he may be responsible.  Pearl Academy Home School Program is dedicated to helping each of our students and parents discover homeschooling.

Our Recommended Curriculum for Home schooling

  About Robinson Curriculum and Pearl Academy Home School Program

  This is how Dr. Robinson describes their self-teaching home school curriculum. It contains six sections (22 CD-ROMs): course of study, books, examinations, encyclopedia, dictionary, and vocabulary. They include everything required for a Robinson curriculum self-teaching home school for beginning students through students 18 years of age, except for Saxon Math books.

Pearl Academy Course of Study

  The Course of Study section gives the description of procedures for the teaching of all subjects.

Reading

  Our Curriculum Reading section contains more than 75,000 pages of image files that allow you to print exact replicas of the books we use for Science, Literature, History, Economics, and General Education. You may print any book you need from the CD-ROMs. The books are to be read in a specific order as designated by the “read order” which begins with book number one for the student who is just learning to read by phonics and extends through the higher numbered books for students up to the age of 18 years.

Books

  The Books are arranged in categories:

  Our first group is to be read in order as the student advances.

  The second group contains science books to be used as specified in the “science and mathematics” section of the Course of Study.

  Our third section contains supplementary reading books to be read by the student as recreational reading to strengthen reading skills. There are also some penmanship lessons.

  The fourth group includes grammar and spelling books and an extensive set of vocabulary exercises that are to be used in accordance with instructions in the “vocabulary” section of the Course of Study.

Examinations

  An Examination section contains 49 vocabulary, reading comprehension, and essay examinations for many, but not all, of the suggested books. Most of these examinations are patterned after the SAT college-entrance examinations, but each is restricted to the text and words from a specific book. After the book is read, the student should take the examination for that book.

Encyclopedia

  There is an “Encyclopedia” section that contains the complete 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. This is generally acknowledged to be the greatest and most scholarly encyclopedia ever written. The vocabulary, sentence structure, and depth of knowledge available in these volumes is unsurpassed except, of course, for world events during that two percent of recorded history that has occurred since 1911. This Encyclopedia is for use by older students. It can be accessed conveniently on the computer screen.  

Dictionary

  Our Curriculum “Dictionary” section contains the complete 1913 Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language. The 1913 edition, based upon the 1890 and 1900 editions, was markedly expanded. It contains 400,000 words. We have chosen to use the 1913 edition because it preserves the remarkable beauty and erudition of the earlier editions and, simultaneously, includes over five times as much information as the original 1828. It can be accessed easily on the computer screen and any or all the pages may be printed.

  The “vocabulary” section contains sentence and definition flash cards for more than 6,400 vocabulary words that can be printed and can also be studied interactively on the computer screen. These are keyed to the individual books and are an aid in the development of a rich active vocabulary. Also included in this section are sets of printable flash cards for arithmetic and for phonics, which are used in the first year of instruction.

  This curriculum is unique in several ways. Most importantly, it emphasizes self-learning procedures that allow the student to study with only a very small amount of teacher interaction. This relieves burdens on parents, allows home schooling in a greater number of homes, and produces students with higher academic abilities.

  Also, this curriculum permits the students to attain a far higher level of academic achievement than is available in most public school, private school, and home school programs. There has been a severe degradation in the academic standards of schools in the United States during the past two generations. When students are, however, taught to self-learn with good study habits and environment and are provided with books and other materials of very high quality, their academic achievements are markedly improved.

  We hope that you will find these methods and materials as useful in your home school as they are in ours.

The Robinson Family

Pearl Academy Home School Program Math

Mathematics is a key element in early education. Not only is mathematics the language of science, mathematics also teaches mental discipline and rigorous rational reasoning.

 

The Robinson Curriculum uses Saxon math books and a unique study method that markedly enhances their effectiveness and the student’s progress.

Pearl Academy Home School Program uses nine Saxon math books – starting with Saxon 54 and extending through Saxon Calculus.  Each student usually finishes these books by age 14 to 16, so about one book per year is needed, depending on the student’s individual rate of progress. (Ed. To know where to start older children, you can click here to find the free Saxon Math placement exams or contact Pearl Academy director)

The curriculum is not divided by “grade” levels.

The Pearl Academy Program’s Saxon Math curriculum is not divided by “grade” levels. Each student simply moves up a seamless road of knowledge at whatever rate of progress his abilities and study habits permit. We omit grade levels because they have become a means by which student achievement is normed to public school academic levels. These schools have, however, fallen very far behind the academic levels that were common even in the public schools of earlier generations. Children should not be deprived of the chance for a superb education by subjecting them to the standards of public schools.  Pearl Academy believes our students will excel beyond our parent’s dreams.