Robinson Self-Teaching Curriculum
Homeschool Curriculum Excellence
Developed by a scientist and his six children
Want to hear something amazing?
The Robinson Curriculum (online or physical product) is all you need to give your children a superior faith-based, politically conservative education. The Robinson Curriculum offers a program of self study that requires almost no teacher interaction – it saves hours of teaching time each day while giving your kids an opportunity to develop superb life-long study habits.
Too good to be true? Not at all!
Perfect for your family? You’ll have to take a look-see!
Robinson Curriculum Options:
- You can choose the Robinson Curriculum physical product – 22 CDs and a set of Saxon math books
- You can choose RC Online
- You can choose BOTH, as the Robinson Curriculum now comes with 2 years of instant access to RC Online. There’s no setup and nothing to install – it works on any computer, any device, any operating system, any time, any where (So, it’s eazy peazy). AND it’s just $36/yr for existing customers after 2 years (That’s less than 10 cents a day). WOWZA!
Here’s what I like about the Robinson Curriculum –
- Robinson Curriculum is uniquely self-teaching (self-taught but with parental discipline).
- The self-teaching methodology turns kids into independent learners.
- As students mature, they become even more independent in their learning, and as a result, their homeschool parent’s job gets easier and easier.
- Students are able to advance at their own rate through the learning of skills and facts – whether or not their parents have the knowledge.
- The 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.
- Phonics is essential.
- You can use this curriculum to supplement your children’s current schooling or as a stand-alone education using the included self-study methods (I see this more as stand-alone option).
- Purchase options! I’m a fan of options.
- The curriculum is super affordable.
- The company has a 60-second zero-frustration support policy – GREAT!
- Same-day delivery (for their online product)!
- There’s a 5,000 strong support group, that you can always turn to.
- And I really like this YouTube playlist. I suggest you watch it.
- There’s a lot of parental guidance. I really appreciate this.
- Here’s a list of just some of the books your kids will read
More about what’s included in RC Online and why I like it –
- My kids love everything online. And it certainly is convenient.
- My older teens added RC Online to all of our phones – just like an app. They like the flexibility this offers. My youngers don’t have phones yet (part of the Robinson ideology, but are looking forward to having this flexibility in the future).
- The RC Online community. I like how parents add to the curriculum by making parent-made tests for select books. I haven’t done this yet – but I might. 🙂
- There’s a great vocabulary quiz program. My olders are studying for the SAT – so this really comes in handy.
- In addition to existing resources, it seems like new courses/resources are always being added. RC Online just added a college level course on Christian Education for RC parents who want to take their knowledge and understanding as homeschoolers to the next level. Also, a new book by a RC Online graduate was recently added – The Sleeping Princess of Nulland. My kids think this is cool. In fact, one of my youngers is now writing a chapter a day for her independent writing requirement. She wants to write a book too! Gotta love that. LOTS of resources are being added. This is not a static curriculum.
- Bonus materials! Gotta love Bonus materials like the Read, Write, Play Music course by Ian Hodge, or Bonus Science materials.
- Still want to use physical products with RC Online? You can! (I admit it – I like materials I can touch. My kids might want everything online, but I’m a fan of physical materials.)
- You can make color covers for many on the RC books. Sound silly? Not at all. My kids are very visual. They’ll grab an attractive covered book over a dull-looking book any day. Bet yours will too!
- And really, if I were writing this a month from now, I’d have even more things to add – due to the dynamic aspect of this curriculum. You can check out this link, for info on new and updated RC Online options.
Per Dr. Robinson, steps to an optimum self-teaching homeschool include:
a) Remove your child or children from their group school – public or private. The principal miracle of the modern American educational system is that it can turn out citizens who are more poorly educated than they would have been if they had worked individually with no school whatever.
b) Set aside a room in your home with a large desk for each child.
c) Remove all television sets from your home.
d) Do not allow screen time until 16 years old.
e) Remove all sugar and honey from the children’s diet. At all meals, provide them with an unlimited amount of the most nutritious food that you can prepare. Avoid, if possible, the boxed and canned substitutes for good nutrition that are widely available. Since many of these substitutes contain sugar, they will not be on your list anyway.
f) Purchase a complete set of the Saxon math series of texts and answers.
g) Obtain the best library you can of literature, history, and introductory science books.
h) Give the children a large breakfast, and then consign them to five hours of work as described above – six days per week at least ten months per year.
i) If possible, do your own work in or near the room in which the children are working. Don’t talk to them. Just set an example by working hard yourself. This is probably especially important if there are only one or two children in the home.
j) After their five hours is complete (no breaks except for the bathroom), go on about your personal lives.
k) Formal curriculum consists of “reading, writing, and arithmetic” and nothing more. The brain is never asleep. It continues to work and think 24 hours per day. Each additional subject that is added to the curriculum creates a demand upon the brain’s 24 hours of time. If an unnecessary subject is added, it wastes not only the curricular school time, but also a fraction of the extracurricular time. It is therefore important to be very careful not to add unnecessary subjects.
l) When the oldest child is 15, obtain a set of SAT exams at your local bookstore and have the child take one of these tests every three or four months. This introduces test taking. (The RC Curriculum includes no examinations or tests.)
m) When each child finishes calculus, continue on with a college level physics text and a college level chemistry text on the same schedule as with the Saxon math. Be sure that these texts include lots of problems and an answer book for self-grading.
n) Children who have not yet learned to read require a brief period of special instruction. They must be taught to read by means of phonics. There are several good phonics programs. These consist of various procedures for teaching the sounds of letters and letter combinations and for gradually combining these into words and sentences.
There’s a Course of Study?
Yes there is! The “Course of Study,” is a book-length document included on the online course of study and on the 22 CD-ROMs, which explains every aspect of using this curriculum in extensive detail – and includes 12 sections in all:
- Overview
- Introduction
- Self-Teaching
- Study Environment
- Science and Mathematics
- Vocabulary
- Examinations
- Oral Learning
- Books
- Books to Buy
- Ordering and Registration
- Newsletter Vol. lll, No.12
This is essential reading … and re-reading. It takes a concentrated effort to get on a different track for our children and deprogram ourselves from an institutional model of dependent learning.
And ALL the curriculum is online and on the 22 CD-ROMs?
Yes, it is. The curriculum includes:
- Books: More than 250 very high quality books. Academic knowledge is in books – especially books that are carefully chosen. See ‘Best Books‘ below.
- Encyclopedia: The complete 30,000 page 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica with special reading software for its use. The 1911 Britannica is generally acknowledged to have been the greatest encyclopedia ever written. For the 98% of recorded history that occurred before 1911, this is the most definitive source.
- Dictionary: The complete 400,000 word 1913 Webster’s Dictionary with special software for its use. This dictionary contains five times as many words as the original Webster’s dictionary and yet preserves the literary beauty of the original work.
- Science Texts: All of the required science books and answer keys. (Current Caltech 101 Science texts.) Also included are advanced science texts for use by students with unusual ability.
- Fast Software: Software that operates very quickly in both the on-screen viewing and printing modes. The on-screen viewing software is the best of its type available anywhere. High quality “scale-to-gray” gives your screen a 300% increase in virtual resolution to look as much like paper as possible. Flying magnifier makes details easy to check out. Maximize mode lets you take full advantage of your screen real estate to display pages by temporarily removing all but the essential page navigation controls. Minimum computer requirements are a Windows OS – Windows XP or greater – running on a PC or a Mac. Actually, you do not need to own a computer at all – you just need access to a computer with which you can print materials from the CDs as needed.
- Special:A large number of woodcut illustrations with special emphasis on early American history and geography. Especially noteworthy are over 1,000 detailed woodcuts of civil war events that were produced before 1890 from sketches by individuals, including many famous figures, who actually participated in the war. Study of this collection of illustrations and the accompanying narrative gives the student a very clear understanding and visualization of the events. Also of special interest is a very beautifully illustrated travelogue of the United States published in 1872. This provides an unusual opportunity to see our country – both its cities and its wilderness – in the era before it was extensively populated and developed. Also included is the original King James Version of the Bible – the 1st Issue of the 1st Edition in 1611 (The Great He Bible). This volume is noteworthy for its beauty and historical significance. It is the foundational book of the Curriculum.
- Examinations: Over 50 SAT style examinations with answer keys. The advanced tests being in essay form. Tests follow specific books. Also included are bonus exams for the Chronicles of Narnia series by CS Lewis.
- Language Skills: Penmanship Practice pages by Bethany Robinson, extensive Grammar Text written especially for the Robinson Curriculum by Jane Orient with Primer, Main Course and Reading Passages, Answers to the Grammar Exercises and Basic American English Spelling.
- Phonics & Arithmetic: Printable flash cards for phonics and arithmetic (all that is required before Saxon 54). These flash cards are easily made with any computer printer.
- Vocabulary: This 6,400 word vocabulary program assures that the student’s reading produces an active vocabulary (words used spontaneously in writing and speaking) rather than a passive vocabulary (words understood, but not actively used).
- Vocabulary list in flashcard format with word-definition and word-sentence for each of the 150 books in the core read order. On average, about 2/3 of the words and sentences in each list are actually drawn from the books themselves. The other third are drawn from previous SAT exams.
- The flash cards also appear in a second iteration with book numbers printed on each card and both Sentence and Definition appearing on the same card. The format is more traditional.
- The curriculum also includes a complete set of printable Vocabulary Exercises. Each book has its own set, or sets of exercises. Each of the words for that book are represented in every exercise and these include: Vocabulary List – a list of the words and definitions – Word Find – containing the vocabulary words as clues – Crossword Puzzle – with clues to words across and down – Word Find – containing definitions as clues – Matching Game – matching words with definitions
- For the older student there is an on-screen vocabulary exerciser that tracks the student’s progress and adjusts his lessons to emphasize those words with which he is having the most difficulty.
- Robinson Curriculum Product Review
