Homeschool Fifth Grade Curriculum Guidelines & Benchmarks for Math, Science, Social Studies and Language Arts

Take these guidelines one subject at a time and evaluate your child’s progress. If your child is excelling, feel free to move ahead. If your child is having difficulty in one or two areas, you can contact a tutor or work on those areas during summer school. If your child is having more than a normal share of trouble, he or she may not be ready for sixth grade. You might need to consider repeating fifth grade, either in full, or just in the core subjects your child is struggling with.

Math

1. Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide any type of number. This includes percentages, decimals, and fractions.
2. Ability to convert fractions to decimals and percentages.
3. Master a number line with positive and negative numbers on it.
4. Master greater than, less than, and equal to with whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percentages.
5. Understand acute, obtuse, and right angles and triangles.
6. Understand parallel, perpendicular lines, and intersecting lines.
7. Understand how to measure a perimeter.
8. Understand how to measure an area.
9. Recognize patterns and be able to solve problems with patterns in them.
10. Ability to collect data, create a chart with the data, and analyze the data.
11. Ability to answer word problems with probability in them.
12. Ability to come to a conclusion for problems that have multiple steps.
13. Ability to use a calculator to check your work.
14. Ability to estimate.
15. Ability to measure liquids as well as surfaces.

Language Arts

1. Ability to read books, form an opinion on them, and write up a summary about what was read.
2. Ability to discuss books with others of the same age.
3. Ability to relate stories to your own life.
4. Ability to read 5th grade readers fluently.
5. Ability to read with emphasis.
6. Understand referencing.
7. Ability to write your own story with a setting, plot, and a conclusion.
8. Ability to write a rough draft, edit the rough draft, and produce a final paper.
9. Ability to research facts and include them in your papers.
10. Ability to write a how to article.
11. Understand how to review and remove information that is not needed in a paper.
12. Ability to take a topic and prepare an oral report on it.
13. Ability to add more interesting adjectives and adverbs to make a story better.
14. Understand how to diagram simple sentences.
15. Learn 20 new spelling words per week.
16. Learn 20 new vocabulary words per week.

Science

1. Ability to conduct a scientific experiment.
2. Ability to conduct an observation.
3. Ability to record all 5 senses to aid in an experiment or observation.
4. Ability to use a classification system or make your own.
5. Ability to come to a conclusion and give a report citing the facts.
6. Master matter and what causes it to change.
7. Understand mass and volume.
8. Understand physical and chemical properties.
9. Ability to conduct an investigation to compare properties.
10. Understand energy and how we use it.
11. Understand sound waves and how they travel.
12. Understand cells.
13. Understand cells in plants and animals.
14. Begin to understand how the bones and muscles work in the body.
15. Understand how plants reproduce.
16. Understand how animals reproduce.
17. Understand how an ecosystem works and create your own as a project.
18. Understand how earthquakes and volcanos are affected by fault lines.
19. Discuss the layers of the earth and label them.
20. Understand fossils and research how they are dated and what they tell scientists.
21. Understand the two types of eclipses.
22. Review the solar system.
23. Tell why earth is the only planet that can sustain life.

Social Studies

1. Review a citizens role.
2. Discuss ways you can participate in a community.
3. Describe the government and its rights and responsibilities.
4. Describe your rights and responsibilities within your family.
5. Become involved in a community service project.
6. Understand immigration and why individuals choose to leave their country.
7. Compare the cultures of some countries that immigrated to the United States.
8. Discuss slavery and its effect on America.
9. Ability to read and create a timeline.
10. Ability to discuss freedom in detail.
11. Understand taxation-how it came out, it’s purpose, and how it is regulated.
12. Define barter.
13. Discuss the National debt.
14. Define credit and talk about it’s good points and bad points.
15. Understand supply and demand.
16. Discuss laws made by the government and why some of them change.
17. Discuss the 3 branches of government and the details or each.
18. Know the difference between a privilege and a right.
19. Discuss other cultures and the effects they have on America.
20. Review art and music from other cultures and compare them to your own.