I went down the Twinkl rabbit hole and discovered a whole collection of resources that can help homeschool parents assess what their children know, use academic standards as a guid, plan learning, and more! The best part? You get to decide how, when, and whether you use them. Using standards, assessments, or other school-based resources doesn’t mean you’re replicating school at home. They’re simply tools you can borrow, adapt, or leave behind based on what works for you and your family, with your states homeschool guidelines, of course. Use these how you see fit. Using them does not mean you are replicating public school at home. That’s the beauty of homeschooling! YOU get to choose how it best suites your family.
About Twinkl
Twinkle is an online educational resource library that gives parents and educators access to thousands of printable and digital learning materials for children across a wide range of ages (Pre K – 8th) and subjects. For homeschoolers, it can be a helpful place to find worksheets, activity packs, games, unit study resources, posters, crafts, and more when you need a ready-to-use resource or want to supplement what you’re already teaching. I especially like that you can search by subject, age, topic, or specific skill, making it easier to find something that fits what your family is learning without having to create everything from scratch. Twinkl is a paid subscription service, but they offer a free trial so that you can explore the resources and see whether a membership is a good fit for your homeschool before committing.
Planning, Standards, and Assessments Resources on Twinkl
Twinkl can be useful for much more than just finding worksheets and activities. You can also use it to support your homeschool planning, explore academic standards, and find assessment resources. Whether you loosely use standards as a guide or follow them more closely, Twinkl makes it easy to find resources connected to the skills and concepts you’re working on.
Helpful search note: if you scroll the grade level buttons at the top of the screen beneath the search bar, there is a button labeled “Standards.” It shows “Common Core,” “Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills,” “Florida B.E.S.T. Standards,” “Next Generation Science Standards,” and “Georgia Standards of Excellence.” Keep in mind that clicking one of these takes you to resources aligned with those standards, rather than printable standards checklists themselves.
Homeschool Pacing Guides
Search the term “homeschool pacing guide” on Twinkl for pacing guides of different grade levels and subjects geared towards homeschooling families. Here is the Kindergarten Science Monthly Curriculum Plan, Pacing Guide & Resources for Homeschool.
TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills) Standards, Twinkl Breakdown
Simply search “TEKS” for the simplified, but still through, Twinkl version of the Texas Essentials Knowledge and Skills checklists for different grade levels and subjects. From what I can tell, they currently stop at the 5th grade level. However, there are several other TEKS resources, such as STAAR test prep, if you appreciate using Texas standards resources. Here is the English Language Arts and Reading TEKS Fifth Grade Standards Checklist.
Homeschool Objectives Tracking Checklists
Use the search term “homeschool objectives checklist” to find the checklists for your students’ grade levels. I love that these use “I” statements so that kids can have some ownership in their education while seeing an overview of what they are going to learn about. Here is the Second Grade Homeschool Objectives Tracking Checklist.
Common Core Standards Checklists
Common Core Standards seem to stop around the 6th grade level from what I can find. Here is the Third Grade Common Core Standards Student Checklist with “I” statements that students can utilize, and here are Third Grade Common Core Math Standards Teacher Checklist.
I hope this list helps you discover some of the standards, planning, and assessment resources on Twinkl and, more importantly, helps you find what actually works for your household. You don’t need to use everything here, and you certainly don’t need to use these resources exactly as they were designed. Take what’s helpful, adapt it to your family, and leave the rest. I’ll continue adding to this list as I discover more, but for now, consider this a starting point for exploring what Twinkl has to offer.
Homeschool Inspiration Wherever YOU Are!
Join the Hey Mama Homeschool community on more platforms:
Leave a Reply