s/o from K8 Board--If you could do 8th over again...

[mom31257]

what would you do differently to be better prepared for high school?

 

My dd is in 8th and is a very good student (makes good grades and scores extremely high on standardized tests), but I want to make sure we are really preparing for the world of homeschooling high school.

 

Thanks for any thoughts!

[Lori D.]

Sounds like you've done everything you need to, so I'd say, "make the most of this LAST YEAR that you'll have for bunny trails, trying new things, being relaxed, and having fun."

 

 

Our DSs are grades 11 and 12 this year, and it is so different than what I thought it might be like. A few things I am so GLAD we did in 8th grade:

 

1. Took time out of the schedule to try out all kinds of fun odds and ends.

(In high school, just don't have the time any more -- in addition to heavy school load, students start driving, working, and spending far more time away from home. Plus, YOU are going to be so busy trying to keep up with the math and science, transcripts, college applications, applying for scholarships... Take this time to develop/really enjoy relationship with your student.)

 

2. Took a break from history and did a year of world culture/geography and comparative religions.

(Because no high school programs seem to cover this -- and because it's SO helpful going into high school with an understanding of other, especially NON-WESTERN peoples, for when you start your history cycle for high school -- afterall, non-western peoples make up almost 4/5 of the world's population!!)

 

3. Got involved with a great homeschool group with a lot of gr. 6-12 students.

(For social interaction, but also training into and developing leadership skills by seeing older students draw the younger ones toward maturity, set good examples, etc.)

 

4. Did NOT push and make 8th grade be like an early year of high school.

(You've got 4 years to do high school, and 8th grade is your last chance to be more relaxed, experiment, and have FUN!)

 

5. Spent time doing critical thinking and logic stuff (Dandylion logic series; Fallacy Detective; Thinking Toolbox; Critical Thinking in Images, Logic, Patterns; etc.), plus some introductory worldview stuff.

(Really helped "set the stage" for high school for going into analyzing Literature and film; learning about worldview; discuss/debate; etc. in high school.)

 

 

I adapted my answer from a my response in past thread on a similar topic, which has some wonderful responses from some wise women: If you knew then what you know now -- and in her response, Jenn W links to yet ANOTHER great past post on the same topic! Enjoy! BEST of luck in your logic to rhetoric stage journey! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited September 8, 2010 by Lori D.

[mom31257]

Lori

Thanks so much! The links will be great, too.

[Harriet Vane]

:lurk5:

[FloridaLisa]

This is the fourth year that I have an 8th grader. I'm going to try to remember back when my first had gone through that stage and I was wishing I had done some things differently! I think there are two critical areas:

 

*shore up any fundamentals -- in math, writing, grammar. You'd be surprised at how much we can get distracted by all the wonderful studies and yet never nail down the basics. Knowing their math facts, math operations and number sense "inside out and upside down" as I tell mine is crucial to doing higher math. Grammar skills are easily woven into middle grades but much harder to fit into a full high school schedule.

 

*teach study skills. Some kids intuitively know how to study. I found I had to teach: to use a syllabus, outline a text, takes notes from oral lectures, organize class materials as well as study skills for test taking.

 

*and then, for fun, continue to plan some fun into schooling! I though school was oh so serious when my oldest was in 8th, but how I wish I had allowed some margin so that we could keep going to the zoo, museums, day trips. Once kids hit 10th/11th grade (and many begin to dual enroll or join outside classes), it's much harder to take off.

 

 

Hope that helps! Have a great year! And remember, high school is in many ways just the next step from what you've been doing all along. Each year, you have ratcheted up the academics and work load for your child. The step from 8th to 9th grade is similar, but with record keeping and grades. :001_smile:

 

Lisa

[Guest]

I wholeheartedly agree with the suggestions on making this a fun year. I read once that middle school is the last place kids have the chance to try something way outside the curriculum -- be it archeology, movie-making, whatever -- without having it "count" in the hugely pressurized atmosphere of college preparations that is now high school. This is the last time they have the luxury of trying something and failing, without having a bad grade show up on their permanent transcript, but instead getting to see what mistakes, or mess-ups, or ideas gone wrong offer in terms of learning. It shouldn't be, but it may be, the last time we can give them what Nel Noddings calls educational "gifts" -- share things we love, from poetry to a work of art to a science activity -- without any strings attached: no write-ups, no tests, nothing to be evaluated, but just enjoying what you give them. Even activities they love become somehow different when they also fulfill some requirement or other. My dd, who has done service learning for years, feels something has been taken from her now that she has to clock up a certain amount of official hours each year -- despite the fact that she goes over by about a factor of four every year anyway. So take the pressure off yourself and your kids for this one last year.

[Teachin'Mine]

Yup - have fun while you still can! :tongue_smilie:

 

I also think that world geography would be great to do in 8th rather than doing history which will be repeated in high school anyway. I would also have started Latin in 8th rather than waiting for 9th. But then again, these are my ideas and my dd's are probably a whole lot different. :lol:

[Sunshine State Sue]

To all you people with 8th graders (or there abouts)...

 

High School Parents--looking back what would your ideal be for 7th/8th grade?

 

As for me, like Lisa said, I'm glad we shored up on the fundamentals. My one regret is not focusing more on handwriting in K and 1st and that's a long way before 8th.

[Donna A.]

I would've not stressed about "history", per se, but instead enjoyed a year of MFW ECC and focused more on math and language arts.

[Donna A.]

oops, double post

[mom31257]

Thanks for the replies and links. It all sounds like good advice. I don't think I can take a year off history because she's doing SL Core 100. The geography idea would have been fun, but we're already a month into our year and both kids are doing American history this year.

 

I'll have to find a way to bring in some cultural geography at some point.

[Joan in GE]

While I agree about using the time to do some of the above projects that you might not otherwise do, I would be careful to not waste time on muddled curriculum....

 

Languages:

eg while I did Rosetta Stone German with my ds in 8th, my dd did it in 4th and 5th and is just thrilled starting German I now in 7th and will move on to German II in 8th. So I would recommend that if you have any dc who are interested in languages, to get serious sooner. They love studying them and it is not "work".

 

Science:

For science, we used this curriculum that had several books for physics (very introductory - not Conceptual Physics level). While the text was interesting and informative, there was something about it that made it not stick. I think ds forgot it all. So it seems like we wasted the science time we spent that year. So while I will not require the testing level or speed that I would of a high school student using Biology Miller/Levine, we will use that in 8th and do oral tests and lots of discussion review, picking the more important chapters, experiments, so that the foundation is there.

 

Math:

Again, it is just not wasting the time that you allot to the subject with a curriculum that is weak.

 

I did too much "parking" in 8th, parking the student in front of materials instead of really engaging the mind...

 

With regrets...

Joan

[Storm Bay]

what would you do differently to be better prepared for high school?

 

My dd is in 8th and is a very good student (makes good grades and scores extremely high on standardized tests), but I want to make sure we are really preparing for the world of homeschooling high school.

 

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

 

In answer to your first question, there have been moments when what I'd have done over again would have been to skip having kids:tongue_smilie:;).

 

In answer to what you really meant, here's what I'm doing with my second one that I had difficulty doing with my very challenging eldest.

 

1. More writing and I've weeded through a few programs by now. Dd is doing Essay Voyage from MCT & Ds is doing Paragraph Town. I particularly like Paragraph Town not just because it looks promising, but because it teaches writing with a story told by a duck (first line "Call me fishmeal.")

 

2. More tests sooner, but still not in every subject. Ds is still doing SOTW, so I bought the test book this time. Also, he isnt as much into reading so for the first time we're going to do more of the fun projects (fun for him, that is, such as the math one for chpt on of Vol 3 with measurements.

 

There are a few other things, but those are the two big ones I can think of off the top of my head. With my eldest I had to choose my battles (still do) and she's bright enough that she'll have no trouble catching up when she makes up her mind.

[johnandtinagilbert]

Honestly, I would have done elementary school better, so by 8th grade I wasn't cramming in all the stuff I needed to fill gaps. That was the worst part of 8th grade for us.

[Donna A.]

Honestly, I would have done elementary school better, so by 8th grade I wasn't cramming in all the stuff I needed to fill gaps. That was the worst part of 8th grade for us.

 

:iagree: I didn't realize until we got "here" that you're preparing for high school and college for 13 years, NOT just in 8th grade.