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This schedule is looking pretty full for DS 13.

 

Lial's Algebra - Daily, class Tues.

Derek Owens Physical Science - Mon., Tues., Fri.

MCT's Word within the word - Mon., Tues., Fri.

Growing w/Grammar - Tues., Wed., Thur.

Composition class with weekly essays - Mon. (paid for already)

Lightning Lit. American Lit. - Daily

Figuratively Speaking - Tues. Thur.

SOTW 4/A History of US/Literature - Mon., Tues., Thur., Fri.

Visual Link Spanish II - Daily

The Discovery of Logic - Tues, Thurs, Fri.

Total Health - Wed. (First Semester)

Music Appreciation w/Great Courses - Wed. (Sec. Semester)

Art - Mon., Wed.

 

Daily Reading (not curriculum based)

Co-op on Wed.

 

:blink:

 

So, what do you think oh Hive one?

 

Catherine

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This schedule is looking pretty full for DS 13.

 

Lial's Algebra - Daily, class Tues.

Derek Owens Physical Science - Mon., Tues., Fri.

MCT's Word within the word - Mon., Tues., Fri.

Growing w/Grammar - Tues., Wed., Thur.

Composition class with weekly essays - Mon. (paid for already)

Lightning Lit. American Lit. - Daily

Figuratively Speaking - Tues. Thur.

SOTW 4/A History of US/Literature - Mon., Tues., Thur., Fri.

Visual Link Spanish II - Daily

The Discovery of Logic - Tues, Thurs, Fri.

Total Health - Wed. (First Semester)

Music Appreciation w/Great Courses - Wed. (Sec. Semester)

Art - Mon., Wed.

 

Daily Reading (not curriculum based)

Co-op on Wed.

 

:blink:

 

So, what do you think oh Hive one?

 

Catherine

 

Is this for 8th grade? If so, I think I would definitely drop the Health and save it for a high school credit. I think I would probably hold off on the Music Appreciation, and the LL American Lit as well.

 

Except for this year, I usually begin our year, every year, with too many subjects. I almost always end up dropping the gravy and focusing on the meat. I think Health, Music Appreciation and Am Lit in 8th are nice goals, but are really truly not needed at this age, nor will they bolster your dc's transcript by doing them early like you will with the maths and sciences. They could all three be dropped rather easily, I think.

 

Is there a reason you want your ds to do LL American Lit in 8th? Why not save that for later high school credit and just pick some fun American lit type books to read along with your studies (SL is a good book list for that) while working through Figuratively Speaking. I'd personally save the LL American Lit stuff for high school. :tongue_smilie: We found it kind of tedious.

 

I would definitely save Total Health for high school elective credit.

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Thanks Melissa. Yes, this is for 8th grade, and I agree, I could drop Health and Music Appreciation. I included Music because he does not take music lessons, and music is something I have to meet for state standards. I picked Lightning Lit. Amer. Literature because he actually wants to go to highschool next year, and I would want him to be on the honors track, but I am having trouble deciding because there will be quite a bit of writing with this class as well as his comp. class.:confused:

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This schedule is looking pretty full for DS 13.

 

Lial's Algebra - Daily, class Tues.

Derek Owens Physical Science - Mon., Tues., Fri.

MCT's Word within the word - Mon., Tues., Fri.

Growing w/Grammar - Tues., Wed., Thur.

Composition class with weekly essays - Mon. (paid for already)

Lightning Lit. American Lit. - Daily

Figuratively Speaking - Tues. Thur.

SOTW 4/A History of US/Literature - Mon., Tues., Thur., Fri.

Visual Link Spanish II - Daily

The Discovery of Logic - Tues, Thurs, Fri.

Total Health - Wed. (First Semester)

Music Appreciation w/Great Courses - Wed. (Sec. Semester)

Art - Mon., Wed.

 

Daily Reading (not curriculum based)

Co-op on Wed.

 

:blink:

 

So, what do you think oh Hive one?

 

Catherine

 

I see overload in the language arts areas. I agree about the health and music, especially if he plans on attending high school.

 

I would integrate the history/lightning lit/Figuratively Speaking. I would use FS as it pertains to whatever he is reading for high school. Maybe use some of the LL, but cut back on those weeks it might be overload.

 

I would also make sure you have skill goals set for this year. Things like how to research, write an essay, format papers correctly, follow a schedule, work independently, turning work in on time, time management, those type of things.

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MCT's Word within the word - Mon., Tues., Fri.

Growing w/Grammar - Tues., Wed., Thur.

Composition class with weekly essays - Mon. (paid for already)

Lightning Lit. American Lit. - Daily

Figuratively Speaking - Tues. Thur.

SOTW 4/A History of US/Literature - Mon., Tues., Thur., Fri.

 

 

Is it really necessary to do THIS much language arts?

I would consolidate here. If he takes a composition class, I would not do any word studies or grammar. One literature class seems sufficient to me as well.

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I personally wouldn't drop any language arts, but that's because I think 8th grade is probably the most important year in that area, as students prepared for high school.

 

This is kind of where my mind was going as well. Once you get into high school so much focus is on other areas, that it's really important to have most of the LA basics down cold...especially grammar & writing basics! I just wasn't sure what your reasoning for LL American Lit was...along with the non curriculum based reading you have listed. That seemed overkill for 8th grade to me, I guess. I see no reason whatsoever to not read some great American Lit for 8th...I mean there is a lot to pick and choose from...but I'm not sure I would 'study' it at that age is all. But, I can understand your reasons for doing so as well. ;)

 

I think I would spend that year focusing on the very most important areas before high school...basically Math, LA (grammar/writing/reading), Science, and History...in that order. The other subjects, in my opinion, are just gravy and are really not needed before high school. High school has required electives needed on a transcript, 8th grade does not...I would definitely do your health later, and possibly even the art & music, depending on what you were planning to use. Art & Music is fun and always beneficial, I just wouldn't put it before the important subjects should I need to cut something back. You don't have them scheduled daily though, so you should probably be OK. ;)

 

I think your curriculum choices are really good, and hey, if your ds can handle it all...then go for it! :D

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Oh, and I wanted to add...

 

In my experience when I have too many different subjects...or pots in the fire...really important things, usually WRITING, gets put on the back burner, because writing (the dreaded writing) usually takes more time, more thought, etc., than the lil gravy subjects. When I fill up our week with gravy (all those lovely enrichments!) we don't take in enough meat.

 

I am REALLY trying to not do that this next year...but we'll see how it all pans out. ;) I'm a total curriculum tweaker. I really need to be in a 12 step curriculum tweaker program. :lol:

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Have you scheduled out how many hours per day this course load will take? You have a lot of subjects but if you only spend about 15 minutes on several of them then it could be do-able. Tuesday has one class plus 8 other subjects, not including any writing he may have to do for composition. However, if you can get the logic, Spanish, vocab, and Figuratively Speaking done in little over an hour, then your history, science and lit. could be done in 3 hours and an hour for composition work. I don't know how long the class is on Tuesday but even if its' 2 hours then he is only up to 7 hours of work. That's about what my 8th will do.

 

Just a thought.

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Oh, and I wanted to add...

 

In my experience when I have too many different subjects...or pots in the fire...really important things, usually WRITING, gets put on the back burner, because writing (the dreaded writing) usually takes more time, more thought, etc., than the lil gravy subjects. When I fill up our week with gravy (all those lovely enrichments!) we don't take in enough meat.

 

I've really found this to be so true. And, ironically, writing is one of the most important parts of preparation for high school...and life.

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This schedule is looking pretty full for DS 13.

 

Lial's Algebra - Daily, class Tues.

Derek Owens Physical Science - Mon., Tues., Fri.

MCT's Word within the word - Mon., Tues., Fri.

Growing w/Grammar - Tues., Wed., Thur.

Composition class with weekly essays - Mon. (paid for already)

Lightning Lit. American Lit. - Daily

Figuratively Speaking - Tues. Thur.

SOTW 4/A History of US/Literature - Mon., Tues., Thur., Fri.

Visual Link Spanish II - Daily

The Discovery of Logic - Tues, Thurs, Fri.

Total Health - Wed. (First Semester)

Music Appreciation w/Great Courses - Wed. (Sec. Semester)

Art - Mon., Wed.

 

Daily Reading (not curriculum based)

Co-op on Wed.

 

 

That may be even more packed than the craziness I've got planned for my rising 8th graders! :tongue_smilie:

 

As others have pointed out, there seems to be a lot of overlap in the LA dept.

 

I'd drop the LLit, as you've got writing in the Comp. class and Lit in with history and you could make some of the daily reading one of the Lit books too. Can he maybe do some literary analysis type writing in the Comp class? I'd also streamline grammar/vocab.

 

How about...

 

Vocab: Word within the Word

Grammar: 4Practice (this gives ongoing grammar practice, takes a few minutes, and reinforces the vocab from WWtW)

Lit: Works aligned with history and Figuratively Speaking

Writing: the Comp. class.

 

Or, you could always do some of the units in the LL US Lit but not all - we did LL8 this year and didn't get through the whole thing (because it was on top of lots of history reading and 10 rather hefty books for their book club - so yes, I am throwing rocks from my glass house ;))

 

Your line-up actually isn't that far off from mine...

 

Algebra I (Lial's for one kid, AoPS for the other)

CPO Physics: A First Course

MCT's Word within the word (remainder, started this year)

MCT's Magic Lens/4Practice (remainder, started this year)

Sign up with WriteGuide again for at least part of the year

Literary Lessons with LOTR

Figuratively Speaking - as needed, did part this year

World History, K12HO/Oxford Press/tons of hist fiction/lit

Breaking the Barrier Spanish III

German (at Sat. School)

Logic - Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery

 

Music - violin & orchestra (dd1) piano (dd2)

PE - dance (dd1), skating (dd2)

 

Coop - Mon. afternoons (non-academic, but might include enrichment classes)

 

Maybe we're both nuts... :tongue_smilie: Mine are also thinking of high school, so I'm packing it in. I'm not doing the Health you are, but I do want to cover some things with them so they don't hear them for the first time in Health class at school - but I think I may just get some books and discuss informally.

 

We're in Ancient Greece in history and the 9th grade history class starts at the Enlightenment, so I've got some serious ground to cover there. :willy_nilly: Oh, and we're doing book club again, which will be another 10 hefty books. I'm just hoping that the "extra" books I've got planned with LLfLOTR line up somewhat with history (as we whizz through the middle ages somewhere in there).

 

Write Guide has been helpful in that I can choose the assignments from whatever we're doing, but they have deadlines and outside evaluation, so it doesn't really "add" work but in some ways streamlines it.

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So for 8th grade you should have about 6 or 7 credits, so let's see what you've got:

 

1 Math

Lial's Algebra - Daily, class Tues.

 

1 Science

Derek Owens Physical Science - Mon., Tues., Fri.

 

2 Language Arts (Lit + Grammar + Composition)

MCT's Word within the word - Mon., Tues., Fri.

Growing w/Grammar - Tues., Wed., Thur.

Composition class with weekly essays - Mon. (paid for already)

Lightning Lit. American Lit. - Daily

Figuratively Speaking - Tues. Thur.

Daily Reading (not curriculum based)

 

1 History

SOTW 4/A History of US/Literature - Mon., Tues., Thur., Fri.

 

1 Foreign Language

Visual Link Spanish II - Daily

 

3 Elective

The Discovery of Logic - Tues, Thurs, Fri.

Total Health - Wed. (First Semester)

Music Appreciation w/Great Courses - Wed. (Sec. Semester)

Art - Mon., Wed.

 

Plus all these 9 credits must squish into 4 days a week because you have part of a day tied up in coop.

 

What classes are covered in coop? Is it duplicating some of what you're already doing at home? Is the coop even essential or could you drop that in favor of a more social HS group that wouldn't take up so much time?

 

Are you required to cover Health? If not, drop that. I'm sure you're teaching him what he needs to know without the use of a textbook anyway.

 

I see you have listed four curricula plus one class all for language arts, not counting reading books. That seems like a lot of time. Could some of that be redundant? If it is, it is also just so much busy work and should be dropped. Think about getting his composition in with science and history, not just in a designated LA course. Think about vocabulary as something learned through literature and in other content subjects like history and science that doesn't have to be covered using a designated vocabulary workbook. Look for redundancies and eliminate them, and I think your LA choices would be a good starting point.

 

I also noticed how many "elective" courses you have listed:

Spanish (not required in middle school), Logic, Art, Music and Health. Perhaps you should consider doing only ONE of those all year (like Spanish) and then do Logic only one semester this year, and then do a Fine Arts class only next semester.

 

All of the things you have listed may well be worthwhile things to pursue, but that doesn't mean you can Do It All! Of course you can't drop Science, Math, History and such, but that means you have to choose which elective classes you realistically have time for right now.

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Thanks for your help. I knew I could count on you.;) Ds will be taking Jann in TX math class on-line on Tues. and the composition class is taught by a homeschool mom who gets rave reviews. The reason I put ds in both classes is to help with accountability , scheduling and turning in assignments in a timely manner. Both are very important here and I wanted less "drama" from mom in these areas.:001_smile: The Amer. Lit course matches up with his history, so hopefully there will be some crossover in the literature being read. It was suggested that I time things out, and it appears it will probably take about 7 hrs a day to complete. It does sound like a lot, and if he didn't want to go to ps next year for highschool, I probably wouldn't do it, but I think he needs to get used to a heavy course load, especially if he gets into honors classes. I just don't want this year to be negative for our relationship and him thinking I am giving him too much. Art is just him practicing his drawing, no formal curriculum. I could get rid of Health and Music Apprec., and possibly Figuratively Speaking since some of the Literary Terms are introduced in Lightning Lit.

 

Anyway, thanks to you all. I really want this to be a challenging year for ds, without being too overwhelming.

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Co-op at this point is just enrichment and socialization and he is the one out of 3 boys who want to continue. I wanted to drop it because it's so time consuming.

 

So I hear consolidate/streamline and I will do just that. I want his year to be meaty, ie. not be done within 3 hours. I wouldn't mind even seeing him work on papers over the weekend.:D Did that sound mean? But busy work for busy work is going out.

 

I really do appreciate your feedback.

 

Catherine

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I wouldn't mind even seeing him work on papers over the weekend.:D Did that sound mean?

 

I don't think that sounds mean at all. Especially since he will be going to highschool out of the home. What would be mean (and irresponsible imo.) would be to give him 4 or 5 hours of work with no weekend work. What a shock he would have in 9th!

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This schedule is looking pretty full for DS 13.

 

Lial's Algebra - Daily, class Tues.

Derek Owens Physical Science - Mon., Tues., Fri.

MCT's Word within the word - Mon., Tues., Fri.

Growing w/Grammar - Tues., Wed., Thur.

Composition class with weekly essays - Mon. (paid for already)

Lightning Lit. American Lit. - Daily

Figuratively Speaking - Tues. Thur.

SOTW 4/A History of US/Literature - Mon., Tues., Thur., Fri.

Visual Link Spanish II - Daily

The Discovery of Logic - Tues, Thurs, Fri.

Total Health - Wed. (First Semester)

Music Appreciation w/Great Courses - Wed. (Sec. Semester)

Art - Mon., Wed.

 

Daily Reading (not curriculum based)

Co-op on Wed.

 

:blink:

 

So, what do you think oh Hive one?

 

Catherine

 

My dd just finished her freshman year at a Catholic high school that is academic but not over the top. My happy stuff and my regrets:

1. I am so glad that I did so much language arts with her. She can write a good literary essay, generating her thesis on her own. She can use a variety of formats. She is familiar with lots of literary terms. And she has done very well in honors English.

 

For you: 1A.Figuratively Speaking is mostly busy work. I suggest that you consider using it orally or perhaps just as an aid to learning the terms, but not necessarily do the workbook in its entireity.

1B.Assess his grammar knowledge and shortfalls and concentrate there. For instance, we used RS, and I felt that DD was weak in infinitives, gerunds, and complex sentence structure. So for eighth grade we focussed more on those and didn't use RS. I used some of Voyages in English, and some selected lessons from RS and some practice that I either made up or found somewhere to keep the RS material fresh. YMMV. Stop and think about this, though.

1C. The discipline of frequent writing is really important. The comp class will provide it if it's at his level and if he really polishes each of his essays. If not, THEN at some of the other writing. Really, though, a good polished essay a week is far better in 8th grade than 3 hastily produced ones. My inclination would be to reconsider MCT. Also, I would probably pick either Lightning Lit or the coordinated literature with history, not both. And in my house, the pick would be the coordinated literature as well as other assigned or chosen reading that I thought would be good for him. I would almost certainly look for a local Shakespeare or Greek play and study that one and go see it. And I would read some poetry--maybe 3 selections--as well.

 

2. I am sorry that I didn't give DD some background in Spanish. She took German when she was younger, and did Latin (LCI) in eighth grade. I thought that these would help her no matter what language she took in high school but really, I should have realized that Spanish is everywhere and that everyone needs to know some these days, and just bitten the bullet and made sure that she learned some so she wouldn't be starting from scratch in high school.

 

2a. So I'm glad you're doing Spanish, not Latin.

 

3. I am so glad that I taught my perspective on health information, especially the controversial stuff, so that DD had it in mind when she was taught this in high school. Also this established a conversational atmosphere about it in our house that has been very helpful (and couldn't be more different from how I grew up.)

 

3a. If you have specific views that you want to convey about this or anything else, this is the best year to teach them. Also, if you want to open lines of communication about personal stuff, this is the best year to do it.

 

4. I am delighted that we always had singing as part of our household and part of DD's education. Some music exposure is crucial, and her years of participating in the best local youth chorus have given her performance confidence that has been valuable in other areas of life as well as a wonderful experience and some friends to carry forward into her school life.

 

4a. TC is a good program for appreciation/exposure. I don't think you have to make a big deal out of it, though. Just listen and move on, if you're pressed for time. Maybe in the car, LOL! Figure out how to fit it in. Musical literacy is a good thing.

 

5. We used easy resources for logic, and they were helpful in formulating essays particularly, as well as in geometry and algebra.

 

5A. Good for you for doing logic, but you might want to check and see if it's covered in your composition class, and back off if it is.

 

6. Coop--see 4. DD is an only child, and in addition to her music studies she always attended a one full day class during the school year each week, partly for social/emotional interaction. Having said that, she did school work on the evenings and weekends to pay back that time, because at the middle school level we couldn't afford to miss a whole day of school per week.

 

6A. If coop is important to him, is he willing to do homework on Saturdays to attend? Also, I do think that it will help him when he goes to school to already be used to a group setting.

 

Other suggestions:

Think through what he should say when asked in class or by other students where he went to middle school. Should he say he was homeschooled? Should he say he attended whatever you call your school? This will come up a lot in the 'getting to know you' phase, and it's nice to have an answer in mind.

 

Talk with him about what it is like to be restricted somewhat. He can't just get up and go to the bathroom or eat a snack in class, for instance. He has to be respectful of the teachers whether they are right or not. Stuff like that.

 

Be ready to do more than you might expect to support him in determining his homework schedule. He might need this and he might not. Just be ready.

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