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8th Grade Language Arts thread... general, but also a specific question


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What is everyone using for their kiddo's 8th grade year (language arts)?

I'm a bit overwhelmed - it looks like it will take, on average, 90-120 minutes daily for DD to complete language arts; literature, composition, grammar, and spelling.

We can't drop spelling (she's dyslexic; a phonics based spelling is still necessary for her). 

I *am* considering dropping grammar after the first semester, in favor of picking up composition during second semester, instead of doing both grammar and composition at the same time.

 

Literature: Mosdos Press 8 (this alone will take about an hour daily)

Spelling: Apples and Pears (end of level B and all of level C) - (this only takes about 15-20 minutes daily)

Composition: Blackbird and Co's "Introduction to Composition" (I haven't this in hand yet, so I'm not sure how long this will take)

Grammar: CLE LA 6 (just the grammar portion) - (we're already working in this, and it takes about 30 minutes daily)

 

I'm a bit worried about overwhelming her with language arts. I've made sure to stack the rest of the day with "specials" that she enjoys/has requested, other than math (government, economics, biology/genetics), but I'm kind of worried about the ELA load. 

 

If it is typical to take this long, perhaps my worry is more specific to that such a chunk of the day will be dedicated to something that DD dislikes and struggles greatly with. She does enjoy Apples and Pears spelling, and enjoys the diagramming portion of grammar, but that's a very small portion of her LA work.

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Next year is pretty basic for my dd language arts. If I have money, I want to use BJU English DLO.

 

If I don't (which is more likely, lol) I will use:

 

Essentials in writing 8

BJU English and Literature

Spelling Workout H

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Your language arts lineup looks great for your dd. What would you use when your dd is done with CLE, or do you plan on spreading the rest of it out to last this whole next year?

 

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I could easily spread out the CLE 6 to last the year - we're only in light unit 2, because there are days when she just isn't up to the formal grammar struggle, so I just let her do a few sheets of the diagramming worktext that I purchased from CLE. *If* she finishes it early, I have Voyages in English (the 1950's Lepanto Press reprint version) that she can start on, which has a nice amount of diagramming (which she'll enjoy; I've considered ditching the CLE 6 in favor of it this year, actually, since she's "over" CLE, lol).

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Yes, English does take longer in 8th-12th grades, and LDs will also increase your time. However, I'd also be careful to not let it go overly long and burn out your student -- 2 hours seems long to me for middle school LA topics. Sometimes "less is more" -- a solid 20-30 minutes of good writing 4-5x/week always yielded better results, progress, and learning from our DS with mild LDs in the LA areas at those ages, rather than going for a solid hour of writing. If we really needed to push through a writing assignment, it was much better to do two 20-minute "bursts" of concentrated writing, one earlier in the day and one later in the day, than to try for a single session of 45-60 minutes.

 

8th grade LA for DS with mild LDs in LA (and math) areas:

- 45-50 min/day, 4-5x/week = Literature = Lightning Lit 8, Figuratively Speaking

- 30 min/week, 2x/week = Reading = solo reading 6-8 historical fiction works to go with History

- 30 min/day, 4-5x/week = Writing = Jump In; a weekly timed essay from past SAT prompts; research paper (from History-related topic)

- 15 min/day, 3x/week = Grammar = Winston Advanced (review); Chortling Bard (2-3 paragraphs/week)

- 15 min/day, 4-5x/week = Spelling = Megawords + individualized remedial program (DIY, pulled from a number of things) 

- ---- = Vocabulary = in context from reading (no separate program)

 

 

Also, realistically, due to LDs with LA, and also just because the *reading* takes longer, in middle and high school years really do take more than the 1 hour a day that most other credits can be completed in. It took us about 75-90 min/day with all the components we needed to incorporate. Our schedule roughly looked like this:

 

7th/8th grades during school:

30-45 min/day, 5x/week = Lit. (reading it)

10-20 min/day, 3x/week = Lit. (discussing/working with it)

30 min/day, 4x/week = Writing

15-20 min/day, 4x/week = Spelling

15-20 min/day, 3x/week = Grammar

 

average in 7th/8th grade = approx. 75-80 min/day, plus about 30 min/day, 3x/week outside of school hours for school-related read alouds, solo reading etc.

 

 

9th-12th grades

40-45 min/day, 5x/week = Lit. (reading it)

10-15 min/day, 3x/week = Lit. (discussing/working with it)

30-45 min/day, 4x/week = Writing

10-15 min/day, 4x/week = Spelling

5-10 min/day, 3x/week = Grammar review

 

approx. 80-90 min/day, plus about 1 hour/day, 2-3x week outside of school hours for school-related read alouds, solo reading, etc.

 

 

Some ideas to tighten up our time/scheduling with a student with mild LDs in the LA areas:

 

- when using multiple programs for spelling, grammar, etc. be sure to cut out repeat material/concepts if you student gets it

- pare down the spelling and grammar exercises to just what your student really *needs*

- Grammar: fine to schedule it just 3x/week; that also helps stretch a program out over more than a year, or allows you to cut the excess not needed

- Grammar; drop to just "lite review" (say 5-10 min/day, 2-3x/week) once the student has covered all of grammar and gets it (usually by 8th/9th grade, this is the case)

- Spelling, even for a struggler, can often be fine at 4x/week; add in that 5th day if struggling with that list's concepts; can also expand a troublesome concept into the next week, as needed, which helps keep it to just 10-15 min/day

- Lit reading: for a dyslexic, do some of the classic Lit. out loud together "popcorn style" ("you read a page, I read a page"), and discuss, learn vocab., analyze in the moment -- saves time in the long run!

- Lit reading: if falling behind on the reading, cut back on your lit. list, or skip a unit to catch up again (go for quality and depth, not quantity)

- Lit reading: consider doing the occasional lit. book as an evening family read aloud, or as book on tape in the car while commuting

- Lit reading: or, have your dyslexic student listen solo to some of the lit. books as books on tape at times that best works for her

 

 

Just my 2 cents worth: You look solid in your curriculum choices, and it sounds like good learning is happening. It is fine to keep going with what you have and spread it out into next year. BEST of luck as you! Warmest regards, Lori D.

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Your DD is the same age as mine and also has spelling issues.  We are using R+S as our basic English text, R+S spelling, and The Lively Art of Writing for composition.  In addition, we are reading selected literature together and discussing it (Canterbury Tales for the remainder of the year).  We just finished MCT Vocab.

Next year is pretty basic for my dd language arts. If I have money, I want to use BJU English DLO.

 

If I don't (which is more likely, lol) I will use:

 

Essentials in writing 8

BJU English and Literature

Spelling Workout H

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Your language arts lineup looks great for your dd. What would you use when your dd is done with CLE, or do you plan on spreading the rest of it out to last this whole next year?

 

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I scheduled mine to do an hour of reading a day, but she only does about three hours, on average, of assigned reading most weeks in reality.

I'll be honest that we ditched grammar this year because she sees a lot of it in her two foreign languages, especially Latin, and we covered the mechanics enough before this. I still address minor structural grammar issues (comma usage, capitalization, etc.) in her writing. The first semester, we did a focused essay-writing course. This semester, she's writing-across-the-curriculum, so the rest of her LA time is spent writing.

 

Having to continue spelling & grammar would have killed this dd due to her (self-chosen) double foreign language load. DD#2 will have to continue with spelling in 8th, I'm pretty sure, so something else will probably have to go -- probably some of the reading. It is a balancing act!

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We'll be using WWS2, vocabulary from classical roots, and EiL. She's finishing AG this year so will be doing a review weekly just to keep the skills fresh. I anticipate her LA taking at least 1.5 hrs 4x a week. So if you add in spelling, 2 hrs isn't far off the mark especially considering a LD.

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grammar: Voyages in English 8 (grammar section only)--it worked out to 89 lessons when I broke it down, so I think I am going to schedule it for 3x/week over 30 weeks. 

 

composition: Writing With Skill 2

 

spelling: none; he finished all of spelling this year--we are just going to work on correcting stuff in his writing

 

literary analysis: big stack of books + SWB's literary analysis guidelines & questions

 

Ds really needs to work on bringing his writing level up. He has great ideas, but is really inconsistent in what he puts out. He's doing a bit of writing through history as well.  I'm tweaking history to be slightly too easy for him so that he has some brainpower to work on his quick essays.  I'm hoping to help him to learn to read quickly and churn out multiple writing assignments in a week.  Right now he's doing this laborious over-analysis thing and it's killing us both.

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We will be using K12's Literary Analysis and Composition for 8th (just the books, not the online portion).  I've just received and looked through the student materials and really like the lit selections and the fact that lit and comp are combined, which makes everything more streamlined (saves a bit of time that would otherwise be spent flipping back and forth between programs).

 

I was surprised to see that it has grammar lessons included as well, so it really is an all-in-one program, which would save even more time if we wanted to use that instead of finishing the 2nd half of Hake 8.  However, I really like the extreme thoroughness of Hake, and think we will still use that, instead of the K12 grammar.  It's a solid option you might want to consider, though, if you are looking for ways to consolidate and streamline your language arts!  

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Both of my girls used K12's Literary Analysis and Composition in 8th. It's my hands-down most favorite English course for preparing for high school level work.

 

My current 8th grade ds was not ready for that this year though, so instead he's using:

 

Essentials in Writing 8

Mosdos Jade

Analytical Grammar

 

He also has some literature reading assigned in the homemade geography course I created for him.

 

While he has issues with spelling, I decided that writing was the more important focus this year. We've beaten the dead horse of spelling enough over the years with every program out there. I bought him an electronic spelling dictionary, and decided to call it good enough. He'll never be a terrific speller, but his language skills have grown by leaps and bounds this year, so he'll be okay. Stepping back from spelling this year has actually yielded stronger results than any program we used, so maybe it was just time.

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What is everyone using for their kiddo's 8th grade year (language arts)?

I'm a bit overwhelmed - it looks like it will take, on average, 90-120 minutes daily for DD to complete language arts; literature, composition, grammar, and spelling.

We can't drop spelling (she's dyslexic; a phonics based spelling is still necessary for her). 

I *am* considering dropping grammar after the first semester, in favor of picking up composition during second semester, instead of doing both grammar and composition at the same time.

 

 

I also have a very dyslexic 7th grader this year and LA always takes up a good chunk of our time. Some days are more reading-heavy but don't take that long as ds has become a fast reader. For tougher works, he listens to a recording as he reads. The writing-heavy days can take a long time. It is what it is. We use Moving Beyond the Page LA which my son really likes. It integrates literature, grammar, and composition. We have done MBtP for a couple of years and this year he is doing 11-13. It would not be too "young" for 8th grade. Books include The Pearl, The Hobbit, A Single Shard, and A Girl Named Disaster. 12-14 is widely considered to be suitable for 9th grade.

 

What is it that Autumn doesn't like about LA? If it's reading, does she listen to audiobooks while she reads (immersion)? If it's writing, does she have enough scaffolding so that she is prepared for each step? MBtP has very incremental instruction for composition - I think it is the biggest strength of the program. They have been giving 2-3 days for an essay, but we often take longer than that. Another huge strength of MBtP is that the literature selections are so good. The grammar is a relative weakness. This year I supplemented grammar with Grammar Minutes and next year I will assign Exercises in English. I do spelling separately.

 

Even though my son writes an essay every 3 weeks with MBtP, I have him do additional writing for history. I look at this as a big investment in helping him gain writing fluency before high school. I use EIW for the history assignments and it works out very well. My son's writing is rough, but we keep polishing it up and he has improved SOOO much from last fall.

 

I am not sure what to do when we get to high school, as four "classes" (English, math, science & history) take up all of our time. He starts by 9 am and often doesn't finish until 4 or 5. He needs at least 6 credits a year to graduate on time. Hopefully he speeds up over the next year. I might be able to give him two credits for English (our program lets him do that for middle school).

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For Calvin's 8th grade year (we thought it was 7th grade - he ended up effectively skipping a year when he went to school) we used Galore Park So You Want to Learn English 3 plus a series of intensive studies of individual works of literature.  GP's official 8th grade book would be their 'Year 9' text (because UK and US numbering is different).

 

I remember doing The Merchant of Venice, but I can't remember what else.  I think we spent at least a month on TMOV, studying it from many different angles - I used various Spark Notes kinds of cribs to help us.

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My dyslexic 8th grader uses:

 

AAS

WWS 1 

Daily Grammar Practice (this is just a few minutes a day and sometimes he does the whole week's work in one day and he's done with grammar the rest of the week)

MCT Lit

 

I often read aloud to him whether it's instructions or passages or books. He listens to a lot of audio books. WWS takes the longest.   

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We try to use programs that don't take a lot of time so there's more time for reading. So we are doing Easy Grammar Ultimate which is a very short daily lesson, Spelling Workout alternating days with WordSmart online which is only about 10 minutes, and Essential in Writing which are also short lessons. That leaves us time to read a lot from the Well Trained Mind literature suggestions.

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