Bellamoon
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Posts posted by Bellamoon
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We are currently using Teaching Textbooks 6. We use that starting in 3rd grade. For my dd in 1st grade we are using Liberty Math level A
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I guess i should add that we do school year round as well. Our school week is m-t and we take a week off every other month, but other than that we school all the time. The reason is that with my oldest having ADHD if we take more then a week or two off then the whole next month trying to get back into routine is not fun for anyone. I love having our stuff a few months before we are ready to start it. It saves me from having to rush to get it all put together and looked at!
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Our school day is from 9am until they finish. Whis is about 90 minutes for my 1st grader and up to 4 hours for my 6th grader. We also only school 4 days a week, but we school year round. They get a ton of free time
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We do the same as you - purchase curriculum in the spring with our tax refund money. :)
Mostly because it's the only way for us to have the amount we need ( ;) ) and also because I would just rather get it all ordered and done with before summer. I don't like the idea of ordering in summer when everyone else is, having longer shipping times, etc. Plus our homeschool conventions are in spring and early summer, and I want everything bought before then so that I can just focus on picking up some supplemental stuff cheap at the used sale.
anyway... as far as helping you out goes, I don't have any as old as your oldest, so I don't really have any suggestions! Just was following along - we're not far behind, time flies!
Thank you for understanding. I was not trying to say money is never an object. I do try to get the best deals for our stuff..but that is only possilbe because of our tax return
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:blink: I did a double take when I read money is not a huge concern for schooling. You are most fortunate.
we are fortunate to get back a pretty decent tax return each year that we allot to our homeschooling. There is just no other way to get around it. Ask me again in a few years when my oldest is in Highschool, my middle girl in Middle school and my baby in elementry. I will probably be singing a different tune then. This is what works for us right now and for the last 7 years of homeschooling. If we did not get a good sized refund each year we would be looking into mostly free ideas. People do not go into the Army for the pay, but we do well enough.
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we have been buying in early spring since we have been homeschooling (1st grade for oldest) It works for us.
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my 11 year old just finished the last book in the Inheratence cycle. He loved those books
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Thank you so much! I was just so lost on moving from the easy elementry work into highschool. I cannot belive My baby will be in Highschool in 2.5 years!!!
again I appreacte this so very much!
I just checked out the Liberty Online Academy... this is their scope & sequence for high school, which might help you "work backwards" as to what topics to cover in 7th & 8th to both prepare, but also fill in any "gaps" that might not end up covered in high school:
9th
- English (poetry unit; 3 short stories; 2 plays; 1 novel; various excerpts)
- Math = Algebra 1
- Science = Earth Science
- Soc. Studies = World Geography
(Health & PE; Bible)
10th
- English (poetry unit; 3 short stories; 1 play; 1 non-fiction; 1 novel; various excerpts)
- Math = Geometry
- Science = Biology
- Soc. Studies = World History
(PE; Bible)
11th
- English = American Lit.
- Math = Algebra 2
- Science = Chemistry
- Soc. Studies = American History
(Foreign Language; Bible)
12th
- English = British Lit.
- Math = Pre-Calc.
- Science = Physics
- Soc. Studies = Government & Economics
(Foreign Language; Bible)
7th gr. Science ideas
Since Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics will be covered in high school, you may wish to hold off on Biology as DS would be seeing it again in 3 years (10th grade) at LOA...
The "usual" sciences in 7th grade tend to be General Science or Physical Science (overview of Chemistry and Physics topics). Would one of those be of interest? I note that LOA is Christian, so I assume you might like a Christian publisher? For a more "standard" or "textbook" science, check out
- Apologia (6th/7th gr. = General Science, or 7th/8th gr. = Physical Science)
- Abeka (7th gr. = design & order -- life science; 8th gr. = earth & space -- physics and astronomy)
- Bob Jones (7th gr. = life science; 8th gr. = earth science)
Or, for a more self-directed Christian program check out Rainbow Science (Physics and Chemistry is year 1, Biology with some additional topics is year 2). It is usually done in 7th and 8th, but can be done in just one year by an advanced student or one who is really interested in the sciences. It is largely self-directed, with quite a bit of hands-on. Not cheap, but you can often find the non-consumable portion at a used price, and then just purchase the consumable portion to complete it.
For those above ideas, you'd get your non-evolution Biology in 8th grade (or second half of 7th if doing the 1-year plan) with of Rainbow Science, or in 7th grade with Abeka or Bob Jones...
Another idea: this might also be the year to have a last science "fling" and explore a science area of DS's personal interest -- maybe something like forensics, robotics, astronomy, marine biology, oceanography, etc. Especially if you have a really great local hands-on option available to you next year, like Lego FIRST robotics, or a great co-op teacher, or... Or, perhaps PLATO (interactive courseware & online) -- and currently on sale at Homebuyers Co-op, or The Jason Project (interactive online)...
7th gr. American History ideas
Since DS loves reading, and you're thinking of American History, you might want to check out Sonlight Core 100. While SL ranks that core for "grades 7-11", my opinion based on personal experience with the vast majority of those books is more like "grades 7-8, or a weaker 9th grader"... So, your strong reader 7th grader would fit well with the reading level of this core. The "spine" is the secular textbook series, History of US by Hakim, and the rest of the core is loads of historical fiction and some non-fiction on specific topics.
If secular is problematic for your family, you might consider trying Notgrass America the Beautiful, for 7th grade, and then supplement the literature readings with a suggested actual Lit. program from below, and enjoy your Drive Through American History videos. I will add: we did the Notgrass high school US History, and while the History part is fine, the Lit. is VERY LACKING -- I would guess from looking at the Lit. selections to go with the 7th grade America the Beautiful program would have a similar problem... At your DS's age, and because your DS will be doing online high school, you really NEED a solid Literature program for the next 2 years to prepare him... JMO!
My Father's World has an American History curriculum meant for gr. 2-8, BUT... the books in that program look way too lite and not nearly enough material and coverage for a strong 7th gr. reader... again, JMO!
7th gr. English (Literature & Writing) ideas
First, I totally agree with you about the typing. I highly recommend getting DS fluent with touch-typing / keyboarding, so he can type quickly, and yes, this is the time to start switching over to typed papers rather than hand-written.
For Literature, I suggest Lightning Lit 7 -- gentle intro to classic literature, and some of the works would match up with U.S. History, if you go that route (US authors in LL7 = Tom Sawyer, Helen Keller's Story of My Life, a short story by Stephen Crane, and some American poets) ... LL7 covers a variety of types of literature (poetry, short stories, novels, non-fiction), just as DS will see with LOA in high school, and he'll get a very gentle intro into basic literary analysis, which is much more of what he'll be doing in high school.
While the program includes 8 VERY short writing lessons and a writing assignment at the end of each of the 8 units, LL7 is NOT enough for writing instruction! You will need an actual writing program to complete your English for 7th grade -- perhaps informal and written to the student, such as Jump In; or more formal, structured and step-by-step (with a little literary analysis included!), such as SWB's Writing With Skill.
A program that is in-between those 2 "extremes", would be IEW's Student Writing Intensive level B i(gr. 6 - 8, with video lessons on DVD and the writing assignment instructions are written to the student), or Essentials in Writing (daily DVD lesson and assignment) -- because of the DVD "teacher lessons", these might be esp. good choices to help transition your DS into teachers with the online courses he'll have in high school with LOA.
BONUS: For 8th grade, I strongly recommend getting DS ready for the kinds of literature and papers he is going to need to do in high school, either with IEW's Windows to the World (with the Jill Pike syllabus to include longer works), OR, Excellence in Literature: Intro to Literature. You may want to still include a separate writing program that year, as well...
BEST of luck as you plan for 7th grade... and for your transition to online high school! Warmest regards, Lori D.
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I rarely "blame" something on a child's age or gender. :-)
Many children of all ages do not like to write. If you move from there (children not liking to write, which is fixable) instead of the other (common preteen boy trait, which is not) you'll be much more likely to find a solution. :-)
The only reason I suggested that, is that my DD loves to write. She will write for hours, ODS has never liked to write. And being they are the only children I have ever taught, that is my assumption.
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Money is not a huge concern for schooling. At this point we allot 1000 for the school year. But enlighten please what is the homeschool buyers coop?
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and this is the wrong area to post this...oops
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I know I do not post often here, just when I need things, LOL Anyways we always buy the next years curriculum with our tax money. Our taxes have been filed and we are waiting for the money to hit our account!
So I will have 2nd grader a 7th grader and a 3 year old. My big kid. We will likely stick to Teaching Textbooks. We have been using it since 3rd grade and LOVE IT. He is an advanced reader but does not like to write (common preteen boy trait?) He loves science so I am thinking biology, but without evolution attached to it. I am unsure where that leaves us for English, science and history. We have been using drive thru history this year and both the kids are loving that. I just adjust the questions for my 7 year old. Even my toddler enjoys watching the shows. I think I want to do American history for my son though.
I guess I am just looking for some help here. For 9th grade we are enrolling him into Liberty Online Acadmey and that Is going to be a very intense progam for him, so I need to find things that will help us bridge the gap from where we are to there. He HATES writing and I know that will be a huge part of the LOA excpet he will be expected to type his work out. HMMMM maybe that is the key, typing out his papers instead of having him phsyically write them.
Thanks for all the help!
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I forgot to mention he is medicated. We cannot go to another town. We are military and can only go where they will pay. We are in the biggest town as it is. We would have to go over an hour to find another big town and then Tricare wont pay for it.
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There is ONE place in town that will take kids on at all they are Psychologists.
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thank you! I really mean that. He had an eval when he was 6-7. But I do not think it was a full physc eval. I do know what whenever it is that we actually get in with the Ped phsyc here they plan on doing one. Its a 3-4 month wait to get in and we have been on the list a good 2 months now. I will look into JAG.
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We are using bob jones English 6. He has a love hate relationship with it. Everyother chapter is heavy on writing so he dislikes those chapters but the ones that are more grammar and less writing he loves. He isnt really "into" anything. he loves his legos, and enjoys riding his bike and what not, but there hasn't really been a subject or topic that really jumps at him. Execpt math. He could do math for hours and never complain.
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Ah. 11 year olds. Been there. She's 12 now, much better... but no longer homeschooled (private school for bright/gifted dyslexic children). We needed to get back to a purely mom/daughter relationship. Funny thing - those skills and academics I thought she didn't retain last year (at 11)? Apparently she's using them to help tutor some of the other students. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or pull my hair out when she told me that she was flying through math because she remembered doing ratios with me, or the cute analogy she'd given a younger student for remembering nouns and adjectives - something I swear I thought she would never grasp. *sigh*
I have no real advice. My daughter is ADD and dyslexic. Very bright, but she also tends towards lazy in certain environments (and I know some people here hate that word, but there are lazy people in the world - my kid was one of them... at home; for whatever reason, she isn't lazy at school).
Sometimes a change is needed. Have you asked him what he WANTS to study? While I would make grammar, spelling, and math non-negotiable in any form, I can't see the harm, at this season in your relationship with him, in giving him input for science, history, literature, and writing.
He did pick out his science, We are doing Exploring creation with Astronomy, he loves it! Writing...he would tell me no period.
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But I also have a 6 year old and 2 year old, I cannot just sit and solely teach him.
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Math, I do not teach. He uses Teaching text books. But both him and his sister sit at the table doing school work, with me helping one or the other from 9-1, with breaks as needed.
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That is a good Idea....we frequently take privilages away but if he wont have a good attitude about what NEEDS to be done, then he doesn't get to do any of the fun extras
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We have been working on his behaviour for oh, 11 years...he is in an out of therapy and we are currently waiting to get into a therapist since we are new to the area we are in. School is not the only area where he is defiant. He balks at doing his chores, cleaning his room, playing with his siblings. Pretty much if it is not a video game or interesting book he doesn't want to do it. He has a lousey attitude toward most everything
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Back story, my 11 year old has ADHD and has been homeschool his whole life except for 1st grade. He is at a 6th grade level now. He hates to do school work. He is brilliant yet frequently fails tests. We refuses to do any sort of writing (ie papers), detests English. When I sit him down with his work, he will pretend to do it and then stick his book back on the shelf. (just had to correct again right now). We really want to keep him home and do not feel that public school is even an option. Private school is too expensive, the cheapest one in our area is 400 a month. That said, we WANT him to succeed. He has the makings of someone who will go far in life. But he has no desire or self motivation.
help?
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We have tried every trick possible. She has been writing since she was 4.
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My 6 year old keeps writing her b's and d's backwards. When she reads she gets any word that has a b or d in it wrong also. I am sure its mostly normal at this age (she will be 7 in Dec). Other then drilling those letters how do I get her to read and write them properly?
Spelling in 6th grade?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
My 6th grader does spelling and will continue until he finishes highschool. In my mind you can never have enough spelling!