DS13's 8th grade plan so far: Bible: undecided..want to do something together with dd10 also..any suggestions? Math: BJU Algebra 1 DVD Grammar: Finally decided! Hake Grammar 8 (grammar only) Vocabulary: BJU and other supplements Writing: getting WWS and already bought Writing Strands...will check out both and see which is better fit for him. Literature: AtB literature books and other books with Progeny Press guides (The Hobbit, The Hiding Place, and probably some others to be decided later) History: Notgrass America the Beautiful with other supplements (doing this together with dd10) also an elections unit study Science: BJU Space and Earth Science DVD Logic: Mind Benders and Fallacy Detective (our first year doing Logic) Art: Atelier Computer: Kidcoder Latin: Visual Latin Different books for character and manners study Some classes will only be done 1-3 days per week.

I am actually looking forward to the school year after this crazy summer, which is a first for me :D. Normally, I'm dreading the start of school. We are doing things a lot different this year, so I've been studying, shopping (lots of shopping :lol:), planning, etc. I'm almost done deciding on and buying the curriculum. But, then I will have to figure out the schedule, and I'm half afraid that I am putting too much on their plates :glare: Hopefully not, though. We will find out the first week of school. My kids know better than to say they are bored :lol:

I have used BJU video classes since K4 for both my kids, and my way of organization evolved over the years lol. I put all of one child's mom's minutes in one binder (not my favorite), pronged folder, or bind them along with my lesson plans. Of course each subject would have an index tab. Next, all the supplemental pages that the child would need for classes would be in another binder, again with tabs separating the subjects. And separate binders for any test keys and grading sheets. I like having my materials separate according to type and not all in one huge binder. That's just me though :) Math will usually take an hour, as someone else posted. I don't remember how long Science was taking my son, probably 45min-one hour, more on some days when the assignment was longer or when he had to study for a test. Lit 7 was taking him over an hour, but he is not a super fast reader. English, as above poster mentioned, about 20-40 minutes, maybe longer during writing chapters.

Thank you :)

Thanks for the input :) I found out that my sister has some biographies that I can borrow :)

Thank you for the suggestions!! They look great. I had seen The Ten Boys/Girls Who before but thought they looked too young for my 13yo, so I just checked amazon and it says 9 and up so they'll probably be fine. :)

We will be using a different Bible curriculum this year which (I think) won't have any biographies included. We have used BJU Bible for the most part up until now, and they always have a few lessons a year on famous christian men and women. I know about the Christian Heros series and the like, and while I will probably buy a few of those, I don't want to have to buy a ton of separate books. Also, my kids and I may not always want to spend a whole book on one person, kwim? Does anyone have any suggestions on books that would contain many short biographies in one? I do plan to get Foxe's Book of Martyrs but want to cover more recent people as well. Thanks!

I am interested in this as well :lurk5:

:bigear:

Yes, I saw that it looked like some figures and events were already there, I just don't like the vertical format. I just think it flows better in my mind horizontally, but that's just me :D Thanks for the response :)

My favorites are the National Audubon Society guides, but I don't think there are new versions out there. I could be mistaken though. I have North American birds and have used it quite a bit. My dad has the ones on weather, trees, night sky, and maybe others that I can't remember right now. I used to look at his all the time when I still lived at home and learned much from them. They have all the photographs in the first half of the book and all the info in the second half. I like it this way so that I can flip through the pictures for quick identification of a bird. They are classified by type and color. We've never used any kid field guides so I can't comment on that.

Thanks Carly for the response :) I will have the student workbook (my 5th grader will also be doing this) and the Lesson Review. I took a look at my progeny press guides as I have never used them before, and it looks like they do go over literary terms and so forth. Anyone else care to chime in :bigear:

Lot of threads on grammar lately! My ds13 did BJU Writing and Grammar 7 this past year and did well with it, but I want something different this year. I want a grammar only curriculum (I will be using a separate writing program) that is open and go and is not too intensive because I plan to focus more on writing. I do want some diagramming. Something that would fall in line with what he has already done. Would love to hear some suggestions!

I am also stuck on grammar for my 8th grader. I think I'm wanting something like Easy Grammar but with some diagramming. Not anything too intensive because I want to focus more on writing this year.

Couple questions: From their website the timeline looks vertical, but I prefer a horizontal one. Do you think I could use the History Through the Ages timeline (or comparable)? I don't know if all the figures etc. would correlate. What do you all think? I bought the Notgrass set used, and it comes with the timeline but has been filled in. So if needed, I will have it for a reference. Since I was going to have to buy a new one anyway, I figured I might as well buy one I like better if it will work. Also, If I am doing the suggested literature (with some possible substitutions) plus two or more progeny press guides, would that be enough for a full year's course of literature for an 8th grader? Do I need a literature curriculum to make sure he is going over literary devices? What literature curriculum is out there that uses whole books? Thank you!!

Thank you for the suggestions!

Thank you!!

My dd10, a rising 5th grader, has used BJU up until now. I am going to try Spelling Power with her and possibly my rising 8th grader, although his spelling is pretty good. Her spelling isn't horrible but it does need improvement so that's why I'm going with something different. Can't give any reviews on it since I haven't actually used it yet.

Thanks for the suggestions!

:bigear:

Yes, I do have TWTM, and I'm looking over the outlining sections. Thank you :)

I haven't looked into it very thoroughly. I will check it out soon...thanks for the tip :)

Hi all, I want my dc to start outlining more in the coming year. DD10 has never really done an entire outline on her own yet. She has filled in one on a workbook page but that's it. DS13 has done some outlining, but he needs more instruction. I want to make sure that the writing curriculum I choose this year will give good instruction on outlining. I am looking at Writing Strands 3 and IEW. Do they cover it? What other writing curriculum would you recommend for for my dc? I want to improve DS13's writing as I feel he has been weak in this area the past year. I am planning on using Notgrass America the Beautiful this year and want them to be able to outline some of the material regularly. Thanks!

We have used 6th and 7th Science with BJU DL, and ds enjoyed it. He will be starting 8th Space and Earth this fall. My dd10 did 4th with Mrs. Dunn this year and I liked it a lot. I will continue BJU Science with her at least through middle school.

I hate math also! I will always outsource it We have almost always used BJU DL for math. DD is going into 5th grade and I have thought about using something different (but still someone else teaching it, but I've decided to stick with BJU). She is not mathy at all, and I still have to go over things that she just doesn't get. I can definitely see a tutor in her future when she gets into the harder math. DS13 loves math and I'm pretty sure I will be using BJU algebra with him this coming year. He is doing pre-algebra (not BJU) online this summer to get prepared. I have used BJU DL for almost everything until now. I am still going to use them for Science (we really like some of their Science classes), Math, and English (for DD), but going a different direction with the other subjects.