Here's another useful source with examples: http://study.com/academy/lesson/deconstructionism-in-literature-definition-examples-quiz.html

In traditional literary analysis, you would look at the author's text first to determine the author's meaning and the truth he or she is trying to convey about life. You could also bring in historical context, the author's other works, philosophical trends of the day, etc. to further determine the meaning of a text. In deconstruction, one of the main tools for analysis is to look at what the author didn't say to determine meaning. A simple example is, the author didn't mention the existence of God within the text, therefore the author believes there is no God. Now you can discuss the concept that this author is discussing life without God as a moral center. You can also look at another text say the author didn't present the female antagonist in a favorable light. You can either take that idea to discuss that either the author is trying to reverse a stereotype of women as nurturing and compassionate or you can attack the author and say he is presenting all women as evil and callous. It is difficult for many people to draw the line between using deconstruction in literary analysis to add to the discussion of a text and using deconstructionism to disguise faulty logic or to promote a social agenda. It is important to help our students identify when it is being used and also to use deconstructive techniques wisely.

If I were to start homeschooling in 7th grade, this is what I would do: First of all I would look at building strong math skills and writing skills to prep for the demands of high school. For Math I would look at Art of Problem Solving if my child was mathy and liked number puzzles. I would look at Saxon if my child needed a step by step approach and a lot of practice. I would look at Teaching Textbooks if I wasn't mathy and needed the computer to help teach and tutor. For writing, I would look at Brave Writer for a confident, creative writer, Institute for Excellence in Writing if my child needed more direction, and Writing With Ease for someone in between. Then I would look at individual content subjects: Since 7th grade is a world history year in our public schools, and since 6th would have been spent on Ancient History, I would do an overview of world history using Story of the World volumes 2-4 or Mystery of History volumes 2 and 3. For SOTW, I would skip the activity guide in 7th grade and just get the books and test booklets. As a reference for either history program, I would get the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia or the Usborne Encyclopedia of World History. For Literature, I would look at Sonlight's book list for Core W or Bookshark's 7th grade book list to find books that go along with the history readings and I may buy one of their language arts guides for the integrated spelling, vocabulary, and grammar instruction. I may also pick a few books for focused literature studies and buy a literature guides to go along with them. I would also expect my child to read 30 minutes a day for fun. -OR- I would type up a book list and have my child choose off of that and have a separate spelling, vocab, and grammar program. I don't know much about middle school science curriculum, but I would choose a life science or general science curriculum and I have the Usborne Science Encyclopedia, which is a great reference. Then I would let my child choose an elective or two: art, foreign language, coding, music, etc... You are wise to start researching in advance. Good luck!

My hubs is supposedly "el professor de Espanol" since Spanish is his first language...but he rarely speaks Spanish with the kids. On the other hand, he takes the kids out to play basketball a couple of times a week, makes them help around the house, and takes them to work ever so often, and for that I am grateful! He also supports everything I do and is on board with everything I buy.

Let's see, to answer #1...no...#2...no#3...no...#4...maybe, but probably it would be the same. When days are rough, I declare a minimum day and plan a field trip, to somewhere I want to go, too. Or we walk to the park for PE. Or have an art hour. Or search the forum and find out that we are perfectly normal after all. Hugs and love.

I think the desire to keep a schedule would create more stress for me. What I do to tame the chaos and keep us in a routine is give my son a checklist of what we are going to do, in the order I would like us to do it in. Our schedule to day looked something like this: --handwriting (done during read aloud* time) --W&R 82-84* --Megawords p. 65-66* --Samurai's Tale Chapters 4-5 (I ask him a couple questions about what he read after) --Life of Fred --Xtra Math --Math Lesson* and WB 156-157 --Read SOTW Ch. 18, Narration* --Play Stack the States 10 minutes --Typing: 2 Lessons --Finish Science Experiment* Asterisks are for lessons he needs me for. My daughter cannot follow a checklist, but we follow the same pattern: drawing or play doh during morning read aloud, a phonics lesson after read aloud, then play time, read aloud for her and little brother when my son reads Life of Fred, play time, sit in on science experiments, art, or history activities, then she reads to me during little brother's nap. I don't worry too much about coordinating "Mom/tutoring time." I have enough built in breaks and independent time that things work out ok. It's about finding a flow that works.

You'll be able to easily resell them later. Check the Singapore math forums too. A company rep recently addressed the rumor that Standards would be discontinued soon. The rep said they would give a couple years notice before discontining the program. They also said they didn't plan on discontining Standards anytime soon. I think Singapore may have noticed the US is fickle about education reform.

I use Megawords, too and it's effective. The teacher's manual took a little getting used to. Since the lessons last 2-3 weeks when my son does 2 pages a day, I don't feel like I'm always giving spelling tests like programs with weekly lists. He learns well over 50 words per 2-3 week lesson, too.

We started homeschooling my son in 4th grade, so I'm trying to accelerate the history cycle, too. Last year we did SOTW 1 during the first two thirds of the year and California History during the remainder of the year, because 4th grade is the year California students study their state history. This year, we are on the SOTW fast track. My son is reading SOTW 2-4 on his own until he finishes the series. It wasn't my original plan and I know it's a fast pace, but he loves SOTW and would rather read ahead than stop and dwell on the activities. We don't do too many of the activities, maybe two per month. I also pick one extra literature selection per week to read aloud and my son keeps a timeline. From what I understand, the first time through world history on the classical cycle, kids are supposed to take away an overview of world history. Because they have an overview in place, the second time through, they fill in the details, and the third time through they can go in depth in select areas while reviewing the details. So I'm not too worried about rushing through the first cycle. For MOH, I plan on zipping through the first two books, since I understand they are written to a younger audience, then slowing down for the last two. I hope to start and finish MOH during grades 6-8. I will probably tie in Hakim's Story of US during 7th and 8th grade for US history. On the subject of American history. I bought A Child's First Book of American History (Earl Schenck Miers) and I love it! I plan on alternating reading chapters aloud and having my son read some on his own between . Each chapter is about a specific event or person in history and the prose is beautiful, the vocabulary is sophisticated, and each story is exciting. Some of the chapters, like the ones on the Declaration of Independence and Paul Revere's Ride, I plan on reading aloud because they are not as easily accessible to kids as most of the other chapters. I'm also looking at tying in Genevieve Foster's books about Washington, Lincoln, Penn, and John Smith at some point. I just don't know when or how yet.

The Daily Warm Ups series has high school level social studies, history, and humanities programs. Good luck!

It depends on the standardized test. If it was a bubble it in with a #2 pencil test, he could have just bubbled in the wrong answer early on in the test and not caught it, which would have thrown off all of his answers. The computation test is usually pretty short and fast, too. He may not have realized that 5 minutes to do x number of problems means he had to work fast. He could have been checking his answers and didn't finish the test. If it was a computer based test, the format could have thrown him off and a lack of familiarity with the keyboard could have caused problems. None of the above scenarios are unusual. I've administered many standardized tests. If you didn't proctor the test yourself, you wouldn't have observed any of this. Proctors can't intervene anyway. If I were you, I would find a placement test for your son's grade level for Saxon or Teaching Textbooks (or any math program really) and administer the test and see how he did before worrying too much. The placement tests are somewhat standardized. If he scores within the recommended range, he is on target and probably messed up on the standardized test without realizing it.

The closest one I can think of for you is Mt. Diablo. It has an interesting drive with a few informational stops on the way up to the visitors center at the top. Climbing rocks, too...maybe. It's been awhile since I've been there. Mercer Caverns was a memorable field trip for me from way back in 5th grade. It's probably 3 hours away from you. You could realistically do a few cavern tours in a day if you do head to the Gold Country. Or a cavern tour and the gold mine tour outside of Jackson. Or tie in a trip to Calaveras Big Trees. It's not geology, but it is way more interesting than the petrified forest!

Searching Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/) will bring up the type of result you are looking for. If your online search doesn't bring up anything, you may need to take a trip to a university library. Usually they are open on Sundays.

For Shakespeare, I would highly recommend seeing if there is an acting company or a college drama department near you that produces a Shakespeare play ever year. Find out what play they are going to perform, read it, and have a field trip. Repeat for the next three years. Shakespeare is meant to be seen on stage. If you haven't already, build a foundation of Greek literature and know the Roman counterparts, because so many other works allude back to them or copy their story structure. Survey American Literature when you study US History, British and World Literature when you study World History, etc... I agree with the comments above that it is important to pick literature that engages your kids. Mix a contemporary work in with the great works here and there if your kids aren't big independent readers. Part of being cultured is knowing contemporary culture. too. The Canterbury Tales are important, but it is also important for your kids to be able to converse with their contemporaries who have never read The Canterbury Tales, but have read The Hunger Games and Percy Jackson.

What about Sonlight or Bookshark? Your kids are right at the ages where they could be in the same core and the written language arts component is brief at the young ages but it is made up for by the extensive reading, listening, and speaking components.