Melissa in CA Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Just trying to get a better perspective on our curricula scheduling... What subjects, for a 7th grader, would you consider gravy...meaning not super important, not something that must be done daily, or even completed by years end (ex. Science text) Math Science English Latin Writing History (including geography) Literature Logic Art Spelling Vocabulary I am assuming Math, Writing & Literature (reading) are the most important at this age...the three R's so to speak...and they should be done daily. But, everything else, including Science and even History, are considered gravy; If you get to it, great, if you don't, no harm no foul. Currently we do most of the above as if nothing is gravy....but I am wondering if I should scale back a bit and enjoy the ride more. Then I can stop feeling guilty when we don't have time for Latin, as long as we've done some writing each day. And that if we don't get our science book completed by years end, my son is still getting a good education, etc. What say you? What subjects would you consider daily 'must-do's'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 English (reading/lit, grammar, comp--whatever comes up), history, math science to me are daily must-dos. Everything else is gravy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in CA Posted October 13, 2009 Author Share Posted October 13, 2009 English (reading/lit, grammar, comp--whatever comes up), history, math science to me are daily must-dos. Everything else is gravy. So, from my list, you would consider these must-dos? Math Science English Writing History (including geography) Literature Spelling Vocabulary And these gravy? Latin Logic Art Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I wouldn't do separate Writing and Literature for a 7th grader but rather incorporate those subjects into my study of History. Spelling and Vocabulary I wouldn't do separately either. Math, Grammar, and Latin I would do daily. History and Science I would probably do on a 3 day/2 day rotation and alternate weeks. Logic and Art I would aim to get in at least once per week, but not sweat them too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I don't think any subject needs to be done daily, but I think all of those subjects should be covered in full in the 7th grade (and I think it's very doable, assuming no issues like LDs, etc). To clarify: Any foreign language, not neccesarily Latin, and spelling and vocab might be encompassed in other subjects, but otherwise, yeah, plan to cover roughly a year's material in each of those subjects. If I was having trouble fitting these into a reasonable school day, I'd look first at my planning and scheduling. Is the work prepped (either by me or b/c that's the way it comes) so that my kids are spending school time working, not waiting? Do we have a good routine? Are the kids focused, not wasting time, etc? Is the work planned, do we keep an eye on Again, doing a year's work in a subject doesn't have to mean doing it daily. We get more done in one hour than in two half-hours, so fiddle with the schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in CA Posted October 13, 2009 Author Share Posted October 13, 2009 I wouldn't do separate Writing and Literature for a 7th grader but rather incorporate those subjects into my study of History. Spelling and Vocabulary I wouldn't do separately either. Math, Grammar, and Latin I would do daily. History and Science I would probably do on a 3 day/2 day rotation and alternate weeks. Logic and Art I would aim to get in at least once per week, but not sweat them too much. So, you would consider History, Science, Logic and Art more gravy-ish, than daily must-dos? I'm finding as I think this through that I agree with that, but I am still wondering. I LOVE history, so I love to focus on that. But sometimes it's to the detriment of other equally, if not more important, subjects. KWIM? How do you incorporate Spelling and Vocab together? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I wouldn't do separate Writing and Literature for a 7th grader but rather incorporate those subjects into my study of History. Spelling and Vocabulary I wouldn't do separately either. Math, Grammar, and Latin I would do daily. History and Science I would probably do on a 3 day/2 day rotation and alternate weeks. Logic and Art I would aim to get in at least once per week, but not sweat them too much. :iagree: This sums up my thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 To be honest, all of those are musts for me except vocabulary, which just happens around here. I would add in PE. Our logic slot rotates between logic, philosophy and RE. If I found myself in desperately difficult circumstances, then I'd cut it down to English (including literature and writing), maths, history, science, PE and any language that the child had already spent some time on. ETA I don't do every subject every day, but each is done at least weekly, with English and Maths every day. Best wishes Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 To be honest, all of those are musts for me except vocabulary, which just happens around here. I would add in PE. Our logic slot rotates between logic, philosophy and RE. If I found myself in desperately difficult circumstances, then I'd cut it down to English (including literature and writing), maths, history, science, PE and any language that the child had already spent some time on. ETA I don't do every subject every day, but each is done at least weekly, with English and Maths every day. Best wishes Laura //hijack// what's RE? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 //hijack// what's RE? We are a non-religious family, but I think that RE is important nonetheless. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Just trying to get a better perspective on our curricula scheduling... What subjects, for a 7th grader, would you consider gravy...meaning not super important, not something that must be done daily, or even completed by years end (ex. Science text) Math Science English Latin Writing History (including geography) Literature Logic Art Spelling Vocabulary I am assuming Math, Writing & Literature (reading) are the most important at this age...the three R's so to speak...and they should be done daily. But, everything else, including Science and even History, are considered gravy; If you get to it, great, if you don't, no harm no foul. Currently we do most of the above as if nothing is gravy....but I am wondering if I should scale back a bit and enjoy the ride more. Then I can stop feeling guilty when we don't have time for Latin, as long as we've done some writing each day. And that if we don't get our science book completed by years end, my son is still getting a good education, etc. What say you? What subjects would you consider daily 'must-do's'. I think it depends on the family. Some kids are much more science and math focused, others literature focused. For us the not entirely necessary stuff is: logic, vocabulary, art, music, memory and bible. The can't be skipped are: reading, composition, history, math, and grammar. The need to get to but can be skipped occasionally are: Japanese, spelling, and science. We don't do Latin - so that never get's done. Mine also does a programming class online, and since it's online it always get's done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Logic and art are gravy. Everything else is important but like another posted suggested, not every subject needs to be done everyday. This is the ONLY way we are able to do all we need to get done in a day - by rotating some out. So some subjects - 1 or 2 are not done daily. Oh, and homework on the weekends is happening more frequently! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 So, from my list, you would consider these must-dos? Math Science English Writing History (including geography) Literature Spelling Vocabulary And these gravy? Latin Logic Art Yes, although you should understand that I'm not a WTMer, so Latin and Logic are not high on *my* priority list. :-) FTR, "English", especially at the high school level, includes grammar, writing, literature, vocabulary, and spelling (if it's done, which it usually isn't in high school). I'm not sure how *you* divide "English" from writing and the rest, but at the high school level (actually, even 7th and 8th grade, although sometimes there's also "reading" at 7th), it's usually 1 credit for all English-related studies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 (edited) What subjects, for a 7th grader, would you consider gravy...meaning not super important, not something that must be done daily, or even completed by years end (ex. Science text) I've been wondering the same thing around here. Our school year has been shaping up differently than I expected. I am finding myself having to alternate science and history, which is something I don't really want to do. I really am able to see how many subjects are interrelated and how you can use them to teach a variety of disciplines by including a variety of assignments. For example, math science and history encompass logic. Both science and history encompass language arts assignments and encourages the development of study/planning skills through use of various labs and research projects. These subjects also teach students to document their work and be able to provide the reasoning behind their conclusions. I can also pull vocabulary words from history, science, math and literature, so I see the integration there. Here is my approach for my 7th grader on the subjects you listed: Math - Pre Algebra year - must be done daily Science - I want this to be done daily, right now it's getting done daily every other week. This is our first year with a more "formal" science curriculum. I want to expose him to studying this subject before high school and I want to introduce him to Life Science before we hit Biology in high school. Previously most of his science has been reading and science projects. English - We do "Language Arts" - an umbrella term I use to include grammar, spelling and some writing. Grammar is daily. Spelling is daily and is independently done. We added Spelling after the standardized test scores dropped a bit last year, so it is for review. Any writing projects, summaries or reports relating to literature that is read comes under the Language Arts umbrella. Other subjects have their own writing assignments and are counted as part of that subject. Latin - gravy - we don't have time for this right now Writing - see note under "English" History (including geography) - Right now we are getting it done daily, but every other week. We seem to be alternating science with history. Both courses have heavy requirements this year. I would prefer to be able to do it everyday. I don't consider this gravy due to the benefits I listed in the first paragraph. Literature - a little bit of both. I am planning for ds to actually do book studies on 4-6 books this year. All other reading will be casual. The book studies will teach literary elements. Over all, if I have to drop this I would. He does a lot of reading in all subjects. It is probably a bit of gravy. I include this under the Language Arts umbrella. Logic - gravy as a seperate topic. We use discussion, projects and writing assignments to teach logic in more real life situations. I don't so much care if he knows all of the logic terms, I do care if he employs logic in his thinking processes. I think that is best taught through the use of other subjects, helping them tie the different facts together to draw conclusions, recognize cause/effect, recognize bias in writing, and recognize faulty thinking, etc. During high school, I am going hoping to be able to require him to spend two years doing Lincoln Douglas debate through the NCFCA, but we will have to see how his extra curricular requirements shape up. Art - as part of history, I wouldn't consider it gravy because the Fine Arts reflect the way people processed their surroundings. In some areas of history, visual arts are the only cultural records we have. The integration between art and science is relevant from a historical perspective as well. I wouldn't do a full art or music history course unless ds was very interested and it would be a high school course. For technique, I consider it gravy at this point. My son loves to draw & I am providing encouragement for him to do so and to learn different techniques. In Jan. I may add a drafting course as he is interested in engineering and it might be an interesting elective for him. If I had a student that was unusually talented or was inclined to pursue a career in the arts, I would be more inclinded to consider it core. I also think that a certain amount of drawing instruction is helpful for science lab reports, but a Mark Kistler course would probably be enough to cover what is needed for that. Spelling - see response under "English" Vocabulary - as a separate subject, gravy. I think this one should be integrated with the subjects being studied and the literature being read. For SAT prep, I will probably add teaching Latin and Greek roots in 8th or 9th grade. If you are doing Latin, I think that vocabulary would be redundant at this age. Currently we do most of the above as if nothing is gravy....but I am wondering if I should scale back a bit and enjoy the ride more. I actually have taken the opposite approach the closer we get to high school. We are focusing on developing the discipline & skill of study, here. I do wish I had been more relaxed through about 4th grade, then slowly increase requirements and expectations beginning in 5th grade. Oh well! What's done is done!What say you? What subjects would you consider daily 'must-do's'.I probably gave you way more information than you wanted! Edited October 15, 2009 by TechWife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beezus Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Hi Melissa, I have a 7th grader too, and my list of subjects is nearly identical to yours. Latin has turned out to be the "gravy" for us. I have tried several different Latin approaches, but my kid still hates it and balks at it every time. We have been having a hard time getting everything done, so I have decided to drop it for now, and work on Latin roots in vocabulary instead. We don't do every subject every day either. I alternate between spelling and vocabulary, or use the vocabulary words as the spelling words. We spend a shorter amount of time on those than on other things. Math is every day. Science and history/geography we do at least four days a week. I also break language arts up into literature and writing, along with the spelling and vocabulary. Literature and writing are four days a week. I don't have big writing projects all the time, but we work on some aspect of writing on each of those four days. I like another person's suggestion about incorporating history readings as part of your literature approach. We have started doing a bit less than what I originally planned on logic as well. I haven't used the logic resources you have listed, so I wouldn't know what to suggest there. We try to do logic 2 to 3 times a week. I'm not prepared to cut logic out of our schedule, but I don't necessarily spend as much time on that as on math, science, language arts and history. I have an art and music lover, so those things couldn't possibly go in our gravy boat! I schedule lighter Fridays and art is one of the things she really looks forward to on Friday. Kathleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 I don't really think any of it is gravy, but I do think that many things can be combined. History--include study of art with occasional projects as time warrents Lit--include vocabulary, spelling, and writing with this or writing could also be part of history Lit and History could also be combined. Latin and English(which I assume is grammar) could also be combined. I don't think everything needs to be covered in the same depth or everyday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I haven't read the other responses yet, but IMO, the "gravy" would be Latin, Art, Logic, and (gasp!) vocabulary -- unless your 7th grader has a particularly weak vocabulary. I think science is important, but not necessarily something you need to do every single day -- a few times a week would probably be enough, unless you have a future physician or aspiring scientist on your hands. You could probably get away with Latin, Art, Science, and Logic once or twice a week. I'm sure you could do the same with History and it wouldn't be a big deal, either. I think it mainly depends on how burned out and overly scheduled you're feeling. Some people can spend the entire day on schoolwork and enjoy the intensity of it, while others need to be finished by lunchtime or they feel completely fried by the end of the day. Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delighted3 Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I thought, "Well, there is brown gravy, tomato gravy, sausage gravy... I wonder why she is asking" and then I opened your post and felt pretty silly.:lol: Joy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Of what you've listed, I would say the following would be gravy for 7th grade: Latin Logic Art Spelling (if a proficient speller) Vocabulary (if not a proficient speller) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I have a sixth grader so we are close. She does math and music (recorder practice) daily. She does science, art, history and creative writing twice a week. She usually does art and history on Monday and Wednesday and science and writing on Tuesday and Thursday. We use Friday as a make up day. Although history contains quite a bit of literature and writing so she is really doing some form of english daily. We aren't doing a foreign language yet because I just can't make it happen. I am working on figuring out a way to make it work for next year. I am also working on getting a more formal science class. She is working her way through the Marine Biology Coloring book as science. I know it isn't perfect, but it is what we can do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 (edited) Spelling (if a proficient speller) Vocabulary (if not a proficient speller) :iagree: If spelling isn't mastered yet, I'd focus on that & just discuss those words for a little vocab lesson. If spelling is already mastered, I'd drop it & focus on higher vocabulary (which kinda includes spelling of same). One or the other. Julie Edited October 16, 2009 by Julie in MN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 With us, it wasn't (mine are in high school and college now) a matter of gravy; it was more a matter of daily and not daily. It turns out that we couldn't learn math, music, or foreign languages unless it was daily. In fact, math and languages had to be twice daily. We're seive-brained. I did history four days a week in little segments, and science the fifth day all afternoon. That gave us time to do experiments. We did art in the summer, but we did drawing daily or weekly (depending on which book we were using). Writing we did several times a week. We did spelling in context, and we didn't do grammar or vocab; we used Latin instead. When we did logic, we did it four times a week. We did literature four or five times a week. If I had to rank the subjects in order of importance for middle school, for us, I would say math, foreign languages, music, drawing, writing, literature, science, history, logic. Gymnastics got pretty high priority, too. I know this is a weird order, but it has to do with giving priority to: 1. a healthy body (gymnastics, food, and sleep), 2. emotional-survival-skills (drawing and music, friends), and 3. academic skills. Academic content came in dead last compared to those others. Other things that took priority over academic content (history and science) were learning a good work ethic (gymnastics helped this), learning how to appy morals, learning how to get along with people, becoming more global in their thought, and learning study skills. -Nan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Well I'm on my way out, but I'll be ornery and say I consider academics the gravy and life the meat. But I like lots of gravy on my meat, hehe. If you're not getting to latin consistently, and you really want to get to it, then obviously something has to get trimmed down. Looking at your list, I'd drop the CLE Reading. You obviously think he needs spelling, or you wouldn't be doing it. The BJU stuff is working on his reading comprehension, meaning the BJU science is doing double duty and actually MORE important than the CLE reading. And you're doing CW and 4 other things, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in CA Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 Thanks for the replies everyone!! I get so confused with all the different philosophies out there in regards to what's important, what's not so important, etc. that I wanted to ask and get a general consensus. After reading all the posts, I think I am on the right track though. We do two days a week of Science, but it's double lessons, so basically 4 days of science each week. The same with Grammar. On the off 5th day, my son does all of his TOG History. Then daily we do things like bible, math, writing and Lit. I squeeze in Latin, spelling, and logic as time allows each week. I was feeling a bit worried that my ds would not actually finish his BJU Life science by years end by only doing four lessons a week...but have decided that it really, really doesn't matter. Really. :D This science course is SO full that even if he got half of it done he would be getting 2x more than the average ps child. It's all good. We are not getting to Latin everyday because I just don't have time everyday. So, I guess I'll be happy if we get to it 2x to 3x a week, and perhaps I'll eventually decide to be a Classical Curriculum drop-out and ditch it...like I am seriously considering doing with CW! :confused::tongue_smilie: I have had my son complete two lessons from an IEW History-based book and it's been a big hit, and A LOT less time-consuming on my part. I guess after homeschooling for years, and years, and graduating two boys already, I am getting T I R E D. Not tired of having my son home doing school, but definitely tired of being a full time teacher-mom. It's exhausting for me right now...could it be due to my hitting mid-forty? :tongue_smilie: Anyhow, I just wanted to respond and say how much I appreciate you all taking time to respond. It was very helpful. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reya Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Just trying to get a better perspective on our curricula scheduling... What subjects, for a 7th grader, would you consider gravy...meaning not super important, not something that must be done daily, or even completed by years end (ex. Science text) Math Science English Latin Writing History (including geography) Literature Logic Art Spelling Vocabulary I am assuming Math, Writing & Literature (reading) are the most important at this age...the three R's so to speak...and they should be done daily. But, everything else, including Science and even History, are considered gravy; If you get to it, great, if you don't, no harm no foul. Currently we do most of the above as if nothing is gravy....but I am wondering if I should scale back a bit and enjoy the ride more. Then I can stop feeling guilty when we don't have time for Latin, as long as we've done some writing each day. And that if we don't get our science book completed by years end, my son is still getting a good education, etc. What say you? What subjects would you consider daily 'must-do's'. For ME, PERSONALLY, it'd all be required by then just because I like to be hyper-ready for the next stage. But realistically, I'd say-- English/Lit Math History Science with writing across the curriculum. I'm planning on being DONE with both spelling and grammar by 7th grade. Logic and vocab are totally gravy, and it's typical to do a high school foreign language book in two years instead of one in middle school, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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