What to do for 7th grade?

[TracyR]

Well thankfully I'll be going back to regular homeschooling coming this fall. I'm not sure what to do with my daughter who will be in 7th grade this year! Wow.

Is this the time to get down to the nitty gritty? Or can we still have a little 'fun' with school?

[mcconnellboys]

I don't know, I'm trying to sort of get down to the nitty gritty. Have fun!

[Kim in Appalachia]

I have one who will be in 7th grade next year. I can tell you our plan (though it might change!)

 

English/writing--Rod and Staff I may use IEW for writing instead. I own some of the pre-done books, and I've used it before. I do think there are some advantages to Rod and Staff (teaching certain terms, formats, etc...) and I'm planning for her do do a lot of writing with the rest of her work.

 

Math--Rod and Staff

 

Science--this is still up in the air. It could be Rod and Staff (we used it this year) or Apologia (which I own).

 

History/Lit--my plan is to use Omnibus II over a 2 year period. This will be supplemented by outlining Spielvogel's text, and writing weekly summaries or reports.

 

Spanish--we have Rosetta Stone.

 

We don't do Latin and art this year was Rod and Staff's Art pac, which we may use next year too.

 

Hope that gave you some ideas. I think it's important to work on skills, such as writing and math, and to read lots of good books. However you do that is good. :001_smile:

[kewb]

I am bumping into this thread to say thanks for sharing your plan. I am starting to plan out 7th grade for next year, too.

[pbjmeyer]

My ds started 7th grade this year. We have done fewer field trips, and the work is now more challenging. I have had to focus on improving writing skill with IEW, and outlining skill by outlining weekly from Usborne History Encyc. We do Sonlight 6 for history reading. It's all a challenge for him. However, I only end up having 3 full school days of about 6 hours. One day is co-op, and one day is lighter due to bellchoir rehearsal cutting into the day.

 

I know he is not 'enjoying' the longer days, but in order to get ready for high school, we have to get skill levels ready. I have friends who have highschool kids, and they all have told me it just gets harder, and they need to get ready for the work expected.

 

Hope that helps.

[ChicoryChick]

We will be following the HOD- Hearts for Him Through Time - Resurrection to the Reformation, the only variation from the program that we will be doing is math, which we will use LoF - Fractions/Decimals/Percents (to help solidify after MUS) and then pre-algebra.

 

On Fridays we will be using art dvds, Abeka health, Latina Christiana I, Meet the composers Vol II and/or Guitar DVD and sign language.

[mcconnellboys]

I will add that I am moving to fewer subjects per day, with longer class periods than I've used with this child in past. He will still do outside activities, and because I don't control those and most don't get posted until well after I've already scheduled my school year, I'll find ways to work around them.

 

This is what I'm currently looking at insofar as scheduling:

 

Reading time - 8-9 - During this time period, he will read things related to religion, history (which will include art and music appreciation), and literature.

 

Math - 9-10 - One day per week he will have outside instruction with a math teacher, using a Brown, Dolciani algebra book. The other days he will work on his assignments from that instructor, as well as reviewing algebra topics by using a Videotext program that I already own.

 

Language Arts - 10-11 - per WTM recs, I will attempt to have him working on writing three days per week and grammar the other two. I'm still trying to decide if I am going to switch over from Abeka to R&S in order to best accomplish this. He will also work on Vocab daily (although not usually on Fridays), using Vocab for the College Bound (because I didn't like Vocab from Classical Roots last time around).

 

Foreign Language - 11-12 - He will be working through Latin Primer III on M,W,F; as well as slowly working through Elementary Greek (which I have scheduled to cover one lesson per week, right now; we'll see how it goes). On Tuesdays, he has an outside Spanish class with a native speaker. On Thursdays, he will work slowly through a Barron's book covering Spanish grammar.

 

Lunch! The most important time of the day! 12-1

 

Logic - 1-1:30 - He will be doing Nance's Intro Logic. Although it wasn't my favorite thing last time around, it has been revised and I think it's much more doable for a seventh grader than Cothran's logic books, so I'm giving it another try.

 

History/Literature - 1:30-3:30 - M,W,F - putting together my own things, per usual, to cover the early modern period. And on T,R he will be working through a Chemistry program that I am also putting together from various things. I will probably be doing an outside chemistry class for at least part of the school year, with the help of a chem professor from UK who I know (wish he would do the whole thing, ALONE, LOL, as I'm not much for chemistry)..... I may also get talked into doing outside history or lit classes, too. I've been doing some history with folks this year and I can't seem to bore them enough to make them give up on me....... But hopefully the group activities will add in some more fun for my son, too....

 

He studies piano, but that's really mostly outside our school day. He may elect to stay with an art teacher he's enjoyed this year and I'll have to plan around that. And then we'll see what else comes up....

[hillfarm]

We are doing a short Scripture memorization period, IEW for writing, R&S for grammar review, spelling review as needed, Math U See Pre Algebra for math, Nance's Intro to Logic, and McHenry's intro to chemistry and organic chemistry. We are continuing to use Great Books and other reading lists to devise a literature study, generally one related to some other subject we are also studying, such as history, science, etc. For history we have been doing TOG but due to starting late, will be piecing together for a couple of years so that we can do the full 4 yr. program for high school. I get to choose our history topic for one semester and dd chooses for the second one. So for 7th grade, my pick was History and Comparison of World Religions and dd's was Golden Ages of Ancient Civilizations. (For 8th grade, I'm leaning toward Colonial America and she has been talking about doing Historic American Indian Tribes.) We will also continue to study Spanish, with more focus on grammar and verb tenses than previously. To finish off our schedule, we will alternate art and music three days a week each, so one art or music class on Saturday! Plus we have various music group practices and performances during the weekday evenings.

 

I have noticed that our days are longer than before, but dd seems to enjoy the work and is fairly compliant about diligently completing it. She is still not quite as self directed as I would hope, but she is also a year younger than most 6th graders so I will cut her some slack in this area for a while longer. We have been working hard on critical thinking and general thinking skills and also some leadership training. I would love to be able to incorporate this into her 7th grade studies, but am not quite sure how to do that until we get into it and see.

 

Over the summer between 6th and 7th grades, we will be working through a good touch typing program, doing some basic computer programs like Power Point and Excel, and focusing on some fairly directed art and nature/animal studies. (Dd says that she wants a career in animal products design, but she is young, so could change at any time, but I don't think extra training in art and animal studies will hurt her any:).)

[HollyDay]

I can tell you what we did last year in 7th:

Grammar: Queens LL for Secondary Child vol 1 and Editor in Chief

Spelling: Power

Math: TT Pre-Algebra with LOF

Science: Apologia General

History: BF Early American and World Jr. High

Logic: Thinking Toolbox and Fallacy Detective

Reading: Lightening Lit 7

Fine Arts: BF History of Classical Music

Geography: Visualize World Geography and BF Geography through Lit

Writing: Jump In

[SilverMoon]

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Edited July 12, 2022 by SilverMoon

[orangearrow]

We'll be in 7th next year, and here's our current plan. We school year-round, though... so we'll be finishing up one set of books and just moving along to the next, which might happen for some subjects before she's "officially" a 7th grader.

 

 

Grammar: Rod & Staff 7

Spelling: Spelling Power

Math: finishing up Saxon 8/7 and moving to Saxon Algebra

Science: Apologia General

History: SOTW 4 and Hakim's History of the US -- and State History (We're in a co-op for this - so we will have weekly field trips as a part of this)

Logic: Building Thinking Skills

 

She is also in a Writing Club and next year we are planning a Mother/Daughter Book Club to help cover those subjects. Oh, and she also does Wordly Wise.

[Mama Lynx]

Yes, it's time to get down to some nitty gritty - but you certainly don't have to be all work and no play :)

 

Here are our plans for 7th grade in the fall:

 

Math - finishing up Singapore 6, and Life of Fred.

 

Latin - he does Cambridge Latin at our co-op, and a little Latin Prep at home

 

Greek - Elementary Greek at co-op

 

Writing - he's working on a short story (or stories), and he'll start Classical Writing Diogenes.

 

History and Lit. - ancients, don't have a plan pulled together yet.

 

We do some art here and there, some piano here and there, Scouts, soccer, D&D, and at co-op he also does science lab, drama, recitation, and a humanities class. He learns programming on the side, on his own and with a friend.

[meet me in paris]

I have a rising 7th grader, and I still plan on having lots o' fun! :) There's plenty of time for nitty-gritty down the road.

 

My loose plan is:

 

TRISMS History Makers (includes history/LA/IEW writing/non-lab science)

Oak Meadow Math 7

Oak Meadow Science 7

Something for Art History & Music History

[Quiver0f10]

My 7th grader will be doing:

 

Chalkdust Pre-Algebra or Saxon Alg 1/2

Apologia Physical Science

TOG III

R&S English 7

IEW U.S. Based Writing Lessons

SWR

Henle

Not sure on logic yet

[Matryoshka]

My twins will be doing 7th next year, and here's the plan:

 

LA: MCT Voyage level (Grammar/Vocab/Poetry/Writing)

Lightning Lit 8

Editor in Chief

 

Math: Singapore Discovering Math 1a/b

LOF Pre-Algebra w/ Biology (over summer)

Math Detective

 

Science: CPO Earth Science and/or Ellen McHenry's Carbon Chemistry

Science Detective

 

History/Geography: K12 Human Odyssey / The World in Ancient Times / lots of extra reading & documentaries

Map Skills w/ World History

 

Foreign Language: German Sat. School

Spanish Now! Level 2

 

Logic: Critical Thinking Level 1

Music: dd1 Piano, dd2 Violin & Orchestra

Art: Outside lesson

PE: dd1 Skating & ?, dd2 Ballet

 

They can already type quickly so I'm not listing that as instructional

I'm also thinking of having them read through Hakim's Story of Science - but just reading, not as a spine. Not sure if that would be counted as Science or History! :tongue_smilie:

[Brindee]

DD is in 7th this year. We've actually had a pretty relaxed year so far, but have started hitting the books a bit more recently, to gear up for 8th and 9th.

 

This is what we're doing:

 

Bible: Queens "The Standard of Purity" and Bible memorization

 

Math: CLE Math 8

 

Vocabulary: Started out with Vocabu-Lit, but she didn't like it, so we switched to Vocab. From Classical Roots A, which I had already.

 

Art & Music Appreciation: Harmony Fine Arts for 7th

 

Foreign Language: Visual Link Spanish

 

History: TTC Early American History

 

PE: Horse riding lessons, variety

 

Science: Rainbow

 

Grammar: Hake

 

Writing: Write Shop

 

Art: R&S Artpac 7

 

DD decided she'd like to do all of her History, then do all of her Science. She has LOVED the TTC Early American History! She's done, and is still doing history readings, but we've started the Rainbow now.

 

Also, we are just starting the Write Shop. She was finishing up the Dandylion Logic series up 'til now, so we're putting logic on the back burner for awhile and are concentrating on the writing.

 

She loves everything we're doing this year, which is exciting for me! She has recently stepped up in her motivation, so now is the good time to add in a bit more reading, and the science and writing, which both will be taking more time than the logic and history were taking.

 

It's been a different year than usual, more laid back on both our parts, but we've certainly enjoyed it!

 

ETA: Oh yeah, we're also starting TTC's "How to be a Superstar Student"

Edited February 17, 2010 by Brindee

[elegantlion]

I'm just finalizing plans for my rising 7th grader. I plan to ramp up the study skills, Latin, my organization skills, writing, and overall responsibility & accountability.

 

Here's our plan:

 

Latin Alive I

CW Homer (2nd half of book)

Algebra I

Earth Science

Art of Argument (unit 2)

New Testament Bible

Asian Studies (History, geography, lit, some art)

Japanese I

Music Theory & trumpet

 

The Asian studies & Japanese were at his request, so that's our fun subject for next year.

[amyco]

My dd will be in 7th next year. I am not so keen on finalizing these choices as I have been in the past. I feel a little ill thinking that my baby will be in 7th grade. Pardon me while I take a moment...

 

...there. Sorry. I'll work on composing myself better!

 

Off the top of my head, here's the plan:

 

Latin: Second Form (Memoria Press)

History: History Odyssey Level 2, Early Modern

Grammar: Rod and Staff 7

Rosetta Stone Spanish

MUS Pre-algebra, with LOF Pre-algebra (I also have Lial's BCM should I need it ;) )

 

The above are all but guaranteed. Here are things I am contemplating:

Classical Writing, online tutorial for Aesop/Homer Older Beginners

Logic? Probably just more Mind Benders and that sort of thing, nothing formal

Vocabulary? Spelling? Her spelling isn't stellar but we hate it sooo much...I'm thinking about just moving her to Vocab from Classical Roots.

Literature? We'll probably just do as we're doing now--I hand her books, she reads them, sometimes we talk about them, sometimes she writes about them--this area seriously lacks in our homeschool.

 

She'll also take art and probably geography thru a co-op.

[SonshineLearner]

We'll be doing Challenge A, plus a different Latin course, and our own Math...

Carrie:-)

 

EEEKKK she'll be in 7th!!