Please check my 7th grade plans

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Would you ladies look over the classes my 7th grader is taking and make comments?

 

Math: Lial's BCM

Science: BJU Life Science W/DVDs

Grammar: Analytical Grammar: Season 2

Spelling: Megawords

Vocab: Wordly Wise

History: BiblioPlan: Ancients

Writing: SWB's writing for middle school

Literature: Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings (done orally with younger brother..... both VERY familiar with the books/movies)

Rosetta Stone Spanish Year 2 also, Getting Started with Spanish when we can fit it in.

Logic: Logic Countdown, Liftoff, Orbiting with Logic

 

I'm having trouble finding time for dd to WRITE.... this is a concern, and this week I'll work hard to fit this in better. Please make suggestions concerning this.

 

Getting Started with Spanish and Logic are not really happening. School is lasting from about 8am-4pm. I hope we'll see the length of our day shorten as we find our pace/routine. Then I hope these will fit in our day more easily.

 

Life Science is good, yet it's the most challenging class we've done. We're liking it more and more. If you've done this, can you tell me if you did EVERY project/assignment or did you pick and choose? How did you make this class work for you?

 

Is this a good work load for a 7th grader?

[angela in ohio]

We did BJU Life Science, but not with the DVDs. We didn't do every project. I went through at the beginning of the year and picked out the most academically meaningful for the amount of time they took.

 

Unless there was a spelling issue, I would drop Megawords and use that time for more writing. I tend to focus on writing the most in 7th-8th grade, in order to prepare for high school. Megawords and Wordly Wise seems repetitive, unless there is an issue. A lot of vocabulary is learned through literature in junior high and high school.

[Matryoshka]

Looks pretty similar to what we'll be doing (but we don't start till after Labor Day). I'm also a bit worried about figuring out how to fit it all in!

We're doing:

 

Math: Lial's BCM for dd1, Singapore DM1 for dd2

Science: EMcH's Carbon Chem, CPO Earth Science (sequentially)

Grammar: MCT Magic Lens 1

Vocab: MCT WWtW 1

History: K12 HO Ancients (and lots of supplementary stuff)

Writing: MCT Essay Voyage

Literature: Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings (partial) and LL8 (partial) - both to be finished over 2 years

Spanish: Breaking the Spanish Barrier 2

Logic: Philosophy for Kids, Critical Thinking 1

 

I'm not bothering with spelling anymore, and we also have German, but that's outsourced except for the homework. What sucks up all our time is the outside activities. This year we'll have to be out of the house pretty much every day by 1 or ealier - and we're not planning on starting school till 9 (with 8:30-9 being instrument practice) - I have no idea how we'll fit this all in! Having till 4 every day would be heaven!

 

I anticipate "homework" time every evening. I'm thinking we'll do Logic as discussions over dinner.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Looks pretty similar to what we'll be doing (but we don't start till after Labor Day). I'm also a bit worried about figuring out how to fit it all in!

We're doing:

 

Math: Lial's BCM for dd1, Singapore DM1 for dd2

Science: EMcH's Carbon Chem, CPO Earth Science (sequentially)

Grammar: MCT Magic Lens 1

Vocab: MCT WWtW 1

History: K12 HO Ancients (and lots of supplementary stuff)

Writing: MCT Essay Voyage

Literature: Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings (partial) and LL8 (partial) - both to be finished over 2 years

Spanish: Breaking the Spanish Barrier 2

Logic: Philosophy for Kids, Critical Thinking 1

 

I'm not bothering with spelling anymore, and we also have German, but that's outsourced except for the homework. What sucks up all our time is the outside activities. This year we'll have to be out of the house pretty much every day by 1 or ealier - and we're not planning on starting school till 9 (with 8:30-9 being instrument practice) - I have no idea how we'll fit this all in! Having till 4 every day would be heaven!

 

I anticipate "homework" time every evening. I'm thinking we'll do Logic as discussions over dinner.

 

I like your selection of classes! I think having a curriculua FOR writing helps. We actually used IEW Themed Early-American History for writing last year, but it was a lot to try to do as a first-time IEW user.

 

This year, I'm trying to use SWB's middle school writing. I think it will be ok, but as this is the beginning of the year, I'm having trouble fitting it into a time slot.

 

It has been suggested that it may be acceptable to leave spelling out of 7th grade. I must admit, this really might work. Spelling could definitely be studied within the context of writing. We also do Wordly Wise which could function as spelling..... it just wouldn't have spelling RULES associated with it.

 

Any thoughts????:bigear:

[5LittleMonkeys]

My dd7th would burn out if she had to work that long everyday. She is usually finished in about 5 hours. Just a couple of thoughts:

 

Do you do history and science on the same day? If so you could consider doing alternate days. Either do history on MWF and science on TTh or just a complete alternating schedule in which one week you would do history on MWF and the next week on TTh and science on TTh of one week and MWF of the next.

 

How about putting spelling and vocab aside until your finished with season 2 of AG (It's only 11 weeks or something right?). Then you could put spelling\vocab back into the schedule doubling up a bit if your concerned about getting a whole level done by the end of the year and still easily fit in the AG review. Spelling and vocab are also workbooks (right?) so I would schedule these for the end of the day so that if time is an issue she could complete these in the evening.

 

If you follow SWB recommendations for writing (A Plan for Writing) your writing time should be incorporated into your science, history and literature time. It shouldn't take more that about 20 minutes at the end of each subject (history, science and literature) to complete the writing. I do allow one subject period for outlines though as my dd struggles with these.

 

I've assigned times to your subject list that are comparable to what we do.

 

Math: 60 min.

Science: 60 min. alternating with History

Grammar: 60 min. for part of the year

Spelling: 30 min. after Grammar is done for the year

Vocab: 30 min. after Grammar is done for the year

History: 60 min. alternating with Science

Writing: Incorporated into subjects

Literature: 60 min.

Spanish: 60 min. (You could get both programs done in this time?)

Logic: 30 min.

 

That comes to 5.5 hours. Start at 8 and work til 12. Take an hour for lunch, then be done by 2:30! :D

[Guest TheBugsMom]

My dd7th would burn out if she had to work that long everyday. She is usually finished in about 5 hours. Just a couple of thoughts:

 

Do you do history and science on the same day? If so you could consider doing alternate days. Either do history on MWF and science on TTh or just a complete alternating schedule in which one week you would do history on MWF and the next week on TTh and science on TTh of one week and MWF of the next.

 

How about putting spelling and vocab aside until your finished with season 2 of AG (It's only 11 weeks or something right?). Then you could put spelling\vocab back into the schedule doubling up a bit if your concerned about getting a whole level done by the end of the year and still easily fit in the AG review. Spelling and vocab are also workbooks (right?) so I would schedule these for the end of the day so that if time is an issue she could complete these in the evening.

 

If you follow SWB recommendations for writing (A Plan for Writing) your writing time should be incorporated into your science, history and literature time. It shouldn't take more that about 20 minutes at the end of each subject (history, science and literature) to complete the writing. I do allow one subject period for outlines though as my dd struggles with these.

 

I've assigned times to your subject list that are comparable to what we do.

 

Math: 60 min.

Science: 60 min. alternating with History

Grammar: 60 min. for part of the year

Spelling: 30 min. after Grammar is done for the year

Vocab: 30 min. after Grammar is done for the year

History: 60 min. alternating with Science

Writing: Incorporated into subjects

Literature: 60 min.

Spanish: 60 min. (You could get both programs done in this time?)

Logic: 30 min.

 

That comes to 5.5 hours. Start at 8 and work til 12. Take an hour for lunch, then be done by 2:30! :D

:iagree:

 

Did you plan on alternating some classes or is that an everyday schedule. I always try running a mock day to see if it is too long or too short or if I would freak out. Sometimes I forget they are kids and just pile all the good stuff I find on them. Maybe by alternating some classes you will find more writing time.

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Thanks, ladies!!! You all made excellent points.

 

I am having dd finish Season 2 before beginning spelling and vocabulary. That is really helping!

 

As far as alternating days for history and science..... Bob Jones Life Science is pre-planned and has to be done every day. Biblioplan Ancients is done Monday -Thursday. Again, I don't know a way around that.

 

Today, I consciously worked writing in. History writing was done pretty easily. I feel better about it. Science writing is going to be a bit harder to do. My dd (7th grade) and my other two younger kids (5th and 2nd) all watch the Bob Jones Life Science DVD video lesson together. Then my dd goes off on her own to finish the assignment. I work with the boys without dd talking about the content on their maturity levels. I can help them with the writing, but time runs out as far as spending time with dd to help her with hers. The boys have done some writing in science, but dd hasn't done any yet.

 

The 7th grade work seems to take a long time. I hope it's just because we haven't found our groove yet..... I'm just concerned that writing isn't getting the attention required for my middle schooler. This is why most people would use a curriculum. Nothing is telling me, "Do this...." or, "Do that..." and it's up to me to be SURE we practice writing SKILLS.

 

I'm rambling. Maybe this will work out. Until then, do you understand my concern? Does this make sense? I HAVE to teach her the SKILLS she has to know to be prepared for highschool.

[5LittleMonkeys]

 

I'm rambling. Maybe this will work out. Until then, do you understand my concern? Does this make sense? I HAVE to teach her the SKILLS she has to know to be prepared for highschool.

 

OH YES! I have the same concerns. We are using History Odyssey which already schedules outlining and summaries. I think it pretty closely aligns with what SWB suggests doing for writing. Science is different though(more unit study based); I do have to make a conscious effort to make sure the writing gets done. It is a little scary to me to just use SWB suggestions and trust that by the time they are in highschool they will be able to write essays. I actually have a book on 6 trait writing that I am toying with implementing.:tongue_smilie:

 

I'll just throw this out in case you might think it could work for you. My two oldest start school an hour earlier than my other dc are even out of bed so that I can get one on one with them. Could you and your dd7th start maybe 30 minutes earlier (while the other two are doing chores or something) so you could discuss and help with her writing for the previous days science?

 

For what its worth I've used curricula that is scheduled for M - F and have still worked it into a rotation. It may mean doing that subject during some of your breaks but atleast it would lighten up your daily load. I have found that there are tons of alternate schedules for just about every subject out there on some yahoo group or another.

[angela in ohio]

As far as alternating days for history and science..... Bob Jones Life Science is pre-planned and has to be done every day. Biblioplan Ancients is done Monday -Thursday. Again, I don't know a way around that...

 

The 7th grade work seems to take a long time. I hope it's just because we haven't found our groove yet..... I'm just concerned that writing isn't getting the attention required for my middle schooler. This is why most people would use a curriculum. Nothing is telling me, "Do this...." or, "Do that..." and it's up to me to be SURE we practice writing SKILLS.

 

I'm rambling. Maybe this will work out. Until then, do you understand my concern? Does this make sense? I HAVE to teach her the SKILLS she has to know to be prepared for highschool.

 

I see nothing wrong with doing history and science every day. :001_smile: If you want to do serious science in junior high, it is a must, imho.

 

Things will take less and less time as the year goes on, and everyone gets their rhythm. It will all work out. I teach writing across the curriculum, and it is a little more difficult than following a set plan, but it is very worth it! :001_smile: