AimeeM Posted November 28, 2012 Posted November 28, 2012 Not going to lie - I'm thrilled. We gave her the option of going back to Catholic school next year because she seems to miss it so badly. At first, she jumped at it. Within the last week, she had second thoughts and then yesterday she asked if she could stay home again next year! All she wants out of it is to sign up for an online ASL class that I found. She will technically be in 7th grade, but her ability is all over the map - she will need to do 6th grade reading, 5th grade spelling and writing, high school level science, and algebra for math. Can you guys help me think through my plan for her? Tentatively, it looks like this: Grammar and Writing: Hake 7 (we are doing 6 now and it is working very well) Spelling: Apples and Pears C Literature: Memoria Press grade 6 literature guides History: ? Vocabulary:? Math: Teaching Textbooks Algebra I (and maybe 2, since it appears she will be able to start TT Algebra I in the middle of the program; we are using Calvert and Math Mammoth 6 right now) Science: Ruth's plan, tweaked for next year was the original plan, but I'm nervous about it; I won't have a lot of time to help her with this (also homeschooling a Kindergartner next year and will have a young toddler)... so I was thinking maybe Exploration Education Advanced, but I've heard mixed reviews on it... Art History: A Child's History of Art Architecture Extras: ASL class, Ballet Am I missing anything? Beyond that, anyone have good recs for my "up in the air" subjects (science, history, vocabulary)? Ruth's plan is working well this year for science, but I wasn't planning on having her home next year, and the demand for my time will be seriously upped next year with the ages of my other children, so I'm not sure if I can pull it off again (although I'm keeping it in mind to try). If you have suggestions, nothing young earth please. For history we need world history (beginning); preferably NOT protestant and nothing that is disrespectful of the the Catholic church. Dorothy Mills? I hesitate because she doesn't have a guide ready for her middle ages book. Vocabulary... we tried Caesar's English this past year and it was too mastery for her. I think she needs spiral. Quote
wapiti Posted November 28, 2012 Posted November 28, 2012 For history, how about the Light to the Nations text? What does she think of From Sea to Shining Sea? For math, from a perspective of talent-development in a strong math student starting algebra as a 7th grader, I'd want to plan out a sequence in which you follow TT with (or use instead, depending) a text that has more depth/concept development and greater difficulty of problems. (If it were me, assuming aops is not appropriate, I'd be thinking along the lines of Jacobs followed by a semester or so of working through problems in Foerster. The early chapters in Jacobs would go quickly.) Quote
AimeeM Posted November 28, 2012 Author Posted November 28, 2012 Jacobs was my first choice - I wasn't sure, though, how mom intensive it would need to be (I'm not a math person; I'm a history and lit kind of gal). I've heard that if a strong math student hits a roadblock, it's likely to hit in Algebra. Would Jacob's be pretty easy for her to do on her own (without risk of mom screwing it up for her, lol)? Does it have strong review units? You're right about aops - not a possibility for her with her reading roadblocks and working memory issues. She loves From Sea to Shining Sea; it's going very well! I wanted Light to the Nations but every review I've read has stated that they (the reviewers) believe it should be a high school level text, not a middle school text... the reading level is difficult. She is dyslexic and not a strong reader. Given, I could only find two reviews on it, so I'm not sure how accurate they are. Lol. Do you have any experience with it? I've looked at the samples and it doesn't look like a difficult read... but I'm not sure if, like aops, the samples are a bit deceptive? For history, how about the Light to the Nations text? What does she think of From Sea to Shining Sea? For math, from a perspective of talent-development in a strong math student starting algebra as a 7th grader, I'd want to plan out a sequence in which you follow TT with (or use instead, depending) a text that has more depth/concept development and greater difficulty of problems. (If it were me, assuming aops is not appropriate, I'd be thinking along the lines of Jacobs followed by a semester or so of working through problems in Foerster. The early chapters in Jacobs would go quickly.) Quote
wapiti Posted November 28, 2012 Posted November 28, 2012 Jacobs was my first choice - I wasn't sure, though, how mom intensive it would need to be (I'm not a math person; I'm a history and lit kind of gal). I've heard that if a strong math student hits a roadblock, it's likely to hit in Algebra. Would Jacob's be pretty easy for her to do on her own (without risk of mom screwing it up for her, lol)? Does it have strong review units? You're right about aops - not a possibility for her with her reading roadblocks and working memory issues. My ds went through the first several chapters. For some, he was able to skip a few lessons, do a lesson or two and then the chapter review. He moved back over to aops pre-alg, though I still plan to go back to Jacobs at some point - I really like it. IMO, following MM6, you and your dd should have no trouble with the first half of Jacobs. The lessons develop so gently over the course of the exercises. I don't know about the second half yet. The chapter reviews are good, and each lesson includes "Set I" exercises, which are a handful of review problems, before moving on to the Set II exercises, which address the lesson topic. I think the review is perfect. As for teaching the second half from a non-mathy mom perspective, I'd either (a ) plan to re-learn algebra (I need to do this myself for teaching ds; while I am confident in my own math ability, I find that I've forgotten a lot!) or (b ) have someone on-hand for difficult areas - do I recall that your DH might fit the bill? I might be remembering wrong, as usual... (dd says I don't remember anything :glare:) She loves From Sea to Shining Sea; it's going very well! I wanted Light to the Nations but every review I've read has stated that they (the reviewers) believe it should be a high school level text, not a middle school text... the reading level is difficult. She is dyslexic and not a strong reader. Given, I could only find two reviews on it, so I'm not sure how accurate they are. Lol. Do you have any experience with it? I've looked at the samples and it doesn't look like a difficult read... but I'm not sure if, like aops, the samples are a bit deceptive? I don't have Light to the Nations. My dd also enjoyed From Sea to Shining Sea. The funny thing is that, just looking at it, I thought the reading level might give her trouble, but it didn't. My dd also really enjoyed the PDF workbook, which on the one hand seemed a little silly, but I do think helped her by requiring her to go back to the text to find the answers. I vaguely recall that Light to the Nations should have a workbook as well. I haven't seen the reviews to Light to the Nations, but I wonder whether the reviewers were referring to reading level alone or some other aspect of understanding ideas that might not be a problem for your dd. Quote
AimeeM Posted November 28, 2012 Author Posted November 28, 2012 We are using MM6 and Calvert (both strong programs; just opposite in method, lol). My husband does feel that it's giving her a very strong prealgebra foundation. With that said, you are right - my husband is very, very strong in maths and science... he is not very patient with math. Lol. I think you may be right - I may need to just relearn algebra before her. I'm not horrible at it, I just find absolutely no joy in it. I really, really love the looks of Jacobs and if it has a review set at the beginning of the chapter, it may be perfect for her. Thanks! Light to the Nations may be a good choice for us - Autumn really enjoys the workbook for STSS, so I bet she'd like the workbook for LTTN. I read STSS to her and would just need to do the same with LTTN. Not a huge deal. I couldn't tell by the description on CTP's website, is it world history? The description made it sound like primarily Church history. My ds went through the first several chapters. For some, he was able to skip a few lessons, do a lesson or two and then the chapter review. He moved back over to aops pre-alg, though I still plan to go back to Jacobs at some point - I really like it. IMO, following MM6, you and your dd should have no trouble with the first half of Jacobs. The lessons develop so gently over the course of the exercises. I don't know about the second half yet. The chapter reviews are good, and each lesson includes "Set I" exercises, which are a handful of review problems, before moving on to the Set II exercises, which address the lesson topic. I think the review is perfect. As for teaching the second half from a non-mathy mom perspective, I'd either (a ) plan to re-learn algebra (I need to do this myself for teaching ds; while I am confident in my own math ability, I find that I've forgotten a lot!) or (b ) have someone on-hand for difficult areas - do I recall that your DH might fit the bill? I might be remembering wrong, as usual... (dd says I don't remember anything :glare:) I don't have Light to the Nations. My dd also enjoyed From Sea to Shining Sea. The funny thing is that, just looking at it, I thought the reading level might give her trouble, but it didn't. My dd also really enjoyed the PDF workbook, which on the one hand seemed a little silly, but I do think helped her by requiring her to go back to the text to find the answers. I vaguely recall that Light to the Nations should have a workbook as well. I haven't seen the reviews to Light to the Nations, but I wonder whether the reviewers were referring to reading level alone or some other aspect of understanding ideas that might not be a problem for your dd. Quote
wapiti Posted November 28, 2012 Posted November 28, 2012 I really, really love the looks of Jacobs and if it has a review set at the beginning of the chapter, it may be perfect for her. FWIW, the review set is at the beginning of the exercises for each lesson, not each chapter. So, plenty :) I couldn't tell by the description on CTP's website, is it world history? The description made it sound like primarily Church history. I don't know - I thought it was world history with a good bit of church history woven into it (like FSTSS). Quote
AimeeM Posted November 28, 2012 Author Posted November 28, 2012 FWIW, the review set is at the beginning of the exercises for each lesson, not each chapter. So, plenty :) I don't know - I thought it was world history with a good bit of church history woven into it (like FSTSS). Is the TM helpful for Jacob's? I've heard of CDs for it, but I can't recall exactly. Quote
ElizabethB Posted November 28, 2012 Posted November 28, 2012 Marcia Henry's Words would combine spelling, vocab, and word root study for you. The samples are from early on, they get up to 3 to 5 or 6 syllable Greek and Latin words and study of their roots, suffixes, and prefixes. (Or in the case of Greek, combining forms.) http://www.proedinc.com/customer/productView.aspx?id=989 Quote
Heathermomster Posted January 1, 2013 Posted January 1, 2013 How were you planning to teach writing? How has history gone this year? My dyslexic 7th grader uses Sadlier-Oxford Vocab B and English From the Roots Up cards for vocabulary study. Quote
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