Homeschooling Middle School-- please advise

[m0mmaBuck]

After 3 yrs of HS'ing, I feel like I have the elementary school years under control. However, DS will be a 6th and I'm a bit apprehensive as I plan next year. Here are my plans:

 

Math: CLE 600 and Life of Fred (Pre-Algebra program)

Language: LLATL Tan; Vocabulary Cartoons, Spelling Power

Science: earth science and astonomy unit studies

History: SOTW2 and corresponding Story of Western Civilization

Latin: GSWL (we've done SSL and started GSWL this year but life got in the way)

Spanish: Instant Immersion Spanish

Music: continue with CLE's program and add Meet the Great Composers. Considering piano or guitar lessons.

Art: Artist studies as they relate to history. May outsource some hands on courses since I never seem to get around to art.

Logic: Building Thinking Skills 2 or Critical Thinking Book 1 and 2

Typing: continue with typing instructor

 

I feel like he needs more writing although I do have him to weekly book reports and monthly research papers. I was considering moving a subject or two to the computer to give him more practice with that but I don't even know where to start since we have avoided computer use beyond typing and minor research up to this point.

 

What else do I need to add or change to make it more challenging or middle school appropriate?

[m0mmaBuck]

I don't know why the font went all weird. Sorry.

[AK_Mom4]

Your plan looks pretty good to me!

Once you get going, if you are still feeling like there is not enough writing, you could always add in something like the Spectrum Writing workbook or Critical Thinking's Editor In Chief series for some editing practice. We found that LLATL did not quite last us through the whole year, so we spent the last two months filling in with story prompts from Scholastic (here: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/story-starters/ ) and the Spectrum book.

 

We don't do much on the computer other than typing reports. This next year for 7th, DD11's science text will be on the iPad and she will fill out her lab notes and tests using that.

[m0mmaBuck]

Thanks for that link! That looks helpful!

[TheApprentice]

It can be a bit nerve wracking as we move to the next level (middle school and high school). This was my first year of high school. :scared: But your plan looks really good. An option for writing is "Winning With Writing" (from the same publishers of "Growing With Grammar"). I plan on trying it with my 5th grader this year.

[Trish]

My kids enjoyed Apologia's "Jump In!" writing program during middle school.

[KarenNC]

Rather than specific curricula, I have focused more on a change in responsibility and independence. I didn't really do grades per se in elementary, but in 6th grade I started keeping grades in the subjects for which it was easy. In our case, that meant curricula with built-in tests (science, math, grammar). Tests were closed book, no do-overs if you didn't get the grade you wanted (but still had to correct all errors). Because our math has a form A and form B for each test, if she gets less than 70, she can take the second test but the first grade still stands and they are all averaged in the same. This was a wakeup call and incentive to my daughter to actually bother to study for things like the science test. My reasoning is that this is part of her learning curve, and I expect her to stumble and possibly fail a couple of tests while she's learning how to study----I want that now before it goes on a transcript in high school. We ramped up the grading a bit more in 7th.

 

I'm also continuing to work on independence in school work, though I haven't yet found a solution that is ideal for both of us. Currently, I'm trying printing off a week at a time calendar of assignments and activities, so that she will know what's planned, can see when she will be done and to keep me honest about not adding in extra work if she's faster than I expect :rolleyes: . I realized that last was not an incentive to her to work harder, quite the opposite! I'm trying to do all of our time together at the beginning of the day then letting her do anything possible that can be done independently afterwards on her own schedule, to work on time management skills (and lower my frustration of sitting there while she takes longer on a math problem set than I wanted).

 

We've added in an outside academic class for a grade this year (as opposed to just outside fun classes)--writing---and will add in more outside work next year. I've also gone to dvds for math. These are the two areas where she and I butt heads most frequently. Part of the outside class activity/strategy is that I've been more deliberate about finding areas in which I am not the leader/teacher. I moved out of leadership with her Girl Scout troop and am not involved in leadership in the church youth group---I support these activities in other ways. I want to give her space to have her own things without me, which is important at this stage, particularly for an only child IMO.

[EppieJ]

Looks good! Other writing programs you could consider are Wordsmith Apprentice and Writeshop. I haven't been to the Writeshop website recently, but I know they are in the process of designing books for the "tweens." We plan on using Writeshop 1 over 7th & 8th grades, so you would likely want the one below that (if it's available yet), or begin with Wordsmith Apprentice (which is what we did). You can find info on both programs here: http://www.writeshop.com/

 

Another thing you may be interested in is The Writer's Jungle. This is more of a method than a curriculum, which means you could take your history assignments, for example, and do writing projects corresponding to those. I plan to use some of this next year (7th grade) with ds, but I will not be adding in Bravewriter, just using some of Writer's Jungle. http://www.bravewriter.com/program/home-study-courses/the-writers-jungle/