2016-2017 7th grade plan

[homeschoolmama37]

I just started posting on the boards here and am enjoying it immensely. So I thought I'd share our 7th grade plan for dd who is 12 and our only child left homeschooling.

 

So here it is:

• History: Heart of Dakota Revival to Revolution
• Science: Heart of Dakota- Exploration Education physical science, inventors study
• Language Arts: Bridge to the Latin Road, Englsh from the Roots Up (we just memorize the roots and their meanings), Building Spelling Skills 7 (CLA), The Exciting World of Creative Writing, Progeny Press & TLP for literature. Marie's Words if I can work it in because I think the concept is very fun!
• Bible: Heart of Dakota- Apologia Who is God?, Heroes of Faith Hebrews
• Math: This is our biggest struggle! (see thread here- http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/613504-math-for-struggling-6th-grader/?do=findComment&comment=7063124  I've decided to do remedial work first with Miquon. We'll work through all the workbooks, then I will give placement tests for my top picks- RightStart or Teaching Textbooks. I'm also looking into Ronit Bird which has been recommended. We will also use Mad Dog Math and Times Tales.  I also bought Grocery Cart Math for practical, life lessons.
• Extras: Spanish with Mango languages, Italian Cooking & Knitting with our local co-op, character studies for girls with Polished Cornerstones, and I'm still deciding on music and art.

I'm excited and looking forward to the year though it will be different since we graduated our son last spring. Onward and upward!! ;)

 

[Christiahn]

For our 7th grade son (13 in Dec):

 

Math: I bought Math Mammoth and T.T. 7 with the intention of using T.T 7 as a back up. But last minute wimped out. He does well with the mini-bites of information in each lesson and the built in review. So now I have Math Mammoth for back up. 

 

Science: Science in the Scientific Revolution; He caught me looking into it, noticed it covered coding and that was it.

 

History: Revolution, a unit study from shpublishing, and Foundation For Freedom US Constitution, plus additional books; these lined up with his interests topically so hopefully they fit his style. But if not I have All American History V1 as a back up.

 

Language Arts: Phonetic Zoo, Patriotic Penmanship, & Vocab Cartoons (on a loop); BraveWriter Online Classes for the 1st semester (he lined it up much to my surprise-Movie Discussion Course, Just for Fun 1, Nature Study, Homer Price Arrow Club; Short Story); Teaching the Classics (might formally use it next semester but this semester, I plan informal socratic talks with picture books)

 

Foreign Language/Critical Thinking: Rosetta Stone French, Math Balance, SmartyPants (on a loop)

 

Bible: Money Matter for Kids book and Money Matter for Teen Wkbk

 

Read Aloud: Bruchko (not the full title and it's the sequel); my son liked the first one so much he hounded me until I bought the sequel 

 

Art: Mark Kistler Virtual Classroom, Get Mapmaking 

 

Music: envisioning piano lessons at some point; in the meantime he'll practice what he already knows; also hope to use coloring the classics-at the very least I'll have him listen to the music.

 

Delight Directed Learning: DuinoJr Kit (at this time I don't recommend it, the program for it is tempermental at best so far, if we are able to get help figuring out the problem, I might have something more positive to say about it), 50 Science Experiments, Kid Coder Web Design Beginners & Advanced, Whittling, Trebuchet Kit, Professor Teaches (bit of trouble getting files to load to computer and not all of them will work, limited amount of help offered by the company; I'd have avoided it if I had known because what good is a program that won't load on your computer. I have windows 8), telescope with a notesketches book and Signs & Seasons Txt only.

 

Gym: archery, possibly a martial art and/or gym membership when he turns 13 in a few months. we'll see how much driving help I have-not trying to make myself crazy with business.

 

I have our year broken into terms with more of a year round homeschooling flavor and enough extra days to take time off as we need it (for sanity) or for fun. So this is our first term plan which ends with a week break the second to last week of Sept. Next term some of the stuff will rotate out to try to keep things fresh. I've also shortened how much time we'll spend on each area. We start at 8am and are done by lunch at 12. Art and Music are in the afternoon along with his interests (delight directed learning).

 

 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2016 by Christiahn

[Dinsfamily]

Math: AOPS Alg1 (ch 1-13), AOPS C&P

Writing: Finish WWS1/Start WWS2 (we jumped ship from W&R so started mid year)

Grammar: Hake 7

Vocab: VfCR A

Spelling/Reading Comprehension: Review through SWR

History/Lit/Bible: Sonlight Core G

Science: Apologia General Science

Latin: Finish First Form/ Start Second Form

Logic: Fallacy Detective/Thinking Toolbox/Art of Argument (working through summer and into schoolyear)

Programming: Finish KidCoder/Start TeenCoder

Art: Not sure...I have a lot of stuff and need to use it...might take a class from an artist friend

Music: Drum lessons (against my better judgement)

 

ExtraCurric: Boy Scouts, Lacrosse, Soccer, Robotics Club

Haven't changed but added (see impulse buy thread) MP Geography 1 and Artistic Pursuits Middle School book 1. They both look like great choices for us.

[ZeldaRules]

I snapped a screen shot of My OneNote for my son on what we are doing. I hope it shows up. ;)

 

Some of the things we are close to done with and then I will move into the next level. Saxon Math, Latin roots workbooks, spelling and others. ;)

Edited August 12, 2016 by vfnelson2

[Farrar]

Oh! Hey! I have a plan now.

 

Mushroom:

* continue with the odd assortment of Jacob's Mathematics: A Human Endeavor, Dolciani Pre-A, and Key to Algebra for math

* finish up Wordsmith Apprentice

* keep doing Daily Language Review

* keep doing regular dictation

* keep doing daily reading time, literature list, regular poetry tea and short story reads

* keep doing weekly logic activities (usually a puzzle, sometimes a game)

* project topics are Folk Tales, Flight, and Volcanos and Earthquakes in the spring and he has a huge pile of books and fun things to work on for those

* diving once a week

* theater at a local theater

* makerspace for teens

 

BalletBoy:

* Dolciani Pre-A for math

* keep doing BW language arts

* long book list for this year and Figuratively Speaking in the spring

* keep doing weekly logic activities

* Duolingo and Spanish for Children for Spanish

* project topics: Weird Physics and Linguistics and he has a huge pile of projects to do and books to read for these

* ballet a million times a week

 

 

They'll both keep doing Destination Imagination and Co-op and they're both supposed to choose a MOOC to do, probably a self-paced one. Any topic.

[TCB]

Our plans are:

 

Math - Prealgebra

 

English - Finish WWS 1,  start Analytical Grammar,  American Lit book list to go along with history, once a week Lit class at co-op

 

History - American history - watch TTC US history course with her sister, watch films and documentaries with sister, read American Odyssey book (K12)                                   - may need to revise this if it proves too challenging - may use the Hakim books then.

 

Science -  Science Shepherd Life Science -  do/watch her sister's Biology labs

 

Latin  -  LFC B

 

Italian -  Grammar Book and Duolingo 

 

Geography - Country studies of our own making and cooking a recipe from each country

 

Also Ballet and FTC robotics and maybe volunteer at Awana

Edited August 15, 2016 by tcb

[Amommymoose]

Okay... so a lot of this is changing now that the year is upon us and things have shifted into place (and out of place).  We are moving him to Rhetoric level based on some evaluations and feedback that say he's not really working and we got into an amazing boys-only lit and nature program that will meet once/week for 3 hours.  That also ate up our lab science money (his choice to use it where we did).

 

GAH!!!  Mine is going to be a 7th grader, too, and I feel so loosey-goosey right now.  Thankful for this thread.  Here are the current plans:

 

Math:  He ends an online accredited (likely common core) Algebra 1 course this summer and I'm wondering if we should redo AoPS Algebra 1 during the year before moving onto Geometry or Alg 2.  I'm honestly thinking of going back to AoPS' first two volumes (The Basics, and Beyond) for the fall semester and then putting him squarely into AoPS Geometry as I want to be sure he is better rooted in AoPS methodology before going into Geometry or Alg 2

 

Writing:  Currently finishing SWI-B and will do Rockets, Radar & Robotics through the summer and then IEW's Elegant Essay through a co-op for the fall (per his current SWI leader's suggestion).  Returning to RRR for spring if we don't do Fix-it with the co-op.  We didn't do RRR this summer but are moving forward with Elegant Essay this fall.  Likely to do Fix-It in the spring.

 

Language Arts/Literature: We're likely to stick with TOG Y3 for literature through an online co-op for discussion, but he is also doing a Dystopian Literature fall semester class online and a Literary Analysis week-long summer camp for middle schoolers.   With the addition of the Tutorial that covers Lit and nature study and the Dystopian Lit class, I'm not sure if we will manage to keep up with TOG for Lit.  His Lit Analysis camp was a significant disappointment so I'm looking for a new outlet for that.

 

History:  I personally hate history and he really just enjoys Socratic dialogue for anything--so we will do this through the TOG Y3 virtual co-op along with the literature. Still spot on.

 

Science:  Taking an in-person Saturday morning course that will give him a year of lab science credit (biology in fall, chem in winter, earth science in spring).  Of course, this assumes he manages the classroom and the workload well for the fall component.  If not, I'm seriously clueless.  That's still true.  :confused1:  We're finishing Apologia Physical Science now with a group we do labs with every 2 weeks.  Maybe we'd go back and do General Science.  He also has an 8-week online class specific to microbes because he'll be doing Science Olympiad again next year and there is a potential microbe event on next year's schedule of events. And this is where I think I'm headed with it because General Science would be in line with the biology-related stuff he's doing with Science Olympiad even if it's presumably a level behind what he did this last year.  It also kind of leaves him "behind" high school level for science and we were told rather explicitly that especially with science (for this kid) that could be a problem.  I'm wondering if I can use General Science as a foundation and beef it up to a higher level with more in-depth research afforded by the Science Olympiad events.  

 

Foreign Language:  We need to get back to regular French and Spanish; and find outlets for conversation.  Using Rosetta Stone for both so far.  Still the case.

 

Latin:  We have never done latin and i have no idea where to start with a 7th grader with no background (other than 2 years of Rosetta Stone French and 1 of Spanish as some kind of baseline).  HALP?!?!

 

Logic/Philosophy:  I need to find something for this and I'm considering Art of Argument but not positive about it.

 

Geography:  Considering Mapping the World with Art.

 

World Cultures and Relgions:  I feel so strongly about covering this with my kids next year and need to figure out how to do it with both a 7th and 2nd grader.  I own Build Your Library's 7th Grade curricula and Sonlight's old "F" with the EHE plus a book on World Religions.  I'm wondering if I could somehow meld all of that together.

 

Feeling overwhelmed about the rest and not sure how to integrate it into the schedule with All Of The Things but I still feel VERY. STRONGLY. about world cultures & religions and doing Art of Argument.

 

Others:

 

Gavel Club   yes

Martial Arts for PE   not sure about this because of family finance changes and it's leaving us in a lurch for some kind of physical activity for this bookwork

Science Olympiad   yes

Boys Choir  yes

possibly Civil Air Patrol but I'm not sure he'll have the time.  hopefully

 

 

Yeah... so... that.  
Schedule

[chrispina]

We are brand newbies as of February, so my plan is a work in progress.  He was in the gifted program for math and science and barely getting by and hating it in language arts.

 

Math (1.5 hrs, 3/week) - AOPS Pre-Algebra

Science (1.5 hr class, 1-3 hours outside of class) - An in-person class that uses  The Nature of Science and Technology and Forensic Science

Social Studies (1.5 hrs, 2/wk) - I just ordered A History of Us.  We will supplement with movies and the PBS webisodes.

Language Arts (1.5 hrs, 3/wk) - This is the hardest one for us.  Right now we are working on typing (Typing Instructor for Kids), reading a book I help him choose, and a short writing prompt.  We will work harder on writing when he isn't having such a hard time getting letters to appear on a page or screen.

 

2 hr art class once a week

3 hrs of band once a week (beginning clarinet, intermediate percussion)

1 hr martial arts twice a week

2-3 hrs of bowling league twice a week

1 hr archery class once a week

 

He says he wants to learn Latin.  I'm looking for something cheap and easy.  I would prefer something like Spanish, which would be very practical here in Texas, but if he sticks with it, I will put more money and time into it.

[deerforest]

 

Don't mind me.. just talking to myself:

 

This summer we are doing:

• Fashion design (I found a textbook, several other books, bought a serger to supplement her sewing machine and found her a mentor)
• Photography -- DH and she are working through a book and Great Courses course together 
• Spanish -- continuing with Spanish IA from Santillana and should finish 1A over the summer.
• Math -- lots of living math (games, Asimov books, Math Girls books, word problems, puzzles)
• Random science -- anything any of us wants to do
• Writing -- finishing Lively Art of Writing
• She's also a junior camp counselor at 4 different camps and has a few performances

The 2016-2017 academic year:

• Math - Algebra I - Foerster
• Literature - Mosdos Jade level. I might regret trying yet another curriculum, but we often do okay if it's not specifically designed for homeschoolers. It just includes many of my favorite works so I took a chance. 
• History - Renaissance to early modern. Have since found loads of options so I feel better about this now.
• Writing - Will be finished with Lively Art of Writing this summer (started earlier than planned). Still working on a custom plan. Focus will be on non-fiction essay writing for sure.
• Science - Science Matters and other stuff. Newton at the Center (Hakim) Yes but need more. Still planning
• Spanish - Español Santillana 1B for sure
• Still sorting out things like grammar, vocabulary, etc. Still TBD.  Not doing anything separate. I have enough resources that if it's obvious she needs to review something, we have the resources to use..
• Logic of argument, persuasiveness, skepticism -- new idea I had recently and still sorting through all the proposed resources.

 

 

I thought it would be interesting to see how well everyone's plans have actually worked out!

 

* My summer plans fizzled right away. I need to accept the truth that if she's working at camps, attending camps, or if we go out of town, school just isn't happening. I really need to find a way to keep Spanish and Math happening over THIS summer, though.

 

 

* Math - Algebra 1 with Foerster -- yep we've stuck with this plus lots of other things to supplement

* Literature - Mosdos Jade -- yep, we did it and completed it. I was actually surprisingly happy with it. It was a perfect fit for us this year, and we completed it much faster than I thought. Plus we also managed to do some Shakespeare too--Midsummer's Night Dream.

* History -- yep, we've stuck with this time period. Use Human Odyssey 2 plus loads of other resources. Had several interesting deep dives/comparisons (using an IB History of the Americas book to compare/contrast revolutions in the Americas. Several historical fiction reads. We're on track to finish.

* Writing -- we finished Lively Art of Writing, and also did Figuratively Speaking and Twisting Arms by Prufrock. Some Kilgallon non-fiction stuff. Some Phunny Stuph editing. Made progress but still am not thrilled with writing.

* Science -- we ended up ditching Science Matters after about a month. But, we did a bunch of other things instead. We read books focusing on a few key foods involved in Columbian exchange (bananas, chocolate, sugar) that cover science/history/politics/economics. We read Secret Language of Color paired with the Great Courses course about color, we started Anatomy & Physiology with Hole's, Mr. Q, and a bunch of other materials, and we also did Newton at the Center paired with a bunch of experiments from the Milestones in Sciences Thames & Cosmos set, and a bunch of MEL Science kits

* Spanish -- we got derailed a bit with Spanish so didn't finish 1A as soon as I had hoped. But, we are nearly finished now and will then move into 1B. 

* Logic of argument -- yep, we started with Nonsense, but it was too much but we did the Illustrated Guide to Bad Arguments plus a bunch of other supplemental things

 

Plus:

* Typing

* Tons and tons of documentaries, Great Courses, Curiosity Stream, Crash Courses, Coursera, EdX.. I have used them for pretty much every subject this year

* In general, we've actually completed above and beyond what I had planned with all the additional resources I've added to everything. Writing this all out has helped me step away from the ledge of panic that we haven't done enough, which is usually what I start feeling by about March

[Happygrl]

Good idea!  

 

Plans are still pretty loose here, so reading for ideas.

 

I really want to outsource writing & Spanish.  She & I do not do well with writing.  She approaches it very differently than I do and I can't break through.  But I can't figure out what would suit her best.  I'm really drawn to Brave Writer classes but I'm not sure she wouldn't do better with something more like a Writing With Skill.  

 

Math--We are going to finish her PreA book this year (I planned for 3-4 semesters), so now I need to figure out what algebra to start her on.  She's enjoyed Lial PreA, so we will likely stick with that.  

 

Grammar--Planning to continue with Growing with Grammar.

 

History--We do this together & we'll finish SOTW 4 + add'l American history next year.  I need to find some resources to bulk this up a bit for her.  

 

Science--We also do this together.  Physics comes back up next year, so we will do that for 3/4 of the year and then 1/4 on ??  Haven't decided what physics to use yet, though.  

 

Spelling/vocab--We will finish Apples & Pears this year.  Spelling is her hardest subject, so we've gone slowly to give her a firm foundation.  I *think* we'll switch to a vocab focus next year while using vocab words for some spelling practice, as well.  But, again, no idea what vocab.  

 

We are moving to NC this summer, so available options for co-op type classes & enrichment will work into the plans...as soon as I figure out what some of those are!!  (Anyone in the Fayetteville area?  I'd love to chat if so!)

 

Spanish--I didn't end up outsourcing Spanish and I regret it.  We tried Galore Park's and, while it was really good, I'm just not good at teaching her Spanish.  I signed her up to take 1A with The Potter's School next year.  

 

Grammar--We didn't do much at all, as much as I hate to admit that.  She's working through Khan Academy's grammar and that's about all we've done in a concentrated manner.  

Math--We did stick with Lial's Algebra & outsourced it to Jann in TX's class.  FANTASTIC choice!  As much as I think I could have done it, I think she got SO much more out of the class by having Jann teach her.  

History--SOTW + add'l American history is what we did do.

Science--We've done physics all year using CPO & Mr. Q as our spines.  

Writing--We continued with Writing & Rhetoric but next year I really am going to look into a BW class or two.

Spelling--We used Megawords 4 & 5 and it was a GREAT fit for her.  She's enjoyed it.  

 

[blue daisy]

Oops, wrong year!

 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2017 by blue daisy

[theelfqueen]

Wrong thread - sorry

Edited April 3, 2017 by theelfqueen

[bolt.]

Ok, where on earth is this year's grade 7 thread?

[luuknam]

Ok, where on earth is this year's grade 7 thread?

 

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/635495-7th-grade-for-2017-18-share-your-plans-here/