Share hits & misses for 7th graders?

[Alicia64]

I would love to hear what's working for your 7th graders this year. I'll go first.

 

LOVE:

 

Math Mammoth -- moms on TWTM urged me to get my boys onto this program. Excellent.

 

Spelling Workout -- it works for us.

 

Standards Based Grammar by David Dye. Just fantastic. One page a day and I'm learning a ton.

 

SOTW -- of course; my favorite.

 

Typer Island -- great way to learning typing.

 

 

Semi-miss:

 

Still searching for a good Spanish program.

 

English from the Roots Up: D. R. Y. The creator might know her way around Greek and Latin, but the pages are a major snooze-fest.

 

Bummed because our new community's library system is lame compared to our last one. :crying:

 

Also, any tips for getting 7th graders to "get in line??" Mine fight me pretty regularly, "but why do I have to know this??" :svengo:

 

Love to hear from you!

 

Alley

[wapiti]

Also, any tips for getting 7th graders to "get in line??" Mine fight me pretty regularly, "but why do I have to know this??"

 

No advice, just commiseration.  I'm not even homeschooling them - they asked but I said no  :tongue_smilie:  (sorry, this was just a little vent)

Edited February 28, 2016 by wapiti

[Guest]

My 12 year old is in 7th grade this year.  Here are her hits and misses.......

 

 

Hits:

 

-Heart of Dakota Revival to Revolution - She really LOVES HOD.  She will probably be upset next year because at the moment I do not plan to continue with HOD.

-BJU Life Science DLO - She is liking this even though it is a huge step up from BJU 6 last year.  Science is her passion, and she is taking notes on everything without my telling her to.

-Math U See

-IEW Phonetic Zoo - We don't use the CD's.  I go over the rule, and dictate the lists.

 

Misses:

 

-We tried Teaching Textbooks 7, LOF, and Saxon 76 and they were all awful for her.  She LOVE MUS so far.  She says its so fun she doesn't feel like she is doing math, and she is learning and making progress.

-Easy Grammar Plus - We kind of dropped this, and have not replaced it.  She has done lots of grammar in the past, so I am not worried.  I plan to pick up with Analytical Grammar next year.  We did Junior Analytical Grammar a couple years ago, and it has been the best grammar program that i have used.

 

 

So-So:

 

Writing With Skill 1 - I really love this, but she complains everyday when I say it is time for writing.  I have tried everything else though, and I really like WWS's step by step process to teaching writing, so I do not want to switch.  I am at the point now that I feel some things are good for you even if you don't like it ;). 

 

Edited February 27, 2016 by Guest

[desiree77]

12 yo girl in 7th grade

 

HITS

 

Math: MUS - her 6th year using it and this year has been pretty painless

 

Writing: IEW - she's been doing this with a friend and that makes all the difference

 

 

MISSES

 

Spelling: All About Spelling - We did it about 4 times all year. I just couldn't get motivated to get through it. 

 

 

JUST KIND OF MEH

 

History: Sonlight Core E - this has been more of a hit than a miss, but we've been using it together with younger sibs and I think she misses doing the core on her own

 

Grammar: Growing with Grammar - it gets done

 

Science: Sonlight Science E and Beginnings Science - this all has been fine, but I don't think she's been stretched much. Beginnings is mostly for her younger siblings, but she listens in. 

 

[mc26]

I have a quirky, asynchronous 2E 7th grader who likes structure and routine.  

 

Hits this year:  

Saxon Algebra 1/2. We are starting Algebra next week

 

Hake Grammar

 

SOTW 3 & 4 with tests and Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

 

RSO Biology 2

 

Mapping the World with Art

 

Misses:

Bookshark--or to be more specific--any historical fiction or lit-based curricula.  This was his miss, not mine.  He likes everything compartmentalized and wants history to be history and lit to be lit.  Sigh.  Teach the kid you have...

 

Vocabulary from Classical Roots

 

Pretty much any writing program we have ever tried,  I shelved WWS and will try it again maybe in 9th grade.  

 

Somewhere in between a hit and a miss:

Caesar's English 2.  We loved CE1, not sure why we are not that excited about 2.

 

Writing Skills 2--the writing book he dislikes the least.

 

Rosetta Stone Spanish--we are sticking with it until we pick up Latin again.   It is fine.

 

[Alicia64]

 

Mapping the World with Art

 

 

Can you talk more about this: what it does and why you guys like it? Sounds fun!

 

Alley

[Alicia64]

 

Writing: IEW - she's been doing this with a friend and that makes all the difference

 

 

 

I have two 12-year-old boys who are good at writing, but never want to get started.

 

Would you recommend IEW for kids who aren't doing it with a friend? And can you say what your daughter likes about it?

 

Thanks,

 

Alley

[Alicia64]

Misses:

Bookshark--or to be more specific--any historical fiction or lit-based curricula.  This was his miss, not mine.  He likes everything compartmentalized and wants history to be history and lit to be lit.  Sigh.  Teach the kid you have...

 

 

How does Bookshark work? When I Googled it, the price came to $737.00. Is there a way to buy some of it a la carte? Or?

 

Thanks,

 

Alley

[desiree77]

I have two 12-year-old boys who are good at writing, but never want to get started.

 

Would you recommend IEW for kids who aren't doing it with a friend? And can you say what your daughter likes about it?

 

Thanks,

 

Alley

 

Sure, I'd recommend it. Doing it with a friend means that we actually do it each week. And because it's the one time a week she is guaranteed to see this good friend, she has never complained about doing the work. 

 

I think she likes that it's incremental and seems do-able even if it's not always easy. Because we started really slowly, she's gotten to where she writes longer papers pretty effortlessly. Kind of like boiling the frog by putting him in warm water and slowly heating up the pot. That's what we've done over the past 18 months with writing. We're about to start a research paper, so we'll see how she's liking it next month. 

[TracyP]

12 yo dd in 7th

 

Hits:

Science Matters with lots of supplements

IEW U.S. History Based Writing Lessons - she didn't move forward as much as I would have liked, but it was easy to use and dd enjoyed it

AoPS Algebra

 

There were no real misses this year.

[mc26]

How does Bookshark work? When I Googled it, the price came to $737.00. Is there a way to buy some of it a la carte? Or?

 

Thanks,

 

Alley

 

I just bought the History Instructors Guide (under $100) from Bookshark, and found the readers/read alouds on Thriftbooks.com, or Amazon.  It wound up being pretty reasonable.  I resold the IG, so it was not an expensive miss.

 

On the other hand, I am using the 5th grade core with my 11 year old (minus some of the fiction that would not appeal to either of us) and we are really enjoying it.  

[Alicia64]

I just bought the History Instructors Guide (under $100) from Bookshark, and found the readers/read alouds on Thriftbooks.com, or Amazon.  It wound up being pretty reasonable.  I resold the IG, so it was not an expensive miss.

 

On the other hand, I am using the 5th grade core with my 11 year old (minus some of the fiction that would not appeal to either of us) and we are really enjoying it.  

 

Can you share some of the read alouds for your 12 year old?

 

Thanks,

 

Alley

[mc26]

Can you talk more about this: what it does and why you guys like it? Sounds fun!

 

Alley

 

This is the Ellen J McHenry book.  It comes with DVDs, but we don't use them. I read the history/geography part of the lesson out loud and then the 3 of us do the map drawing.  We each have our own sketch pad and will have a nice portfolio when we are done.  I would definitely recommend it!

[Aurelia]

Hits:

Ellen McHenry science 

Galore Park math and science

A History of US condensed version

 

Misses:

Phonetic Zoo

Spelling by Sound and Structure

English from the Roots Up

Maxwell's School Composition (couldn't figure out how to implement)

 

Less a miss and more "we didn't have time":

Mapping the World with Art (half done, maybe we'll redo it in 9th when she studies world geography)

Lightning Literature 7

Patty Paper Geometry

Drawing with Children

French and Latin

[jjeepa]

For a variety of reasons, my 12 dd took more online classes than not, and I'd consider everything a hit.

 

 

Your State @ Wilson Hill Academy - she's enjoyed the research and presentations required in this course

 

Jumpstart Latin @ WHA - transitional Latin course and it's been a good fit for what she needed this year to prepare for Latin 1 next year

 

Great Conversations 1 @ WHA - excellent history/theology/literature course

 

AoPS Algebra 1 online @ AoPS - she's taking the new stretch class that moves at a slower pace and it's been perfect for her

 

Rod and Staff - dry but effective

 

Apologia Chem & Physics - we were supposed to finish this last year but just didn't. We've both been pleased with the content though. We'll wrap up soon and then move onto general or earth science. We tend to do science year round because she doesn't love it, so we stretch it out. I need to decide on which curriculum we'll use, as I know we are done with Apologia. I'm looking at Earth Science and Astronomy for the Logic Stage by Elemental Science. Anyone using that?

Edited February 28, 2016 by jjeepa

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited January 17, 2023 by SilverMoon

[IMustBeCrazy]

Hits:

Ellen McHenry science 

I had never heard of this before, but it looks great!

[Vida Winter]

:lurk5:

[Tumbatoo]

Hits:

AoPS Pre-Algebra. Some is review, but the format and lack of repetitive work is refreshing!

 

Omnibus1. Finally something challenging and interesting! Although we miss the historical fiction from Sonlight. Planning to add that back in.

 

Latina Christiana. We just started Latin. I was feeling overwhelmed, but this is laid out well and easy to follow for beginners.

 

MCT: We love this approach to grammar! It's fun and painless. I can't wait to get started with Caesar's English. I've heard good things about it, and Ds is enjoying Latin, so it should be a hit.

 

Misses:

CK-12 Life Science. It's free, and has a LOT of information, I just need lesson plans and materials and quiz answers. We'll still use it for now.

 

Codecademy. We wanted to like this. It's free and self paced. I think Ds just isn't motivated to learn coding. I think he would like to know it in principle. Not sure coding is really his thing?

[SemiSweet]

Hits:

Math Mammoth Pre-A

Well trained mind academy Socratic Discussion

Hake grammar (no one LOVES it but it gets done with relatively little arguing, we are stretching it over 2 years though)

 

Misses:

AOPS Pre-A (stopped this mid year for math mammoth, much better fit for us)

[Holly]

Hits:

ELTL--this was great for grammar, although she wasn't super thrilled with the literature choices (I felt that they were all must-reads though). ;)  The writing lessons have really helped her with written narrations as well.  

 

Harmony Fine Arts--The 5th through 8th grade books are intenended to line up with a 4 year history cycle and have been enjoyed by our entire family, not just that grade range.

 

SOTW--Everyone enjoyed this, it will be included in our morning basket for next year!  They really loved the AG coloring pages and maps, but we'll probably skip those for next year.

 

Spelling Wisdom--this has been great for my natural speller, but I've also seen some great improvement with my not-so-great speller too!

 

 

Misses:

 

Greenleaf's Famous Men of the Middle Ages--I was disappointed that it wasn't a hit with them.   :(  We are actually going to give this a try next year (with the Greece book), but using MP's guides instead.  I may try having my oldest two read it on their own and see if it helps.  They just had a difficult time with all the names and places included in the stories.  After completing half the book, I found out they weren't retaining much either.  MP includes more review, which I think will help with retention.  

 

SCM's history--Not a total miss, but after trying two of their guides, I've realized I want more teaching help than what this gives me.  I want discussion questions and activities to choose from.  Leading discussions is not something that comes naturally to me, so I've found I have much more success with something like SOTW or MP, which gives me some sort of guideline to follow.  We are going with MP next year and I"m very excited about their teaching materials!  I still love SCM's literature suggestions, and plan on continuing with them.

Edited July 24, 2016 by Holly

[Soror]

Listening along- my son's b-day is right on the line so I consider him 6/7th. We're too early in the year for hits (here's hoping we have some by the end). I'm eavesdropping for plans for next year....

[BusyMom5]

My 7th grader last year...

 

Hits:

 

Word Roots by Critical Thinking Company- I Like this series!

Story of Science- interesting and fun read if your kid likes that sort of thing

RSO Biology Level 2- we absolutely LOVED this!  Very full, we spread it over 6th and 7th grades.  I wish they had others in this level!

 

Misses:

 

Essentials in Writing- not bad, but I didn't notice much if any improvement.  I will say it was easy and took a lot of the teaching off of me!  We will use it again, just not multiple years in a row

Typing INstructor- I don't know why but this just didn't go over very well, she still hunts and pecks.  We stopped mid-way with this b/c it just didn't stick.