Any suggestions for adding on civics/geography and life sciences to an already full schedule?

[lollie010]

I have everything planned out for 7th and 8th grade and am pretty excited about it. It will be our first big American History focus and I planned on a physics and chemistry year for 7th and then just launching right into a high school level biology for 8th. All good!

 

But, our state athletic association just passed regulations allowing homeschoolers to participate in public school sports. Some things in the regulations are throwing me off my agenda. First, my son had planned to play soccer for a local private school. The new rules say homeschoolers can no longer play for private schools so the only option is public school. The other problem is that students who want to play for public schools must take some unspecified test in four content areas each semester. I'm not sure how all of that will play out, but I'm guessing that is math, English, science and social studies.

 

In seventh grade social studies is geography and civics and science is life science. I'm considering letting him try out to play, but don't want to change our curriculum plan which better meets our needs. So are there any basic resources I could add to cover some of this without it overtaking our day? We could try a quick unit study a few weeks before the test or we could give up 20 minutes a day to cover it. Any suggestions.

[2_girls_mommy]

So my initial thought was that "civics" is covered in your Am. History coming up, and just be sure to include geography as you go.  I then googled middle school civics to see what came up.  The first link I got was to free worksheets.  I looked at them, and they are all Am. History topics- Trail of Tears, Presidents, the Constitution, etc. Seems like you will be covering civics.  I'd stress the election process in the fall too.  That should be easy to include this year.

 

As for life science- can you do something over the summer? We're lacking in Earth Science year for one of mine and are doing a unit study over the summer since she'll be taking a co-op class on another topic next school year.  But if you don't have time for that, then I'd just do a read aloud together a few minutes a day.

Edited May 9, 2016 by 2_girls_mommy

[lollie010]

Thanks so much for the response. I was able to find the course content standards from the state. It looks like it may not require a whole seperate thing, especially for the civics/geography stuff. I can't imagine how these tests would be developed, but as long as they actually test on the content standards it shouldn't be too bad. I think critical thinking press may have a civics workbook. We may have to wait a year and see how it all develops.

[Lori D.]

Before changing plans or rearranging your schedule, first go and speak with the specific school you will be working with for the sports. Bring in a copy of the regulations and ask about the test: is it a national standardized test? a district-wide test used for placement of students who move into the district? a newly-created test specifically for homeschoolers?

 

My guess it is the school district's placement test. If so, that would be pretty easy to set aside your usual science and history and in those time slots, knock out as a quick unit study for the 1-2 weeks before the test, that way the material is fresh. When you go in and ask about the test, also ask what texts are used in the classes, and then you can gear your fast review around the table of contents of the texts. Or see if you can look on the school's website for the teacher pages for those subjects -- a lot of teachers post a week-by-week syllabus, so you can see what topics are covered.

 

One other thought: If DSs haven't done any standardized testing prior to test, you might also practice doing a few timed tests, for transferring answers from a booklet to an answer sheet, filling in bubbles, being timed, and following all of the proctor's directions.

 

Hope the testing will actually be a non-issue, and that DSs have fun on the local school sports team! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

[lollie010]

Thanks, Lori D. That sounds like a good plan. Practicing a few timed tests is a great idea. I think my guy is absolutely brilliant and then I try to give him some kind of review or quiz and it never goes as planned. Lol. That is one of my goals for middle school anyway so this may be just the motivation he needs.

 

[Sahamamama]

I have everything planned out for 7th and 8th grade and am pretty excited about it. It will be our first big American History focus and I planned on a physics and chemistry year for 7th and then just launching right into a high school level biology for 8th. All good!

 

But, our state athletic association just passed regulations allowing homeschoolers to participate in public school sports. Some things in the regulations are throwing me off my agenda. First, my son had planned to play soccer for a local private school. The new rules say homeschoolers can no longer play for private schools so the only option is public school. The other problem is that students who want to play for public schools must take some unspecified test in four content areas each semester. I'm not sure how all of that will play out, but I'm guessing that is math, English, science and social studies.

 

In seventh grade social studies is geography and civics and science is life science. I'm considering letting him try out to play, but don't want to change our curriculum plan which better meets our needs. So are there any basic resources I could add to cover some of this without it overtaking our day? We could try a quick unit study a few weeks before the test or we could give up 20 minutes a day to cover it. Any suggestions.

 

I'm not saying you didn't read it correctly, but in your shoes, I would double-check this first, before revamping my plans. Are you absolutely sure homeschooled 7th graders can't play for private schools? Also, I would be sure these new state athletic association regulations apply to middle schoolers, and not just high schoolers.

 

For example, the regulations in Alabama seem to apply to high schoolers, but of course I may be missing something. ??

 

http://www.ahsaa.com/Search-Results?search=non-traditional

 

http://www.ahsaa.com/News-Articles/articleid/457/ahsaa-approves-enrollment-participation-opportunities-for-non-traditional-students

 

I'm sure you know the rules, but just in case, I would put my energy into calling around to really check this out first. This link may be helpful. HTH.

[KarenNC]

My daughter enjoyed icivics.org in middle school, and Sheppardsoftware.com has a lot of game-based geography.

[lollie010]

I'm not saying you didn't read it correctly, but in your shoes, I would double-check this first, before revamping my plans. Are you absolutely sure homeschooled 7th graders can't play for private schools? Also, I would be sure these new state athletic association regulations apply to middle schoolers, and not just high schoolers.

 

For example, the regulations in Alabama seem to apply to high schoolers, but of course I may be missing something. ??

 

http://www.ahsaa.com/Search-Results?search=non-traditional

 

http://www.ahsaa.com/News-Articles/articleid/457/ahsaa-approves-enrollment-participation-opportunities-for-non-traditional-students

 

I'm sure you know the rules, but just in case, I would put my energy into calling around to really check this out first. This link may be helpful. HTH.

Thanks. I am checking into why this document reads a little differently than the one provided by our cover school. I appreciate the links. :)

 

Edited to add: Now I cannot find anything about the private school exclusion. So strange. I sat with a lady just this weekend and we looked at the bylaws and talked about how upsetting they were to some of the private schools in our area. 

Edited May 10, 2016 by lollie010

[Mrs Twain]

I agree about icivics.org -- it is an excellent resource and fun.

[Um_2_4]

For life science could he run through some of these during computer time?

 

http://www.simpleschoolingclassroom.com/index.php/free/free-6-8?start=10

 

They are very through from the ones I looked at. She has on plants/anatomy/nutrition/etc. And free to boot :).