7th grade 3 days a week

[maize]

I need to come up with a consistent schedule for my 7th grader.

He attends a project based school on Tuesday and Thursday; Tuesday evening he has dance so there really is no more time that day. Thursday evening I may be able to get an hour or so of work out of him some days.

Mostly I have M/W/F to work with, and I'll probably insist on math on Saturday as well. He's doing Teaching Textbooks pre-algebra plus Jousting Armadillos; those are different enough that I'm hoping to do some of both each day. 

He badly needs to work on typing and, ideally, handwriting though that is like pulling teeth. He will get plenty of history and literature and some writing assignments and science at school. I'd like a basic language arts program and science program for home. Workbook based would be fine.

Ideas?

Edited September 9, 2018 by maize

[Gil]

I would make 10-minutes of typing a daily (Sun-Sat) requirement. If he has trouble with looking at his hands, then use electrical tape to cover a couple of keys at a time as he learns them so that he can't look and will develop muscle memory faster.

For language arts I have no idea what to recommend. I like(d) and use(d) Treasured Conversations and we've also began to use the instructions on outlining from the Well Trained Mind. Those two approaches combined with me monitoring and "nitpicking the kids to death" (that's a technical term, courtesy of my 10yo ?) is how we get virtually anywhere with composition/writing skills with him. His brother is a natural wordsmith--he mostly needs sufficient ink and paper on his desk. But my 10yo, he gives me the opportunity to learn how to teach writing and build character.

 

Grammar we never had to explicitly do, for spelling we used Spalding (making that rule notebook worked like a charm for one boy, was a wonderful handwriting experience for the other) and Spelling Through Morphographs was a godsend for the other boy (he used this during his 4th grade year at a BM charter school. It's expensive, but if I'd have known about it, I'd have worked extra hours to get the program and use it at home--it's extraordinarily effective with Spelling and useful for vocabulary). I've had to remain observant and watchful of both boys, but they both spell very well for their ages and are capable of correcting their spelling mistakes, if I point it out 98% of the time for one boy and about 90% of the time for the other.

Does your know proper letter formation? I taught my kids proper letter formation, and had them write every day to improve their handwriting. Their daily writing was
1) Quote of the week/day, 3x. If I didn't find/assign one, then they wrote "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" 3x.
2) Booklog -- they had to write the title, page range and author of every book they read from each day (these were mostly picture books but have become mostly chapter books by now.)
3) Neatly working and writing the solution statement to math problems.

This also takes about 15 minutes, so so far we're at less than 30 minutes for typing and handwriting.

During his math work require that he use good handwriting (reinforcement) and write out his steps for TT neatly and coherently. I have no idea what Jousting Armidillo is like or what that program entails. For science, require he outline or take notes (again, handwriting reinforcement) from his reading. We don't do labs/experiments in science. Just a boat load of reading, writing and discussing and documentaries. But mostly we just read about science.

 

 

Edited September 9, 2018 by Gil

[Lori D.]

7 hours ago, maize said:

I need to come up with a consistent schedule for my 7th grader.

... He badly needs to work on typing and, ideally, handwriting though that is like pulling teeth. He will get plenty of history and literature and some writing assignments and science at school. I'd like a basic language arts program and science program for home. Workbook based would be fine.

Ideas?

Here are some time blocks and curricula ideas that are mostly independent-working, open-and-go, and can be done just 3x/week. I suggest 2 Math time blocks so he can get roughly 1.5-2 lessons of Teaching Textbooks done per day 3x/week, so you don't have to do Math on the weekends. BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.


MON / WED / FRI schedule

mornings
10 min. = "power meeting" with DS to go over the day's schedule & get him started
5 min. = transition time
30 min. = Handwriting/Typing block
      5 min. warm-up = Callirobics (to aid with handwriting)
      10-15 min. = Typing Club, Typing.com -- or other free program with teacher tracking ability
      10 min. = handwriting practice*
10 min. = snack & stretch break
50 min. = Math block = Teaching Textbooks
      10-15 min. warm-up = Jousting Armadillos
      30-40 min. = Teaching Textbooks
10 min. = snack & stretch break
50 min. = LA block
      5 min. = warm-up with Vocabulary (free online app, or roots-based workbook)
      30 min. = Writing (Essentials in Writing; Winning with Writing)
      15 min. = Grammar (Fix It: The Frog Prince; Growing with Grammar)
         (ideas for Writing + Grammar programs: Spectrum LA; BJUP Writing & Grammar 7 & 8; Saxon)
2.5 hours of focused work

30-60 min. = lunch

afternoons
10 min. = "power meeting" with DS -- go over morning work, answer questions, set up for afternoon work
20 min. = World & Brain block 
     10 min. = Geography workbook or online game
     10 min. = Logic/Critical Thinking workbook or online game
5 min. = transition
30-45 min. = Math block #2 -- complete morning work; get started on the next TT lesson
5 min. = break
30 min. = Solo Science block
     (ideas: Plato Courseware; Ellen McHenry; Rainbow Science year 1; Nancy Larson level 5; TOPS Analysis, Rocks & Minerals)
30-60 min. = Book & Prep block (solo reading and/or doing work for the Tues/Thur classes)
2-2.5 hours of focused work

* handwriting practice ideas: 
perhaps copyworb of jokes, riddles, limericks? a "funny focus" helped my DS with LDs in handwriting/writing/spelling stay focused; or what about copying famous quotations from a book of quotations? or copying a paragraph at a time something to go with Bible (like the Westminster Shorter Catechism), or a famous speech out of History/Gov't; or...

Edited September 9, 2018 by Lori D.