Thoughts on 6th grade curriculum?

[christielee7278]

Due to a HUGE change in plans, I am trying to come up with curriculum for my 11 yr old for next year. We previously used Seton for most of our material but have decided against that now.

 

Any ideas to fill in the gaps?

 

6th grade curriculum ideas BOLDED are DECIDED.

 

Math-MUS or Saxon with Singapore Word Problems 5, Brain Maths Vol 1, Life of Fred (I really like the looks of MUS, but I'm just afraid my ds who has been in ps until this past year won't do well. Idk. Saxon seems to be more like ps teaching that he is used to.) Brain Maths looks like a good challenge that my ds needs...any use this?

 

Language Arts- Wordly Wise book 3, Easy Grammer (I just don't know here...we used all of Seton's LA for 5th grade. Ds is a very strong reader. He tested well above his grade level, but his grammar isn't as great.)

 

Religion- I am looking for a bible-teaching curriculum, not a religion-teaching curriculum.

 

Science- Apologia (haven’t decided which one yet), health?

 

Writing-

 

History- Story of the World Ancients,

 

Geography-

 

Foreign language- Lively Latin.

 

Art-

 

Music-

 

Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thank you!!

[Harriet Vane]

Looks good to me. I would advise you to consider Abeka grammar or Rod and Staff grammar to tighten up that area. Rod and Staff includes some writing instruction as well.

 

For Bible my best recommendation is Explorer's. It is formatted as an inductive Bible study, with almost all the questions directing the student right back to the Bible text. It is the best Bible study for children I have seen, and similar in format to Community Bible Study and Bible Study Fellowship.

 

Here's a link:

 

http://www.explorerbiblestudy.org/

 

Edited to add: I don't see a literature component in your line-up. TWTM offers suggestions, or another good possibility is to order the Sonlight read-alouds and history reading for your literature.

[inashoe]

You might want to consider Teaching Textbooks for math - computer based program with a workbook - your son will be able to work independently with all the teaching from the program - none from you. You will most likely be able to skip a grade of TT if he has been doing Saxon.

 

You could consider Rod and STaff English 5 for grammar - since his grammar isn't strong, don't do R&S 6 until he has the background of R&S 5 - it will be too much.

 

R&S includes creative writing - you won't need any things else.

 

In middle school kids need to learn to outline - I recommend Outlining by Remedia publishers

and then rewrite a paragraph from their outline notes -this is started in R&S 5.

Once you have got to that point in R&S 5 then you could start doing it in another subject such as history or science.

Don't rush this, it is an analytical skill as the kids need to decide which are the main points, which to include and which not and it takes time to develop.

 

For bible - I recommend looking into the bible books recommended by Sonlight. My son has just read Dinosaurs by Design and is spending the year going through Victors Journey Through the Bible.

Supplement with many missionary stories - books by author Benge are suitable for a strong reader.

 

My son is reading through the Apologia books, we do very few of the experiments. Maybe if you have more time you could do more than me. He reads one lesson through, and then writes up a very short summary on one aspect from the lesson.

 

I can also highly recommend Adventures with Atoms and Molecules by author Mebane. This gives an excellent understanding of Chemistry. This was all experiment based, with lots of discussion. ds and I really enjoyed them and he got a thorough grounding in Chemistry.

 

Story of the World is excellent. Don't use the Usborne World History or the Kingfisher History Encyclopedias, they will be too easy for your son. Instead possibly consider DK History The Definitive Visual Guide - this is a feast, wealth of information, with gorgeous photos. You will need to supplement with extra literature reading - many wonderful books are available.

 

Geography - is a branch of science, earth sciences. You could use the Apologia Astronomy book - my son just read through this and we talked about it.

 

For Latin you could also consider Latina Christiana from Memoria Press.

 

Art - Artistic Pursuits

Art-

 

Music - WTM has some nice recommendations for Music appreciation.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited January 20, 2009 by inashoe

[Melmc]

Grammar - I really like GWG and plan to use that with my 6th grader next year. It has a review section each lesson.

 

Religion - not sure if you're Catholic since you were using Seton, but Fr. Schuster has a Bible History book with questions after each section. I think it's Adoremus Books that sells an answer key. One of the on-line Catholic websites stores has it. I added this book to our BP for our 5th grader this year.

 

Geography - you could tie this to history with all the mapping and such.

 

History - I really like the SOTW AG. You'll need to get a reading list to add to SOTW for that age. SWB has one in her book. I think there's also a copy on the Peace Hill Website. We ended up going with BP since there three age groups reading plans matched my three kids perfectly.

 

Art - we use the ArtPacs here. I like them and so do the kids. They are inexpensive and make art easy for me to get in the schedule without a lot of effort. I just purchased last week the Mark Kistler drawing lessons from Homeschool Buyers Co-op so I could add some actual art instruction to the curriculum.

[Sunshine State Sue]

I'll throw out Write Shop for writing. We are using it for 6th-7th-8th grade. It's linked in my signature. You can read my review here.

 

And for the heck of it, Analytical Grammar as well. We are using it for 6th-7th-8th grade. It's linked in my signature. You can read my review here.

Edited January 20, 2009 by Sue in St Pete

[christielee7278]

Thank you all for the suggestions!! =)