Questions about 7th grade ... LA, writing & history!

[SS in MD]

Hello All,

Our oldest will be entering 7th grade in the fall (yikes!) and I had a few questions reguarding LA, writing and history.

 

She's used Rod & Staff since 3rd grade (she's completed English 3,4,5, and now on the last lesson of 6). I was wondering if I should buy English 7 for next year and complete it in one year or use it for the next two years (7th & 8th grades) then onto English 8 for 9th & 10th grades? But, I'd like my dd to spend more time with writing and lit, so I was contemplating switching from R&S (wonderful as it is, it is a lot of English every day) and using Analytical Grammer in 7th & 8th? From the website, it seems pretty straighforward and less time consuming. Yet, at the same time, R&S has given her a very strong foundation in English, and I wonder if I should switch... sorry to ramble...! Any thoughts?!

 

About writing, could anyone recommend a good writing program for 7th grade? My dd did Wordsmith Apprentice & Home2Teach classes in 5th and this year in 6th she's working through Wordsmith (and enjoying it). I've heard a lot about CW. How do you like it? Can someone tell me how time intensive it is for mom and dd? I guess we'd be using Homer? Also, my 2nd dd 10yo is using Writing Tales Level 2, next year could she use Homer alongside my older dd?

 

About history next year we'll start with Ancients again. I'll be homeschooling my 3 older kids (dd12,dd10,dd7). I really want all three to be doing Ancients. I looked into WinterPromise, but not quite sure if we can use their Ancients program with dd7 without a lot of book searching and modification on my end. (WP recommends American History for early years) I looked at MFW, but their Creation to the Greeks is for 4th-8th, (they also recommend Adventures or ECC) Now I'm looking into Tapestry of Grace. Any opinions on this? Or does anyone have anyother ideas? I'd really need something that's planned out (time saving for me) as I have a toddler on foot as well, and dd7 goes weekly to Speech Therapy and OT therapy.

 

Thanks so much for reading this long narrative and responding!

Sangita

[Beth in Central TX]

Here's a link to a previous discussion about how to approach R&S 7. I'm thinking I will spread it out over 2 years and then use R&S 8 as a review in high school. (http://67.202.21.157/forums/showthread.php?t=9450)

 

I use the Classical Writing series for our writing program. I've been very happy with the results that I'm seeing in my boys. (http://home.att.net/~MikeJaqua/TheBooks.html)

 

For ancient history, I would suggest The Story of the Ancient World by Christine Miller. (http://www.nothingnewpress.com/guerber/ancient.html)

 

Many people here love TOG, and I'll let them respond, but personally, I'm not sure if I could use the whole program as outlined, therefore, I can't justify paying that much for it.

 

HTH!

[Sue G in PA]

It's designed for 4th - 8th but has supplemental resources for 2nd and 3rd graders with older sibs in the program. MFW is all planned out for you, easy to implement and has some great resources. I'll be using MFW for History for all of my ds next year, doing Rome to Ref. (grades 7, 5, 3, 2). You could also try MOH1 as that is also a good History spine. My dd is trying Jump In! writing from Apologia next year. I don't know the competency level for writing for your dd but my dd11 did Anc. Hist. Based Writing Lessons from IEW this year to coincide w/ our Ancients study. Just another though. It might be too easy for her, though. HTH

[SS in MD]

Thanks so much for the posts. It was really helpful. I'll look into all the ideas!