I need help designing curriculum for 7th grade

[mchel210]

Ok..I feel like it is time to ask for advice. I have been trying to ask my husband what we should do, but he is pretty much leaving it up to me. My son is working through 6 grade currently.

abeka english
zoology 1 apologia
health aop
history (we stopped aop didn't like) we read SOTW 1, and read BF books
Math TT 7 but I am thinking of switching back to saxon or similar.
Maps & Globes
Handwriting Cursive...he hasnt done this in the past in school...so we are just starting.

I dont know what to do next year. I am pulled between creating my own curriculum again or going with something more "together" like Abeka or Seton. I just am trying to look towards the future high school years and I want to make sure we are working towards the right path.

Can anyone suggest something that may help? I feel I really need something that will prepare him for college. He can read well...but hates to read novels and such. It is like pulling teeth. I was really trying to find some programs that are more guided for me...that help me plan my week.

Either way, I am just want to make sure I do enough to get prepared for high school.

I am working at home with a 5 yo that will be going into abeka 1st grade and a 7 yo that will be going into abeka 3rd. I have them doing abeka as they really enjoy the workbooks. My 7yo reads non stop and is reading on more or less a 5/6 grade level. I just want to be able to figure out something that I can work with and still teach 3 kids without working all day.

Thanks for the advice,
Michelle L. S. Florida

[Beth in Central TX]

I can relate to trying to teach 3 kids at once. It has been a challenge this year as I've added my kindergartener to the mix. I think we are in a good routine now, but the beginning definitely had many bumps. You know you're not on schedule when your 5-year old comes to you at 8pm saying, "Mom, I didn't do school today!" He's really the only one who WANTS to do school.

Here is my 7th grade schedule for next year:
R&S Artpac 7
R&S Grammar 7
R&S Spelling 7
R&S Math 8
New Testament Greek for Beginners
Wheelock's IA and/or Lingua Latina (still thinking about this one)
Omnibus I (covers history, literature, & Bible)
CW Homer B & Beg Poetry B

For your 7th grade schedule, I don't see a writing program. I think this is essential in preparation for high school. I read the high school board frequently, and writing seems to be one of the biggest concerns as they look toward college. There are many writing programs out there, but my favorite is Classical Writing. However, it is teacher intensive, but I have 2 of my 3 children working at the same level. I'm not familiar with the other programs to give you an alternative recommendation though.

I would also include a literature program. You mentioned that your son hates to read; therefore, you may want to consider a program like Lightning Literature. http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/book/blight.asp
They have a 7th grade program that might work for you. You can look at their on-line samples.

TWTM also recommends a foreign language by this stage, but it may be too much to add at once. I just wanted to mention it though.

HTH!

[OneRoomHomeSchool]

I am getting ready to bring my 6th and 7th grade kids home, and I feel much like you do! ;)

My answer, I am sure, won't be the popular one on these boards, but this is what I've decided on for my family.

I will be schooling 5 kids: 7th, 6th, 4th (working on 3rd level), 1st and preschool. I NEED something quite laid out. So I looked at the WTM book (both older and newer) and I see that Abeka is actually recommended more often than most folks are using (pretty understandable with all the new, cool stuff that has come out - lol). But I decided to expand on the rec's of Abeka and make MY life for MY family as simple as possible.

All of my kids will be using Abeka for:
Math
Language
Spelling/Vocab/Poetry
Science/Health

We will do Bible together and History together.
I will add Latin for the 12, 11 and 9 yr olds this fall
I will add Logic for the 12 and 11 this fall

My 12 does flute and drawing
My 11 does computer science
My 6 and 9 do recorder

The youngers always have access, time and materials to be creative (free art).

That is how I am keeping my sanity! :D

I feel that Abeka's basic subjects are very solid and thorough. The science may not be the greatest, but for now that is what I have chosen, until I have my oldest begin formal biology.

Adding in the Latin and Logic will help our school have a classical bent (and I think those are 2 important things). We won't do history in a 4 yr cycle (ha! like I am going to do 4 different cyles with 5 kids!), but rather alternate each year between American and World as a family study, using a text and adding in lots of biographies, historical fiction and literature (both as family read alouds and independent).

Not sure that I even helped you one iota, but just wanted to say, I understand the wanting to do the best for your kids, and that sometimes, having a more laid out curriculum is needful. Classical ed to me is not in the curriculum itself but the stages of development...

Best wishes!

[Kathy in MD]

you might look at Chalk Dust or Video Text. There are other DVD taught math programs, but those are the two that come to mind. We're using CD and really like Dana Mosely's teaching style. He also offers personal help via e-mail. Others who've contacted him for help, say he responds within a day and is quite helpful.

For grammar, I like JAG/AG. It's fast and easy and sticks with my absent-minded ds. On Mon, I pick up the TE and read the unit lesson with him. He works the daily assignments for the next few day's and I grade them with him. Friday's the unit test, and I grade that with him immediately after completion.

For writing you might look at IEW and the student teaching CD's. I'm considering them for next year. You'd need to grade, but most of the teaching is covered by the CD and there is a rubic for each assignment, as I understand.

For history and literature, I just follow the recommendations in TWTM, but that may be too intensive for you.

I've yet to find a middle school science program I really like. I'm debating about doing The Teaching Company DVD's next year (8th).

[Elm in NJ]

We will be doing
Finish CLE maths 7 and start maths 8
Rod and staff 7 English
Home2teach for writing
Apples and Pears D (his spelling has improved drastically but we will finish this last book), then do Vocab from classical roots
CLE reading 7 and LL7
E. Greek 2
Latin Prep 2
He also does Spanish but I have no idea what we will be using or how to fit that in.
Outside art and music class I think
Science. no idea..Probably Apologia Zoology 1,2 or the PH science explorer books since I have them all.
History.. SOTW 4 with KFH encyclopedia and tons of other books

Elmeryl

[Christine in FL]

This year, I returned to homeschooling my sons (9th, 7th, 6th, 3rd). Like you, I was looking for a quality curriculum with lots of planning help. I have enjoyed using the curriculum from Covenant Home. My favorite part is that they provide a day-by-day planner (basic daily plans) for each subject. This has made it very easy to input data onto weekly assignment spreadsheets from which the boys work. It also made it easy to rewrite the plans in event of sickness, family emergency, or just a mental health play day. In addition, it provided me with standard expectations for what my sons should accomplish in a week and what they should be studying at their grade level (good for someone like me who tends to push too hard and expect too much).

I realize that I could have saved $$ and just spent the time planning ahead. Yet, with athletics, church, family activities, husband's professional events, etc., my time was worth more. That said, now that I have a year behind me, I may save the $$, purchase the curriculum a la carte from the publishers, and spend my summer creating my own day-by-day planners. It will all depend upon my husband's preference and our summer time schedule.

Hope this gives you another option at which to look.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Lial's Basic College Math

Truthquest Renaissance and Reformation with Story of the Renaissance and Reformation OR Mystery of History 3 (finances dependent)

Lightening Literature for 7th grade

Latin Prep 2

The Thinking Toolbox ( we do as a family more or less)

Continuing an IEW co-op although I do feel that at this point I might rather just work with their theme based lessons

Apologia General Science with Live and Learn's lapbook

Continuing ASL classes

Continuing Public Speaking through Communicators for Christ

[HollyDay]

I'm planning 7th grade as well.

With TT, did you do the placement test?? If not, I would highly recommend it prior to purchasing the program. It tends to be a year off. My 6th grader is doing 7th currently.

For Cursive, I like Cursive First. Very cheap and easy.

You didnt mention literature. There are 2 programs you might look at - BJU 7 Literature and LL 7.

Are you going to do a vocabulary program? How about Logic?

I really like the look of AOP HealthQuest and plan on doing that one too!

[Rhondabee]

I'm assuming what you listed is what you're doing for 6th right now?

If so, I would keep ABeka English going. What I might add to that is a page (for you) with all the rules, lists, and definitions written down that you can use for 2 minutes or so of oral review each day. Just add each thing to the list as you get to it (maybe have ds make one as well).

For writing, I would look at Wordsmith. It is very, very easy to teach - written to the student. Most of the activities can be done in the workbook. SWB recommends it for "reluctant" and even "non-reluctant" writers. You can read her review on the WTM website. It seemingly covers everything that R&S (which she currently recommends) covers.

I see you have read SOTW-1, but - - have you looked at Sonlight for history/literature? Their Core 6 would fit your oldest perfectly, and help you with a week plan and discussion questions/notes. (Maybe you could even just skip the SOTW-1 readings, and use that time to work on handwriting?)

Core 6 really helped my ds (who thought he *hated* reading) really begin to see how fun books can be! And, it will have enough geography that you won't need a separate course.

SL-6 is heavy on historical fiction, but we read some of the WTM-Books out loud at night. (Especially loved the Coville picture-book stories of Shakespeare.)

(OH, you could also combine your younger two into Core C or 1. As long as you don't substitute books, or re-arrange the order of the readings, doing two Cores is not a big deal.)

**Or, you could do Lightning Lit 7. I haven't tried it, but I think the pace is very gentle. And, it also comes with a schedule. Then, you could use SOTW-2 with all your kids at various levels.***

If you have the money, I would recommend Rainbow Science - and I bet you and your ds would love it. You could easily have your other children sit in on the experiments and read library books on the alternate days, and not have to "plan" their science.

For math, we use BJU, but it is very teacher-intensive. I think Horizons is supposed to be written more to the student, and still a very rigorous course. (They are ready for Algebra after completing Horizons 6.) There is a placement test and sample pages on the Sonlight website.

Best wishes in finding what works for you!
Rhonda

Ok..I feel like it is time to ask for advice. I have been trying to ask my husband what we should do, but he is pretty much leaving it up to me. My son is working through 6 grade currently.

abeka english
zoology 1 apologia
health aop
history (we stopped aop didn't like) we read SOTW 1, and read BF books
Math TT 7 but I am thinking of switching back to saxon or similar.
Maps & Globes
Handwriting Cursive...he hasnt done this in the past in school...so we are just starting.

I dont know what to do next year. I am pulled between creating my own curriculum again or going with something more "together" like Abeka or Seton. I just am trying to look towards the future high school years and I want to make sure we are working towards the right path.

Can anyone suggest something that may help? I feel I really need something that will prepare him for college. He can read well...but hates to read novels and such. It is like pulling teeth. I was really trying to find some programs that are more guided for me...that help me plan my week.

Either way, I am just want to make sure I do enough to get prepared for high school.

I am working at home with a 5 yo that will be going into abeka 1st grade and a 7 yo that will be going into abeka 3rd. I have them doing abeka as they really enjoy the workbooks. My 7yo reads non stop and is reading on more or less a 5/6 grade level. I just want to be able to figure out something that I can work with and still teach 3 kids without working all day.

Thanks for the advice,
Michelle L. S. Florida

[ArwenA]

DD12 is doing the following in 7th:

SOTW 3 with AG, Kingfisher and lots of other reading
RS4K Chemistry II
TT Algebra 1
Latin's Not so Tough 5
CW Diogense
Explorer's Bible Study Discovery: God's Perfect Plan
Fallacy Detective
Rosetta Stone French 2
SWO G
Art and Music App.
Poetry Memorization
Copywork and memory work
Violin

[LindaOz]

We are tending towards a more CM method of doing things, but this is what she is doing:

Math - Saxon 76
Learning Lang Arts Through Literature (includes some writing inst/activities)
Analytical Grammar (love this)
Copywork/Narration/Dictation
Write Now (a workbook with writing starters and ideas. My dd loves this)
Literature - currently Hans Brinker and Robin Hood
Apologia General Science (this is going great!)
The Wide Brown Land for Me (Australian History)
Sonlight Core 5 readings (Eastern Hemishphere Cultures)
An Island Story (then written narrations)
French
Latin
Applied Art and artist study
Piano and Flute lessons, singing, music appreciation

[mchel210]

So now..I started looking into that site, hewitt homeschooling. I have never been to that site before. They seem to have a great list of books. I have never seen Lightning Literature before. I love the way they have the books listed in their program plan each year. I also went to the site with Analytical Grammar. I haven't heard of that program either. I was shocked to see that you only work on grammar for the first 10 weeks then once every 2 weeks? And then the following year you do the next set of lessons. It looks interesting. I think I would have learned grammar a lot easier the way that program seems to teach.

So...after looking around. I seem to like:
Lightning Literature,
Analytical Grammar, (or stick with abeka again)
Jump In Writing
Spelling

Beautiful Feet history,

Apologia General Science,

a handwriting program?,

Wordly Wise possibly,

either continue with TT 7 or move to Saxon (unsure still),

art 7 Seton with Drawing,


and Language Either Latina Christiana or Learnables Spanish


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I also have a friend that offered me the entire abeka 7th grade at 50% off like new.

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It seems like a lot. I would love to add logic and I also had been debating about sticking with abeka english...but it seems to be the same thing year after year? But is still very easy to schedule. Then the English, Literature, and Spelling all kind of goes together. Is the above too much? Would I have time to do religion too? Do you think it sounds like too much planning? i think the bf is moving very easy this year. We seem to read in very small chunks. It never feels overwhelming. I haven't had my son read additional to the BF as he shows no interest in reading...but I think the LL seems like it would be more then enough.
Michelle

[islandmama]

R&S English 7 (or Analytical Grammar if budget permits)
Biblioplan Middle Ages
IEW History-based Writing Lessons, Medieval
Literature from TWTM with discussion, copywork, dictation, and narration
Apologia General Science
Latin in the Christian Trivium I
Saxon Algebra 1
Mind Benders, Fallacy Detective
Bible-still deciding
Guitar

[mchel210]

Literature
Lightning Literature

Writing
Jump In
Spelling
Avko spelling
Vocabulary
Wordly Wise
Grammar
Analytical Grammar - 3 years

Science
Apologia General Science
History
BF - Ancient History
Math
TT 7(we are already working through this) or Saxon 7/6
Logic
Mind Benders B1
Language
Latina Christina


Is it complete like this?

I seem to love this line up. Do you think it would be too hard to schedule? I think it looks pretty do-able with the kids. My son doesnt like to read...but ...he must read. I have him reading BF this year and he likes that they give him little bits at a time. It seems Lightning literature is the same? SO we wouldnt be doing too much reading at one time. Then the rest of the work would be completed daily without taking up too much time. It seems I could schedule these programs pretty easily? After your first 10 weeks, ag only gets done every other week...so we would have plenty of time to do vocab, spelling and jump in. Right now...I am having a hard time finding time to do Jump in with the reports we do from BF. I figured BF was enough writing. I am sitting with my son and doing the brainstorming, drafts, revising, reports and proofreading along side of him.

It seems we will be writing book reports for Lightning Literature, BF, and Jump In now.

I have not done any logic programs as it is my first year and I just am trying to adjust having 3 kids home.
So, is Mind Benders B1 enough for him to start next year?

As far as spelling...I have reservations about AVKO. I have it here for my dd 6 and I had my son doing it. Both did very good...but I was curious as to if it really was working. I couldn't tell.

I had been doing Building Spelling Skills with my son but we also slacked off on that to practice math skills and catch up this year on other topics. We are back working on it again.

My son started Math 7 this year in January. I am working very slow through it. It seems super easy right now...but we had to stop to review multiplication tables again. So we are on Lesson 25 right now. I am debating about sticking with TT or Saxon. My son likes working on his own for math....so TT may stick around. Im undecided right now.

I am starting my 2 younger girls on Prima Latina next year and figured it would be the perfect time to introduce my son to Latina Christina. We haven't done any language yet. He had started Spanish in school this year...but I pulled him out in October.

Michelle L.

[Cinder]

We used Lightning Lit 7 last year (for 6th). The program is not intensive. Assignments are scheduled weekly, but in reasonable bites. It appears to be designed as part of a larger English program. It doesn't include grammar or writing instruction, though it includes grammar and writing exercises. There are also extra exercises that are deemed optional--we didn't do those and I don't feel that took anything away from the program.

This year for 7th:

TOG Yr4 co-op for history and lit

ASMCO Vocab for the High School Student (even though the title says High School the work is suitable for middle school and ds prefers this format to Wordly Wise)

IEW for writing. Ds reallllly dislikes writing but IEW SWI-B makes it tolerable. I've been subbing some of their examples with paragraphs from our history reading too.

Apologia General Science (first half); Prentice-Hall Science Explorer Motion and will finish up with Chemical Interactions

Math: finished up R&S 8 and now is in Lial Introductory Algebra (TT pre-alg was a bust here; mainly the format and lack of practice, so we switched to R&S 8)

Bible and Logic (Fallacy Detective) with Dad.

We dropped Spelling because ds is a fabulous speller. We dropped grammar (not on purpose at first) because I wasn't keeping up well enough. We were doing R&S 7 but may move into AG next year; still undecided.

Sounds like you're getting a good handle on what will work for you. We are constantly tweaking our schedule to find the best fit. But thankfully there is a lot of wisdom and knowledge shared on these boards to help us.

Cinder

[islandmama]

It looks do-able. I've wanted to use Lightning Lit, but my ds isn't a strong reader, so I opted to just use his history readers and didn't want to add to his load... As far as math goes, if you think your ds needs more drill practice, then Saxon might be a good thing. And he may be able to use it on his own until he gets to pre-algebra or so. I've not used TT, so I can't really compare the two. And yes, this board has so much wisdom and helpful info! It's neat to see what others are using... I've changed my mind so many times, it's ridiculous! :D

[Scout]

Math-- MUS pre-algebra w/honors and Hands On Equations
Literature-- Progeny Press
Writing-- online writing class (Powerhouse Writing)
Spelling-- Sequential Spelling 3
Logic-- Fallacy Detective
History-- From Sea to Shining Sea (Catholic Schools Textbook Project)
Science-- Christian Kids Explore Chemistry
Bible-- Break Through! Intro to People of the Faith, Getting to Know Jesus and also some Discover4Yourself Bible studies
Spanish-- Learnables

I will also have a 4th grader and a kindergartner.

[M&M]

We won't do history in a 4 yr cycle (ha! like I am going to do 4 different cyles with 5 kids!), but rather alternate each year between American and World as a family study, using a text and adding in lots of biographies, historical fiction and literature (both as family read alouds and independent).




I think you misunderstand WTM history cycles. You don't ever do more than one time or cycle of history in one year no matter how many children you are teaching. All of your students study the same time period at different levels. The four year rotation takes you through all of world history and american history in 4 years.

Hope you have a great year!

[Kathie in VA]

Looks like you have a good plan to work with.
If you are picking BF Ancients, I would suggest that your other kids also study the Ancients this year. It will make your prep time shorter and easier not to mention the discussions between the kids more interesting! Just pick something at their level for the same time period.

Logic. If you want to do Mindbenders, then start with A1 and work your way up to B1. That's what we did. I think B1 maybe too hard to start with. Since I have multiple kids here I picked the CD version. It's cheaper inthe long run and the kids really liked it since it included short games as rewards.

hth

[Eva]

I have planned out my own materials (eclectic) for years, but sometimes it is a real chore to get it done. I have often thought of the SL saying in their catalog about going to bed at night and not having to worry about school the next day, it is all planned out already. (not a good quote, but that is the jist of it. ha) Anyhow, I found a great ebook that walks you through planning. I am not associated with these peopel at all, I just love their book. It is Planning your CM Education from Simply Charlotte Mason. I was hesitant because after 11+ years of homeschooling, I have read just about every book on planning, curriculum, etc. but this was different and VERY helpful. It has forms, but I just whipped my own up on WORD instead (using tables, my favorite thing). ha

Anyhow, I highly recommend this book to help you plan. Using the book makes it so easy to use a huge variety of materials and even allot of books for history (WTM style). I listed things that I had purchased and never gotten around to using and they are actually in the schedule this year. It is great in another way, you can plan some things for only 1-2 terms (approx. 12 weeks if doing 36 wks of school). It is very flexible. You can actually plan school entirely the way you want without too much work in getting it all scheduled out.

HTH
Eva

[hmschoolmom22]

Here's my plan for 7th

finishing up Math U See and then starting TT 7th
Total Language Plus for Language Arts, Grammar, Writing and Spelling
Apologia for Science
MOH for History
Rosetta Stone for Spanish
Reading the Classics(part of TLP)
Daily Warm Ups and Mind Benders for Logic and Critical Thinking
Art class outside of the home
Dance class outside of the home