Middle School Fears

[Grace]

I have been homeschooling for 6 years and this is the first time I am feeling "inadequate". My twins are starting 6th grade and I feel it is go-time for prepping them for highschool and college! It sounds so over-whelming. I feel like I need to "take it up a notch" but am unsure how. What does that really mean? Up until now, I feel we have "done" all the subjects (ok...science has been hit or miss....) but I now feel like we need to do more than just "doing them". Does that make sense?

Should I go to a prepared curriculum like BJU to take some of the fears away? Should I look for outside classes? Can you look over my plans and comment please....

Math- half-way done with Abeka 6. (used abeka from 1-6) We will finish and maybe start Chalkdust Pre-algebra? Can you smell my fear?

Grammar- Used BJU until now. Will probably use Analytical Grammar

Spelling- Calvert Spelling CD and Megawords

History- I made up my own history program covering World History over 2 years. We are mid-way. They are reading CHOW and doing the Calvert outlining book, Listening to SOTW and doing mapwork from activity guide, doing History Pockets and doing some reading from SL 6/7. I wanted them to have a nice over-view but feel this may be History-lite compared to alot of people.
But what next? I think I need something planned. What are some middle school planned history programs? Not against a textbook with living books added.

Writing- Have done some IEW in the past. Plan to use IEW Middle ages next year and actually complete it.

Reading/Literature- SL 6/7 books but reading them only. I am also use EPS Reading comprehension in Varied Subject Matter. Plan on using Lightning Literature in 7th for literature analysis but should I do something in 6th for "analysis". They read tons on their own too.

Latin- really really unsure of Latin. I feel I need to teach it but feel quite inadequate. I am thinking of using Latin for Children for the DVD even though Latin Prep seems to be the book-of-choice here. I ordered Getting Started with Latin that someone mentioned but not sure if it is enough. My real goal is to have them exposed to Latin so we can do at least one credit of highschool latin. Lame goal, huh?

Science- Have Prentice Hall but unsure on how to implement. Do they just read and do the workbook and then some experiments? Is that in-depth enough?

Logic- nothing formal right now. They enjoy Logic Safari and Logic Liftoff. When should formal studies start?

They may also do a one-day a week enrichment that includes Public Speaking, Spanish, and Art.


I am also unclear on somethings like when do you start taking notes? And their friends in school are always doing "projects". Should we be doing "projects"? Is this something I am missing.

No one is probably still reading this long whiny post but thanks and any help would be appreciated.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

I have been homeschooling for 6 years and this is the first time I am feeling "inadequate". My twins are starting 6th grade and I feel it is go-time for prepping them for highschool and college! It sounds so over-whelming. I feel like I need to "take it up a notch" but am unsure how. What does that really mean? Up until now, I feel we have "done" all the subjects (ok...science has been hit or miss....) but I now feel like we need to do more than just "doing them". Does that make sense?

Should I go to a prepared curriculum like BJU to take some of the fears away? Should I look for outside classes? Can you look over my plans and comment please....

Math- half-way done with Abeka 6. (used abeka from 1-6) We will finish and maybe start Chalkdust Pre-algebra? Can you smell my fear?

Grammar- Used BJU until now. Will probably use Analytical Grammar

Spelling- Calvert Spelling CD and Megawords

History- I made up my own history program covering World History over 2 years. We are mid-way. They are reading CHOW and doing the Calvert outlining book, Listening to SOTW and doing mapwork from activity guide, doing History Pockets and doing some reading from SL 6/7. I wanted them to have a nice over-view but feel this may be History-lite compared to alot of people.
But what next? I think I need something planned. What are some middle school planned history programs? Not against a textbook with living books added.

Writing- Have done some IEW in the past. Plan to use IEW Middle ages next year and actually complete it.

Reading/Literature- SL 6/7 books but reading them only. I am also use EPS Reading comprehension in Varied Subject Matter. Plan on using Lightning Literature in 7th for literature analysis but should I do something in 6th for "analysis". They read tons on their own too.

Latin- really really unsure of Latin. I feel I need to teach it but feel quite inadequate. I am thinking of using Latin for Children for the DVD even though Latin Prep seems to be the book-of-choice here. I ordered Getting Started with Latin that someone mentioned but not sure if it is enough. My real goal is to have them exposed to Latin so we can do at least one credit of highschool latin. Lame goal, huh?

Science- Have Prentice Hall but unsure on how to implement. Do they just read and do the workbook and then some experiments? Is that in-depth enough?

Logic- nothing formal right now. They enjoy Logic Safari and Logic Liftoff. When should formal studies start?

They may also do a one-day a week enrichment that includes Public Speaking, Spanish, and Art.


I am also unclear on somethings like when do you start taking notes? And their friends in school are always doing "projects". Should we be doing "projects"? Is this something I am missing.

No one is probably still reading this long whiny post but thanks and any help would be appreciated.

I felt exactly the same way when I started my first one in middle school. Here's a few thoughts:


Math, Grammar, and Spelling sound good. I'm not that familiar with Chalkdust, but, if I remember correctly there are cd's that go with it, right? If not and you're nervous about starting algebra, maybe find a program with cd-rom instruction to go with it, or make sure it's a program that is really teacher friendly. I know a lot of people here use Chalkdust and it sounds like a great, thorough program.

Writing: IEW is a good program. I've looked at it and implemented some of it. (I would love to use it, but, can't afford it!) I would make sure you work on notetaking with them as well. That's an important skill. They can take notes while they are reading, but, it's good for you to read aloud in history or science with them as well and have them take notes from what they hear. Sounds like you are already doing outlining with them in history. At this stage, I also work with my dc in writing with end notes and a bibliography as well as writing a really good paragraph.

History: We love living books. I don't necessarily have a textbook history program, but, we do use a guide such as Beautiful Feet or Truthquest. There are some writing assignments in each as well as great ideas for living books for the different periods of history. It's a good time to expose them to books, really good literature for history.

Science: There are a LOT of great science programs out there you can look into. We were sporadic in our science for a while, too. We use Apologia. But, there are wonderful programs out there. I would encourage you to come up with a long-term plan so you can stay focused and cover all you need to in the next few years. Something like: Physical Science, Life Science, Chemistry, Physics You can choose different curriculum for each or stick with one, but, just stick to whatever plan you choose.

Literature: Now is a great time to start them reading good literature. We use Lightning Lit. You could implement LL7 and work through it slowly. It's a good way to learn to look at literature critically and there are great exercises for comprehension, vocab., and good writing assignments. The lit. choices are good too.

Anyway, I would encourage you to sit down and outline a plan and then decide what you are going to use to implement it. It helped me to really look at what I needed to cover and then what I wanted to cover and come up with a long-term plan.

Good luck!

[hmsch4me]

I can say that because I am now on the other side of jr. high (one graduating 8th next month and one in 7th). I had the same fear/anxiety that you have now. I think that the change that happens in jr. high is more about quality and type of work versus any certain curriculum. Please remember that anything I say below is just my personal opinion and what worked for our family. I have two very different learners in my house so I'm doing different things with both of them. Here goes.....

[Should I go to a prepared curriculum like BJU to take some of the fears away?]

Only if you like those types of curriculum. If not - skip it. I love having choices!

[Math- half-way done with Abeka 6. (used Abeka from 1-6) We will finish and maybe start Chalkdust Pre-algebra?]

Why not continue with Abeka Pre-Algebra? My ds did that and I think it's a good program and prepared him well. I would, however, switch to something else for Algebra I. Just curious if you feel you have to do Pre-Alg. in 6th or your kids are really ready for that?

[Grammar- Used BJU until now. Will probably use Analytical Grammar]

Either of these would work. I think if you go for AG - I would choose the Jr. AG. I chose that with my kids. I know SWB recommends AG for sr. high.

[Spelling- Calvert Spelling CD and Megawords] Good.

[History- I made up my own history program covering World History over 2 years. We are mid-way. They are reading CHOW and doing the Calvert outlining book, Listening to SOTW and doing mapwork from activity guide, doing History Pockets and doing some reading from SL 6/7. I wanted them to have a nice over-view but feel this may be History-lite compared to alot of people.]

This sounds like a lot of fun. I would keep going. It doesn't sound light to me. Have you studied Am. History yet? If not, I would move onto that after you finish your world history. You could always do a fun world geography year (or finish the year with it) before going through another history cycle. What might help is reading the history section in TWTM - this is where work is "beefed-up" as far as the work required (outlining, summaries, timeline, etc.).

[Writing- Have done some IEW in the past. Plan to use IEW Middle ages next year and actually complete it.]

If it works - keep it.

[Reading/Literature- SL 6/7 books but reading them only. I am also use EPS Reading comprehension in Varied Subject Matter. Plan on using Lightning Literature in 7th for literature analysis but should I do something in 6th for "analysis". They read tons on their own too.]

I would just continue to have lively discussions on the books their reading - don't need to get heavy into analysis at this point. LL7 will be a good intro. to that type of reading, when you get there.

[Latin- really really unsure of Latin. I feel I need to teach it but feel quite inadequate. I am thinking of using Latin for Children for the DVD even though Latin Prep seems to be the book-of-choice here. I ordered Getting Started with Latin that someone mentioned but not sure if it is enough.]

I'm not sure about whether many colleges care if your foreign language is in Latin or another modern language. We gave Latin a real try for 2 years then gave up. I realized FL was not easy for me at all. This is a class that we are outsourcing - Spanish. What I chose to do instead was word root study. There are many programs out there for this (Word Roots A & B; Voc. from Classical Roots; etc.)


[Science- Have Prentice Hall but unsure on how to implement. Do they just read and do the workbook and then some experiments? Is that in-depth enough?]

We did Prentice Hall this year and I found them quite boring because we like experiments! We actually did the Apologia Elementary Sciences in 6th (2 books - 1/semester) and loved it. I also bought the experiment kits. Maybe this is a year you can study something they'd like to learn more about. Come 7th grade you can go into Apologia General Science or Rainbow Science (something more formal). Though I have to be honest here - we've never done a real "formal" science. I chosen from lots of different resources and just had fun with it. I knew my ds would hit it hard in 9th for science.

[Logic- nothing formal right now. They enjoy Logic Safari and Logic Liftoff. When should formal studies start?]

You could start Critical Thinking books, but we just stuck with the logic books like you are doing. In 7th we started Fallacy Detective (great book)!


[They may also do a one-day a week enrichment that includes Public Speaking, Spanish, and Art.]

This sounds great.


If you want to have them do projects you can do that anytime. I don't put a lot of weight on those types of things, unless there was a real interest in it from my dc.

Final thought - one thing that happens during the jr. high years is that your kids grow up. There are a lot of things that happen naturally, not from anything I've done or not done. Some things I've tried to keep in mind.... I want my dc to love to learn, even when we aren't doing "school". This is something I don't see from public school kids. I want them to be able to communicate clearly and read well. We did more work with essays (breaking them down), outlining, and writing in general. Lots of reading and a good grounding in math - solid concepts. Don't worry, they will have lots of time to work hard in high school and college. You've got 3 years to prepare them for the high school level work, so it may help to have an idea of your goals for them in hs (not curricula, but habits, work ethic, basic abilities, etc.). Most of all, have fun! Relax and enjoy your children. It sounds like you are already doing a great job.

[Stacy in NJ]

I have a rising 6th grader and I know we need to do a better job intergrating writing within the content areas (history & science). That's my major goal for next year. We've done early American History this year. We'll use SOTW IV for next. I then plan to use TRISMS History Makers for a two year world history sequence in 7th and 8th. TRISMS integrates and schedules out IEW within the program. It includes Science and Literature as components, like a unit study. It requires more independent work, which I think is high school prepatory.:001_smile:

Anywho, again, I feel your pain.:001_huh: Figuring out how to kick it up a notch is a toughie.

[sadiegirl]

I remember when I started homeschooling and the first year(just K/Pre-K), I was soooo nervous I would mess up. My aunt told me to relax and that I would not mess up my kids! Next year I was better but still nervous. But, as grade 2nd-6th have come and gone, I did get more relaxed and enjoy the ride and feel like I knew what I was doing.
Now we come to 7th grade and I have those very same feelings of anxiety that I experienced when I first started except couple that with the feeling of I running out of time to get my kids ready for high school and college!(like the sand in the hourglass!)
I don't have any advice but to do as I am and that is to read all of the advice offered on these posts and take notes and keep asking questions. I find that on different days and even months later, you will find new posts with new suggestions and help. I guess there are more of us in this situation than I realize. I, too, am freaked out about the Algebra thing!

[susie in tx]

I've found that I often freak out about what I am doing with my girls. What has helped me the most is to work backwards. I now know what I want my two oldest to accomplish by the time they graduate high school. It's a work in progress goal, based on each individual girl's desires, but I have a basic framework from which to draw my own plan.

Once I knew where we were going, I was able to work backwards. What did I want each girl to do as a senior, junior, sophomore, freshman? (in general, not specifics) Then, I worked on 8th, 7th, and 6th grade. Once I had a plan for 6th grade, then I went to the specifics. How would I accomplish the basics for our homeschool?

Then, in the middle of the 6th grade year, I redid the entire thing. LOL That has more to do with our entire homeschool meshing together rather than my individual 6th grader.

I found, that once I knew what I was doing for my oldest, it was easier to figure out what to do with the youngers.

Hopefully, some of this was helpful. Going from general to specifics has been very helpful for me/us.

[Grace]

I felt exactly the same way when I started my first one in middle school. Here's a few thoughts:


Math, Grammar, and Spelling sound good. I'm not that familiar with Chalkdust, but, if I remember correctly there are cd's that go with it, right? If not and you're nervous about starting algebra, maybe find a program with cd-rom instruction to go with it, or make sure it's a program that is really teacher friendly. I know a lot of people here use Chalkdust and it sounds like a great, thorough program.

Writing: IEW is a good program. I've looked at it and implemented some of it. (I would love to use it, but, can't afford it!) I would make sure you work on notetaking with them as well. That's an important skill. They can take notes while they are reading, but, it's good for you to read aloud in history or science with them as well and have them take notes from what they hear. Sounds like you are already doing outlining with them in history. At this stage, I also work with my dc in writing with end notes and a bibliography as well as writing a really good paragraph.

History: We love living books. I don't necessarily have a textbook history program, but, we do use a guide such as Beautiful Feet or Truthquest. There are some writing assignments in each as well as great ideas for living books for the different periods of history. It's a good time to expose them to books, really good literature for history.

Science: There are a LOT of great science programs out there you can look into. We were sporadic in our science for a while, too. We use Apologia. But, there are wonderful programs out there. I would encourage you to come up with a long-term plan so you can stay focused and cover all you need to in the next few years. Something like: Physical Science, Life Science, Chemistry, Physics You can choose different curriculum for each or stick with one, but, just stick to whatever plan you choose.

Literature: Now is a great time to start them reading good literature. We use Lightning Lit. You could implement LL7 and work through it slowly. It's a good way to learn to look at literature critically and there are great exercises for comprehension, vocab., and good writing assignments. The lit. choices are good too.

Anyway, I would encourage you to sit down and outline a plan and then decide what you are going to use to implement it. It helped me to really look at what I needed to cover and then what I wanted to cover and come up with a long-term plan.

Good luck!

Dayle,
Thanks for you input. I like the idea of them learning to take notes while reading history and science.

I am also going to look into Beautiful Feet. I have never looked at it before. Is it similiar to Sonlight?

Thanks again for your time.

Grace

[Grace]

Why not continue with Abeka Pre-Algebra? My ds did that and I think it's a good program and prepared him well. I would, however, switch to something else for Algebra I. Just curious if you feel you have to do Pre-Alg. in 6th or your kids are really ready for that?

[Grammar- Used BJU until now. Will probably use Analytical Grammar]


I would just continue to have lively discussions on the books their reading - don't need to get heavy into analysis at this point. LL7 will be a good intro. to that type of reading, when you get there.

I'm not sure about whether many colleges care if your foreign language is in Latin or another modern language. We gave Latin a real try for 2 years then gave up. I realized FL was not easy for me at all. This is a class that we are outsourcing - Spanish. What I chose to do instead was word root study. There are many programs out there for this (Word Roots A & B; Voc. from Classical Roots; etc.)


[Science- Have Prentice Hall but unsure on how to implement. Do they just read and do the workbook and then some experiments? Is that in-depth enough?]

We did Prentice Hall this year and I found them quite boring because we like experiments! We actually did the Apologia Elementary Sciences in 6th (2 books - 1/semester) and loved it. I also bought the experiment kits. Maybe this is a year you can study something they'd like to learn more about. Come 7th grade you can go into Apologia General Science or Rainbow Science (something more formal). Though I have to be honest here - we've never done a real "formal" science. I chosen from lots of different resources and just had fun with it. I knew my ds would hit it hard in 9th for science.


Final thought - one thing that happens during the jr. high years is that your kids grow up. There are a lot of things that happen naturally, not from anything I've done or not done. Some things I've tried to keep in mind.... I want my dc to love to learn, even when we aren't doing "school". This is something I don't see from public school kids. I want them to be able to communicate clearly and read well. We did more work with essays (breaking them down), outlining, and writing in general. Lots of reading and a good grounding in math - solid concepts. Don't worry, they will have lots of time to work hard in high school and college. You've got 3 years to prepare them for the high school level work, so it may help to have an idea of your goals for them in hs (not curricula, but habits, work ethic, basic abilities, etc.). Most of all, have fun! Relax and enjoy your children. It sounds like you are already doing a great job.


Thanks so much for your comments and kind words.

I was thinking of switching math programs from Abeka because I thought their pre-algebra and beyond was not very good. Is the pre-algebra similiar to their lower elementary books?

I didn't think of starting LL7 early. I will look at it at the book fair. I also have Apologia and Rainbow Science on my list to look at too. Thanks.

[Grace]

I have a rising 6th grader and I know we need to do a better job intergrating writing within the content areas (history & science). That's my major goal for next year. We've done early American History this year. We'll use SOTW IV for next. I then plan to use TRISMS History Makers for a two year world history sequence in 7th and 8th. TRISMS integrates and schedules out IEW within the program. It includes Science and Literature as components, like a unit study. It requires more independent work, which I think is high school prepatory.:001_smile:

Anywho, again, I feel your pain.:001_huh: Figuring out how to kick it up a notch is a toughie.

Hi Stacy,
Writing is going to be my focus too. I have many friends switching to TRISMS this year. I will look into this too. Great idea.

[8FillTheHeart]

IMath- half-way done with Abeka 6. (used abeka from 1-6) We will finish and maybe start Chalkdust Pre-algebra? Can you smell my fear?.
Chalkdust is a solid math program. It would be a great choice.

Grammar- Used BJU until now. Will probably use Analytical Grammar
Spelling- Calvert Spelling CD and Megawords
again, good choices

History- I made up my own history program covering World History over 2 years. We are mid-way. They are reading CHOW and doing the Calvert outlining book, Listening to SOTW and doing mapwork from activity guide, doing History Pockets and doing some reading from SL 6/7. I wanted them to have a nice over-view but feel this may be History-lite compared to alot of people.
But what next? I think I need something planned. What are some middle school planned history programs? Not against a textbook with living books added.
Relax. They will repeat it again. What they don't cover between now and graduation, they can take in college. You don't HAVE to cover it all. :)

Writing- Have done some IEW in the past. Plan to use IEW Middle ages next year and actually complete it.
Writing, IMHO, is the key to middle school. It is when my kids write more and I expect more. They focus on active voice, verb tense, perspective, varied sentence structure.

Reading/Literature- SL 6/7 books but reading them only. I am also use EPS Reading comprehension in Varied Subject Matter. Plan on using Lightning Literature in 7th for literature analysis but should I do something in 6th for "analysis". They read tons on their own too.
My older kids never did ANY lit ana until high school. They picked it up extremely easily. Whether you do or don't is really a matter of choice. I am doing LL from LOTRs this yr with my 6th and 8th graders and they are having a good time with it. It has been a nice easy intro.

Latin- really really unsure of Latin. I feel I need to teach it but feel quite inadequate. I am thinking of using Latin for Children for the DVD even though Latin Prep seems to be the book-of-choice here. I ordered Getting Started with Latin that someone mentioned but not sure if it is enough. My real goal is to have them exposed to Latin so we can do at least one credit of highschool latin. Lame goal, huh?
We are continual Latin dropouts.....can't help you there!!

Science- Have Prentice Hall but unsure on how to implement. Do they just read and do the workbook and then some experiments? Is that in-depth enough?
We are using the PH books this yr. My kids like them. BUT.....heresy on this board......we don't do a whole lot of experiments, formally anyway. My kids play around with stuff on their own all the time, but I don't plan them. Hasn't hurt my kids at all. Hey, my 18 yos just got home today from college. He just finished his freshman yr, has 50 hrs of credit, is on the Dean's List majoring in chem eng and took all sophomore level science classes this yr. Not doing tons of experiments during elementary and middle school didn't hurt him at all.

Logic- nothing formal right now. They enjoy Logic Safari and Logic Liftoff. When should formal studies start?
Only my 10th grader took logic. Don't have a lot to share.

They may also do a one-day a week enrichment that includes Public Speaking, Spanish, and Art.
You can have them do an oral summation on a topic every couple of weeks after dinner for the family. Foreign language is a bonus.....doesn't need to be done daily.


I am also unclear on somethings like when do you start taking notes? And their friends in school are always doing "projects". Should we be doing "projects"? Is this something I am missing.

No one is probably still reading this long whiny post but thanks and any help would be appreciated.

I have started my 8th grader taking notes this yr when listening to Teaching Company lectures. It is simply practice.
Projects......well, we do one big writing project a yr. Some of enthusiastic science kids do a science project......other than that.........nothing.

Basically, I want to encourage you!! You have great plans!! Keep on doing what you've been doing. You simply make it a little harder yr to yr. Nothing dramatic takes place. It simply the same as how you adapted to teaching a 5th grader vs a Ker. :)

[mcconnellboys]

I think your work sounds fine. For the programs you're using for math, grammar and spelling, are there tests offered and do you use those? I think it's important to have them start being accountable through testing at that age so that they get ramped up for testing at the high school level. If you finish up spelling, you might want to consider moving into some sort of word study program to help prep for ACT/SAT testing later, too.

I like Hakim's history of US series for American studies in middle school, but don't have a suggestion for a textbook type series for world studies. Hakim's series does have tests and teacher resources available to go along with it. I like to add in a lot of living books for history and tie literature into the time period under study, too. I think having the children write on a regular, weekly basis about what they're reading or studying is helpful for them. Keeping various forms of timelines may also be helpful.

If you're using PH for science, along with the workbooks, etc., then I think that sounds good. Do they have tests available, too? How many books per year are they covering? I think most do about 3 per year with middle schoolers, if not more.

I think Fallacy Detective or Art of Argument are pretty good informal logic programs that can be started in sixth grade; or you might want to look at doing a formal program by way of Introductory Logic, by Wilson. There are certainly others out there, as well.

I've been looking at a new program called Latin for Children (they also have Greek and Spanish) which I think looks great for beginning language studies. All their programming combines vocab and grammar in a workbook format. They have tapes and yearly readings offered, as well.

Good luck to you in your journey!

[Grace]

I've found that I often freak out about what I am doing with my girls. What has helped me the most is to work backwards. I now know what I want my two oldest to accomplish by the time they graduate high school. It's a work in progress goal, based on each individual girl's desires, but I have a basic framework from which to draw my own plan.

Once I knew where we were going, I was able to work backwards. What did I want each girl to do as a senior, junior, sophomore, freshman? (in general, not specifics) Then, I worked on 8th, 7th, and 6th grade. Once I had a plan for 6th grade, then I went to the specifics. How would I accomplish the basics for our homeschool?

Then, in the middle of the 6th grade year, I redid the entire thing. LOL That has more to do with our entire homeschool meshing together rather than my individual 6th grader.

I found, that once I knew what I was doing for my oldest, it was easier to figure out what to do with the youngers.

Hopefully, some of this was helpful. Going from general to specifics has been very helpful for me/us.

Thanks Susie,
That is a great planning method.
Grace

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

I have a rising 6th grader and I know we need to do a better job intergrating writing within the content areas (history & science). That's my major goal for next year. We've done early American History this year. We'll use SOTW IV for next. I then plan to use TRISMS History Makers for a two year world history sequence in 7th and 8th. TRISMS integrates and schedules out IEW within the program. It includes Science and Literature as components, like a unit study. It requires more independent work, which I think is high school prepatory.:001_smile:

Anywho, again, I feel your pain.:001_huh: Figuring out how to kick it up a notch is a toughie.

I am probably going to use HO w/ SOTW4, but then we are on th same schedule for 7th/8th (History Makers). What are you using w/ SOTW4?

K

[LisaCA]

It looks like you have been doing great. I also pick and choose from different curriculum publishers. You have received many posts so I'll make my humble suggestions as short as I can.

If you've found a math program that works for you....stick with it! (Ours is Saxon and for high school DD's I also get the DIVE DVD's)
Logic: I start mine with Mind Benders and that sort of thing until 7th grade and then we do Critical Thinking Book One and in 8th Book Two these are by Anita Harnadek. Great sections on propaganda and the such which you can apply to everyday living, especially if you watch tv!
Literary analysis: Learn the Socratic method and you can work with your children orally as they read a book. I'm pretty sure you are already doing this. We using the Writing/Reading Strands Guide.Best wishes, Lisa

[LisaCA]

I feel Latin is essential. This subject will help in so many ways (the way the brain puts words together, preparation for other foreign languages, building a better vocabulary etc.)
This year we used Bridge to Latin and was a great intro and grammar program. We plan to follow up with all the Latin Roads to Latin. The company gives great support and my daughter just seems to take to it. (and she is a challenge!)
IF you choose no latin, as I did with my older DD's, I suggest Classical Roots Books A and up. They are a little short so I suggest making a game, flash cards, poster or that sort of thing during a week between lessons for review.

Oh and science: Apologia -any elementary subject that is a favorite (botony, flying creatures, astronomy ect.) then follow Apologia recommended in 7th and through high school.
Or, Real Science 4 Kids---loved it, especially Chemistry. Yes, elementary chemistry. I had my Hisgh school DD's read these as an intro their science course.
Wow, get me going and I don't keeo it very short. -sorry:001_smile:

[LanaTron]

I am having my own anxiety attack over writing...he just hasn't done too much of it. I can get myself to relax a bit when I remember that all I can do is start where he is skillwise and move forward. I cannot force everything that I want, because he has his own developmental time table and I can only do so much and provide so much. What I can provide may not be ideal, but it can be good enough.

I look at it like this, what's the worst thing that can happen? Maybe he'll spend a year in community college taking remedial courses...I don't honestly think that will happen because he's coming along nicely...but if that's the worst thing that happens, I can be okay with that.

No worries. :tongue_smilie:

[Tammyla]

More encouragement here. Middle school is a good time to look at your goals, and tweak the program. Don't be discouraged. Your student will likely surprise you in a good way.

[Stacy in NJ]

What am I using for writing long side SOTW IV? We'll do it ala the WTM, meaning he'll write narrations, or as we call them mini-reports, of 1 to 3 paragraphs from his history or science reading. He'll do one per week alternating history/science topics.

[Grace]

Momof7,

Thanks so much for your input. I gained alot from your experience. Love you thoughts on writing being key to middle school.
Also thanks for the encouragement. I hope I adapt as well to the change to middle school as I have the other grades.

Thanks again,
Grace

[Grace]

I think your work sounds fine. For the programs you're using for math, grammar and spelling, are there tests offered and do you use those? I think it's important to have them start being accountable through testing at that age so that they get ramped up for testing at the high school level. If you finish up spelling, you might want to consider moving into some sort of word study program to help prep for ACT/SAT testing later, too.

I like Hakim's history of US series for American studies in middle school, but don't have a suggestion for a textbook type series for world studies. Hakim's series does have tests and teacher resources available to go along with it. I like to add in a lot of living books for history and tie literature into the time period under study, too. I think having the children write on a regular, weekly basis about what they're reading or studying is helpful for them. Keeping various forms of timelines may also be helpful.

If you're using PH for science, along with the workbooks, etc., then I think that sounds good. Do they have tests available, too? How many books per year are they covering? I think most do about 3 per year with middle schoolers, if not more.

I think Fallacy Detective or Art of Argument are pretty good informal logic programs that can be started in sixth grade; or you might want to look at doing a formal program by way of Introductory Logic, by Wilson. There are certainly others out there, as well.

I've been looking at a new program called Latin for Children (they also have Greek and Spanish) which I think looks great for beginning language studies. All their programming combines vocab and grammar in a workbook format. They have tapes and yearly readings offered, as well.

Good luck to you in your journey!

Regina,

I will incorporate more "tests" in middle school. I think my twins are lacking in good test taking skills.

And thanks for the reminder about the Hakims books. I actually own those already but have never used them. Do you know where I can get the tests and teachers resources to go with them?

Grace

[LanaTron]

Thanks, Tammy! That was nice.

[mcconnellboys]

I haven't looked for them yet, so don't know if RRC is carrying them or not. Ask around here and someone will provide a link to them, I feel sure!