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7th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices

Aug102015
August 10, 2015 by 3 Comments

7th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices 2015



For the most part, the bulk of McKenna’s 7th grade subjects will be worked on independently, but there are a few areas that we will still be working on as a group: history and Bible. We are cycling through history and will be starting back next year with the ‘ancients’ time period. Also since the kids have enjoyed getting back to Grapevine, we are going to go through the New Testament together.

McKenna is our growing independent learner who still needs a little direction, but wants very much to be seen as the maturing young lady that she is. She is so full of life and energy. All.the.time. This year we’ll be focusing more on responsibility, serving others, and following through on projects (even though we might not always enjoy what we’re doing).

7th Grade Curriculum Choices

7th-grade-homeschool-reading-list-2015-Homeschool-Creations.png

One of the subjects I am MOST excited about with McKenna is her Route 66 study from Positive Action. This was something I picked up for her at HEAV this summer. Route 66 is a full year study that looks at the overall themes and structure of the Bible (and the cover already has her hooked!).

McKenna is most excited to continue with Growing with Grammar and also to work on Word Up Vocabulary. Word Up is new to her this year and the videos are funny and engaging, so it will be a win-win for us!

Co-op Learning

This year we are trying something a little different in our smaller co-op class. Because we have a growing group of middle school kids, there will be two classes targeted specifically to that age group:

Curriculum in Year’s Past

In case you are interested in seeing the curriculum that brought us to this point, here’s a peek at what we’ve used with McKenna the past few years:

Planning Middle School

Overview planning pages for middle and high school

These free middle and high school planning printables have been such a huge help to us as we started mapping out McKenna’s middle and high school years. As much as I don’t want to think about the fact that she is growing up, it has helped me look at the bigger picture and make sure we aren’t missing anything overall.

If you are new to homeschooling and aren’t sure where to begin in choosing homeschool curriculum, please don’t let this post overwhelm you! Here are a few posts that you might find helpful as you discover what is best for your family. Be sure to check out the entire Homeschool Basics series for answers to more frequently asked homeschool questions.

3rd grade homeschool curriculum choices from Homeschool Creations

Take a peek at our 9th grade, 5th grade, and 3rd grade curriculum choices for the year as well! Click on one of the images above to look over their curriculum piles.

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Filed Under: 7th Grade, Curriculum Choices, Curriculum helps, McKenna 3 Comments

9th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices

Aug42015
August 4, 2015 by 10 Comments

9th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Choices


Each year I usually share our curriculum choices as a big lump, but we’re moving into much more self-guided learning territory with our oldest and it makes more sense to my brain to share our overall plan one grade level at a time.

Laurianna is our independent and studious learner who is still putting the finishing touches on figuring out how to schedule things. She is 14 and officially going into the 9th grade, and last year she finished 6 high school credits during her 8th grade year.

9th Grade Curriculum Choices

Credits to earn: 7.5

10th-grade-homeschool-reading-list-2015-Homeschool-Creations.png

The Joys of Independent Learning

Last year we let Laurianna put together her own routine and that worked out for the most part, although she had a tendency to put a few of her least favorite subjects on the backburner, resulting with her being in a bit of a pinch toward the end of the year because those subjects were piling up.  This year she and I will be sitting down together to figure out a schedule that works better for her, especially since much of her work will be done independently, with a few group co-op classes that meet once a week.

Hint: my idea of how things should be scheduled may be a little different than hers, and since this is a life skill, we think it’s important to master this now.

Co-op Learning

We have a small group of high schoolers that will be meeting weekly to work on literature, personal finance, and apologetics. Laurianna will also be getting together with one friend to do the lab part of biology (because really, dissecting a fetal pig will be much better if you have a friend to commiserate with. And the other mom is helping with that, so I am much obliged in that regard.).

Curriculum in Year’s Past

In case you are interested in seeing the curriculum that brought us to this point, here’s a peek at what we’ve used with Laurianna the past few years:

9th-grade-reading-list.jpg

Does High School Have You Scared?

If homeschooling high school is worrying you, don’t miss the free middle and high school planning printables and map out your middle and high school years!

Homeschooling in High School Middle and High School Planning How to Choose Homeschool Curriculum

If you are new to homeschooling and aren’t sure where to begin in choosing homeschool curriculum, please don’t let this post overwhelm you! Here are a few posts that you might find helpful as you discover what is best for your family. Be sure to check out the entire Homeschool Basics series for answers to more frequently asked homeschool questions.

See What the Other Kids Are Up To…

3rd grade homeschool curriculum choices from Homeschool Creations

Take a peek at our  7th grade, 5th grade, and 3rd grade curriculum choices for the year as well! Click on one of the images above to look over their curriculum piles.

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Filed Under: 9th Grade, Curriculum Choices, Laurianna 10 Comments

Eighth Grade Year in Review – Homeschool Curriculum Choices

Jul272015
July 27, 2015 by 5 Comments

8th Grade Homeschool Year in Review



Laurianna’s eighth grade year was enough to make me break out in a cold sweat. Seriously. Somehow the start of last year really had me realizing that every little thing mattered. We were on the verge of HIGH SCHOOL, deciding if she would be taking high school credits and the panic set in.

The bulk of Laurianna’s work was independent, although there were several classes that we did in a co-op setting, because we have some fabulous friends and it was much fun interacting with a few other high schoolers (and commiserating together on their science or literature woes). Laurianna is very dedicated and responsible in managing her time, so although we had talked about what programs she would use, she put together her own schedule for the weeks and years. There were a few times we had to review her plans and reorganize things, but otherwise we met weekly to go through her work, correct papers, and look at what was coming up next.

You can see all of our 8th grade homeschool curriculum choices for the 2014-15 year here, but below you’ll get a good look at what we used for Laurianna’s eighth grade year and what we will be continuing on with in the upcoming year.

Geography

The plan: North Star Geography (1 credit) and Wondermaps

 

Email subscriber can click here to watch the video clip.

Hands-down, North Star Geography from Bright Ideas Press was the BEST addition to our curriculum and Laurianna’s workload. If there was one thing I heard constantly, it was how much she absolutely loved the program and it was her favorite. She earned a full credit for the program, and I rather loved the grading sheet that was a part of the program (and did all the computing for me).

There were many hands-on projects that Laurianna worked on throughout the year, and I hope to share her hydroponics project with you all soon. Between mapping, learning country facts, and the well-laid out program, it was a definite win for our year.

Science

Physical Science from Exploration Education (1 credit), The Fossil Book and The Cave Book from Masterbooks (1/2 credit)

Glider from Everday Exploration

Science was one subject that we worked on with a very small co-op this year (four kids). One of the moms took on the weekly teaching and the kids were responsible for the reading assignments during the week and working on their lab projects (these varied from building a glider, a miniature house, solar-powered fan, or other projects). The kids each brought their assignments during the co-op meeting and ran additional experiments together and had their lab booklets checked out as well.  Overall, Laurianna really enjoyed the program, especially the hands-on projects.

Her second semester she started working on the two Masterbook science classes for a total of 1/2 credit. Both of these books are counting toward her elective classes.

Literature

Introduction to Literature (1 credit)

Homeschool Week in Review-17

Literature was another class that we opted to work on together in our small co-op. This was the class that I taught and having the small group worked very well. Each week we spent time talking about various writing techniques and reviewing the most recent assignments together. Writing is one area that is so important because it covers so many different aspects of life and will follow the kids wherever they go! This year we focused on putting together a strong essay (see the fun hamburger essay outline that Laurianna drew for herself and friends).

Hamburger essay outline for literature

Next year we will be working through the next book in this literature series. We read some fabulous books together (see Laurianna’s reading list here) and at the end of each unit we watched a movie version of the book to compare/contrast if it followed the book or completely digressed (more often then not it was the latter – but it was still fun).

The best part in working with the small group was the opportunity to work on peer reviews and share different writing styles with each other. Having someone else read, edit, and review your papers can be very intimidating, but the kids all handled it so well.

It is also here that I remembered why I though teaching high school English was not the direction I wanted to head. While I love many of the aspects of the class, having four papers to grade each week was crazy enough and I cannot even imagine having a crazy amount of papers to review each day/week.

My only ‘complaint’ with the program was the not-so-clear-cut grading scale/rubric. For my sanity I ended up creating a grading rubric for each type of paper, along with checklists for the kids to review before handing papers in. These were similar in style to the ones that I was familiar with from WriteShop, giving the kids and parents a clear idea of what was expected and how they could improve papers.

Grammar & Spelling

Easy Grammar 180 Daily Teaching Lessons, All About Spelling Levels 6 & 7

This was a fairly ‘light’ area for Laurianna this year. The Easy Grammar lessons were overall review for her, and we did spelling lessons sporadically throughout the year. She is a very proficient speller and we will finish up level 7 with her next year.

Math

Algebra 1 from Saxon Math (1 credit)

Saxon Algebra 1

Algebra is probably one of Laurianna’s least favorite subjects overall. She is still muddling through two tests and reviewing some of the material – it just isn’t her favorite area. While she didn’t struggle completely, it was the subject that took her the longest to complete each day and made her eyes want to gloss over.

Next year she is still debating on using Saxon for Algebra 2 or moving back to Teaching Textbooks. The main reason for the switch to Saxon was one of her friends was using Saxon, so she wanted to as well. We’ll have to decide in the next bit, but fortunately have both on hand just in case.

Elective

Greek Myths from Memoria Press (1/2 credit)

Laurianna really enjoyed reading the Percy Jackson series, so she thought that Greek Myths would be along the same lines. It wasn’t quite what she expected and while it started out okay, she now wishes she would have chosen something else as a 1/2 credit elective. (grins) She did finish the class during her first semester and earned the 1/2 credit, but has mentioned to her younger sister that it might not be the best option for her. Overall a good lesson in perseverance and finishing what we start.

Foreign Language

Spanish Tell Me More program (1 credit)

We didn’t quite get the first year finished and had a glitch in our software. When the program was initially purchased, Tell Me More was their own company, but they were bought out by Rosetta Stone. Trying to figure out how to get past our glitch was put on the back burner since we weren’t sure where to go for customer service. Fortunately, because we started it her 8th grade year, we have a little bit of wiggle room and will finish it up and move on to year 2 shortly.

Vocabulary

Dynamic Literacy Word Build Elements

Although we intended for Laurianna to work on this, we ended up shelving it because she was working on so much with literature and Daily Grams.

History

Mystery of History 4 combined with Story of the World 4 (see below); Liberty Kids dvd series

Laurianna worked primarily on taking good notes this year and getting ready for an independent class next year. She took the quizzes to go along with the class as well but decided to skip the coloring pages (grins).

Bible

Picture Smart Bible – wrapping up our Old Testament Studies and 90 Devotions for Kids – morning devotions

The Picture Smart Bible coloring pages were something Laurianna enjoyed, although our switch back to Grapevine Studies was her favorite study overall.

Co-op

PE, Art, and other electives

homeschool January 2015-36

The other co-op we were a part of included an art class that Laurianna really enjoyed. This year they worked on creating marionettes and decided to make characters from the book of Esther. When they were finished, they helped sew the costumes, created scene backdrops, wrote a play, and put on a 15 minute presentation for the co-op.

Click the images below to see our 2nd Grade Year in Review,  4th Grade Year in Review, and 6th Grade Year in Review. Stick around too – I’ll be sharing our curriculum choices for the upcoming school year soon!

2nd Grade Homeschool Year in Review 4th Grade Homeschool Year in Review

6th grade homeschool year in review

 
 

New to Homeschooling?

If you are new to homeschooling and aren’t sure where to begin in choosing homeschool curriculum, please don’t let this post overwhelm you! Here are a few posts that you might find helpful as you discover what is best for your family. Be sure to check out the entire Homeschool Basics series for answers to more frequently asked homeschool questions.

Homeschool Teaching Styles and Philosphies.png Identifying Children's Learning Styles copy How to Choose Homeschool Curriculum

Additional Resources: Unfamiliar with some of the curriculum choices above? Follow the links below to learn more about the companies and resources:

Curriculum Choices from Years Past…

If you’d like to see what curriculum we’ve used in years past, click on one of the posts below. Grade levels taught each year are listed with the posts.

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Filed Under: 8th Grade, Curriculum Choices, Our Classroom, Weekly Wrap Up 5 Comments

Sixth Grade Year in Review – Homeschool Curriculum Choices

Jul202015
July 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment

6th grade homeschool year in review



McKenna’s sixth grade year was one of great growth for her, both academically and otherwise. Many of her subject areas were independent, so learning to manage her time wisely was important (she is doing well in that area).  You can see all of the homeschool curriculum choices for the 2014-15 here, but below you’ll get a good look at what we used for McKenna’s sixth grade year and what we will be (or won’t be) using again next year.

Science

Rainbow Science 7th Grade

McKenna was a bit mixed on science this year. There were things she loved (the hands-on days) rather than the reading and blah, blah, blah (her words).  Her typical schedule was supposed to be 2 lessons and 1 lab each week, but somehow she managed to get herself on a daily schedule, resulting in her finishing up the program rather early. That may also explain her feeling like it was too much. Next year she will be following the right schedule and finishing the second year of the program.

History

The plan: Mystery of History 4 combined with Story of the World 4; Liberty Kids dvd series

homeschool history time together

Although the lessons were longer in MOH 4, the kids loved this year because we were able to add in so many REAL videos from recent events and see pictures of things as they happened.  McKenna used the coloring pages some to keep her occupied, but her best learning came when she would make cartoon strips of the history lesson as we went along (in part thanks to Grapevine Bible). She would draw stick figure scenes from key points in the lesson and then re-tell us all the lesson when we were done. Hugely effective for her!

Spelling

The plan: All About Spelling Level 5-6

We are in level 6 now, and lessons this year were fairly laid back. The initial plan was one lesson a week, but it became more of an as we need it.

Grammar

The plan: Growing with Grammar 7 and Daily Grams Grade 7

image

This program is a great fit for McKenna, although I may not always be crazy about going through all the paperwork each week. The above picture is from one lesson I came across.  The assignment in grammar was to write five sentences – and she didn’t do it, claiming it “Takes forever.” Granted, it was the last time she did that, but still. (grins)

Vocabulary

The plan: Dynamic Literacy Word Build Elements

This year we switched to the online version of WordBuild and while price-wise it worked out well (and I appreciated the fact that the lessons were graded for me online and I could access the grade book at any time to see progress). McKenna prefers the old pencil/paper route though (after I asked her partway through the year). For her the pressure of having something timed made it harder for her to focus in on the assignment. Typically each lesson takes a max of 15 minutes.

Writing

McKenna’s writing has grown immensely in this last year. I am so completely in love with the WriteShop programs and know that she is getting a solid foundation in all she is doing. Her papers have a different twist than Laurianna’s and it is fun seeing her personality come through in the things that she chooses to write about. Looking forward to using the 2nd year of this program next year with her.

Reading

The plan: books to go along with history text as well as suggestions from Reading Roadmaps possibly some lapbooks to go along as well. See our full 6th grade reading list here.

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With the exception of three books on the additional list that I put together for her, McKenna finished all of her required reading for the year and found a few new books to love. She wasn’t super thrilled with Little Women, but muddled through that one. Usually she and I sat down weekly to talk about the books she was reading (plot, characters, questions on story progression, etc…). We didn’t get around to doing any lapbooks, but based on our discussions, I was ok with that. Overall, a great year and I loved the book suggestions from Reading Roadmaps.

Math

The plan: Teaching Textbooks 7

Obviously not McKenna, but taking pictures of math is so boring otherwise, right? Olaf was a frequent guest in the school room, so it seems appropriate. McKenna finished up Math 7 this year and will be moving on to Pre-Algebra this next year.

Bible

The plan: Picture Smart Bible – wrapping up our Old Testament Studies and 90 Devotions for Kids – morning devotions; also Apologia’s Who Am I? and notebooking journal (6th grade); Who Is My Neighbor? and journal (when finished with previous book/journal)

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We did work through most of Picture Smart Bible and at the end of the year switched over to Grapevine to work on a unit on the book of Ruth. All of the kids were in agreement that they want to do more Grapevine next year again. It’s not that we don’t like Picture Smart Bible, but Grapevine is just a better fit overall, and if the kids enjoy it, I’m all game!

The key part of McKenna’s day was the Apologia series. She finished up the remaining two books in the set this year. This is one of her favorite subjects overall. When we would get together for our weekly meetings we would talk about her lessons and what she was learning (although she is one to typically share every day what she is reading – grins).

In November and December we took a break from our regular lessons to focus on Unwrapping the Greatest Gift. We loved the Advent study from Ann Voskamp.

Art

McKenna wasn’t as keen on doing art with Zachary this year, so the bulk of her art time was completed during her co-op time and classes.

Co-op

PE, art, mini-society, LEGO Story Starters

homeschool mini society project-1

We participated in two different co-ops this year, and McKenna especially loved the one that included a mini-society class. She and a friend developed their own business plan, products, and sales strategy. This was actually a great class for her because there are a few things that you can’t learn until you actually are in action. Something could also be said for not believing what your mom is trying to explain to you, but that’s a story for another day.
McKenna and her business partner created pet rocks, t-shirt bracelets, and bookmarks. Hours and hours were spent painting, twisting, and folding to get it all done. The two girls had a blast together and it was a wonderful experience to discover what works with marketing a product, how much time to budget for projects, and what products are worth the time/effort and have the best cost/effort ratio.

the SEX talk with Passport to Purity

This was also the year that we had a sex and dating talk with McKenna. I recently shared a post on the resources we used. Let me say this – if you have been dreading it or are scared to death – DO NOT BE!! I promise, it can be a wonderful time together and there are some great helps out there to walk you through the panic!
I’ll be sharing our year end review of 8th grade soon, so be sure to check back! Click the images below to see our 2nd Grade Year in Review and 4th Grade Year in Review.

2nd Grade Homeschool Year in Review 4th Grade Homeschool Year in Review

 

 

New to Homeschooling?

If you are new to homeschooling and aren’t sure where to begin in choosing homeschool curriculum, please don’t let this post overwhelm you! Here are a few posts that you might find helpful as you discover what is best for your family. Be sure to check out the entire Homeschool Basics series for answers to more frequently asked homeschool questions.

Homeschool Teaching Styles and Philosphies.png Identifying Children's Learning Styles copy How to Choose Homeschool Curriculum

Additional Resources: Unfamiliar with some of the curriculum choices above? Follow the links below to learn more about the companies and resources:

Curriculum Choices from Years Past…

If you’d like to see what curriculum we’ve used in years past, click on one of the posts below. Grade levels taught each year are listed with the posts.

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Filed Under: 6th Grade, Curriculum Choices, Homeschool Classroom, Weekly Wrap Up Leave a Comment

Our Mid-Year Homeschool Review

Dec102014
December 10, 2014 by 9 Comments

Technically we’re one week shy of being halfway through our school year, but we’re ready to take an extended three week break for Christmas. In years past we’ve taken the week of Christmas and a bit after and truthfully – well, everything just feels rushed and crazy-like. So this year, we planned in a much needed break that will coincide with a nice trip to the grandparents.

Anyway, here’s a little peek at what we’ve been up to the last few weeks, thoughts on how our school year has been going so far, especially with the new curriculum pieces we added in. We had a laptop crash and the new laptop already had a minor mishap (how in the world??), but everything is finally re-installed on the new computer and up and running. You can view our full 2014-15 curriculum list here.

I’d love to hear what you all have been up to as well, so please leave a comment and share your thoughts on your year as well!

History

Now that our brand-spankin’-new textbook for Mystery of History 4 has arrived, we’re feeling all official. Truthfully, I’m feeling so very overwhelmed in some ways because there is SO much to learn and it is hard to touch on just a small fraction of history. We do look in-depth at things, but switching into the modern era there is an overwhelming amount of information to intake.

Maybe that’s just me. (grins)

We’ve covered the thirteen colonies, many of the early American leaders, the French and Indian War, Catherine the Great, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, the War of 1812, the Trail of Tears, Karl Marx, famous abolitionists, Florence Nightingale, Charles Darwin, and are just about ready to talk about the Civil War.

History is flying by! We are loving the lessons and occasionally adding in some dvd clips from either Liberty Kids or Drive Thru History just for variation. We haven’t had as much time to add in a lot of read-alouds from the time period (with swim team this fall), but hopefully that will be back on track in the upcoming months.

Bible

We’ve taken a little break from Picture Smart Bible in November and December to focus on Unwrapping the Greatest Gift and work on another family devotional from Focus on the Family. We are really loving the Advent study from Ann Voskamp – those coloring pages just seal the deal. The kids love them.

Laurianna is almost done with the What on Earth Can I Do? in the What We Believe series, and McKenna is working on Who is My Neighbor?

Math

Do you all have visitors in your homeschool room? Please say yes. Olaf made a special appearance and was apparently helping McKenna with her math. Really, more like distracting everyone and causing unending giggles.

One kiddo is learning multiplication (his 1,’s, 5’s, and 10’s), another is starting with long division, and Laurianna is making my brain hurt with algebra equations. It’s a good hurt and my brain is happy to solve things that can actually be solved.

Reading

image

My momma’s heart is so very happy in this area with all of our kids. Kaleb’s reading is growing with leaps and bounds. He is working on All About Reading 2 and we’ve gotten into a great daily groove with lessons and review.

The other day someone asked Zachary what his favorite subject was – and the boy said READING. You all, I wanted to cry happy tears right then and there. Knowing what a struggle it’s been for him (believing he can’t vs. his capability), that is such an amazing thing to hear – and the biggest thing has been the first book he finished this year as a part of his language program. Since then, Zachary has finished four books on his 4th grade reading list (yay!!). In addition, Zachary is about halfway through All About Reading 4, and he is so excited about that!

McKenna has finished seven of the books on her reading list and Laurianna is almost halfway through hers as well. Unfortunately (well, not really), both of these girls are voracious readers and get sidetracked easily after a trip to the library.

Language

This year one of the things I was most nervous about was switching the boys to Learning Language Arts Through Literature. While we aren’t using everything in the lessons (spelling and some reading are separate), both boys are really liking the change. The biggest thing for Zachary is the tie-in with what he is reading (more of the book study approach), but he is also learning about research papers, and more this year.

McKenna has loved the switch to Growing with Grammar and also the online WordBuild vocabulary. She discovered a love for diagramming – takes after her mom in that!

Science

Snap circuits

The boys are a little more than halfway through Nancy Larson Science 2. Although Zachary worked on this level a few years ago, he asked to do it with Kaleb this year and has been a great help to Kaleb. They both are having fun with the hands-on aspects (we’re learning about levers and simple machines right now) and tying in some fun LEGO projects. On the side, Zachary is working with Snap Circuits and K’Nex projects – we try to find a project that goes along with our lessons that week.

McKenna isn’t as crazy about her science program as Laurianna was a few years ago, but it’s a change from what she has used in the past. She is finally getting settled with it, but part of the problem has been moving to a more independent program. While Laurianna enjoyed that aspect, it’s a little harder for McKenna.

Laurianna does much of her science work independently during the week, but once a week gets together with a small group of kids to go over additional experiments. She is loving her physical science! So far they’ve built a glider, a boat, and are working on framing a miniature house complete with electricity. So much fun!

Art

Home Art Studio artwork

While Zachary and McKenna do an art project every now and then – they enjoy them, but don’t live for them, Kaleb is the exact opposite. The boy would work on an art project every.single.day if he could.

Seriously.

When the rest of his schoolwork is done, he grabs his art DVD, all the supplies I’ve pulled out, and runs downstairs to work on a project. The wall above his desk is crazy full of fun paintings, drawings, and more.

The Rest of the High School Stuff

North Star Geography Experiments

Really, there are so many other subjects! A few of Laurianna’s high school credits I touched on briefly above (math and science), but a few don’t fully ‘fit’ into any of the above areas.

Greek Myths (1/2 credit) – This was the one class she was so very excited to take this year, maybe partly due to Percy Jackson – who knows. Unfortunately, while she enjoys the main text, she isn’t super thrilled with the class overall. It isn’t quite what she expected, which has made the last few weeks of the class hard. She’ll be finishing it up in just a few days, and it’s one that she’ll be happy to say goodbye to. On the bright side, it’s been a great lesson in perseverance even when things are going the way you expected.

North Star Geography (1 credit) – Laurianna didn’t expect to enjoy this quite as much as she has been. Overall, it is her favorite subject and the one she looks forward to each day. I’m beyond thrilled with the teacher’s plans, the grading spreadsheet (that does all the work for me), and the many, many helps that come along with the course. BEST class for both of us this year!

Spanish – We had a minor snafu with our program when our laptop died. We went from two inputs to only one headphone jack and someone (ahem), kept forgetting to purchase a splitter. Thankfully, Laurianna was already ahead in her lessons, so she’ll be back on track after the start of the year. (phew)

Intro to Literature – While the class has been challenging (in a good way) for Laurianna, I’m so very thankful for the years that she used WriteShop Junior. Her writing is so much stronger because of it, which has been helpful this year in her lit class. I’ve been reading the books along with the kids and grading papers galore. My one complaint about the program is the lack of grading rubrics/standards. While they have one generic one they use as an example, I’ve had to pull together my own grading sheets (but that’s just me being picky). Writing is a tough area to grade, because so much can be subjective.

 

Phew – that’s a big, long sum-up of our year so far and what we think of our curriculum (we’re happy with it all!!).

How are YOU doing?

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Filed Under: 4th Grade, 6th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, Curriculum Choices, Weekly Wrap Up 9 Comments

2014 Homeschool Curriculum Choices for Grades 2, 4, 6, and 8

Jul162014
July 16, 2014 by 36 Comments

Homeschool Curriculum Choices 2014

This year (our ninth year homeschooling – woot!) we’re adding a few new pieces to our homeschool curriculum choices and venturing into the world of high school credits. Gah!

It was a bit intimidating at first, but after putting together an overall plan for high school,  it was a bit easier. Several of our friends are also venturing into the homeschool high school realm, so that helps even more! We’ll be participating in a small-scale co-op this year for two of our high school credits which will make several of the subjects a LOT of fun.

New to Homeschooling?

If you are new to homeschooling and aren’t sure where to begin in choosing homeschool curriculum, please don’t let this post overwhelm you! Here are a few posts that you might find helpful as you discover what is best for your family. Be sure to check out the entire Homeschool Basics series for answers to more frequently asked homeschool questions.

Homeschool Teaching Styles and Philosphies.png Identifying Children's Learning Styles copy How to Choose Homeschool Curriculum

 

Here’s a look at the overall plan for the homeschool year. This year our kids are working on 8th (Laurianna), 6th (McKenna), 4th (Zachary), and 2nd (Kaleb). Our 8th grader will be working on 5-6 high school credits.  Something may have been left off the list despite my ridiculous list making, so it’s entirely possible that this list will be edited during the year.

 

2014-homeschool-curriculum.png

2nd Grade Curriculum Choices

4th Grade Curriculum Choices

6th Grade Curriculum Choices

8th Grade Curriculum Choices

Laurianna  will be working on 6 high school credits this year. We are also a part of a small co-op and will be combining a literature class and science labs with them.

History as a Group…

Our history text will be our core focus for the year and we will be working on Mystery of History 4 as a group (Early American History to Modern Times). As they fit in, we’ll add lessons from Story of the World 4. Depending on the levels of the kids, they will also use the following resources. The bulk of our resources are from Bright Ideas Press with a few from Amazon:

Mom’s Curriculum & Additional Helps

In addition to a lovely collection of teacher’s manuals that go along with all of the kid’s books, here are a few things that I have on hand to keep me organized:

Additional Resources: Unfamiliar with some of the curriculum choices above? Follow the links below to learn more about the companies and resources:

Curriculum Choices from Years Past…

If you’d like to see what curriculum we’ve used in years past, click on one of the posts below. Grade levels taught each year are listed with the posts.

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