Planning

I'm already planning for 7th grade.  I have been doing so much research and I'm so excited about these new things.  The ordering has begun and hopefully I'll have all of next year's curriculum before the summer.  Here's what we're using currently for 6th grade:

• Literature:  Read & Understand Poetry
• Spelling:  Sequential Spelling 1
• Vocabulary:  Wordly Wise 6
• Grammar:  Hake Grammar & Writing 6
• Writing:  Wordsmith Apprentice
• Math:  Saxon 7/6
• History:  Story of Mankind
• Science:  Apologia General Science
• Art:  Artistic Pursuits Junior High Book 1

And 7th grade will look like this:

Literature:  Lightning Lit 7
We're ready to get back into some good literature.  After putting it aside for a while to focus more on W's ability to read, spell, and write, I think it's time.  This program has lots of comprehension questions (which W enjoys and is really good at - thank you Charlotte Mason), composition exercises (which W needs to start doing more of), and it uses only 4 books per year (well, 5 if you count the stories & poems book).


Spelling:  Sequential Spelling 2
He loved Sequential Spelling 1, so we might just continue with the series.  It definitely improved his spelling and reading.  He really enjoys using the whiteboard to go over the words and for the daily spelling test.








Vocabulary:   Wordly Wise 7
We got into a better groove with book 6 in the 2nd half of 6th grade.  We like it a lot.  I was looking at various other vocab programs, but they looked so dry and boring.  Wordly Wise also has online pages full of games that go along with the book you're using.







Grammar:  Killgallon Elementary Story Grammar
This is a program I just found out about from one of the homeschool message board I visit.  A mom raved about it after using it with her dyslexic son.  I figured why not give it a try.  Hake Grammar was fine, but we'd both like to try something new with a different flair to it.







Writing:  Killgallon Elementary Sentence Composing
This is something we'll use together with the grammar book.  It's supposed to be a different way of getting kids to like writing.  Anything that could do that, I'll try.  W is a very reluctant writer, but this looks fun and engaging and I've read many great things about it.  I think starting with the Elementary books would be a perfect step into better writing for W.  If he does well with this, we'll use the middle school books next year.





Math:  Art of Problem Solving PreAlgebra
As much as we love Saxon, I'm dying to try this program.  W and I looked at a bunch of sample pages together and he loved what he saw.  This is a program for kids who are good at math.  W is good at math and will do well with a new, more in-depth approach. The AoPS website also has tons of videos aligned to the book.






History:  K12 Human Odyssey 1
I have heard such good things about this history book that I couldn't wait to get a copy.  I just got it in the mail today, as a matter of fact  We will start using it in 6th grade then into 7th, Then part-way through 7th we may be ready for book 2.  It's big and colorful and looks a lot more interesting than what we've used in the past.  For history W and I just read and discuss.  Sometimes he'll jot down names and events so he'll remember them.  I think we'll start a new notebooked timeline with this since it starts at pre-history.  So reading, discussing, timeline, documentaries, and field trips should make for a nice 7th grade history program.



Geography:  Runkle's World Physical Geography
Someone somewhere mentioned this set of books and I fell in love with them after seeing excerpts.  We probably don't need a geography program, since we do mapwork during history (and other) readings, but this goes in-depth and looks really enjoyable.  I plan on using these books over the course of several years.  Our geography has been choppy and scattered and I think this will bring it all together.  Check out this mom's review.





Science:  Apologia General Science (continued)
I know I said we weren't feeling the Apologia so much, but after revamping the way we use the book, we're starting to like it again.  We do science much like we do history - reading and discussing.  We enjoy the experiments and try to really get into understanding what's going on here.  We also supplement with lots of documentaries and field trips and plan on continuing this method throughout 7th grade.  The young earth thing doesn't bother me so much since I keep reading that this is one of the best programs out there.  We'll stick with it for now.



Art:  Artistic Pursuits Junior High Book 1 (continued)
We crack this book open maybe a couple of times a month.  It's fun and W likes it, so I plan on using it more in 7th grade.









OK, since I was on a roll this weekend, 8th grade may look like this (Hey, gotta plan ahead)

Literature:  Lightning Lit 8
Spelling:  Sequential Spelling 3
Vocabulary:   Wordly Wise 8
Grammar:
-  Killgallon Grammar for Middle School OR
-  Painless Grammar
Writing:
-  Killgallon Sentence Composing & Paragraphs for Middle School OR
-  Writeshop 1 w/Copywork & Dictation book OR
-  Jump-In OR
-  Wordsmith
Math:
-  Foerster's Algebra 1 OR
-  Art of Problem Solving Intro to Algebra OR
-  Saxon Algebra 1
History:  K12 Human Odyssey 2 into 3
Geography:  Runkle Geography (continued)
Science:  Apologia Physical Science - maybe - if we're not tired of it by then, lol.