But it's been great for me too. It's shown me that he's not a little boy anymore. He's a young man who's quite a bit more capable than I previously gave him credit for.
As he dives into middle school this year, he'll have to be more self-paced and independent than he's ever been before. But after seeing him push himself to both his physical and academic limits in order to earn his first rank faster than any other cadet in the history of his squadron (which has been around since the 1940s), I know he'll do great in 7th grade.
Here's what he'll be learning.
(Because we only homeschool 4 days a week, you can assume that all subjects will be completed four times each week unless otherwise indicated.)
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Content-rich subjects
As in year's past, he will do a lot of his content-rich subjects like Morning time, history, science, art, and creative writing with the rest of the family. You can see all of those subjects and curriculum choices here>>>
Personal Devotions- everyday
Personal Devotions- everyday
Language
- LLATL The Green Book (Use coupon code unlikelyhomeschool at checkout to get 15% off your entire purchase from Common Sense Press, the makers of LAHTL.)
- Finish All About Spelling Level 6.
- Read for pleasure (everyday).
- Read the following books that correspond with the LLATL Green Book.
Star of Light
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Much Ado About Nothing
- If he's not currently working through an LLATL suggested book, he will read a chapter from a book that I assign to him. These will be classics, biographies, or exceptional fiction. You can keep up with those here>>
Math
- Teaching Textbooks 3.0 Pre-Algebra
- Practice math fact flashcards with a sibling for five minutes.
Copywork
Typing- 1x a week
World View
- Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends- This will be one of his Mom-assigned reading books. Instead of a fiction book, one month, he will read this one.
Life Skills
- He will continue to be a child-of-the-day but will also be completely responsible for planning and for making dinner every Thursday night.
- Do the dinner dishes each night.
- Vacuum the living room, back porch, and stairs as needed.
- Put his own clean laundry away each week.
- Help his older sister wash/dry the laundry as needed.
- Dust the house on big-chore days with his younger brothers.
- Help clean the boys' room and make his bed each day.
- Take turns mowing and shoveling with his younger brother as needed.
- Mow and shovel for a neighbor down the street.
- Attend Civil Air Patrol once a week.
- Manual to Manhood (read 1x a week, practice 3x a week)- This is a book that he'll complete over the next couple of years. Since some of the units do not currently apply to him, he will only read through the following three sections during 7th grade: Social Skills & Manners, Grooming & Personal Hygiene, Clothing & Style (This mostly deals with learning to do laundry and ironing clothes.)
Co-operative Learning
This year, our family has joined a larger co-op that meets twice a month in a neighboring town. (Funny enough, it's the same co-op The Hubs attended as a teen.) My son will be in the 7th-12th-grade group with his older sister. He'll be studying the following:
First semester
- Physical Education
- Newspaper
- Literature- Oliver Twist
Second semester
- World Religions/Worldview
- Newspaper
- Literature- TBD
He's the strongest, hardest working, and most selfless twelve-year-old I know. God's got big plans for him. 7th grade will, no doubt, be one more stepping stone towards his full independence and maturity, both in academics and in faith.
I love reading about what you're using to train your boys. My oldest 2 are only 6, but they arrived after 8 girls, and I feel I'm in uncharted waters as I watch them grow. :) Thanks for the great resource list!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Boys are so very different from girls, despite what the world would have us believe.
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ReplyDeleteIt gives us some great talking points about things that don't naturally make their way into the conversation.
DeleteLove your idea about having them read a character building book out loud once a week to you. I am going to do that this year too. Great idea!!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely checking some of these out. I added Manual to Manhood to my list. My 12 year old is reading the Bob Schultz books. Also going to check out the cursive you recommended. Question, does your son really enjoy reading? I've considered LLATL but my boys complain about the amount of reading they already (endure) do.
ReplyDeleteNo. He actually doesn't love reading, but he loves to be read to. When he's reading one of the LLATL books, I don't assign him any other fiction books. This helps to lesson his reading load so it doesn't feel like a burden.
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