Fall Semester Lesson plans 7th grade

All summer we have dabbled around in our books, doing bits here and there but not really buckling down and doing book work on a scheduled basis. Today ends all that because the charter school is opened today for classes.

I really struggled with the children's curriculum this year. I just couldn't quite find the right fit! Tink tested low in vocabulary and she has every year. It was time to see if this could be corrected. I searched all summer for curriculum that would incorporate vocabulary in a huge way! I'm finally happy with my final choice.

Tink has studied English inside and out. She can label and diagram sentences with ease. The problem though stems from her short term memory. I dont want her to lose what she already knows but neither do I want to put a huge emphasis on diagramming this year. The solution was found in Grammar Keys.

Grammar Keys is a software program that covers all the basics in language, and grammar and sentence mechanics. The student does the course online and also in a work book. The workbook comes on a DVD and needs to be printed on paper. It took me a bit to figure out how it all worked but when I did I was very pleased with the program. By using Grammar Keys Tink will not lose any of the knowledge she already has while we delve deeper into reading vocabulary.

I've stated before on my other blog how Tink placed at the 11th grade for Reading comprehension. Based on the test scores I also did away with the Reading book/workbook scenario. Her comprehension was at the 11th grade but her reading vocabulary was at 6th grade! This year she will be reading entire books and doing vocabulary and limited comprehension questions on each book. She will fill out a reading journal as she goes along and will write up a book report at the end.

I have chosen the book Jacob Have I Loved for the first book of the year. I printed out complete lesson plans for the book from Ed Helper. I'm not sure how much you can see on that link without a paid subscription but I'm guessing you can view the page. You would not be able to download the plans but it would still give you an idea of what it looks like.

For Science we are doing Teach with Movies. I chose this particular way of doing Science because the lesson plans were only $11.95 online and each movie has a list of vocabulary terms the children must know. Teach with Movies has movies and lesson plans for History, Science, Literature and character building.

Tink is doing United States History again this year. She didn't get it finished last year, mainly because we started it so late in the year. She is using North America Is the Lords from Christian Light Education.

Here is what the website says about this book; "North America Is the Lord’s is a comprehensive history and geography of Anglo-America from a God-centered perspective. This study credits God, the Creator, as the sovereign Lord. It describes opposing forces in history: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. Social values belonging to God’s kingdom are upheld. This book counters the humanistic idea that we control our destinies, and that our land thrives because of our own ingenuity".
I love this book and decided it was well worth Tinks time to finish it!

Tink is doing Math from Teaching Textbooksagain. It's a good fit for her so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel.

Those are her main courses. At the charter school she is taking Orchestra classes including symphonic orchestra, a writing class for middle school and volleyball.

Once again her schedule is full but she seems to thrive on it.