This year my oldest, L is in 7th grade and will focus on independent learning. I wanted to find a curriculum where L could do the assignments unsupervised. The first thing I set up was a Google Classroom. Google Classroom is free to anyone who has a Google account. I made a class for Language Arts and Science. Google Classroom makes it very easy to organize our assignments giving L the ability to start on work when she is ready. Google Classroom also has a grade book, making it easy to track and give grades. For Math and Social Studies, we are not using Google Classroom because I am not tracking her grades in these subjects the same way. This will hopefully set her up for success in her high school years and beyond.
Let’s talk curriculum:
Language arts: This includes writing and book studies for us.
Writing: For writing I chose Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). IEW is meant to be taught over 4-5 days per week. This is a bit intense for L because she does not like to write, but it covers everything. The first two days your student will watch Andrew Pudewa (the program’s founder) instruct a classroom of kids. L enjoys the videos Pudewa is both entertaining and easy to follow. I think this is fantastic practice for future online classes. The following two to three days are designed for the student to work on the concepts taught in the video. For example, they will break down a story, learn to summarize using a few words, and rewrite it using the keyword outline (KWO). While they write they will incorporate the skills focused on in the video such as -ly adverbs or who/which phrases. For the writing part, I do give L two extra days. L is working on allowing her rough draft to be rough. She is a bit of a perfectionist. As a parent, the curriculum is easy to follow and the teachers’ manual is straightforward. Everything is laid out for me so that I can organize each assignment into Google Classroom for L to work on independently. If interested check out IEW at https://iew.com.
Level 4:https://a.co/d/bM8n3XB
Grammar: I have used Fix It Grammar for years. Fix It is set up as a four-day curriculum. On the first day, you will have a learn it to read to the student. The learn it will break down a part of sentence structure such as adverbs, sentence openers, or prepositional phrases. Each day the student will break down a sentence and make corrections. They will then re-write the sentence in the book. By the end of the year, they will have rewritten an entire book. This year L is working on the Jungle Book. We do supplement with videos about grammar from like school house rock. The book explains everything, but the videos bring in a little fun. This can also be found on the IEW website.
Reading: For reading L and I will find books she is interested in that fit the theme of what we are learning. For this, I rely heavily on teacherspayteachers.com to find bookstudies for each novel. Many of these will have a distance learning format or a digital version of the exercises. IEW does have a suggested book list, but L has read most of the books on the list for this level of programming. For the first half of the year, we have chosen to focus on myths, legends, and fairy tales. These are the units we have planned so far.
Cinder Lunar Chronicles book 1 https://a.co/d/9vrwqJz
Target Grade Level: 9-12
Cinder by Marissa Meyers. Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella in a dystopian future. Cinder is the first book in The Lunar Chronicles. I enjoyed reading this just as much as L. I found the Complete Novel Study created by The Inclusive Mrs C on teacherspayteachers.com. L enjoyed reading the different versions of Cinderella. She did get a little bored with read-and-answer questions, so we changed things up towards the end. We dropped the questions and chose to use 50 Creative Digital Assignments for any fictional story by Presto Plans from teacherspayteachers.com, which had more engaging activities to check for comprehension. For our big project at the end, we created a movie poster using storyboardthat.com. This is a terrific resource for kiddos who like to make art, but don’t like to draw. storyboardthat.comgives the students all the tools they will need to bring the stories they read to life. I will certainly make use of this website in the future.
Amulet The Stonekeeper Book 1: https://a.co/d/iTEUJeb
Target Grade Level: 5-6
Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi
For this book, we choose something light and quick to read through. Amulet is a graphic novel, which is not Ls’ favorite type of book, but I thought it might be fun. We started the story by creating our 4-panel comic on storyboardthat.com. For this assignment L created a scene showing a phone ringing or stinky trash, then she had to come up with a superpower and illustrate the superpower in use so that I could guess what her image was trying to say. The storyboardthat.com assignment was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, L did not enjoy reading a graphic novel, but it was a great bridge into our October month.
Creeping Hour Podcast found on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3zWzmcOcfoPUcf6dWL9FQY?si=5f850d1219674cba
Target age group: 8-12 years old
For October we chose to do something a little bit different. This month I decided to give L a break of IEW so we could focus on spooky stories and legends. I chose the podcast The Creepieng Hour for her to listen to and answer questions on. I used The Creeping Hour Podcast Worksheets-Halloween Listening Activities for ELA by Hey Natayle. This was a fun break that gave her an opportunity to dive into TBR pile. For writing I used October Writing Prompt with Passages Halloween Information Text and Narrative Task by DiGiGoods and Printables ELA. This assignment had L read short informational text followed by a question. For the final reading she read the Legend of Stingy Jack which lead to her being able to write her own legend. I really like how the creator broke down each step for writing a legend. The had great digital resources that were easy for L to use strait from Google Classroom.
Lei and the Fire Goddess: https://a.co/d/aHDNEBf
Target Grade Level: 6-8 grade
Lei and the Fire Goddess by Malia Maunakea
We are reading this book with a friend who has family from Hawaii. For this book we are focusing on mythology and how it can still shape our world. We are excited to learn more about Hawaiians’ culture, language, and myths. There are a lot of native words to Hawaii used in this story which is why I chose for us to listen to the audio book while we follow along with the story. We will keep a running dictionary of all the words we encounter that are of the ōlelo Hawai’i native language. To check comprehension of the chapters L will create a scrapbook of Leis’ journey. I hope she will have fun creating the pages and exploring pictures of Hawaii.
Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King Guardians book 1: https://a.co/d/hzug4UD
Target Grade Level: 2-6
Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King by William Joyce. Our last book study for 2024 will be combined with my son’s curriculum. December is always a busy month and it is just easier to combine their studies. Hopefully, this will be a fun way to end our theme of legends, myths, and fairytales. For this book, we will focus more on family discussion and listening to the story while doing holiday-themed activities.
After we come back from winter break I am going to focus on teaching poetry to both kids. For this I am using Poetry Interactive Notebook: Poetry Activities for Common Core Grades 4-8 by Lovin It. While we learn about poetry each kiddo will pick a book to write a book report about. For their book report, they can choose a project from Book Report Projects for Any Book Students Instructions Rubrics and Digital Options by Rachel Lynette.
MATH: Teaching Textbooks
https://www.teachingtextbooks.com
For Math, I did not create a Google classroom because I found a curriculum that does it all in an app. Teaching Textbook goes from 3rd grade to pre-calculus. L is currently in pre-algebra. This app gives a lesson via slide show format that will have example questions the student will work on. After the lesson, the student will be given about 24 questions to complete. Math is a struggle for L because like many children she doesn’t like it. The lessons are easy to follow and understand. There is a parent portal that will let you see the lessons as well as a grade book.
Science: Elevate Science
This year we are trying a new science curriculum called Elevate Science. It is an online textbook that can be used for remote learning. I can assign the text and even digital labs to L via Google Classroom fairly easily. Like a school textbook, the information is a bit dry as are the digital assignments. I like that on busy days L can access her assignments without much help from me and as we get used to the setup I feel it will improve. The Savas learning website does have the ability to track grades and work done, but honestly, I don’t understand it. For me, it is easier to have L turn something into Google Classroom for me to grade. I am still working on the website and will give a more thorough review once I have given it more time.
Social Studies: History Quest United States History and Civics
This is a super easy curriculum for both my kids to follow. Social Studies is for both my 7th grader and my 4th grader. On the first day, we listen to the audio section of the book which introduces the part of history or subject for the week. Both kids enjoy the narrator of the audiobook. The material is secular and I think it does a good job of telling both sides of history. They don’t hide the truth, but even the uglier parts of history are told in a way the kids understand without placing blame. On day one we will typically fill in a map illustrating the location of the subject matter. Day two is the History Hop, Ls’ favorite part. The narrator places you in history talking to the people who lived in the past. Our last history hop we talked to Johnny Appleseed. During the reading there is a color sheet provided in the study guide, my kids color as they listen. Day three is Create Day, on this day the study guide has an activity for the kids to do like making applesauce or a corn husk doll. We don’t always do this assignment. Most weeks I will take the easy road and find a video to watch over lunch. Day four is Demonstrate, the study guide gives you questions to ask your students. The last day is Enrichment where they give you reading to learn more about the subject, another part we typically skip unless the kids are interested in the topic. They do have weeks called Hygge where you spend all five days deep-diving into the stories of the people you are learning about. Hygge is a Danish concept that loosely translates into being cozy while reading together. These are my favorite weeks. We find stories on YouTube (my son can only handle so much reading) and enjoy a fun snack.
Technology: Procreate for design
For technology, my cousin is teaching L how to use Procreate. They have cool projects like designing a patch, pixel stickers, patterning fabric, a shirt design, and magnetic bookmarks. L is learning how to apply the drawings she makes digitally to physical items. This is her favorite class and I am thankful that my cousin is an expert.
Language: French
L is also in a Zoom French class. This is a great class for her, she loves taking a class with other students that she can mute.
Music: Recorder
This year L is teaching herself how to use the recorder. I bought the book off Amazon and she practices when she has time.
PE: Figure Skating and Archery.
L loves to skate so we use a homeschool Learn to Skate class for PE. L also works with her coach on goal setting. The kids also take an Archery homeschool class. This is a great sport that helps work on concentration.
Extras:
Crunch Labs: I can not express how much I love Crunch Labs. Mark Rober is my kid’s favorite celebrity. They are always excited to work on the monthly project. Rober does an amazing job explaining the science behind the build. My whole family enjoys working together and learning the juicy science.