I sure hope it’s gonna rock! Anna will be in 7th grade next year. WHAT??!!??!! We’ve got a kid graduating college, another graduating high school and the other going into Jr. High in the same year. Yep, we’re officially old.

7th grade, to me, means it is time to crank up SHS a notch or ten. Not that school in the past has been less important, but I feel like starting 7th grade, it’s more like “real” school. When we started homeschooling last/this year we started out with PACE and some other curriculums that made it fairly challenging for me to keep track of grades. That’s not a bad thing but Anna and I both like grades and being able to keep track of progress or lack of progress, if that’s the case. When we started out this year, we also committed to 2 years of SHS for sure while in Singapore and then planned to reevaluate at the end of the 7th grade depending on where we happen to live at the time. That is still the plan. And we have no idea where we’ll happen to live at the time. :)

Tommy and I feel like Anna might need a transcript at some point in her school career and 7th grade is when that should begin. We also need to get her on a program that will make sure she covers all the right core subjects. So we ordered curriculum with that in mind. We went with some DVD classroom curriculum to give Anna and I both more structure and the ability to keep a track of grades.  We like the literature based method, Charlotte Mason or Classical, whatever you want to call it but honestly, this just does not fit either of our learning/teaching styles. We plan to keep a few of the methods like copywork, story telling and narration, and she will continue to read alot.

So after hours and hours of googling, digging, researching and asking trusted veteran homeschool friends (Thank you SO much, Karen and Julie!), this is where we landed on this wild ride.

I will continue to use Homeshool Tracker Plus for the lesson plans, daily schedules and grading system.

Her History, Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer, does fit in the Classical style of learning but I think it will be much more manageable than what we attempted to tackle this year. Typically, these books are intended to do one each year from 1st grade through the 8th grade but f you know our family, you know that we don’t typically do what is typically done. :) History for 7th grade is World History so we’ll use these books, along with the audio books when we’re lazy, activity books and tests, completing one book each quarter and I think she’ll get a well-rounded dose of World History. I also have a bookshelf of great books from this year’s curriculum that will make good supplements.

Her Science, Apologia General Science, is what we’re using. We’re using Apologia this year, as well, for Botany and Anatomy but in the textbook format. We really like how it is put together. This time we’ll try out the DVD program and she’ll basically sit at our computer in a pre-recorded cyber classroom and learn Science as if she was in a typical school. She’ll have a teacher, not me, I guess we’ll meet him/her on Meet the Teacher Day. :)  I will monitor and grade more as a parent than a teacher. This will come in handy if we homeschool much longer. I am certainly not qualified to teach Chemistry or Physics. No way. I didn’t even take those classes. Chemistry wasn’t even required back in the day.

Math 7 is, of course, Teaching Textbooks. We are huge fans of this curriculum.

English is a colorful mosaic of items.

For Literature we’ll mostly be using Progeny Press. She’ll read a book and have a corresonding assignment booklet that includes vocabulary, writing book reports, comprehension questions, etc. We’ll also, as I wrote above, continue with copywork, story telling, etc. based on books she’s reading and poetry.

To supplement inWriting, I ordered some books by Ralph Fletcher. I ordered some from Progeny Press and some from the Book Depository. I have no idea who Ralph Fletcher is but his stuff looks fun and creative which intrigued me.

For Spelling, we’ll continue with Excellence in Spelling. This has worked well for her this year so we don’t see the need to reinvent the wheel.

For Grammar, we’ll continue with Living Books curriculum. I ordered several of these last year since I wasn’t sure what level she would be on so we have plenty to continue on with.

I also ordered Aesop’s Fables. We’ll read these stories for fun and to enhance her story telling skills. I ordered the Living Books version since it has corresponding scripture references with the stories.

So those are the core subjects. She’ll also have:

Bible – The Picture Smart Bible curriculum. We’ve been using it this year and we both love it. It brings out Anna’s creativity and takes us through the Bible using stories and crayons. It’s really brilliant! All ages can enjoy this program. The friend here in Singapore who recommended it to me used it with her kids and now uses it to teach an adult ESL class.

Foreign Language – Spanish 1 Rosetta Stone

Art – I ordered some Drawing for Beginners books from the Book Depository. We’ll also throw in some art based field trips and other creative stuff as we can.

P.E. – Same as this year. Swimming, gym, running, trampoline, Wii Just Dance, basketball and whatever else comes our way. She has no trouble staying active so this is an easy one.

Home Economics – We’ll continue to cook together, focus on basic health and hygiene, learn to iron, maybe some basic sewing and again, whatever else comes up. I’m sure there will be some necessary taste testing to be done at our favorite restaurants for lunch every now and then.

Service Projects – SPCA volunteering and puppy fostering for sure and we’ll keep our eyes open to what God has for us to do.

I also ran across these Unit Studies so I bought one on Dogs to give it a test run. They are 4 week stand alone studies on various topics. I will plan to do only ones that Anna is interested in.

A good book for any parent that is involved in their kid’s education, homeschooling or not, The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. It’s also available at Book Depository.

That’s it, I think… I hope, because it all pretty much drains my brain. It’s all ordered and on its way to Singapore. If you notice that I’ve forgotten something, please share! Because we all know it takes a village. :)

I should add this link. Mostly so I won’t forget. It’s the released State of Texas TAKS released tests and answer keys. I know, I know… I hated those tests when my kids were in school. BUT, homeschooling makes me worry whether I’m keeping her on the right path and these tests will help me to have a benchmark to follow. We WON’T study for them for weeks and weeks and weeks and they WON’T count for a grade or keep her from passing to the next grade level. We’ll probably take them in our pj’s or maybe at Starbucks and we’ll be able to talk in class and we’ll most likely have snacks while we work on them. :)

I don’t believe what this image says for one second but I thought it was funny. I’m pretty sure I thought this was true when I was in the 7th grade.

Hopefully, since Anna has the best teacher and principal in the universe, she’ll think that