I've been planning 6th grade all YEAR! Now I finally have everything EXCEPT rosetta Stone - I'm just really having a hard time paying $450 for Japanese even though I know it is my only real option. My main goal this year (our 7th year at home woohoo!) was to buy stuff that can be done A. On the computer B. With as little help from me as possible, and C. That will look good on a transcript if we decide to go private for high school. I might take a full time job at some time during this year - so the whole working on his own thing is paramount. Really the only thing I will absolutely need to be present at is the LEGO Robot stuff. This is what I got: Math – Teaching Textbooks 6th grade (45 minutes) Reading and Comprehension– Big Red *, The Man in the Ceiling, The Call of the Wild*, I am the Cheese, *(45 minutes) Writing – Jump In Writing (30 minutes) Spelling – Spelling Power (15 minutes) Vocabulary – Vocabulary from Classical Roots (30 minutes) Grammar – Climbing to Good English 6 (30 minutes) History – US History half year and Japan and China multimedia sets from The History Channel half year, (45 minutes) Science – LEGO Mindstorms NXT Robotics and The Mayan Adventures building guide Art – Mark Kistler's School of Imagination online drawing lessons (60 minutes), PAID Foreign Language – Japanese Rosetta Stone Level 1 (and II and III)(30 minutes) Weekly Schedule Monday- Japanese, Math, Reading, Vocabulary, Spelling, Art (3 hours 45 minutes) Tuesday – Japanese, Math, Reading, Grammar, Writing, Spelling (3 hours 15 minutes) Wednesday – Japanese, Math, Reading, Vocabulary, Spelling, History (3 hours 30 minutes) Thursday – Japanese, Math, Grammar, Writing, Science (4 Hours) Friday – Japanese, Math, Science, History, Writing (3 hours) So anyone else doing middle grades...?
Wow...looks good to me. My oldest is 5th grade but uses a few things that are more middle school and will start 6th grade math mid-yr. Does you son have an interest in Japanese or is it to meet another specific goal? I can't convince mine yet to start a foreign language. The girls had some spanish in their Dept of Defense school and just aren't eager (not sure why it wasn't more fun except that they seemed to spend a week on 10 words) and then repeat them the next month (only had Spanish one week per month...then rotated to art, music, logic/games). Rhonda
He's really into Japanese Anime and he asked for it last year but I said no way - too expensive. I thought he'd get over it but he said that is the only thing he really cares to learn this year (besides electric guitar :roll: ) so I better cash in on that little bit of nerdyness before it disappears! FL needs to be taught everyday in my opinion so the one week a month thing probably got a little boring for your girls - it is a use it or lose it type of thing. That was why I am making him do it everyday. I'm kinda excited about it myself. :lol:
Hey before you spend $500 on rosetta stone, try this...... http://www.livemocha.com/ It is seriously kool! And, eh... FREE....
The new RS homeschool tracks everything for you so with my busy schedule and the possibility of it getting worse makes it worth the initial investment will pay off in the end for me. I'm taking my Masters exams this smester, plus I work part time and may take a full time position if one comes up in my field...not enough time to take the cheaper route, unfortunately. In addition, Japanese has traditional characters and Rōmaji when it comes to writing. It is very confusing so I think I will leave it up to Rosetta Stone. (I am listing 20 HS items on E-bay to day - maybe I'll make the entire $450. :lol: :lol: )
Oh I forgot to add that we also adopted a soldier :angel: from Soldier's Angels! So he will be writing letters once a week and sending care packages once a month. That takes care of his 4H service project as well as additional writing...and we get to spoil a soldier! For 4H next year he's going to do Electricity again, plus Self determined for robotics (The NXT), poultry, and shooting again (Trap and archery). We have definatley had ENOUGH of the entomology project! That was really gross.
Adopting a soldier, that is really cool! Have you submitted your letter to intent yet? When do you plan on starting? Looks like you have it all together.
LOL...my son also did entomology. We got tired of having dead bugs in jars all over our sunroom--where we typically like to have breakfast!
To be honest I don't always follow the rules of HS for our state. No one ever checks on you, no one seems to care...but I probably will send my letter in sometime in August or September. We're allowed to send it to ANY district in the state...it is kind of pointless if you ask me. I sent it last year and they sent it back because it had the street address instead of the "mailing address" on it...so I just said forget it. There are 1500 people in the town, if the PO can't figure out where the school district building is and drop it off well then ...LOL... I wasn't going to worry about it.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_s...field-keywords=japanese+language+for+children This place has a lot of stuff for children and Japanese. Might be worth looking into some of it. Also, Amazon.com might have stuff too.... I can't see spending $450 either! OUCH! He will only do Science once a week? Is that enough? That's my only real quesiton. Otherwise it looks good to me! My dd will be in the 6th/7th grade. Here's what she's doing: Math: Rod & Staff: Parts of 7 and 8, Singapore for different concepts Science: NOEO Science Chemistry II, then go into Rainbow Science when she's done with that English/Writing/Grammar: Rod & Staff 5 Literature/Reading: Lightning Lit. 7 Logic: Dandylion Press Logic Series History: All-American History, Volume 2 Geography: Trail Guide to the US and Mapping the World By Heart Art: Geography Through Art Spelling/Vocab.: Scholastic's "240 Vocabulary Words 6th Graders Need to Know" Piano Lessons and Practice Spanish: Visual Link Spanish and some ASL as well--She wants to do both, so if it was college it would be like majoring in Spanish and minoring in ASL!
Wow, You guys are really organized! I guess we will be a lot closer to unschooling. (ha ha) 6th grade I have planned: Math- every day, Time4Learning and Saxon (30-45 min) Lang. arts - Time4Learning everyday... some reading depending on what comes up that is interesting. (I have "Love That Dog" to add to the poetry section) Science - He wants to do a lot of animal science, We are also going to get an edible wild plants book and work out of it for identification and we will try some. This is probably my weakest plan... but T4L has science too so we might just do that. maybe twice a week. Spelling - We are so NOT going to do spelling... I will correct his spelling and have him rewrite, but NO spelling tests... ever... ha ha ha ha ha! cuz we don't have to. History - ancient civilization - every day which will tie in to bible and literature - depending on what civilization he finds most interesting... myths, legends...etc. the Ancient civ - will also tie into art... as we will try various art forms depending on "where in the world" we are. We shall see... this is my (our) first year... we will start with the ps, since my youngest is still in school.
No he'll do science 2x a week, we're only doing LEGO Robots this year. There are 6 projects I think, you plan, build, program, and test each task. I'm real excited about that. I imagine it will take anywhere from 12-18 weeks to finish at that pace. I have another book of robots to build if he happens to wiz through it...but my main goal for science this year is to go WAAAAAAY out of the norm of what kids usually get to do and keep it all about technology. He'll also have to build a website to show off all the videos of the robots completeing their tasks, so I guess we could add computer science in as well. Sounds good to me!
I like it...I have always had a secret wish to be an unschooler! If I had more kids I would probably be a convert eventually, but this is my last as my oldest just graduated. :cry:
oh yea, I forgot... Keyboarding and Band at the middleschool and Soccer and Dance (which he has done for a few years) I'm getting dizzy thinking about it... so anyway, science is the only thing we are "unschooling"
I think this sounds GREAT! My boys would have LOVED that if I would've thought of it! If dd was a boy and at all interested in that, I'd be asking how to go about doing that! I am doing what dd is interested in as well. She LOVES Chemistry! She did it last year and asked to do more this year, so I figured I'd concentrate on Chemistry with her since she WANTS to, and it would be WONDERFUL to have a strong base in it before highschool and college even start! She may want to work in some field having to do with Chemistry, so as long as she's interested we will do it! I think the elementary and junior high grades are a GREAT time to do stuff like what you're doing to help them in areas of their interests! I LOVE the idea of them NOT being afraid of science, as I was, and being confident that they can succeed! Some may wonder why I am doing chemistry with her AGAIN, doesn't she need a broader base of all different sciences? But I'm one that feels that when they have a strong interest in something and ASK to do it, I should go with that.......if it makes sense. I wouldn't let her take "soap opera watching, 101" of course, but, you know what I mean! Let them study and expand on areas of interest and feel confident in their abilities! So I'm a little bit "unschooler" in that sense!
I agree about doing what SHE wants...that's what it is all about. She'll have plenty of time to do other sciences later. The middle years are so crucial I think because they don't have to have all the pressure of high school or college. They can just be themselves. I think that is what hurts kids in "school", to them the middle years are a time to figure out how to "fit in" when they should be about trying to figure out how to stand out.
I think so much of middle school is exposure... just exposure to a lot of different concepts so they can apply it later when more abstract thinking kicks in. I just don't think you can master chemistry or biology or any science with just one of those classes. I had the Krebs cycle in Biology, chemistry, nutrition and then finally in Microbiology it was like a light bulb!:idea: That was soooo cool, I hope to be there for a few of ds :idea: moments. That being said, if the child is "into" chemistry that is what I would go with... you can sneak chemical biology and ecology and all sorts of stuff into chemistry. So I guess what I mean is... it is all science. motto: Whatever Works.
