Middle School: A Work in Progress

As we're growing and learning more together, I've been working and re-working the middle school and high school years. Here I'll just post the revised plan for these middle school years. Even though year 6 is nearly done, I'll include it since it changed a bit. I'm not sure when I'll post high school plans (really just ideas at this point).  I'd like to get ds' input on what he'd like to study and how for those years and he just isn't ready to really think about that yet.

	Year 6	Year 7	Year 8
Reading	ABCD B,C, McGuffey3	ABCD D, McGuffey4	McGuffey5
Writing	LoE Composition	Writing Skills 1	Writing Skills 2
Grammar	LoE Grammar	LanguageMechanic	GetSmartGrammar
Spelling	ABCD Spelling Patterns (LvlC)	Apples&Pears	Apples&Pears
Math	LoF Elementary	LoF Fract. Dec.	LoF PreAlgebra
Science	EP Biology	EP Zoology	EP Earth Science
History	EP Geo-Cultures	Civics/TX History	EPAncient
Computer	Khan Beg. Program	EP Graphic Design	EP Spread Sheets
For.Lang.	N/A	Latin 1	Latin 2 or Greek?
Character	Practical Happiness	Boyhood&Beyond	Do Hard Things
Economics	ToothpasteMillionare	Bus. for Kids Capitalism Kids	Young Economist
Thinking	UsingLogicWkbk	Fallacy Dective	ThinkingToolbox
Bible	EP Year 3 Poetry	EP Year 2 NT	EP Year 1 OT

As I mentioned in the previous post, we wound up using The Logic of English Essentials only for grammar and composition. For Reading we switched to ABeCeDarian Level B, short version, and then moved into Level C. At Level C, Mr. Bend suggests beginning a spelling program, and has a Spelling Patterns book to go with Level C. We did begin that with Level C, but progress has been - well, we haven't really been able to progress past Unit 2. So I have set that aside and am using a really old Orton-Gillingham based spelling book that had been given to me to review phonograms and go over syllable types. It will do for now, to finish out the year. I must say, though, that he is doing very well with the Level C book. He is also doing very well reading through McGuffey's Third Reader, so I plan to continue with those for reading practice through the sixth reader in year 9. If all goes well with the Writing Skills books, we'll finish off with the third book in year 9, and review grammar with Stay Smart Grammar, as well. We'll probably still be in Apples and Pears for spelling, too. I suppose I should have included Year 9 in the chart above, at least for English. :)

We have just begun Jelly Beans, the last book in the Elementary series of Life of Fred. DS has done well with this way of doing math. However he does seem to need more practice doing the multi-step multiplication and division problems. He won't like it, but I will need to have him do some worksheets in order to work on those more, probably on some graph paper. Otherwise, we will continue to work through the Intermediate series during the summer and then see how he does with the Fractions book this fall. While he still doesn't have them all down, he is doing much better with the basic math facts - to the point they don't hold him back as much. I've decided to have him continue to review the multiplication facts in game formats and use a multiplication chart for working problems.

DS has grown leaps and bounds in his ability to use text to speech to independently work on history and science with Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool. He still needs lots of guidance when it comes to writing assignments and projects, but he is handling the rest pretty independently. Any print books we are reading I am still reading aloud and am only having him read from the McGuffey Readers aloud to me; and he still reads on his tablet books of his choosing with Bookshare.

As I expected, programming is way too tedious and detail oriented for ds' liking. But I am very thankful for the opportunity he had to explore it through Khan Academy. If he had wanted to continue I would have been more than willing to pay for some other courses. But I don't think there will be any more programming courses in the future, unless his goals change. At the moment his goals center on improving hockey skills and getting on a team in the fall. He still enjoys the guitar, but that seems to be just for fun, with no real focus on improving his skills at reading music. So my goals for him (and my husband's) are improving his academic skills, building his work ethic, and helping him get where he needs to go to work on those hockey skills. 

Year 6 - Moving Right Along

So, a couple posts ago I mentioned discovering that ds is dyslexic. We have made great strides in the reading department. But, as usual, not in the way I initially thought. The Logic of English Essentials program turned out to be too painful for both of us to use in full. The phonogram and spelling lessons are not laid out in a way he can get his head around; and memorizing spelling rules was not at all compatible with his working memory. I'm very thankful that I decided to start it during our summer term so I figured this out before beginning year 6 in September. I was seriously considering purchasing the first level of Barton Reading - the gold standard of homeschool-ready Orton-Gillingham programs. But my husband was not on board with the idea of switching programs, so I had to compromise. Ultimately, that has turned out to be a good thing as we seem to have found something that works well for him.

ABeCeDarian is not an Orton-Gillingham program. It is phono-graphix. While Orton-Gillingham methods have been found to work well for teaching dyslexics to read, it seems some kids do better with phono-graphix - which is still explicit, multisensory reading instruction. This article briefly introduces this method. The main thing for us was not having to memorize those rules. We recently completed ABeCeDarian Level B (short version) and have seen improvement not only in his reading, but also in his attitude and willingness to read. When we resume after the new year we'll begin Level C, along with the Spelling Patterns book. In addition, we have continued to use the grammar lessons from Logic of English, and their game cards to play phonogram 'Uno.' Roughly once a week we read a selection from McGuffey's Third Reader.

For reading outside of school work, I signed ds up for Bookshare. This is a wonderful thing. It is a free (in the US) service for students with print disabilities, so does require an official diagnosis to subscribe. They have well over 300,000 books available as e-text that can be read with text-to-speech, and the text is highlighted as it is read. Many of those are text books, scout books, and lots of great literature. We have set it up on an Android tablet that he uses strictly for reading, which we are requiring daily outside of 'school.' He also uses the tablet's voice reader for the reading he is assigned online for history and science. We are embracing technology in this house.

Aside from the reading, We are still using Easy Peasy for Bible, History, Science, Art, and Music, which works very well with the tts accommodations. In addition I supplement science reading with videos we find on YouTube. We are loving Life of Fred Math, and ds plays Math Blaster and other math oriented video games. I read aloud from books we are using for health, character study, and economics. He's learning to cook some meals. We try to get moving for PE most days. And we're listening to some wonderful literature on Librivox.org. Beginning in February, we will begin participating in a co-op, where he will take classes like jujitsu and chess. He's learning to play the guitar, and also learning to play hockey. I can barely keep up. But so far, we're having a great year.

ETA: I forgot to mention programming. Twice a week he works through the Khan Academy Intro JS course. He does not love it, but is able to complete the lessons and projects. It has given him a good taste of what it takes to write programs to create games - something he thought he wanted to do. :)

Middle School Years!

I almost can't believe we are here already. The years are flying by so quickly. Following is an overview of plans I've been working on for the next three years of ds' education. We will still be using Easy Peasy for most subjects. He has stated that he liked it well enough and did not want to change that. I am looking forward to our studies. Yes, 'our.' I learn as much, if not more, as he does as we go along this road - and I love it.

	Year 6	Year 7	Year 8
Bible	EP Poetry	EP New Testament	EP Old Testament
English	The Logic of English	Repeat LoE?	MaxScholar + EP?
Math	Life of Fred/EPstep1	Life of Fred/EPstep2	Life of Fred/EPstep3
Science	EP Biology	EP Zoology	EP Earth Science
History	EP World-Geography	Texas History	EP Ancient History
Economics	Toothpaste Millionare	Common Sense Bus. & Capitalism for Kids	Young Economist
Art/Music	EP Cultures	EP Early American	EP Ancient
Computer	Programing for Kids	Graphic Design	Using Spreadsheets
Thinking	Using Logic	Art of Logic Course	EP Foundations
Pers. Dev.	Practical Happiness	Boyhood and Beyond	Do Hard Things
For. Lang.	None	Visual Latin 1	Visual Latin 2

Of course this is not all written in stone. And, as you see, I'm really not sure what we'll do for English, spelling, & grammar after this next year. The Logic of English can be done a second round with a more advanced spelling list - we will probably do that. But ultimately it depends on how it goes the first time around and what he is ready for after that. I also have no idea at this point what we'll do for Texas history, or even whether we'll spend a whole year on it.

But I'm thankful to have an overall plan - some direction as we do work out those details. I am also thankful we now have a better understanding of his learning strengths and weaknesses. That also helps in choosing materials and knowing what accommodations to make. We have used and enjoyed audio books in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. I will continue to do much of the reading this year, but will be transitioning in the following years to having him utilize those accommodations more independently. And, hopefully, he will also do more reading on his own. I realize these next three years will involve many leaps and bounds as he grows in so many ways towards that young man he is becoming.

Just When You Think You Have it All Figured Out

Back at the end of January I had written about how we were taking a pause from Teaching Textbooks and doing things differently than we had planned, with every intention of returning to Teaching Textbooks. Well, that did not happen as ds was quite adamant that he did not want to use that program ever again. So much for that experiment of letting him pick the program. We will not do that again - for a while anyway.

Since that time I also began to realize that we had hit a wall with reading and he was not improving and was struggling with comprehension when he read things himself. So I asked a simple question on my favorite homeschool forum about how to help with reading comprehension, one thing led to another, and next thing I knew I was researching dyslexia and how to have him tested for it. Thankfully Texas does recognize dyslexia (many states do not) and our school district does test specifically for that. He did a great job at the assessment and the tester was very complimentary (proud parent moment, there). But yes, he does have dyslexia.

Needless to say, those plans for middle school I thought I had all nailed down have changed a bit. But not too much, really. We are just doing something different for English and math. Thankfully the reading I've done about dyslexia has given me a better idea of what may work for him with math. We will be trying something completely different this next year. Which is such a relief, as math has really been almost torture for us. I have also learned that there is a specific type of program that works well for dyslexic students to learn/improve their reading, spelling, grammar and writing (Orton-Gillingham), and we have several options available as homeschoolers.

I will do a middle school overview and year 6 specifics in separate posts. Before I leave this one, though, I want to give a link that I found very helpful in understanding better what, exactly, dyslexia is. I really didn't have a clue. But this website helped to improved my understanding: http://www.dys-add.com/.

There are also several books on the subject that are on my list to read. I am currently reading The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain, by Brock L. Eide, M.D., M.A. and Fernette F. Eide, M.D. Its an easy read and quite fascinating. Next up (both from my local library) is Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level, by Sally Shaywitz, M.D. Definitely a good start on my personal learning adventure.

Spoke Too Soon

I marveled in my Year 5 post that everything was working wonderfully and we wouldn't be making any changes. Well, here I am to eat those words. Its really nothing major, just a pause, I think. Teaching Textbooks' spiral approach was moving a little too quickly through multiplication and we were having to repeat lessons multiple times with some tears and arguing with the computer. As ds was crying over the third time going through a lesson, I realized that after just two more lessons TT would be moving on to division. That certainly was not going to work.

Pause.

So, we have set that aside for now. I've made a list of links in ds' bookmarks (found in Easy Peasy math 3 & 4) with activities to review some concepts I felt he hadn't spent enough time on, like fractions and word problems. And he is working on multiplication facts using Timez Attack. Math is pleasant once again. And in a few weeks we will resume TT, picking up where we left off. Now the problem is getting him to stop doing math long enough to work on some other subjects. I'm good with that.

Ted Talk: School is Optional

This inspires me.
You will have to click the link. I can't get the right video imbedded to save my life. The above links to a TEDxTalk entitled "School is optional" by Ken Danford. He does not mean working, learning, growing, and maturing are optional. "School" as in the brick & mortar building we go to in order to sit in a classroom to be taught - that is optional. In other words "School" is not the only way to work at learning, growing, and maturing. You don't have to reach a certain age or achieve a piece of paper before you can begin finding your interests and passions and living your life doing those things.

This is something I tell ds from time to time and hope he will come to understand. He has spoken of possibly going to school for high school. If he does choose to do that, I aim to support him in that endeavor. But I want him to make an informed choice and know that is not his only option. That is why I've started this Pinterest board, collecting the many options we are blessed with in the area we live. This also will help me as we move into and through the middle school years to make sure we focus on what he will need to study by the time 9th or 10th grade comes around in the event he chooses public, private or charter school at that time.

He is not at all ready to even think of that yet. Right now its still a challenge to get him to think beyond video games and sports. Yup, life is all about the fun stuff. Oh to be a kid again.  ;)  But, I have no doubt he'll be ready when he needs to be ready to think about what he wants to do with his life. In the meantime I will enjoy him where he is as I help him learn how to put words together into coherent thoughts that communicate to others clearly, and understand how numbers work in life. We're taking it one step at a time.

Year 5!

And now on to what we are doing this year. And can you believe it, we're halfway through it and I'm not making any changes. Nope, its all good and we're sticking with it. I think that is a first!

So, first a little background before diving into the list. One of my goals for year 4 was to have him - I think I'll just start referring to him as ds as he's getting a little old for kiddo now ;) - ds, do more of the reading. Well, that was met with a little drama. All. year. long. "What? I have to read it?!" Along with this I realized we really needed to utilize audio and video more for his learning style. So I went in search of how we would do that. I could go on in some detail about that, but I'll cut to the chase. Can I just say that God is amazing. I really believe it is his provision that led us to Easy Peasy. Have you heard of that one yet? One of my biggest challenges in switching materials was matching up history, and Easy Peasy picked up right where we had left off. We are still using living books, with the audio and video and some interactive games all included. I'm still blown away when I see all the work that has gone into developing this free online curriculum and that it is just exactly what we needed.

• Bible (Mon-Fri) - We started the year off with the SCM study of Hebrews, read A Case for A Creator for kids (which I would not recommend), then went into some Advent devotions. We are now following the Easy Peasy Bible reading plan, starting with the book of John.
• Math (Mon-Fri) - I decided to present some options to ds and let him choose a math program. He chose Teaching Textbooks - currently using Math 4.
• English/Grammar (Mon-Fri) - Easy Peasy English 3, continuing to use SpellWell B for extra spelling practice, and he's learning cursive this year with SCM's Print to Cursive Proverbs book. We'll finish out the year with some cursive copy work from CopyCat (free online).
• Foreign Language (Mon-Thurs) - continuing some lite ASL using a DVD we found on Amazon (Everyday ASL), YouTube videos, and also Signing Saavy.
• Geography (Wednesdays) - reading through two more H.C. Holling books, Minn of the Mississippi and Paddle to the Sea, and My World by Ira Wolfman.
• History (Mon-Fri) - Easy Peasy Modern American History along with TruthQuest American History III commentary, and other books along the way.
• Science (Mon-Fri) - Easy Peasy Chemistry and Physics.
• Literature (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri) - in addition to what he's reading for English, we're reading/listening to Rip Van Winkle, Railway Children, Pilgrim's Progress in Words of One Syllable, Call of the Wild, Robinson Crusoe, Kidnapped, Men of Iron, and The Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare.
• Character Study (Fridays) - a chapter of Created for Work, by Bob Schultz, each week.
• Art and Music Study (Tuesdays & Thursdays) - Easy Peasy again, Modern Art and Modern Music. He also received a guitar for Christmas and will begin lessons this week or next.
• Computer (Mondays) - we're using TypingWeb for keyboarding, and combined Easy Peasy computer courses (levels 3&4) to learn/review some basics of Word, Internet, and Power Point, and beginning programming.
• Thinking (Fridays) - Learning to play chess, got that link from Easy Peasy Thinking Level 3, later in the year we'll use some logic games from Level 4.

There you have it. That is what we started the year off with, and will continue through with no changes. And I have Year 6 in the works. Coming soon.