2022-2023 Curriculum Overview: 7th Grade Choices

Welcome back!

This week I had planned on us being back in school full force but sometimes things don’t always go as planned. But that is one of the joys of homeschooling! We can do what we want when we want to do it. It is for this reason we hold to more of a “year-round” schooling model so that we can take longer breaks or slip in a travel day without screwing up a schedule.

Last week I shared with you the skills based curriculum we are using for 5th grade so this week I’m going to be rounding it off with what we will be using for 7th grade. I will be 100% honest when I tell you that this 7th grade curriculum is no joke! I never really realized just how much of a jump there was between 6th and 7th grade, especially when it comes to the language arts aspect but gosh its a jump!

Math

Just like the 5th graders we will continue to use Beast Academy for a bit. This is because we haven’t completely finished with this program even though it only goes through 6th grade so we are going to finish out this program. I haven’t quiet found what we will be moving on to once we are done with the Beast Academy but I’m pretty sure this will get us at least up to Christmas break so hopefully I will have something figured out by January!

Language Arts: Applications of Grammar

This book is THICK! Luckily it looks like we will only be getting through the first half of this book this year and then we will finish it out in 8th grade. This is a general grammar course that will help to take all the basics that we learned over the last couple of years and put them into practice.

Writing: Writing with Skill Level 1

This is another THICK workbook style writing program that again, we will only use the first half of this year and finish the rest next year (Yay for saving money next year!) This program is designed to solidify the mechanics of writing well before high school without overwhelming both me and my students. The goal is that once high school rolls around everyone will be able to write that is articulate, well thought out, and easy to read. In theory.

Reading: Progeny Press Reading Guides

This year for reading we will be following through 2 different reading guides. My Father’s World gives suggestions for the two guides to use for most of the programs but when it comes to 1850’s to Modern Times we are given free reign to choose any 2 off the list.

Since this is our first year doing these types of reading guides I wanted to make sure we would be reading books that Collin was interested in so I let him make the choice. He chose Eagle of the Ninth and The Hobbit. Each guide book recommends reading the story completely in the first week then going back through the chapters more slowly as the discussion questions are answered and the activities are completed. After looking things over, however, we will be reading the book together and using the questions as more of discussion starter. We may incorporate a few of the activities but overall this will be a fun time of discussion and growing.

And of course there will still be our weekly or bi-weekly trips to the library where books will be checked out just for the sake of reading and not because there will be questions to answer, or quizzes to take. I am a firm believer that reading is both for education and for enjoyment and it is my hope that as we continue to take these trips to the library everyone will continue to develop their love of reading just for the sake of a good story as much as the necessity to learn new things.

So there it is, our curriculum choices for Kindergarten through 7th grade. I am looking forward to all the learning and growth this year will bring and I am excited to share our journey along the way.