EX1850 & 1850MOD - How do they look different for 7/8th?

[Julie in MN]

Help with state sheets for older students

We are in week 19 of EX1850 so we will be beginning the states and presidents study soon. I think I understand how it works for the younger students but what is appropriate for the older students to complete (6th and 5th graders)?

Also since the book basket books are for younger ages do they just focus on the world history during those weeks? I thought about getting a general information book on each state for them to research or go to the library to use the reference books. Any other ideas? The days look so full! I am doing 1st, the supplement and 2 older children and my mind is spinning over this. The assignments seemed to slack off a little but not anymore!

Hi Lori,
We're just finishing up the state report at the end of EX1850.

Since the state sheets are only one part of history this year, my son and I just read the pages, added the info to the front, and he highlighted his favorite fact on the back. I think the highlighter was Crystal's idea for younger ones, but it keeps my 7th grader alert. Oh, and on the front of the sheet, don't forget to have older kids mark all the surrounding states (and major bodies of water, if you like).

I have had some books in book basket about the 50 states which ds reads on occasion. But he really hasn't read any I got from the 2nd-3rd grade state list (Blueberries For Sal and such), so I pretty much stopped adding those. We sometimes looked at a map (showing Indian tribes or showing the terrain - mountains, lakes, etc) or looked up something that sparked an interest. Ds spent a lot more time with books about presidents and about historical figures. He also read about a few of the "legends" like Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, and our local friend Paul Bunyan :o)

Honestly, there is so much history to learn in this time period that I wouldn't sweat it about the state and president pages. They have been a light and fun part of our day, and I don't try to cram too many facts into his brain.

Then when you get to the end of EX1850, you will have a long break of studying your state in depth, and then at the beginning of 1850MOD you will be spending the first weeks learning all the states and capitals and such. By then, some of those state things will be sinking in deeper because of all the little "seeds" you have planted, plus a greater understanding of the overall picture & how it all developed.

[Lucy]

Hi Lori,

When you reach week 21, where the state studies begin, there will be information on how to use the state sheets and more ideas. If you want to look ahead it is on Tuesday of that week.

In the same week for book basket list in the appendix there is a note about most of the books listed being for younger students and add a state book series from your library for older students. My kids were 5th and 7th grade when we did this year and I found that they still enjoyed some of the picture books, I even enjoy a good picture book myself! I understand some kids will not like them and that is o.k. but just thought I would mention that I was surprised that when I put a few in the book basket they were read and not one complaint!

So you will get a bit more information when you reach week 21 about the state sheets and the same for when you begin the president notebook pages (information on Thursday of week 21).

If you have more questions as you are planning, please let us know.

Lucy

[LSH in MS]

I think I will keep it light for that part then. I am getting some of the younger books for my 3rd and 1st graders and if they are in book basket my older dc will read them. I think my boys will probably be more interested in the presidents as well. Our library didn't have very many of the state books for younger ages. I did a general search for each state and found a few, but it will probably be enough with everything that is going on. Are there any really special books from that list that are so good I should get them from ILL? My library is wonderful about getting books for me. We are having a great year. The dc are enjoying this era of history and botany as well. Thank you MFW!

[dhudson]

We're considering using Exp-1850 next year, and I'm still trying to wrap my brain around how this would look different for an 8th grader vs. a 5th grader. Can someone who has been there, done that, please explain what types of things the older child would do that the younger one would not, in order to make it meaty enough for 8th grade?

With ECC, it's easy to see the types of things that are added, but for CTG-1850/Mod, not so much.

Thanks in advance for your help!

I found that 1850-mod was perfect for my 7th grader when we did it. I needed to simplify some things for my 4th graders, like some of the outlining.

1850 to mod is a logic stage program so was written for middle school kids. You might need to spend a little more time explaining to your younger kids what is happening and why. My little ones did fine when I summarized some of the events.

You might also look at some of the books in the 2nd - 3rd grade supplement. I had my 4th graders use them as readers for book basket which worked really well.

Postby dhudson » Tue Mar 22, 2011 9:59 am
Sorry, I spoke specifically about 1850 - MOD and it looks like you were asking about several of the programs. Teach me to try and ride my stationary bike and post at the same time.

Anyway, I think what I said still applies. The program gets successively more difficult as it goes along to prepare kids for high school but the younger kids handle the topics fine. They just take in what they can and they get a higher depth of understanding because of the discussions that you have with the oldest.

[mfwstudent]

Hi "southerngospelwife".
I’m a long time student using MFW. I’m in AHL this year and this week trying to do my service project by helping other families using MFW. So my mom (screen name cbollin) saw this thread and thought maybe I could spend some time this morning. I want to share it from my perspective.

Last year I was in 8th grade and my sister was in 5th. We were doing CTG.
I read more historical fiction than she did.
I did the advanced assignments and even more readings from Streams of Civilization. I like that book.
I wrote more paragraphs in my notebooking summaries than she did.
I did extra art work assignments.
The CTG manual suggested that in jr. high to do a short report about once a month on the topics in the Streams of Civilization chapter headings. Well, I didn’t do one each month, but some of them interested me so I did more reading and short reports at supper time sharing what I learned.
Oh, then when it came time for the spring Bible feast, I helped with that and talked a lot with an elder at our church who is Jewish Christian.
I got to do a few extra field trips than my sister did. And I watched more videos on topics than she did. Mom got some streaming video thing since our library didn't have a lot of them. Lots of the movie suggestions were TMI (too much info) for my little sis.

I was in charge of the CTG science experiments to help my younger sister. I took charge of the hands on stuff too. I did all of the advanced assignments listed. Did a lot more reading than my little sister. And of course got my own math and science too and more literature novels.

I need to go finish cleaning my room and stuff like that before getting my school work done today. I hope something of that helps you a bit from the way it worked for us last year.

[Julie in MN]

My ds did EX1850 from middle of 6th to middle of 7th (we were on a weird schedule). It was perfect.

1. First of all, he was getting used to the higher level grammar, science, literature, etc.
2. Second, there were some readings that were older.
3. Third, he did more notebooking (we're a notebooking family here).

I wrote some of the things he got into that year on the Ideas forum, if that would help. For example:
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php ... 392#p31392

[southerngospelwife]

Thank you for your explanations.. that really helps me in getting the big picture and doing some planning.

[Julie in MN]

I am beginning to lose my feeling of preparedness!! I am teaching two 7th graders in EX-1850 along with my daughter. I bought Johnny Tremain & the PP guide. I guess I thought it was going to be scheduled in the weekly grid, but I just realized it's not. I did see it in the back in the recommended reads, but I guess I'm just not used to looking there for the books that I got from MFW. But - I wasn't thinking about the fact that Johnny Tremain was an add-on for 7th, it didn't come with the basic or deluxe set!!

I think I need to plan my year better - I've spent so much time planning supplies & everything and haven't yet thought about when to read those books I ordered with my set. I guess I just thought they were scheduled like all other other readers that have come in the deluxe sets with previous years. OH MY!!! I have a long weekend so I've been really busy trying to make sure I was ready for school to start & co-op to start in a few weeks - but I just all of a sudden feel very unprepared! I think 7th grade is going to be more different than I thought! (And I was aware it was going to be tougher than elementary.) :~

<hugs> for the start-of-year jitters. Somehow I always seemed to have those. I guess the rest of the year just seemed to flow so naturally that a new year felt jarring. But I think it's good for the kids -- a little change-of-pace, a little growing up.

I always think that ECC is the standard for 7-8th grades, with its separate grid. So if you have an ECC manual around with that grid, you might look through it again. If not, you can get some general scheduling advice by looking at the ECC recommendations for 7-8th graders. Here are some links on that:

ECC sample grid, click on teacher manual and find the 7-8th Grade Supplement grid; it's not a very involved sample but it shows the older students adding science, any extra history/social studies, and reading. http://www.mfwbooks.com/products/M50/40/10/0/1#samples

One of my posts on how my son did the grammar & Progeny Press guides on different weeks: http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php ... 047#p53926

Does that help envision the year ahead?
Julie

[asheslawson]

Yes Julie, I do have my ECC grid - and that is helpful!! Thank you so much Julie - I guess many of us get 1st day jitters. Tomorrow is my 1st day of homeschooling another person's 7th grader along with my 7th & 3rd grader, so I have them so bad today that I'm feeling almost sick!! Wrapping up my prepping and going to get a good nights sleep. Thanks so much for the helfpul hints!

[hsmom]

I hope I didn't send you into a mini panic. I think the manual does a good job of warning us. In week 14 it says in the read aloud block of the grid that there will be no read-alouds scheduled from wk 14 - 20 and says that you can pick from the recommended resources list. It also lets you know that there is a lot of reading from George Washington's World during those weeks.

[Julie in MN]

I will have a 7th grader, 5 grader, 3rd grader and 3yr old going into next year. How long should school take for my 7th grader? Is this year (1850-mod) tough on the younger ones? I am just trying to get a feel for the year with my oldest and youngest school aged kids. What should I expect?

For me, 7th grade started requiring more time for science and language arts (grammar, Progeny Press, writing).

It wasn't necessarily more teaching time but more independent assignments in the afternoon, with more correcting on my part, which I tried to do during school hours (some students do this themselves, but that wasn't leading to good understanding at our house).

8th grade added significantly more time for math (algebra).

The basic MFW program wasn't all that much longer in the middle years -- my son was learning more in-depth things, but he could write or read in less time than when he was younger, too.

Julie

[Poohbee]

Hi Kathy!

When we did 1850MOD 2 years ago, I had an 8th grader, 4th grader, and Kindergartener. My experience was a little different than yours will be, because I didn't use the 2nd/3rd supplement with my 4th grader, but you probably will want to use that supplement with your 3rd grader. Also, my oldest was in 8th grade and already knew how to be independent with her science, etc. because she had learned that the previous year.

I agree with Julie that you definitely notice a difference in 7th grade because they start doing their own science rather than joining with their siblings. Seventh grade is definitely the year when they are learning even more independence. My oldest dd did Apologia General Science in 7th grade and basically read the book on her own, filled out the notebooking journal to take notes as she read, and she did the experiments on her own, as well. Her sister and I filled in as a lab partner when she needed one. I sometimes watched her do her experiments, and I always looked over her notes and lab reports to be sure she was on the right track with those. My oldest started Saxon 8/7 in 7th grade, too, and that was a big change from using Singapore. It took a bit to get used to that, but after she adjusted, she has become comfortable with Saxon math.

As far as 1850MOD goes, it is different, too, in that you will now be using Story of the World activity sheets rather than sheets prepared by MFW. There is a lot of writing from outlines and filling in or adding to outlines, so that takes a bit of getting used to. I didn't always have my 4th grader do all of that, but it is really good practice for the 7th and 8th graders to prepare them for high school composition. My daughters and I liked to listen to Story of the World on audio rather than me reading it, so we listened and then did the SOTW activity sheet. I had my girls take turns adding timeline pieces to our timeline book so that we only had one book going, but they both got a chance to add the pieces. Your 5th grader will likely be able to do most of what your 7th grader is doing in history as far as writing, etc. You just adapt your expectations of what you require of them, as you probably did in the other years of the cycle. The history involves some deep and serious topics, with the Civil War, both World Wars, the Holocaust, and more. However, I felt that the topics were handled very well. There wasn't a huge focus on those difficult events. In using Story of the World, the events are seen in the larger picture of history. Along with the 2nd/3rd supplement for your 3rd grader, finding library books on the topics that are more on that child's level will be helpful for you with those tough history topics.

I would suggest looking through the archives for 1850MOD and for 7th/8th grade to get more ideas.

As, I said, I think my experience was different than yours will be because of the different ages of our kids, but as Julie said, it isn't so much the 1850MOD that will be so very different, but it is your 7th grader starting to do some new and different things. That takes some adjustment.

[TriciaMR]

One thing I do is start my 7th graders (or junior high and high school kids) two weeks before I start the year with the younger ones. Just math, science, English and the PP guide to start to teach them how. I make a list of their work, and then work with them showing them how to do each subject more on their own. Usually by the end of 2 weeks they have a flow down.

Then we start everyone. we do Bible and History (and art) first in the day, any worksheets from those topics, then the jr high school student can go work on their independent work while I do Science and the rest of the subjects with my youngers. We do read alouds at lunch. Music we do in the car on the way to PE class or other activities. I am usually done with the youngers by noon and can spend the afternoon with my older one correcting and helping.