Schedule - Plugging in 7-8th grade assignments on the grid

[cbollin]

[Editor's note: this sample may be helpful:
ECC sample grid, including 7-8th grade grid on page 8 http://www.mfwbooks.com/downloads/pdfs/ ... manual.pdf


Teacher Manual - Does it schedule in the older grades?!

Are the assignments for the 7-8th grade "supplement" already scheduled into the ECC Teacher's manual? If not, how will I know when to assign that material?
Thank you,
knitcindy

Science: Apologia is not written directly into the teacher's manual for ECC. However, MFW does have a daily lesson plan for the Apologia books that they carry. If you order Apologia from MFW, they include the daily lesson plan (otherwise they do sell those daily lesson plans).
http://www.mfwbooks.com/products/22/Sci ... 12th-Grade

Literature units from Progeny Press: Those take several weeks to do and you do one each semester according to MFW recommendations.

hth
crystal

[DS4home]

I used ECC last year with an 8th grader. We had a great year and she got a lot out of it!

All of the World Geog. pages are written into the TM, you just need to make a note for the reports you want written.

We also started off the year right away doing a literature book and guide, since we chose a book from North America. Then I had her do the Hobbit TLP later in the year, it of course had nothing to do with the curriculum, but she was dying to read it!

She did have her own math and science. Otherwise she did everything else that was scheduled with the rest of us and it was a full year!

It is pretty easy to add in as you see fit for your family. We tend to do our read alouds faster than scheduled, so I will pencil in a couple extra good books for the year. Hope some of this helps answer your questions:)

Dawn

[Jacqueline]

For the 2006-07 school year I'll have a student in each of the following grades: 2nd,6th,7th and 8th.

I noticed that ECC has a supplement for grades 7-8. Are those supplement readings "scheduled" into the TM for me? Also, is the Apologia Science schedule already in the TM? How much extra planning did you do? Thank you VERY much for your help,
knitcindy

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 3:47 pm

I'm using ECC with 6th and 8th grade this year. Here's what I'm doing:

*I'm using two study guides from Progeny Press and we're stretching the time frame on those a bit. I just tried to find a good place to fit those books based on the setting of the story. For the extra readers I did the same thing. These are all loosely scheduled and I just made notes in my TM. My 8th grader will use the book basket as well. He loves to read so there should be enough reading to keep him happy. My younger one won't be reading the extra missionary books, but he will be doing two book studies.

*I purchased the MFW lesson plans for the Apologia curriculum for my older one. Your kids should be able to use those pretty independently - the daily plans are spelled out very well for them. My older one will be doing a nature journal as well.

*For language I'm not going to plan so much as set aside a certain amount of time per day. I think this will let my kids go at their own pace rather than requiring that a lesson be completed during a day - we're going for mastery, not finishing the book! My older one will also be taking creative writing in our co-op classes, so there should be plenty of writing this year.

As a family we're going to use The Narrow Road (one of the extra books) as a read-aloud when there isn't one of the biographies scheduled. It breaks up very nicely to fill in those gaps.

I think ECC offers enough that I can increase difficulty or decrease it when needed for either of my kids. We all are so weak in world geography that there will be plenty of learning going on!

Didn't mean to be so wordy!!! I'm just a wee bit excited about school this year since finding MFW :-)

[kellybell]

My daughter will be in 7th grade next year, and I'd love to hear from those of you who have used the recommended grammar and Apologia science. I'd love to know about the time involved for both programs and if you found the lesson plans for Apologia helpful.

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:03 pm

I've got a seventh grader. I guess you'd call her an average learner. Some things come easily and other things challenge. So, she's probably a good gauge for these things.

We are doing the Apologia General Science this year and plan to continue with Physical Science next year. She loves it. It is the first "meaty" science and she's basically doing it independently, although she calls over the three younger kids when it's experiment time. The experiments reinforce the text nicely and most use household items (today we needed iodine, but that's not hard to come by, most things are even more common). She's learning a lot and enjoying it. It DOES have a lot of reading to it, so it might be harder for a slow reader (however Apologia makes a CD recording of the entire text, I believe). Thumbs up for this. It's one of the more "traditional" things we've done and it's been a hit.

As for the lesson plans, I'd say go for it as it's nice to have a guide. I bought my General Science book a few years ago. However, we do use the Donna Young Apologia Schedule. The schedule gives us some really needed structure. Maybe you can make your own schedule, but you need something or else the book could morph into a two-year endeavor. So, I'd recommend getting the schedule. Maybe someone using the MFW schedule can comment...

As for grammar, we're doing the All in One book this year and the Applications of Grammar book next year. Since they are both inexpensive, I bought them both at the same time (to save on shipping). I like them both. Neither are flashy, both are admittedly dry, but effective. She's doing well with the All in One book and should finish it before the year is up. I think I might skip the All in One book and go right to the Applications book for my next daughter. There seems to be some repetition. Applications looks like a harder book, like it will require more time.

Let's see, we spend about 20-30 minutes on Apologia, four days a week. We are spending about 15-20 minutes on the All in One book, three or four days a week.

Oh, and both books seem to follow the MFW philosophy of more bang for the buck (ie. little time, little money, big results). No fluff here.

[Julie in MN]

Do you fit Progeny Press guides / reading in the grid in place of something else? Or just add it in? Any guesses on time needed? Or how best to do this? (I suppose it might say in the front of a guide).

Now, questions on Saxon versus Singapore, I am guessing it will take more time? (She has some left in 6B).

And, Apologia in place of, or in addition too the other science? I am sure DD will want to add it too, as long as it wouldn't be completely overwhelming.

She has also asked to do a coop this year (first time in several years that she has been interested). They meet on Friday's. They are doing IEW creative writing, Drive Thru History, and a Chemistry class with a college professor and his students leading it all. So, with coop doing IEW, do I cut back on Writing Strands, or incorporate it together somehow, or what?? So, just to keep in mind, we will also have a younger doing the 3rd grade supplement, so we WILL be doing the regular science anyway... I think maybe I am losing my mind to even allow the coop this year, but, they are good classes, and the girls really WANT to do them... Youngest will be doing Bible Quiz, some sort of History and then Private Eye [science]. I am usually pretty good at just saying no. But, for whatever reason it just doesn't seem right this year. Tell me if I am crazy, and should re-evaluate!!

And, Mom is still fighting cancer. So many things to do, so little time. Just to totally fill you in, oldest does take piano, and wants to also add voice. She is excellent at practicing on her own. We do swim team and lots of that in the summer, but it is 6 weeks of craziness and then it is over. No other sports. I still work, most days from home 7AM-noon. Wednesday all day in the office. The girls go to Mom's and do homework / reading / independent studies. OK, I think that is total disclosure. 1850 to Modern times will be our journey this year. Thoughts??

Well, I'll start with one person's perspective. And then hopefully you'll get a few other viewpoints, and find your own path somewhere in there.

1. I plugged in PP and grammar in the "English" slot on the grid. I only assigned one or the other, spending a couple months on each. I posted the weeks here: http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php ... 047#p53926
If writing was in the English slot, I'd draw a line and make it two English slots, since we usually needed to do the PP or grammar every day.

2. You could finish the Singapore 6B if you like, but 7th grade math is usually "one book's worth" so it may put you off-kilter for doing Saxon in a year. 6B has tons of review, similar to 6A.

3. If it were EX1850, I would say just do the science together. But I'm not at all sure that the science in 1850MOD works for 7th grade. We didn't do it, since we were doing 7th grade science. It doesn't look like as much as EX1850 to me. To make your life easier, I can see the desire to combine. The transition to 7th will take some of your time, and so will teaching science to a younger child (whether it's you or the 7th grader). I did see on some other message board that a person had found a way to incorporate the younger child into Apologia science, but that would probably be extra work, too. Well, those are lots of options but personally I'd probably try to find a way to combine them in your situation this year.

You know, if you do the 1850MOD science plus the Chemistry class, I think you'll be fine.

4. If you do the IEW co-op, then I'd skip WS this year. I'd reevaluate how she's doing on writing next year. Also keep in mind that 1850MOD has a lot of outlining scheduled in the history portion, and you may decide to scale back because of what you're doing in IEW. I am a die-hard notebooking fan, so I did about half a year of outlining and then went to notebooking. I think they need to "do something" with all the info they are learning on a daily basis, but it could be processed for an IEW paper or whatever makes your life easier.

5. Piano can be your music, along with the patriotic songs -- those are great! And the hymns. So there is lots of music. The deluxe part is optional. We really enjoyed the Foster & Sousa studies, but I never did the jazz units the way I would have liked. I'm saving it for potential high school fine arts.

Julie

[Fly2Peace]

I think part of my panic with this year is that 7th is a step up! But, each year is a step up, so maybe this is normal beginning of the year angst. It has been 2 or 3 years since we have participated in coop, and so I will admit being torn. If they hadn't expressed a desire, and if the classes weren't such good ones, there would be no question, we wouldn't attempt it.

Music, well, we LOVE music, and the girls usually just listen to CD's as they do other things, including going to sleep. I know that doesn't fully explore the composers, but we usually briefly discuss each one, and call it enough. Hymns, we always read about the composer and author, but may not always take the time to track down the music if it is one we aren't already familiar with, or if it isn't EASY.

Writing has always been a battle with oldest. She can tell you a very creative story, but to get her to put it on paper is just an outright battle. I make it a requirement sometimes, but not always. I allow her to keyboard it, if she wants. I have tried to make it a reasonable thing, but I really think it comes down to her perfectionism, and that makes it hard to do, because really, when is writing perfect? I hope with a writing class with someone else to allow her to see that she CAN do it, with some effort. Maybe I am just being lazy, and hoping to pass the battle to someone else. Although she did claim to be willing to do another writing workbook than WS of her choice without balking.... there is nothing wrong with the one she has chosen. I think it is a format preference.

And, yes, starting to wonder, how often do I make it too easy for them? Am I doing enough, requiring enough???? I mean, with oldest we are running out of time! How quickly it all goes. Funny thing about passing the point where there are less years left to school than you have already done. It gives a different perspective...
So, I appreciate the input, the reassurances, and the options!

[cbollin]

Do you fit Progeny Press guides / reading in the grid in place of something else? Or just add it in? Any guesses on time needed? Or how best to do this? (I suppose it might say in the front of a guide).

In 7th/8th we did Grammar when it said English
And Progeny Press when it said Reading.
I have vague memories of not always doing both the same week like Julie said.
Then on weeks where grammar was the focus, reading just meant longer time with something from book basket or other novel, but no study on that free reading book.

Now, questions on Saxon versus Singapore, I am guessing it will take more time? (She has some left in 6B).

I’d probably go to Saxon 87 and if you have fun time on “4 day math weeks” you have the option to review/fun from 6B. It is not needed to do 6B in order to start Saxon.

And, Apologia in place of, or in addition too the other science? I am sure DD will want to add it too, as long as it wouldn't be completely overwhelming.

Because of her interest in the Chemistry co-op, start with the science in 1850MOD and the co-op class. Then, reevaluate 2nd semester if that should continue or be replaced with General Apologia. My long distance thinking is that if you start with General in 7th grade, that gives you more flexible in high school for a 12th grade year of some kind of advanced science. Or you might end up crunching in a summer course to finish more or something.

She has also asked to do a coop this year (first time in several years that she has been interested). They meet on Friday's. They are doing IEW creative writing, Drive Thru History, and a Chemistry class with a college professor and his students leading it all. So, with coop doing IEW, do I cut back on Writing Strands, or incorporate it together somehow, or what??

I’d probably cut back on WS if you are doing a formal writing class in co-op. Which level of WS would you be in?

And, Mom is still fighting cancer.

Email me with how that’s going if you want.

I think part of my panic with this year is that 7th is a step up! But, each year is a step up, so maybe this is normal beginning of the year angst. It has been 2 or 3 years since we have participated in coop, and so I will admit being torn. If they hadn't expressed a desire, and if the classes weren't such good ones, there would be no question, we wouldn't attempt it.

((hugs)) you’re fine.

Music, well, we LOVE music, and the girls usually just listen to CD's as they do other things, including going to sleep. I know that doesn't fully explore the composers, but we usually briefly discuss each one, and call it enough. Hymns, we always read about the composer and author, but may not always take the time to track down the music if it is one we aren't already familiar with, or if it isn't EASY.

Just listening is good too. You can save the full composer stuff for high school as a section of a Fine Arts appreciation.

Writing has always been a battle with oldest.

You know, the break might be good for both of you then with the co-op. Let the co-op be a blessing to you for now. Life has held been some big stressors for your family recently.

And, yes, starting to wonder, how often do I make it too easy for them? Am I doing enough, requiring enough???? I mean, with oldest we are running out of time! How quickly it all goes. Funny thing about passing the point where there are less years left to school than you have already done. It gives a different perspective...
So, I appreciate the input, the reassurances, and the options!

You’re fine girl friend. ((hugs)))

Love
-crystal

[TriciaMR]

I had already posted about my plan for next year to do ECC and 1st grade with my four: grade 8, grade 6, grade 1 and pre-school (age 3). I'm so excited! Especially the more I look at the 1st grade program! And I got some great ideas here for implementing the program with my dysleixic son (6th gr.).

I need to ask, does the TM include plans for all the extras?

1. All the 8th grade supplements (missionary biographies, country report, progeny press guides, writing strands). I plan to use AAS for the 8th and 6th graders.

2. What about the Apologia science and the Saxon math? (My 8th grader is using the Exploring Creation series now and Saxon 7/6 so we are familiar with these.)

3. Then there is the language arts for the 6th grader - ILL and Writing Strands. (along with AAS)

Anything else I forgot? Is everything scheduled for you in the TM?

Thanks for your help!
Kristen

Kristen,
Welcome...

The ECC TM does schedule the read alouds for the 7th/8th grade supplement. There are two 8 week gaps that say "Literature Guide" - those you would need to schedule yourself, depending on which guides you choose.

The country report is scheduled too... not necessarily page-for-page what to work on, but the grid says "Country Report." You'll have to come up with deadlines for research and bibliography cards for those.

Writing Strands is in the grid starting on week 3, either under Language arts.

If you buy Apologia and Saxon from MFW, there are lesson plans that come with the complete sets. There are boxes in the grid for the 7/8 supplement labeled "Science" to remind the 7th/8th grader to do them. There is a "Math" box in the regular grid to track math.

There are spaces on the grid for "English" (ILL for your 6th grader, and Applications of Grammar for your 8th grader) and Spelling (I use AAS too ).

I will be repeating ECC this fall with my oldest (up and coming 8th grader) and twin boy 4th graders. It does feel a little overwhelming looking it over. My advice is to pray and ask God for wisdom for scheduling things.

[lea_lpz]

You might want to check out some of the ECC enrichment items, like the cookbook, and some of the extras for little ones, the complete book of animals, drawing animals, etc. I would look at the enrichment options for 1st are and see what goes with ECC and consider those. My other recommendation would be the 3-5 preschool package for your 3 year old

[Julie in MN]

While you're waiting for your teacher's manual, you might want to look through the grid in the sample from the teacher's manual here:
http://www.mfwbooks.com/products/M50/40/10/0/1#samples

If you go to the grid page (about page 7) and click on the "one piece of paper" icon so it's bigger (vs. the 2-page spread), then you can look it over more closely.
Also scroll to the next page for the 7-8th grade portion of the grid.

A couple of details for your 8th grader re: Geograhy:
- On the main grid, the row marked "science" will be part of your 8th grader's "geography" (or "social studies") in order to beef that up a bit for him. There are some notes in the manual about this, but basically he doesn't need the experiments because he has them in his own science, but he will benefit from reading about the biomes in terms of geography info.

And re: his English:
- The row near the top for "language arts" will include Bible verse work that will be part of your 8th grader's "Bible" rather than his English.
- Otherwise, the rows marked "English" and "reading" on page 1 of the grid will be mostly for your youngers, since the 7-8th graders have those things on the grid on the next page.

And re: his Math & Science:
- MFW has lesson plans for each of these (and for Singapore math with the littles). You can copy those lessons into your main grid, but I think most folks just check them off in the lesson plan booklet.
- However, the Math row on the main grid still helps you check off whether all your children have done this important subject each day.


The grid might take a bit to get used to, but really it was a Godsend for me, being able to see everything that might be done in a day, so I didn't get caught up in something less important and leave off something I had felt was most important. In other words, even if I didn't get everything done, I at least had a complete picture of our day in mind as I chose what we did focus on. And really, Marie has a way of just pulling together your day so that it all really can get done, and get done in an efficient amount of time. Of course, it does help to start your day at a certain time, to have all your materials at hand, and to not get distracted with tons of breaks and such - I think you are an experienced homeschooler (?) who won't have any trouble getting that

Best wishes,
Julie

[HomeschoolHarvest]

Thanks so much for the replies! All so helpful.... Tricia, you have helped me a lot with all your ideas for dyslexic students in a previous post too. I printed that one out!

I'll look at some of the enrichment items too. I actually was planning on getting some stuff for my pre-schooler, although I didn't mention it. It all looks so good. She definitely needs something to keep her busy that is her own special "school stuff."

So, Julie. Let me make sure I understand this. You wrote:

A couple of details for your 8th grader re: Geograhy:
- The row marked "science" will be part of your 8th grader's "geography" (or "social studies") in order to beef up that a bit for him. There are some notes in the manual about this, but basically he doesn't need the experiments because he has them in his own science, but he will benefit from reading about the biomes in terms of geography info.

So, he will be doing everything the youngers do in science, but not their experiments. AND the Apologia physical science along with it.

And re: his English:
- The row near the top for "language arts" will include Bible verse work that will be part of your 8th grader's "Bible" rather than his English.
- Otherwise, the rows marked "English" and "reading" on page 1 of the grid will be mostly for your youngers, since the 7-8th graders have those things on the grid on the next page.

So, for instance, on the sample under language arts it says "copy memory verse, dictation of memory verse, writing strands." He would do that but the English (ILL?) and Reading (is this book basket?) are for the youngers. English on the sample grid is blank, except for "letter," so I'm not sure what would be included in that. For reading my 8th grader would be doing "Bruchko." Did I understand this right?

Basically the 8th grader does everything the littles do (except his own language arts and math) AND all the supplements. Is that right? Sorry, it helps to talk this out. I'm sure when I get all the materials and look it over, it will all make sense. And if not, I'll be back with questions.

I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself because I'm so excited to plan and get started. I'm hoping to order some things this month.

Thanks again!
Kristen

[Julie in MN]

So, he will be doing everything the youngers do in science, but not their experiments. AND the Apologia physical science along with it.

Yes, his Apologia is his science credit.
His ECC "science" is part of his ECC geography credit (i.e. "social studies"). So for instance on the sample grid, Tuesday and Thursday just have students preparing and playing the geography game (plus book basket time) for "geography." That is enough social studies through 6th grade, and those kids will learn a lot. But the 7-8th graders will do that and need a bit more. So they will also be included in reading about rainforests and rainforest plants on that day as part of their "geography" credit (meanwhile for the youngers it is their science credit, and they will be taking it further with an experiment on Tuesday and growing a plant or terrarium on Thursday).

So, for instance, on the sample under language arts it says "copy memory verse, dictation of memory verse, writing strands." He would do that but the English (ILL?) and Reading (is this book basket?) are for the youngers. English on the sample grid is blank, except for "letter," so I'm not sure what would be included in that. For reading my 8th grader would be doing "Bruchko." Did I understand this right?

On the "language arts" row:
Yes, your 8th grader would do the Bible verse work for Bible. And he'd do the writing strands on that row for the writing part of his "language arts."
So, everyone would do everything on that row, I just pointed it out so you could see how the different credits fill out for an older student.


And yes, English and Reading rows on page 1 grid are for 2nd-6th grades.
- English is PLL/ILL or whatever you choose for filling in those details on punctuation, poetry, etc., that aren't included elsewhere. Each child needs language arts at his own level, so it isn't filled in, but there is definite guidance in the beginning of the manual if you choose to use the MFW recommendations. 7-8th graders will be doing the grammar and literature studies over on their grid.
- Reading is not book basket. You'll see book basket connected to the geography section, and it's a part of learning about geography in many ways (cultures, fairy tales, recipes, history, etc). It doesn't require finishing the books or any particular books, just exposure and drawing interest.
- "Reading" for 2nd-6th graders means students should spend about 30 minutes a day, or a chapter a day, just reading at their reading level. Some folks really like to choose these books according to the topics of geography (using the ECC book basket list in the back for reading as well as book basket), and others like to use the extra list of "classics" in the back of the manual, or other books on your bookshelves.
- "Reading" for 7-8th graders is over on their grid, reading some more advanced biographies and some books that will be studied as literature (the lit guides and grammar are the "English" portion of their day).

Basically the 8th grader does everything the littles do (except his own language arts and math) AND all the supplements. Is that right? Sorry, it helps to talk this out. I'm sure when I get all the materials and look it over, it will all make sense. And if not, I'll be back with questions.

Yes, the 8th grader gets to still participate in the family studies. However, my 8th grader didn't spend as much time on some things as he did in 3rd, so the togetherness might vary a tiny bit. For example, ds loved the little songs sung by native children in 3rd grade and sang them often In 8th grade, he was interested in listening to them once, but that was about it, no singing Your 8th grader might decline to do some of the crafty art this year (other years, the art is not so crafty, but in ECC it is related to the cultures you study), and spend more time on his mapping than the youngers.

I do think it's okay to let an 8th grader move on to his own assignments in some instances, but I would NOT skip ALL of the hands-on, since we all benefit from learning things in different ways -- maybe you will require him to lead the geography game. You might have him help with cooking local recipes, in order to better get a "flavor" LOL for the unique cultures, and maybe everyone will dress up in a sari & dhoti when you are in India, because what better way to really understand that native clothing is not the same in all Asian countries?! With a larger family like yours, maybe the 8th grader could "present" his little country summaries to all the children when they are reading the "fascinating facts" from the Trip Around the World books? Well, I just made that up now

I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself because I'm so excited to plan and get started. I'm hoping to order some things this month.

I'm hoping this just helps you absorb things and doesn't overwhelm! I always need a few weeks to just absorb the coming year into my pores. It seems like a lot of subjects, and a lot of ages, but Marie really does make it all come together successfully.

Julie