| Author | |
Kristie 4
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 20 2006
Location: Canada
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1508
|
| Posted: Dec 04 2013 at 10:29am | IP Logged
|
 |
|
Give me some midyear inspiration- I have a very bright wool-gathering grade 8 ds.
Anyone have a peak at their past or present grade 8 schedule/routine (I have been so inspired, even after 13 years and close to two graduates, by looking at Sally and Willa's plans for their younger kids!) 
__________________
Kristie in Canada
Mom to 3 boys and one spunky princess!!
A Walk in the Woods
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Mackfam
Board Moderator
Non Nobis
Joined: April 24 2006
Location: Alabama
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 14656
|
| Posted: Dec 06 2013 at 10:37pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I'm on my second 8th grader this year, Kristie; a boy. Here are his plans:
8th grade booklist: 2013-12-06_223137_8th_grade_booklist_-_13_14.pdf
Term 1 Lesson Plans: 2013-12-06_223317_Term_1-8th-2014.pdf
Term 2 Lesson Plans: 2013-12-06_223443_Term_2-8th-2014.pdf
Bravewriter Plans for the year broken down by term: 2013-12-06_223612_Mark-Partner--_FaltOwner-Monthly_Writing_P rojects_Plan.pdf
__________________
Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
SallyT
Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 08 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2489
|
| Posted: Dec 07 2013 at 8:38am | IP Logged
|
|
|
My first child skipped 8th grade to go into a high-school co-op class. Her 7th grade year was kind of a 7th/8th hybrid of Mater Amabilis Levels 3 and 4 -- I don't think I even have a record any more of what we did then!
My second child did this, basically. Here was the daily schedule I proposed, but I essentially just let him get on with it. I had a proposed reading list, but he also did a lot of reading on his own, particularly in science. His interest in biology was really taking off, and he bought and read, or checked out from the library and read, more titles than I have listed. That was also the year he grew a lot of mail-order bacteria in petri dishes stashed all over the house. I'm a little surprised we're not all dead (though he did insist that the e. coli was non-pathogenic).
In the second semester of 8th grade he started his Eagle project, which was to interview WWI veterans in our county for an oral history of their war experiences. A colleague of my husband's in the Belmont Abbey history department heard about it, got interested, and invited our son to sit in on a WWII course he was teaching that semester. So all of that because our history for the spring. It was a writing-intensive course, and Joel wrote all the papers, including a research paper, so I kind of let the One-Year Adventure Novel go by the wayside in favor of that.
I always think of 7th and 8th grades as so betwixt-and-between -- what the heck do you do with them, when they're not elementary students any more, but not really high-schoolers, either? It is a challenge. They're more mature, but not that much more mature . . . and so apt, often, to be scattered and unfocused. It's a real challenge. I find high-school a breeze by comparison.
Our son's 8th grade year was pretty fun, though -- initially we had envisioned it as a year to read about everything he hadn't had a chance to read about yet, especially in history (hence the Stories of China, Russia, and Japan, which he did really enjoy), before starting our whole formal cycle over in high school. He's also always been a current-events junkie -- I think that was the year he started reading the Al Jazeera live blogs of Middle East protests -- so that was an interesting complement to books of history ending in 1904. It was all very open-ended, but in hindsight, a really rich year. By the end of it, he was truly primed for high school work.
For my next two, we'll probably just more or less follow Mater Amabilis in those levels, at least as a template of coursework. I'm not sure I feel like reinventing the wheel again, and it's just hard to beat that program, even though I always end up doing lots of book substitutions.
If it's any consolation, everyone at my house is totally running out of gas right now, including me. I'm looking for a recharge, too!
Sally
__________________
Castle in the Sea
Abandon Hopefully
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
SallyT
Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 08 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2489
|
| Posted: Dec 07 2013 at 8:43am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I do think the One-Year Adventure novel was the perfect 8th-grade writing program, even though he didn't finish writing the actual novel. Everything it taught him about pre-writing was invaluable, and he did flesh out several chapters, at least, from all the planning he'd done. It taught him a lot about literary analysis as well -- we had fun with Great Expectations as "adventure novel."
Sally
__________________
Castle in the Sea
Abandon Hopefully
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Kristie 4
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 20 2006
Location: Canada
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1508
|
| Posted: Dec 07 2013 at 8:53am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thanks! I find that too- it is an inbetween year. I don't want him to have the 'stress' of highschool but at the same time want him challenged in some areas. He is already doing highschool work in Latin, Math and Science, not to mention his great literature, but it is tempting to push him into the full highschool work load. Balance, always balance!
I will check out that adventure novel Sally!
__________________
Kristie in Canada
Mom to 3 boys and one spunky princess!!
A Walk in the Woods
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Kristie 4
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 20 2006
Location: Canada
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1508
|
| Posted: Dec 07 2013 at 8:55am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Love it Jen- nice and streamlined!
__________________
Kristie in Canada
Mom to 3 boys and one spunky princess!!
A Walk in the Woods
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Grade 8
