One of the beauties of homeschooling is that you can build a homeschool plan that fits your child and his or her interests and needs. That’s what we’re doing with our 7th grade plans for 2021-2022! Check out our homeschooling curriculum choices for 7th grade.
7th Grade Plans for 2021-2022
Our 12 yo daughter has very definite interests. She loves all animals. She especially loves our dog, her leopard geckos, and horses. She loves to sing. She loves going for long walks or solo runs. She also loves to cook and bake (primarily bake) As we considered our plans for homeschooling 7th grade with her, we took all of that into consideration.
7th Grade Core Curriculum
As I mentioned in my High School Plans for 2021-2022 article, we are using Gather Round Homeschool curriculum as our family core curriculum. Last year, Sister used the Upper Elementary Student Notebooks. She has dyslexia and dysgraphia, so they were perfect for her. This year, we’re going to attempt to move her up into the Middle School Student Notebooks. The beauty of the purchasing the Family Bundle (Digital) is that I have all of the levels of the student notebooks, and if I find the writing is too much for her, I can switch back.
I allowed the kids to each pick two units for our upcoming school year. The units we’re hoping to complete for 2021-2022, including their choices, include:
- Underground to Canada (a mini unit)
- Artists
- Africa (Sister’s choice)
- Ancients
- Christmas Around the World (a mini unit)
- Australia (Sister’s choice)
- Transport
- South America
We’re only planning to finish 6 full units and 2 mini units for 2021-2022. That’s one less full unit than we completed last year, but each kiddo has a full schedule at our homeschool co-op.
Our morning gather time wouldn’t be complete without a devotional from the Louie Giglio faith and science devotionals!
7th Grade Math
Sister will continue using Teaching Textbooks online math program for Math this year. She’ll be using Math 6. Teaching Textbooks is a good fit for her because the lessons are short and she can listen to the lecture as many times as she needs to. The hints are also a big help.
Teaching Textbooks 4.0 is a totally self-directed homeschool math curriculum.
Check out a free trial of Teaching Textbooks 4.0 today and see for yourself how well it fits into your homeschool plans!
Sister works incredibly hard in all of her subjects, and Teaching Textbooks makes it easier for her to succeed in math.
I’m really excited to be able to host a Teaching Textbooks 4.0 Giveaway for readers for one student for Teaching Textbooks 4.0. Check it out!
7th Grade Science
I recently asked Sister, “If you could learn everything there is to know about one subject in the next year, what would you want to learn about?” Her instant answer was, “Horses!” I knew the perfect resources for her as far as notebook and journaling go. Write Bonnie Rose has several horse themed products that are right up Sister’s alley.
These will all be printed and in a binder for her to complete at her own pace. She also recently started volunteering at a local stable and will learn a lot about animal husbandry there. She’s mucking stalls, cleaning tack, learning how to give horses antibiotics, and so much more!
She is also taking a, Intro to Food Science course at co-op. This course explains what food science is, defines food processing, and then dives into the food science itself, with chapters on water, carbohydrates, protein, and fat. She’ll be using the
Intro to Food Science
This Intro to Food Science course explains what food science is, defines food processing, and then dives into the food science itself, with chapters on water, carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Intended for ages 10 and up through high school, with the best age group being junior high going into high school. Includes 9 kitchen-based experiments.
Have younger kids? Check out the Intro to Food Science for Kids book that is aimed at kids that are 5-7 years old.
7th Grade Language Arts
Sister will continue to use the Wilson Reading System Student Workbooks with her private tutor and during the school year will have tutoring services from our local school district. She’ll also have access to LightSail for Homeschoolers, which is a web based homeschool literacy program aimed at advancing skills in reading, writing, vocabulary, and fluency. We’re focusing on fluency.
LightSail for Homeschoolers is a platform with tens of thousands of books and multimedia resources from leading publishers such as World Book and Lerner Publishing, as well as trusted homeschool and faith-based publishers.
Read more about it in my LightSail for Homeschoolers article.
7th Grade Reading Books
While she’ll have access to virtually all of the books available in LightSail (I’ve screened some out), she’ll also have stacks on personal shelves. She continues to be a huge fan of the Warrior Cats and has added several series to her collection. I’m certain we’ll continue adding to that collection over the year.
A few more books she’ll be reading include some funny books, some heartfelt stories, some Nat Geo Kids books, and some horse books. Check them out:
Leonard (My Life as a Cat)
The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars PatelThe Summer We Found the BabyMore Surprising Stories Behind Everyday StuffNational Geographic Kids Almanac 2022, U.S. Edition (National Geographic Kids Almanac (Quality))101 Life Hacks: Genius Ways to Simplify Your WorldMisty of ChincoteagueStormy, Misty’s FoalMozay of Pepperwick
She’ll also be reading a few inspirational books about becoming the woman you’re meant to be. Books like Big, Bold, & Beautiful, which is full of encouragement and inspiration.
Big, Bold, and Beautiful: Owning the Woman God Made You to Be
7th Grade Social Studies
Our core family curriculum will cover history, geography, and social studies. During our study of Africa, we’ll read The Beduins’ Gazelle and A Long Walk to Water. I’m still trying to decide what books to read aloud for our other units.
7th Grade Electives
Sister chose several classes at our local homeschool co-op as electives. She chose a Drama class, a Social Skills with Board Games class, and a YouTube Vlogging class.
Singing
As I mentioned earlier, Sister loves singing. If she’s not belting out a tune, you can be sure she’s humming one quietly to herself. We’ll be using the 5 Day I can Do Music in My Homeschool Challenge and then adding some of the Singing Made Easy levels from Music In Our Homeschool.
- Singing Made Easy Level 1
- Singing Made Easy Level 2
- Singing Made Easy Level 3
- Singing Made Easy Level 4 (special launch pricing of 30% off from July 28-August 4th!!)
- Singing Made Easy level 5 (coming in September)
- Christmas Carols Made Easy (coming in November)
I have NO idea how quickly she’ll work through the Singing Made Easy lessons. I’m also considering doing the A Year of Charlotte Mason Music Lessons or the Great Hymns of Faith study for all the kiddos, instead of having her do something on her own. She really wants the Singing lessons, though. LOL
She’ll also be sitting in on our church’s worship rehearsals, in the fall, to learn more about the culture of the worship team, and what it takes, to see if she could see herself in that role in the future. She’s hopeful that by sitting in on rehearsals, she’ll learn more about scheduling, song selection, and the more technical side of things with a goal of joining the worship team later on.
Drama
The first semester’s Drama Class lessons will focus on marking scripts, a well-defined characters, a character study, and the ends and outs of the production of a play. Homework will consist of drama questions that will be discussed in class. They’ll also play drama games, practice some duets, and short skits. The second semester will focus on a play to be performed sometime in May.
Social Skills
The Social Skills with Board Games class is one that she took last year, and enjoyed. In this class, students learn how to socialize and communicate with other student through playing board games. They also learn how to be a humble winner and a gracious loser. She made some great friends in this class last year.
YouTube Vlogging
I was a little surprised at her choice to take the YouTube Vlogging class. In this class, students will collaborate together on a weekly video blog. We will come up with topics to cover each week, film & edit the video and post to a private YouTube channel that only co-op members have access to.
***Side note – I fell down the basement stairs on Thursday and have been on pain meds and muscle relaxers. I’m quite positive there’s something I’m leaving out. When I figure it out, I’ll come back and add it. LOL***
