7th and 8th Grade Wrap-Up

 Just a quick wrap-up post marking what we got done this year in 7th and 8th grades.  

 First, Medieval History spanning all the way from the fall of the Roman Empire up into the Renaissance and Reformation.  THAT, my friends, is a lot of history.  A lot.  And we ate up every detail - myself included.  We were in a brand new-to-us curriculum this year called Beautiful Feet Books and it was a really great fit.  Too bad the next chunk of history we needed from them just wasn't gonna be beefy enough for what I wanted for a high school level course, so we will be trying another new-to-us curriculum in the fall.  But I can totally see us coming back to Beautiful Feet for their high school courses in World History and Government and Economics.  This curriculum also incorporated a chunk of our language arts work as well.

Our wall of notes we built as we worked our way through the Middle Ages.

Just a shot of each of their notebooks this year for history and writing.

 Anna also did this book on days when Noah was at HPA for his own middle school english and science classes.  She thrived doing this at her own pace.  Her writing is so excellent.  I liked this resource enough I am gonna use it some in a course I am teaching at a co-op in the fall even!

Noah completed Algebra 1 for his first ever high school credit and he did SO GREAT with this new-to-us curriculum, VideoText Interactive.  He completed the first three modules (Algebra 1) and even got a headstart into Module D which starts into Algebra 2.  Having a curriculum where he watched the lessons online and relied on detailed course notes and practice probs for independent work worked out great for relieving the growing math tension he and I have endured the last 2-3 years. Thankful!  Perfect fit.  I would watch most of the videos with him so I could help when needed.  I relearned so much.

Anna soldiered on into the hardest math year she has ever done - pre-algebra and geometry.  When I say hardest, I only mean she actually had to work.  Before now it's all come so easy for her.  This year her lessons were student led from the notebook on the left and she did her work on the right.  She handled it like a champ, though she was super hard on herself if she didn't get things the first time through.  She finished Level G so early that I started her into next year's final course with RightStart in Level H.

Anna started the year taking Science at CHET and I was so happy to offload that subject for her as I did for Noah.  But when we moved in January, CHET ended up being too far away to keep attending, so she and I both agreed she would finish the year without a co-op.  The ONLY class she was sad to miss out on was this one - Chemistry and Physics.  She had done the semester of Chemistry there, so I picked up with the Physics lessons after that and - wonder of wonders - it wasn't bad.  This Apologia curriculum was really great!  I even ended up having Noah do it with us as well to beef up what science he was getting at HPA and he really got into it with us. (side note - we weren't really happy with the work at HPA and he will not be returning there in the fall)

Dropping a pic of Noah and his new laptop this year that was essential to his work at HPA.  Like I mentioned earlier, he took middle school english and science there. They were a nice resource, but not really delivering the instruction and work I expected from them and in the end relied too heavily on an online program called iXL for our liking. The promised labs and writing instruction were few and far between and pretty wimpy when they did come around.  It was frustrating to me.  I raised a few questions throughout the year, but in the end I just asked for our money back for the coming year.  Thankfully, the director did not give any pushback.

  Anyway, in the fall, I am going to join up with a newly formed middle and high school co-op called Legacy Enrichment.  I am going to teach middle school language arts to 7th and 8th graders and Noah and Anna will both attend there.  I feel really confident in the teachers they will have.  They are both taking Biology 1 and English 1 and an extra-curricular art class there that I wish I could take with them, it sounds so good!  HA! I am so thankful for another middle and high school co-op option in our area.  It's one of a couple that have just started and it is so needed!

Anna ended the year with all A's and Noah rocked out solid A/B Honor Roll.  When I think of this weird Covid year and this killer hard year for our family and this surprise move in the middle of the year, I am MORE than impressed with how my smart cookies kept up such good work all year.  So proud of them, of us!  Pic from our celebratory breakfast out on the last day of school.  Also noteworthy because it's the end of middle school for them both, really.  While Anna will be 8th grade in the fall, she continues to do all the same work as Noah except in Math. She will earn three high school credits next year!

Anna will keep on with her violin through the summer and Noah looks forward to getting back into inline hockey again this fall.  Point us to the pool after late nights/late mornings in the meantime!  Ready for summer!