End of Year 7th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Review | 2017-2018

Another year is in the books… Julia has officially finished her 7th grade year, and we are on a mini summer break for a few weeks. Check out my End of Year 7th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Review | 2017-2018 to find out what did and didn’t work for us this year!

This is not a sponsored post, and all the opinions below are my own. 

BookShark Level 7 All-Subject Package

After a ton of research I decided to switch Julia to BookShark for all of her core curriculum this year. This was a pretty big change for us, but I am really happy that we took a chance with this boxed curriculum. Since so much is included in BookShark All-Subject Packages, I will break down my review by subject.

History

BookShark Level 7 Reading with History consists of the following three components:

• Read Alouds 7
• Level 7 Readers
• History 7 

You can see a complete list of all the books included in this level here. Combined Julia and I read 25+ books for history alone this year. That is a ton of reading, but it was totally worth it! In the beginning of the year Julia was very hesitant about using this program because of the amount of reading, but shortly after Christmas break she fell in love with it. We were introduced to some truly amazing authors and stories. Julia even asked me to buy a few books from an author she fell in love with a few weeks back. It just warms my heart to see her curled up reading these additional books on her own. 

The use of Story of the World in this package has been questioned and objected to by some secular homeschoolers, but I did not find their inclusion to be a problem. Our history is full of a lot of religion, so I think it is impossible to completely avoid the topic all together and still give our children a well rounded education. However, that is just my opinion and everyone has to determine what is best for their own families.

Language Arts

The Level 7 Language Arts uses the same books as the history portion. I really enjoy the idea of  blending subjects, but the language arts portion was not a perfect fit for us. Throughout the year Julia’s writing assignments focused mainly on current events. With all the negativity in the news I try to filter some of the bad out. Due to this I found it a lot more work on my part to filter the news and still have her have a solid language arts class. These current events papers are technically part of the history assignments, but in my mind it is the writing portion for this 7th grade language arts class.

I also was not a fan of the lack of grammar practice. A few months ago I had Julia start Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree Book to supplement her BookShark assignments. With this addition I felt as though we salvaged the year, but I will purchase more well rounded materials for her 8th grade year.

Science

BookShark Level 7 Science focuses on conservation, robotics, and technology. The books included in this package are very interesting. I am just not sure if they are enough for a middle school science course. I also found that some of the books were not great as a read aloud, so Julia had to read them on her own to truly grasp the concepts. For a child who is very into robotics and technology I think they would love this science curriculum, but Julia is not interested in these fields of study at all. 

Math

Julia started Teaching Textbooks Math 7 towards the end of her 6th grade her. My plan was for her to complete this level and then move onto Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra, but it took her longer than expected. She just completed Math 7, so she will start Pre-Algebra after our mini summer break. I don’t have much to say about Teaching Textbooks other than I LOVE IT! The amount of time I save is well worth the price of this program. It works perfectly for Julia to go complete her math lesson for the day when I am working with Jack. I will, without a doubt, continue purchasing Teaching Textbooks for the remainder of our homeschooling years.

Homework and Horseplay’s final thoughts…

Overall I stand by my decision to switch to BookShark this year. Just like I would do with any curriculum, I tweaked this program to fit my child. This meant that I read a few of her readers aloud to her because she was struggling to get through them on her own. I also did not ask her all of the discussion questions or assign all of the geography work. Some days all we did was read the recommended pages, but for us that is enough! The amount of knowledge we gained this year is amazing. Anything new takes time to get used to, and I am thankful we found our footing and ended this year on such a high note. 

If you are looking for a boxed curriculum for your middle schooler, I highly recommend BookShark Level 7. The Instructor’s Guide included in our package was a dream. Everything was planned out for me, so it was truly an open and go program. With the hectic year I had BookShark was just what I needed to get through everything and not be overwhelmed. 

Thank you for checking out my End of Year 7th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Review | 2017-2018…

I hope you all have an amazing summer, and don’t forget to check out my 5th grade and 9th grade homeschool curriculum reviews!

The post End of Year 7th Grade Homeschool Curriculum Review | 2017-2018 appeared first on Homework and Horseplay.

One Year Blog Anniversary: 5 Questions to Get to Know Me Better

This week marks one year since I starting blabbing to all of you here on Homework and Horseplay… To celebrate I thought it would be fun to share a little more about myself. Check out my One Year Blog Anniversary: 5 Questions to Get to Know Me Better, and feel free to leave a comment below with any other questions you might have about me. 

1. Why did you start blogging? 

Before I began homeschooling I spent endless hours online researching homeschooling, and in my pursuit of knowledge I stumbled across a few homeschool blogs. From that point forward I was hooked! I was amazed by the amount of creativity and knowledge these moms were sharing with the world. I just knew one day I had to be part of this online homeschool community, so a few years ago I jumped in and tried my hand at blogging. With everything going on in our lives (Jack being diagnosed, therapy sessions, military life, etc.) I didn’t stick to it very long. Last year I finally felt ready to try again, and here I am one year later! 

2. How old are you… you don’t look old enough to have teenage children?

This is a question that I hear quite a bit. Tomorrow I will be 32 years old (shhh… we are going to pretend I am only 30 from here on out)! By now you are probably doing a little math in your head, and the answer is yes… I was only 17 years old when Kenten was born.  I would not advocate for anyone to become a teenage parent, but Ryan and I have fought our way through and came out on top. Our lives may not be perfect, but I will never regret becoming a mama to my sweet boy when I was 17. He made me a better and stronger person. 

3. What is your favorite food?

Chips… BBQ, Sour Cream & Onion, Doritos, Salt & Vinegar- you name it, and I will eat it! If I had to pick only one food to eat for the rest of my life it would be chips. I would be oh so incredibly fat and unhealthy, but man a lifetime supply of chips is a dream come true for this girl.  Bahahaha

4. What is your biggest struggle as a homeschool mom?

When I was a teenager I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Being bipolar is an endless cycle of ups and downs, and whether I am talking about my life as a homeschool mom or just a woman it is hard. If you read my guest post How Homeschooling Helps Me Manage My Bipolar Disorder, you may be wondering why I said this is my biggest struggle as a homeschool mom. That answer is pretty simple- sometimes it is just plain hard to maneuver day to day when you are living with a mental illness. Parenting, homeschooling, adulting, and bipolar rapid cycling are all a lot to deal with on their own. When you combine all of them together you end up with an exhausted Roxanne.

Sometimes I have a hard time just getting up and out of bed to do anything, much less teach my children for a full day’s worth of lessons. I also fear that I am not doing enough or good enough to handle such a big part of my children’s education. However, I just remind myself that every homeschooler feels this way at one point or another. I am homeschooling because I love my children and want what is best for them, so I will do my best. (Even if today’s best is not the as good as yesterday’s best!)

5. What is your favorite book series?

I have been obsessed with the Harry Potter books for as long as I can remember! I will probably read all of these books hundreds of times before I die. Whenever I am in a book slump I dust off my now very beat up HP books and get lost in the magical world of Hogwarts. Thankfully Jack shares my love for HP and geeks out with me for regular weekend movie marathons as well.

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Thank you for reading my One Year Blog Anniversary: 5 Questions to Get to Know Me Better…

Here is to another fantastic year with all of my readers. Thank you for all your patience as I have found my footing as a new blogger. I couldn’t have done this without all of your support, along with the advice from some amazing bloggy friends. 

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