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7th grade homeschool curriculum for crazy active learners UPDATED
For the first time in a very long time, I did not know my homeschool curriculum until just now, and I’m still fiddling with our plans for next year. It’s kind of a weird feeling for me. But after a lot of research, I have finally decided on our 7th-grade homeschool curriculum.
Ignore that entire last paragraph.
I changed a lot of stuff over the summer. I’m updating and adding some details (independent studies!).
TLDR: look for the bolded sections for what I changed, and the “Independent Studies” section.
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Curriculum I knew going into 7th grade we were going to use
I knew going in we were going to continue to use Cover Story. We have been taking this curriculum very slowly, and it’s been working very well for the kids to give them something a little bit different. The entire family has been working through this, so we are all working on our writing. This is still the same, I think we will finish that this fall.
I am finally going to use this anatomy curriculum*. I tried using it alongside CKE Biology* last year, and figured out it was too much detail to use with another science curriculum. I’m looking forward to this because I like the nutrition element worked into it. We are one week in and loving it! I love the combination of nutrition and biology.
How to teach your children Shakespeare*, we’re going to do one Shakespeare play a semester, I’m debating between alternating between a tragedy and a comedy, or following his recommended order for studying plays. So, what plays is still up for debate right now. Tomorrow we start this back up, with Midsummer Night’s Dream, I need to start editing our plays.
We are going to continue our book and a movie plans, though looking at the 7th-grade books we’ve read a few of these already. We listen to a lot of audiobooks, and I’ve been using that as a method to listen to more difficult books that they MIGHT be able to read but could be a challenge. We’ve gotten behind on our watching in comparison to our reading, so I’ve got two movie nights I need to complete in the next couple of weeks.
Homeschool Curriculum I finally decided on come the end of March
About the time we read about the Alamo in our Mystery of History 4* lesson, the kids started asking about studying Texas history. They were asking a lot, so I started researching. I didn’t like anything I saw, nothing. Then I asked some friends in my homeschool co-op, and one of the ladies said, “Have you been to the Homeschool Store?” I’d never heard of it before, but it’s a school down in Houston that is FULL of used and new homeschool curriculum. I went in and found an entire bookshelf of Texas history curriculum. I outright rejected 2/3 of the material either for being too young in scope, too over the top in their statements or just outright poorly written. Finally, I narrowed it down to two books, and then had Jeff look at the two, and he picked Texas Lone Star Land* (The Homeschool Store had it and the test book for less, so SCORE!). I’m working on field trips and some hands on learning ideas to share with y’all hopefully soon. This was a total win, and it’s been working great!
We are going to give Teaching Textbooks* a try this coming year for math. I’ve been going back and forth for a while to continue with Math-U-See, there have been times it hasn’t seemed to be working quite right for the kids, and so I’m going to give Teaching Textbooks a try. It has a similar teaching style to Math-U-See but is hopefully just enough different to make it work. I also like that I don’t have to grade their math because it’s on the computer. We are going to try out Pre-Algebra, according to the placement test I think that’s the right level, we will see…..
After reviewing Knowre math, we switched to that plan. After the honeymoon period there’s some bumps with my non-math child, and it’s really forcing Superman to slow down in how he does his math (it’s brutal if you don’t read the problem carefully), but I’m seeing lots of help there.

Since I’m not using any Bright Ideas products this year, and our schedule has gotten quite complicated, we are not using Illuminations as a scheduler. Instead this year we’re going to use Homeschool Planet*. I like the grade-book that is worked into it and the fact that it tracks hours for volunteer stuff Princess does.
Over the summer I plan on looking at our local One Day Academy classes to see if there are any classes I’d like the kids to take, which may mean switching up some plans if I find a math or science class that is at a workable time.
I scratched that, I didn’t like the schedule and the classes.
The new plan: Independent Studies
Over the summer I realized each of the kids needed a bit more challenge, and I wanted to encourage them in their planned fields of study: writing, engineering/inventing, and cooking. Towards that end I am giving each of them an independent study:
Princess- she is going to be writing a blog. She will have one assgined post, and one “because I feel like it” post. In the next few days we’ll be setting up her blog. We’ve been talking about how to set it up and all of that fun stuff. We are both super excited about this.
Batman- he is working on different cooking recipes. They are a combination of what he wants to cook, and skills I think he needs. Right now he is working on mashed potato recipes. After each recipe he cooks, he is going to write his notes on what he found worked best. I’m curious to see how this will end up in the end.
Superman- he is going to be working on a combination of computer programming and engineering projects. Right now he is working on scratch programming, and his first engineering project is to design a writing desk for the kids to use and build it.
But, that’s the overall plan for school next year. I want to be a bit more aggressive with our geography lessons because I’ve been a total slacker in that area the past couple of years. I also have large amounts of geography posts to write….. Sigh, there are many days I wish I could clone myself.
Prior years homeschool curriculum picks
Go check out my homeschool curriculum page, it’s got our picks all the way back to kindergarten, though apparently not 4th grade, because that never got written. Maybe I should go back in and write one after the fact, just to have the whole set……
Comments
10 responses to “7th grade homeschool curriculum for crazy active learners UPDATED”
Wow, you sound very organised. I haven’t even started planning next year, although I only need to do it for two of them – the rest now work independently 🙂
Cloning’s a GREAT idea!I only sound organized, because I wrote something down. That and I like to look at homeschool curriculum, so I tend to sit and plan these things out.
That and I’m sure I’ll completely change stuff up in a few days and change my mind about some aspect of what I’m doing.
Sounds like a great plan! Our state does Middle Ages history in 7th – it looked pretty interesting from what 7th graders did this year.
That is an interesting age, and one we as a general rule skip over in our rush to get to the Renaissance.
Wow! Your curriculum page is an awesome resource.
Thank you! I’ve been slowly working on the behind the scenes stuff.
Your house sounds SO FUN. Testing recipes, books and movies, LEGO reenactments… I love it!
It is fun, and crazy, and tiring, but it works for us!
I love your independent study projects. Will Princess’ blog be public or private? Perhaps A could read it?
It is going to be public because she wants to get lots of followers (right away Mommy, I don’t want it to take time), and she will be using a pseudonym.
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