Seventh Grade Curriculum

Overview:

Seventh grade is where it’s wise to start planning ahead. We may not need to transcript classes at this point, but some vertical alignment would be truly helpful. In seventh grade you’re looking at potentially doing pre-algebra to pursue algebra, and if not, you may be looking to pre-algebra for 8th grade - what do you need now to get there in math? In high school, written communication becomes very important as well. What do you need to do now so that high school writing, whether for clear communication or research, is fully supported by the work you did in middle school?

Language Arts:

• Spelling - I like moving to Latin work at this point, and a focus on vocabulary not spelling as much Vocabulary from the Classical Roots Level B

• Reading Work with a focus on literary elements - plot, character, setting, and more

• This is a good time to move into unit study based writing, and work on writing structure and brainstorming - my absolute favorites will forever be Wonderhouse Creative Writing Units.

• If you’d like extra assistance with ELA, I cannot recommend Redefining School highly enough. We used it for the end of 7th grade, and it’s a fantastic resource that really took a lot off of my plate as a parent - it’s also a family membership so you can use these courses each year for multiple children and the courses are absolutely fantastic.

Reading:

• Chapter books of child’s choosing for their own readings

  • Note: My oldest wanted to read Animal Farm and The Great Gatsby just because. My husband and I allowed this, and I did discuss the books with him, especially Animal Farm as it related to current events. I did teach both books prior in a high school setting and was prepared for what would be in them because of this. They are not books I would allow on the fly did I not know them so well.

• Chapter book read alouds as a family

• This year our read alouds were the same for Grades K5, 3, 5, &7

  • Fairy Tales (Brothers Grimm)

  • Call of the Wild by Jack London

  • Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

  • The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

• Accessible classics are still favorites of mine

Math:

• We used the Keys to Series for Fractions, Decimals, and Percents and it took just over two years to complete all three series.

• Using CTC Math for 2023-2024 for grades below grade 7, but not for 1st grade (will keep written math until 4th grade most likely)

History/Social Studies:

• Story of the World 3 is what we used this year

• We used my South America study as an add on for my seventh grader to round out his history a bit further, and to focus on colonization and fights for freedom in South America. This is different from my South America notebooking study.

• Geography was mostly games for 7th grade…

  • World Explorers Club, specifically the Continent Trek game (sold separately from world explorers membership) to learn continents and place countries on the map

  • Trekking the National Parks

  • Catan Settlers of America…we love Catan and own one too many versions of this game.

  • Ticket to Ride (original game)

Science:

• Nature Study Club Senior Explorers

• We read Tiner Chemistry this year, and did Nature Study Club exclusively

Enrichment/Electives/Extracurriculars:

• Seek out individual interests - in our household that is coding, gaming, and some specific activities individual children enjoy

• Tie field trips and activities to learning

• Seek homeschool sports, league sports, or sports through your local schools if that’s your thing - we are actively looking for UIL golf or private school golf locally

• Fine Arts classes are always lovely, my kids do take piano, and have not picked up additional fine arts.

Seventh Grade: What I wished I would have done & what went well

• I only have my oldest and his education to go on here, and he’s an academic person. I really wish I knew so many online programs would expect pre-algebra as a pre-req. My homeschool brain thought we could dive right in to algebra 1, which he is prepared for.

• We did several writing/literature projects between Wonderhouse Creative guided writing projects, and Redefining school literature circles. These resources were a dream combo and greatly benefitted my son.