Z's 6th Grade Curriculum Plans

Bible - MP's Christian Studies I - using KJV Bible

Math - Saxon Math Algebra 1/2 (We use the Saxon Teacher CD-ROM and Art Reed videos)

Language Arts
- Reading - Assigned Book List; Fun Book List & Family Read-alouds
- Grammar - Grammar for the Well Trained Mind; Editor in Chief workbook
- Writing - Writing With Skill; Writing and Rhetoric
- Comprehension - Abeka Skill Sheets; Reading Detective A1
- Spelling - Spelling Workout H (finishing last half of the book and will be done with spelling)

Logic - Fallacy Detective

Foreign Language
- Latin - Latina Christiana II (finishing last half)
- Greek - Memoria Press Elementary Greek II
- Hebrew - Miiko Shaffier's Hebrew (Summer)

Science - Jay Wile's Discovering Design with Earth Science (Changed to Focus on Physics Middle School in February)

History - The Human Odyssey; Story of the World; The Good and the Beautiful (we started HO in late 4th grade and continuing on and probably be to the Renaissance come 6th grade)

Geography - Memoria Press Geography I

Fine Arts
- Art - Home Art Studio (my adult daughter teaches art)
- Music - Piano lessons - Hoffman Academy (finishing program in 6th)

Our history mix is going VERY WELL!! So, we are going to continue with that through the next 2 years and then probably move on to American history come 8th grade.

Z will be stopping Latin when he finishes LCII and going into his 3rd year of Greek, so I think he can handle some introductory courses in Hebrew (summer) that he has requested.

The Human Odyssey, SOTW and TGAB History

We found the absolute best solution for Z and he now loves history!  I had went through so many programs the past few years and most we just stopped early on because it was like pulling teeth.  Then, I prayed and came up with something that worked so well for us for 4th grade that we are going to continue on with it through 7th grade (or whenever we finish it).

I combined The Human Odyssey with Story of the World and The Good and the Beautiful history.  I have had The Human Odyssey for many years because I had planned to use it with my daughter but my hospitalizations and health got in the way and she ended up doing history on her own with Notgrass (which she loved).  So, I already had the books, all 3 volumes and I tried starting it with Z and he, not only loved it, but he retained a large amount.

What we do is read 3-4 pages from The Human Odyssey and then another day he listens to SOTW audio while he follows along with the book.  Then we do the maps and some activities but mostly, we use the book lists from SOTW as extra reading.  I then incorporate TGAB and the book lists, along with videos on YT pertaining to whatever we are studying.  It worked beautifully I must say!  We finished up Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Hebrews, China and India and will start in the fall with Ancient Greece and then Rome.

I will post a more detailed post soon hopefully with downloads that show how to combine all 3 of these curriculums if anyone is interested.  It does take work and there is some repetitition but Z enjoyed hearing some things again in the other lessons.

Logic Stage Outlining

Starting in the Logic Stage, which is grades 5-8, you will want to teach the child to outline.  The Well-Trained Mind explains why a slow progression of this is best as it prepares the child for high school.  Don't make it any more complicated than you should, it really is quite simple!

5th Grade - Begin to teach the child to outline once a week.  Explain that outlining is simply finding the main point (summary) in the paragraph.  You will want to choose a text from that week's history resources that the child read about the topic they found most interesting.  You will start using a text that contains 5-6 paragraphs, or one page.  Have the child take each paragraph, one at a time, and find the main point by answering the question, "What is the main thing or person and why is it or are they important?"

Example of one-level outline:

I.    Main point of 1st paragraph
II.   Main point of 2nd paragraph
III.  Main point of 3rd paragraph

6th Grade - Same as before but you add in subpoints under each main point, which are lettered A, B and so forth.  Use 2-4 subpoints under each main point it relates to.  Outline up to two pages.  To find the subpoints, simply write the additional information given that correlates with the main point.

Example of two-level outline:

I.    Main point of 1st paragraph
      A.  First supporting point
      B.  Second supporting point
II.  Main point of 2nd paragraph
      A.  First supporting point
      B.  Second supporting point
      C.  Third supporting point

7th Grade - Same as before and when the child has got down the two-level outline well, you can start adding in more supporting points.  These points are numbers (1, 2, etc.) that give details for the letters (A, B, etc.).  If the child isn't ready, they can hold off until the start of 8th grade.  Now the child outlines 2-3 pages.

Example of three-level outline:

I.    Main point of 1st paragraph
      A.  First supporting point
            1.  First subpoint
            2.  Second subpoint
      B.  Second supporting point
            1. First subpoint
            2. Second subpoint
II.  Main point of 2nd paragraph

8th Grade - Same as before but now outlining 3-4 pages and doing three-level outlines.

Example of three-level outline that sums it all up:

I.    Main point
      A.  Additional information about the main point.
            1.  Detail about that additional information

In The Well-Trained Mind, she states a simple question the child can ask themselves as they write the outline for supporting points - "What else is important to know in this paragraph?"  You can read the whole section on how to outline in the book on pages 297-301.

6th Grade Ancient History Book List

K's book list for 6th grade to go along with what she is reading in her Ancient history studies:

1. Tales of Ancient Egypt - Green
2. The Golden Goblet - McGraw
3. Mara, Daughter of the Nile - McGraw
4. The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles - Colum
5. Tales of Greek Heroes - Green
6. The Children's Homer: The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy - Colum
7. Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Illiad - Sutcliff
8. Aesop's Fables - McGovern
9. Cleopatra - Vennema
10. The Bronze Bow - Speare
11. The Eagle of the Ninth - Sutcliff
12. The Silver Branch - Sutcliff

6th Grade Curriculum - Index of Posts

Here is a list of posts about what curriculum we are using for 6th grade:

• Language Arts - English, Spelling, Latin, Reading and Writing
• Math, Logic and Bible
• History
• Science

6th Grade Science - Botany, Anatomy & Zoology

For 6th grade science, we will be doing block studies of botany, anatomy and zoology.  We have several science encyclopedias and will use them as references and we have the 2014 World Book on DVD.

Our main book for botany is Usborne's World of Plants and then we will also reference our DK Nature Encyclopedia.  I have a few books on botany and a guide for Washington state plants/trees.  She will be doing activities/labs from ideas I find online or in a library book that pertains to what she is studying that week and a terrarium.

For zoology, we will be using various encyclopedias and some animal encyclopedias we own.  We have many books on different animals, insects and classification.  She will be doing activities/labs about animals that involve the microscope and a frog (plastic) dissection kit. (no books pictured)

Anatomy will be taught from our Scholastic Human Body Encyclopedia, DK Human Body Encyclopedia (this has graphic images) and combined with other books we own.  We will also be using the My Incredible Body PC program, optical science kit and anatomy coloring book.

For all the science topics we will be studying, I will be giving worksheets from Science Essentials Grades 5-6, it also includes some activities/labs.  I will also be using some free things from the internet to flesh out our studies.

6th Grade History

K has already completed a study of history from ancient times to modern, so she will be starting the chronological cycle all over again.

For 6th grade history, K is going to start at the beginning again with Ancient History up until 1400.  We have all 3 volumes of Human Odyssey and that is what she will be using for 6th, 7th and 8th grade history and we will weave in Notgrass American history throughout the years to meet requirements.  The first book is Volume 1 The Human Odyssey; Prehistory Through the Middle Ages.

We have many resources that we own to help her in her studies.  We have timelines, encyclopedias, primary resources, atlases, Uncle Josh's outline maps CD and other various books to read.  I took a picture of some of what we have that she will be using along with her studies.  K will also be reading from a book list for literature on correlating topics, you can see it here: http://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2016/07/6th-grade-ancient-history-book-list.html.

6th Grade Math, Logic and Bible

In Math, K will be finishing up Saxon Math 6/5 and starting 7/6 mid-year hopefully.  We use Saxon Teacher and love, love, love it!!

For Logic, K will be finishing up Building Thinking Skills 3 and starting with Critical Thinking Book One and then work her way into Critical Thinking Book Two.

Our Bible program is the same and we are continuing on with Memoria Press Christian Studies Book III after we finish the second book.  K also reads the Bible on her own and memorizes scriptures.

6th Grade Language Arts - English, Latin, Reading, Writing, Spelling

For English, we are still in Rod and Staff English 5 but continuing on with R&S English 6 - we love this curriculum!  It also teaches writing, so we don't need a separate curriculum for writing.

In Spelling, we are finishing up the All About Spelling series with the last two books, AAS 6 & 7.  K will also be doing Spelling Workout E & F and possibly G & H.  Since we have been doing AAS, Spelling Workout is really just extra practice for her and she has been going through a lesson faster since we returned to it recently as an extra.

K is still doing Latina Christiana I since we took off time from Latin to focus on the main subjects while I was having health issues.  She will continue on with Latina Christiana II using the DVD teacher.

Reading for us is not a curriculum, it is a book list.  I plan on listing her 6th grade book list in another post, which I will link to here (if I remember!).  She will be reading books that correlate with Ancient History.  She writes full-page narrations after she reads each book and also reads in the evening.