Sunday, July 28, 2013

Planning for 6th Grade!

Here are the required courses for 6th Grade as I found on the New York State Website:  

 (i) For grades one through six: arithmetic, reading, spelling, writing, the English language, geography, United States history, science, health education, music, visual arts, physical education, bilingual education and/or English as a second Language where the need is indicated.

(iii) The following courses shall be taught at least once during the first eight grades: United States history, New York State history, and the Constitutions of the United States and New York State

I have been doing so much research and I'm so excited about getting started. I just cant contain it.. I have started Ordering books. Here is what I was thinking about for 6th grade:


We will be using the Robinson Curriculum which is almost all inclusive.. it does not contain Math books so I did go with that.



Math: Saxon 7/6








 

Spelling: Sequential Spelling 1 










 



Grammar: Spectrum Word Study and Phonics



 




Writing: Wordsmith Apprentice
I have heard a lot of great things about this book.








Literature: GA Henty Books:
THE GOLDEN CANYON,  AMONG MALAY PIRATES
BEARS AND DACOITS ,  A TALE OF THE GHAUTS
THE PATERNOSTERS,  A PIPE OF MYSTERY
WHITE FACED DICK: A STORY OF PINE TREE GULCH
A BRUSH WITH THE CHINESE, AT ABOUKIR AND ACRE
AT AGINCOURT,  AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET
BERIC THE BRITON, BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE
BOTH SIDES THE BORDER,  THE BOY KNIGHT
THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE, BY SHEER PLUCK
CONDEMNED AS A NIHILIST,  COLONEL THORNDYKE'S SECRET
A CHAPTER OF ADVENTURES, THE DRAGON AND THE RAVEN



I also got a bunch more of these books for free for my Kindle on Amazon and was planning on using them for reading as well as a learning tool for History. 

History: US Constitution Study: Then go on to Geography of the United States and get in depth with some New York History. As time permits, We will move on to The civil War.




 
Science: 
This is a hard one, I am still looking. I have a scientific mind and an engineering background so I have a problem with the teaching of "Creationism" and  Just about everything I have found uses a "religious" view on Science. I dont want that!


Art:
We will use a variety of sources as well as tools that are used in creating art.  Including but not limited to crayons, markers, pencils, paints, paper, many types of  medium as a canvas, 


Health and Safety: 
We will just start working through these topics as time goes by. I will be taking an EMT Course soon, I was thinking of having her study some of that with me. for the Safety and First aid part.

These topics are suggestions from the World Book suggested curriculum for 6th grade.

*Personal appearance   *Dental health    *Health maintenance   *Our food supply
*Exercise and fitness    *Cure and prevention of common diseases
*The heart Accident prevention   *Safety and first aid   * The health professions
*Understanding emotions  *Coping with stress and anxiety   *Preparing for puberty
*Human reproduction   *Substance abuse

This is a beginning list... a work in progress. I am hoping that I am not throwing too much at her because I dont want her to be discouraged either but I know she needs extra ELA work and I am kind of focusing more on that then anything else. The assessment test that we did for ELA showed that she was at Grade 4 and 9months. So we have a little bit to go to get caught up.  

We did do a Math Assessment test and found that she placed in the Saxon Math 7/6 which is her grade level, which I was pleasantly surprised.

I think that this will be a great year!!!






THE BEGINNING of OUR ODYSSEY!!

I believe that this is a great title for this new adventure. An ODYSSEY.. An extended adventurous voyage or trip.  An intellectual or spiritual quest: an odyssey of discovery.

That is what this is.. An Intellectual Quest of Discovery!

I have decided to pull my Youngest Daughter, Andrea, out of Public School and Home School her.  This has not been a light decision. I have struggled with the idea or a while and after recently getting her grades for the 5th grade and another letter saying she needed immunizations in order to return to school in September, I decided to just take the leap! So, here is a chronicle of my ramblings and the information that  have gathered in my research, my quest if you will, to give my daughter a fighting chance at a great education.

My daughter is 11 years old and despite my best efforts, she will be entering the 6th grade when school resumes.  I have fought with the schools and teachers about my daughters education. She has struggled through out the years and despite me pleading and trying to reason with teachers and anyone else who would listen, to hold her back they would not. I got excuses from teachers, the principle and the social workers, psychologists.. Not one person would help, hence my journey to home school!

 I got all sorts of reasons, she would have emotional issues. She is bigger the the kids already, If we hold her back, she will be much bigger then the other kids and get picked on. She is past the point where it would do any good..??? Really.. Since when is it NOT beneficial for a child to learn the things that she was supposed to learn even if that means staying back a year?? Moreover, wont the picking and ridicule be worse as a teenager who cant read and write properly??? Seems to me they are all wrong!!!!

 She has been pushed through despite not learning the material that was necessary for her to learn which would create the foundation of her future studies. She moved forward to the next grade each year and gotten "Extra Help" thru AIS classes.Which has not helped at all!! Got to love "No Child left behind"  They are kept with their age group but the are behind in their learning. Which I think is way more important!

My daughter currently has a final average of 77% in 5th grade. If it weren't for that 90 she got in PE, she would be have failed. She has a 67 in ELA-Writing as well as a 69 in ELA-Reading. Here state/local test scores were 52 in each.  She ended up with a 70 in Math but her local test score was also a 52.  These are unacceptable scores in my mind and yet the school passed her on to the 6th grade. Passing in New York State is 65. That is unacceptable!!!

She doesn't read well, She doesn't write well, She doesn't comprehend what she  reads.  Its hard to read her writing and understand what she wrote. I see her doing things that I did when I was in school. Things I still do on occasion still as an adult.  She has been tested in the Schools and they have not found her to have any issues.  She is great at memorizing things. She can memorize the combination of letters that form words long enough to get them on the paper for her spelling tests. But she does not know what the word is or how to read it.

A little family background... I also have 2 older children, Korey-Mikel who is 21 and Whitney who is 18.  My Son is smart! He barely had to study.  My girls on the other hand,  have both struggled in school. In my family, On my mothers side, All of the women have dyslexia.  Now, I know it comes in varying forms and some people have it worse then others, I dont have it as badly as my sister does. But we do have it. I was "diagnosed" with it in the 4th grade when I had a great teacher who helped me a lot! She was able to teach me a different way of learning, Different ways to study.  I ended up being a great student and graduated from College with a 3.6 GPA.  I know that it is possible for her to be a great student.




Andrea and I have a lot of things to work on.  I have been doing a lot of research and found a ton of information and My mind is spinning. However, I am sifting through all of the information and coming up with a curriculum that will work great with my daughter. I plan on putting stuff here so that I have it all in one place. Stuff that I work on while on 3 different computers. This will be the string that ties them together.