One of the things that I love about teaching my junior high kiddos is that we can have deep conversations about literature. We talk about figurative language, I ask “why” a lot, we discuss point of view (1st, 2nd, 3rd person), we talk about proper use of punctuation/grammar (quotations, when to indent, etc), we discuss the background of the characters (these particular characters are Native American foster kids in Canada and we discuss why the main character would be angry all the time, etc), and on and on while we read our novel.
We are reviewing dependent and independent clauses, subordinating conjunctions, making sure our sentences have everything required (sounds simple but it’s not always done), and everything we do in science and history requires complete sentences. One of the boys doesn’t like that, but it’s good for him. Haha. We do spelling through dictation and copy work. We learn new vocabulary words. Read short stories. Review how opening paragraphs (intros) have a sentence to catch the readers attention (and the different ways to do that such as a quotation, vivid language, etc) along with a thesis statement.
We are learning about stars (night sky) in astronomy.
We are learning about how the United Kingdom became what it is today in History (studying the Middle Ages- we will probably move to American History next year, but we will see).
We are doing Pre-Algebra as review for Ethan, and it’s what Levi was going to be starting in public school. It’s a good spot for both of them. They both seem to know what to do.
We are doing All. Of. The. Things.
We get all of this done before lunch!
They can do so much more than littles that I have taught. I’m enjoying it. I want to add some more activities, etc, but we are just keeping it simple at the moment and taking things one day at a time.
Ethan is still struggling deeply with his adhd and I have been trying sooo hard to get him into a psychiatrist with not much luck (the one that he was going to go to doesn’t take his insurance). He will be seeing the pediatrician tomorrow.
But don’t get me wrong, I also LOVE teaching littles. It’s just a nice change to teach older kids. And my own kids.
I’ll still be doing enrichment for a few kiddos here at camp in the fall. Nature studies, art, poetry, etc. The boys will help!
I’m super happy with how things are going at the moment.
Simply Courtney 