7th and 8th grade is a great time to make sure that you have all of your ducks lined up. Yes, yes, yes - it's a great time to let kids move ahead in the areas of the curriculum that they are strong in. Certainly! But IMHO the most important thing to do is to shore up their weakness (and yours) so that you can hit high school with confidence.
From what I have found - most colleges are not interested in seeing "high school" level courses that kids took in jr high on their high school transcript. Most kids who are strong in math will probably do algebra I in 8th grade. They might do physical science with a lab in 8th grade. They might cover their first year of foreign language in 7th and 8th grade, so they begin 9th grade with "Spanish II" or "French II." These scenarios are really quite common.
But ultimately these kids are still going to have to have "three years of foreign language" in high school if they want to have a humanities-strong transcript. So they should still plan on doing "French II, III, and IV." Those jr. high credits will make them distinctive in that they are eligible for tougher courses, but the top-tier colleges want to see that they still did those three years of additional language study as a high-schooler.
Same with a math/science major. It's great to cover algebra before high school, but the colleges are going to want to see that the student went on to push through four math credits as a high-schooler. Same with physical science; if they take physical as an 8th grader, they should be working through the science sequence (Bio, Chem, and Physics) and adding something distinctive their senior year - an electronics or human anatomy course, or AP science or CC dual-enrollment.
I've said all that to say this: getting ahead in jr. high doesn't ALWAYS mean that you are ahead. You may just be loading their schedule at the end with more difficult course-work in their junior and senior year. So think it through before you tackle a ton of high-school level work in jr. high; make sure that it's in the child's area of expertise because they may run out of "high school" level work to do in that area.
So before you jump ahead, maybe consider the skill areas that they should be developing in those 7th/8th grade years. Don't short-change that stuff in order to "get ahead" because you may be generating head aches for yourself.
Take the time to make sure that their arithmetic skills are strong.
Have they had a science course? Do they know how to learn/study from a science textbook? Have they had some exposure to life science and the physical sciences (chemistry and physics) at the jr. high level and below?
How are those writing skills coming along? Can they write a strong paragraph? Do they know about the different kinds of paragraphs, and can they choose an appropriate type to match the assignment? Can they outline a simple argument? Do they know the difference between a "topic sentence" and a thesis - at least a rough idea? Can they do ANY of this in a timely manor WITHOUT you doing all of the thinking? Are the processes ingrained?
How are their reading skills progressing? Can they READ or do they just read? (See TWEM or Adler's How to Read a Book.) This takes time, but kids should have an idea about where they are headed as readers. My oldest entered high school thinking that he KNEW how to read; it took a LONG time for me to realize that he didn't KNOW that he wasn't really a reader yet. Once I "got" that, and HE got it, it's been easier to teach him; he listens to me instead of tolerating me.
How are their study skills?
Do they keep their work organized: papers have headings and are filed in notebooks or _______. Do they understand how to take a larger assignment and break it into smaller assignments? Do they keep a schedule/log/learning journal or do you do it all for them and they just check the boxes? Do they keep track of when assignments are do? Do they DO the work that they KNOW they are supposed to do without being nagged, bugged, or CONSTANTLY being check up on. Can they and DO they regularly work independently on SOME level? REALLY re-think this IM (not so very humble!!!!!!!) opinion. ESPECIALLY if you are teaching more than one child; your older kids need to know how to plan their work and work their plan so that your "teaching" time with them is optimized. There is SO much daily work to cover in such a very short amount of time with each of my kids. We do NOT have the time and NOR do I have the energy to walk around saying (nagging, moaning, complaining...):
"Did you get that assignment done? No? But this is done. Hmmm. It is? This looks EXACTLY like the LAST time I asked for this and you said that it was done. There is no "Works Cited" at the bottom of this paper. Where is the heading? This isn't double-spaced. Didn't we discuss all this already????
Your schedule says you were going to do pages 122-124. How come you only did page 122? Did you correct this yet? How do you know if you are doing this right if you aren't checking this exercise after you finished this? Haven't we discussed this?
Did we agree that you were going to memorize these dates by YESTERDAY afternoon? What do you mean you haven't even made flash cards yet? How are you supposed to memorize these by blankly staring at the page? Haven't we discussed this? (Can you see the cartoon steam that is starting to come out of my ears?) Didn't you say that you were going to make cards? I DON'T CARE IF YOU FORGOT! Who should be writing this down? ME?!? WHAT IS YOU PLAN, YOUNG MAN!!!!!!!????????!!!!!!" BIG, HUGE, FAT
(PLEASE understand that this is a theoretical conversation. I have never actually HAD a conversation like this - all the while WISHING that I had taught this stuff BEFORE we HIT HIGH SCHOOL!!!!!!! With EASIER CONTENT!!!! AND WITHOUT ALL OF THESE SCHEDULES TO JUGGLE BECAUSE IT ALL COUNTS NOW AND I'M SO TIRED OF TRYING TO TEACH PEOPLE WHO ARE TALLER THAN ME (SO THEY THINK THEY KNOW MORE THAN ME) HOW TO FUNCTION!!!!!!!!!
Theoretical conversation. Strictly an imaginary "what-if" conversation!)
TEACH study skills in 7th/8th grade. It's a BIG PAIN! But it packs a HUGE punch later on. I'm learning. And let's just say that these things are SOLIDLY in place with my younger two. I don't worry a BIT about what they know about history, science, or literature content. I know that they are learning. I care BIG TIME about that procedural stuff!
Oh - there's more.
Didn't I tell you that I was going to ramble?
Have you done your homework? So many moms that I meet (myself included) think that we want to do the "great books" in highschool with our kids. But we haven't read them. Any of them. So we don't really know what we want... at least I didn't. I wanted what someone else wanted, and I had the plan to do it all laid out. But I didn't know what I wanted. If you don't have the time to read the great books when your kids are in junior high and you have never had the time to read the great books ever in your whole life, you might want to really sit and think about what you really want. Let me just say that they really are great. Really! But it takes work. And it has taken me a while to hit my groove. And even THEN, sometimes it feels like I'm failing. Or at least it isn't working. Or sometimes I feel REALLY LOST and confused and .....
Spend some time looking ahead into the content of the high school subjects that you plan to teach. Read. Think. Learn some more about those subjects. And develop a rough but "I'm pretty sure that I can do this" plan BEFORE your kids hit those subjects - preferable at least an "I think this is the direction that I'm going in" BEFORE you hit high school. And start taking serious inventory about the subjects that you are NOT planning to teach. And come up with a PLAN for those subjects. All of us are different. All of us have a different set of skills and resources. And life happens. A LOT! Even the subjects that I KNOW that I can teach really well - I mean RELLY WELL, I have had to out source. And I KNOW that I can teach it better than the outsourced option. But it wasn't happening. And life MUST go on, even when my ego is bruised!
KNOW yourself! And be realistic about what you can (and WILL!!!) accomplish. I tend to be overly generous toward myself and am always hopeful that I am going to figure out how to accomplish ______ tomorrow even though I have NEVER to this date EVER managed to do it ever. High school can be messy if the momma handles everything with a "New Years Resolution" mentality (You know the kind where you make BIG plans to change everything about who you are on January 1st and then by January 5th you've dropped everything and are doing NONE of it, but you plan to try again next year because it's 360 days away so that means that you're off the hook for now. Once again - completely theoretical. I would never DO that! )
It's better to be serious about what you can manage (and PRACTICE managing it) when your kids are in jr. high.
So it's a GREAT time to practice doing things well. For you and your kids!
Homeschooling really is such a grand ride. Such a FABULOUS way to grow as people - for me AND my kids!!!
PEACE TO YOU AND YOURS!
Rock on! Stay hopeful! The best is yet to come!
Janice
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