Gifted/2e Homeschooling

Relaxed Homeschooling Curriculum Choices For Eighth Grade

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September 24, 2020 | Sallie Borrink
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We are now homeschooling eighth grade. I wanted to share our relaxed homeschooling curriculum choices for this year. With Caroline’s input, I’ve put together an interesting collection of materials that should make for a good year.

As a general rule, eighth grade is the time for relaxed homeschoolers to prepare their child for high school courses. This is accomplished by selecting academic and elective materials that fit with the family’s overall educational philosophy. It will include subjects such as English, math, history, science, Bible, foreign language, writing, art, and music.

If you happened across this post without any context, the short version is that we’re relaxed homeschoolers and Caroline is gifted/2e. She learns best through read alouds and video so we frequently use those options. I have written extensively about these topics so I’ll simply leave that by way of introduction.

Eighth Grade Homeschool Goals

My goals for this year are simple. I would like to fill in any significant gaps I perceive before we formally begin high school. As I’ll point out with some of the choices we’ve made below, one of the big goals is to be prepared in the overall arc of learning since we’ve had to make up lost ground due to learning challenges. I hope that make sense. It probably will as you continue reading.

I shared my overall middle school plan a few years ago in Relaxed Homeschooling in Middle School and our Relaxed Homeschooling in Seventh Grade last year. I read through the middle school plan again and realized that we’ve followed through on quite a bit of it and other things we haven’t. This is one of the reasons why we are relaxed homeschoolers. The ideas and goals in that post continue to be my guide, but I’m not a slave to them and I naturally adjust as we go based on my daughter’s needs. So what is below is an outline of what we are doing. I will be filling it in as we chase rabbit trails and find new things that interest us.

Schoolhouse Teachers Homeschool Classes

We have a membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.com that we are using this year. As I mentioned recently in another post, we receive a free membership because David is the designer of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Up to this point, we haven’t really utilized it because what was there wasn’t a good fit for Caroline’s needs in the past.

However, I looked through what is there now and was impressed by how much they have added in the past few years. There are quite a few things I can use or adapt for our purposes. So I’ll be mentioning where I plan to utilize the site below under the appropriate subjects.

If you haven’t looked at SchoolhouseTeachers.com before or haven’t checked it out recently, it’s well worth your time to pop over and see if this is something that might be helpful for your family. You pay one price and it covers all the subjects for all of your K-12 children. If you are a relaxed homeschooler and/or not closely married to a particular homeschooling style, there is a lot there for you.

Eighth Grade Homeschool History

I love history so this is the easiest subject for me to teach. I could truly teach nothing but history and fit every subject into it with the exception of higher level mathematics and math-driven science. Ironically, Caroline took a lot of her history through our homeschool co-op so I taught very little history in her elementary years. We’ve switched to all history at home now though so I’m happy about that.

This year we’re doing a variety of things. One, we’re taking a sweeping look at the arc of history to make sure she’s been at least introduced to all the big ideas, people, and events. For this, I’m reading aloud to her the four books in The Story of the World.

We are continuing to use the Timeline Trio from Homeschool in the Woods which I reviewed in History Timeline for Relaxed Homeschoolers. We both like it and it works very well to tie together things we’re learning in History, Bible, and Read Alouds. I highly recommend it as a good investment you can use for multiple years in your homeschool.

We fill in some gaps where Caroline has not studied much. One of these is the Middle Ages so we’ll use the The Middle Ages Project Passport that I reviewed over the summer. We assembled it to write the review, but I did not dig into it with her because I wanted to do The Story of the World first.

We will spend some time looking at Greek and Roman mythology. We haven’t studied that other than mentions in passing so it will be good to read a few books about it to get a solid overview.

We have been reading aloud through books from the Pilgrim Institute the past few years. We have one book left that I would like to go through this year. I am planning to use Divine Providence – A Child’s History of the United States of America.

Lastly, I’m going to pull topics from SchoolhouseTeachers.com to fill in some of the other areas depending on how much time we have left after all of these.

Eighth Grade Homeschool Science

David and Caroline do science together and they have completed the last book in our Middle School Chemistry for Relaxed Homeschoolers. They really enjoyed the books so I don’t hesitate to recommend them if you are looking for something like this. Due to budget constraints, we opted not to purchase the hands-on things I had included in that post. But they were able to find lots of interesting videos online to follow up on what they were reading. For middle school, I think Caroline has received an excellent introduction to chemistry. Even more importantly, she really enjoyed it.

We’re going to spend time on understanding creationism as a worldview. I want her to understand the creation and evolution debate so none of it takes her by surprise when she encounters it in the real world. We’re starting with videos and materials available for free online to get the conversation started. As we identify topics we want to dig into more, I’ll search out books or materials to order as needed.

We’ll do some biology. Caroline’s not too excited about biology so we’ll start with some of the less yucky stuff. This will be a good way to use some of the resources from SchoolhouseTeachers.com. Again, this is about introducing her to ideas and concepts as preparation for high school science.

Homeschool Bible Curriculum

We’ve been very slowly making our way through The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories. Like really slowly. I’m not sure why, but we’ve read it in fits and stops. We finally finished reading aloud the Old Testament section. Now we’ll go through the New Testament, hopefully a bit more quickly so we can move on to other things.

We are reading aloud Scripture. We’re using both the KJV and the NIV. I want Caroline to be comfortable reading the KJV both silently and aloud as a way to prepare for reading other materials written in more formal language. I don’t have a specific plan for this. I am choosing passages, Psalms, etc. that fit with where we are in family life each day. I am making sure we hit a lot of the best known passages and stories.

I’d like to do an introduction to doctrine using something like the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. Obviously not in a super deep way, but as an introduction. I would like Caroline to understand the core components of the Christian faith that we adhere to as Baptists and see that there is a methodical and logical approach to the Bible and matters of faith.

Relaxed Homeschooling Math

We have been using the Learn Math Fast series for a number of months as well as supplementing it with other things. I don’t want to say much about this beyond reminding people that we’re dealing with dyscalculia here. I’m praying a lot.

Homeschool Writing Curriculum

My goal is to have Caroline writing at an appropriate level by the end of the year. As I wrote in WriteShop for Homeschool Writing and Gifted/2e Learners, I’m using WriteShop to give us some structure. Since I wrote an entire post about that, I’ll let you click over and see the details there.

I may also include some materials from 7 Sisters Homeschool. I don’t have anything specific picked out at this point, but they have some good solid materials that will work well for Caroline.

I also have access to writing materials on SchoolhouseTeachers.com so those will probably be in the mix.

Homeschool Literature

I’d like to introduce her to Shakespeare. This will be read aloud books and videos. Nothing complicated, but something to lay the foundation.

Relaxed Homeschooling Read Alouds

In addition to all the reading aloud we are doing for other subjects, we are reading aloud through a lot of books I think Caroline should be familiar with. Caroline is not a reader, but she loves it when we read aloud to her. So we’re reading through classic books this year. Right now we’re well into the Little House series. I’m not sure what we will do next. I have bookcases full of books so we’ll keep pulling off whatever seems good at the time.

Homeschool Culture & Economics Curriculum

I am looking at the books on The Tuttle Twins website. I think these would be good for us, but I haven’t ordered them yet.

Relaxed Homeschooling Art

We still have a number of units from Art History Kids so David and Caroline are using those as a jumping off point for art study. They are also mixing in videos from YouTube, Curiosity Stream, etc.

Relaxed Homeschooling Music

We haven’t started in on the piano as I had hoped. I’d like to get into that now, but I confess the pandemic lockdown has made me put this off. It’s just not the right time. Hopefully sometime this year.

So that’s a bit about what we’re doing this year. Hopefully it will be both fun and educational. Sadly, Caroline doesn’t have any outside activities going on at the moment. Hopefully that will change as we’re all feeling that loss. She had found outside activities she enjoyed the year prior to this and it’s been very disappointing to have everything she was enjoying so much taken away from her. In the meantime, we press on with our year round relaxed homeschooling.

Category: Discipleship Homeschooling, Gifted/2e Homeschooling, Homeschooling Middle School, Our Homeschool Curriculum ChoicesTag: Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, Twice-Exceptional (2e)Be The First To Comment

WriteShop For Homeschool Writing and Gifted/2e Learners

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March 9, 2020 | Sallie Borrink
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I mentioned that we are using WriteShop for our writing curriculum (Relaxed Homeschooling in Seventh Grade). Up to this point in our homeschooling journey, we haven’t used any formal writing program. I tried a few times, but it didn’t work for us. Caroline is gifted/2e and has diagnosed dysgraphia (among other learning challenges) so I knew intuitively as her mom that writing was something that needed to wait. She is a reluctant writer when it comes to formal writing and so I wanted to wait until she was ready rather than push something too soon.

Lest anyone happening across this post with no context be afraid that I have horribly neglected her education to this point, I have not. While she might not yet have extensive practice writing for an academic project, she has all the other pieces in spades. She’s a strong natural speller (self-taught through real life), knows how to make an argument, and has an excellent vocabulary. I simply need to show her how to translate all that into something written for other people. (If you are still worried about her, you can check out her standardized test experience.)

The other thing I need to give her is the formal vocabulary that goes with writing and grammar. We’ve not taken the time to learn specifically about adverbs and prepositional phrases and the like so that was something I wanted to incorporate.

So in order to do all this, I’m using WriteShop as a guide. I’m not following it page by page, but using the parts that work for us. So if you are looking for a review from someone who is using it exactly as it is written, this is not the review you are looking for. (But I hope you keep reading!)

In the interest of full disclosure, WriteShop is one of our clients so I have a full set of all their materials that we’ve helped them publish. That said, this is not a paid review. Kim Kautzer, the owner of WriteShop, doesn’t even know I’m writing this and won’t until I send her the link. This is me simply writing about a curriculum we use.

There are affiliate links in the post. If you are helped by what you read here and decide WriteShop would be a good fit for your child, I would be thankful if you used one of my links when you order. I receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Okay, so that’s the background. On to the nitty gritty!

Why I Chose WriteShop

I did have access to WriteShop which, of course, was helpful. However, I would not have used it if it didn’t work for my child and our family. I’ll explain why I found WriteShop appealing by briefly comparing it to two other programs I considered and didn’t purchase – IEW and Brave Writer.

(And, please, I ask you to not turn this into another version of Classical Conversations Negatives and Why We Didn’t Join with 155 comments of people telling me I’m uninformed and stupid and such. This is my impression as a homeschool mom making choices for my daughter. I’m not trying to write in-depth reviews of the two curriculum options I didn’t choose.)

WriteShop Versus IEW

Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) is a very popular program and liked by many homeschool families. Our local co-op uses it and I believe it is also utilized in Classical Conversations. I researched IEW both to understand it as it relates to classes offered at our co-op and in order to choose something to use with Caroline.

One complaint I read a number of times from people who used IEW and dropped it is that it is too much work. It requires a lot of the parent, it is repetitive, and there can develop a bit of drudgery related to some of the exercises that are involved. Drudgery and repetitive exercises are huge red flags for me when choosing a curriculum for someone like Caroline. She thrives on variety.

The other negative for our family is that IEW is expensive. In the end, there was nothing I read about IEW that made me think that Caroline would get that much more out of it than she would with the WriteShop curriculum I already had.

However, even if I didn’t already have WriteShop, I still would have chosen it over IEW. IEW simply seemed like a poor match for my daughter’s learning style.

WriteShop Versus Brave Writer

Brave Writer is another very popular writing program. I researched it because a number of homeschool bloggers I know are incredibly passionate about everything Brave Writer.

In the end, Brave Writer felt a little too foofy for us. By that I don’t mean that it isn’t an excellent curriculum. Brave Writer is like an entire lifestyle. It’s got an entire ethos thing going that seems to center around Julie Bogart, the creator. It just felt like it wasn’t a good fit for our family. I’ll give you a few little examples.

Poetry Teatime is a big deal with Brave Writer families and it sounds lovely. If I had a different family, it might be something we would do. But we’re not a poetry and tea kind of family. We’re more a Starbucks and discuss politics and theology kind of family. I understand the idea behind Poetry Teatime and see all the lovely photos people share online. But trust me. It’s just not Caroline and so there is no point.

The component of Big Juicy Conversations as compared to narration makes sense. Except our family excels at big juicy conversations all day. I don’t have to plan them. They happen all the time. With Caroline’s 2e, narration is actually something we need to work on.

And so on with various small things that made me feel like we aren’t foofy or emotional or something enough to be a good fit with Brave Writer.

So, again, I know that Brave Writer is adored by so many. It is like its own little club with lots of optional add-ons that you can purchase for the experience. But it doesn’t fit who we are so it didn’t draw me in enough to make me give up something I already had that I thought would work perfectly well.

WriteShop is Just Right

In the end, I felt that WriteShop was not too hard and not too soft.

It wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cold.

It was just right – for us.

It strikes me as a middle-of-the-road curriculum in that it provides both solid structure and creative ideas. Like all writing programs, it necessitates that mom be involved and hands-on. It requires some financial outlay, but one that is reasonable for an average homeschool family. The curriculum can be adjusted for struggling learners or gifted/2e kids with suggestions included right in the lessons. The curriculum is written to be flexible, but also provides homeschooling moms with as much structure and hand-holding as they need/want in terms of how the teacher material is written.

As I see it, it’s the writing curriculum for the mom who wants a lot, wants options, but doesn’t want something that takes over her life.

So WriteShop it is!

WriteShop Grade Levels

WriteShop uses an incremental approach to learning and breaks down into three levels that look like this:

Writeshop Primary K-3
Writeshop Junior 3-6
Writeshop I & II

If you aren’t sure which book to use, they have an interactive placement quiz that can help you decide in about one minute.

WriteShop For Gifted/2e Learners

As I mentioned, Caroline is gifted/2e. Like other twice-exceptional learners, she is both gifted and has learning differences. Kim has actually put together a video called Teaching Writing to the Twice-Exceptional (2e) Child. If you have a 2e child, you might find this video helpful.

WriteShop also has an in-depth Special Needs & Writing FAQ you can explore. If you have a reluctant writer or a child who struggles, I recommend seeing if there is information there that addresses your questions.

How We Use WriteShop

So here is how I’m currently using WriteShop Junior. I’m doing this in a bit of an unorthodox way, but this is what will work for my particular child at this point in our homeschooling journey. While you may not do it the same way, perhaps this will also help you think outside the box in terms of being free to use curriculum in the way that works in your home.

The Fold-N-Go Grammar feature is one that I was confident Caroline would like. It’s colorful, very hands-on, and simple. We are going through all of these before we do any writing.

This is not how they are designed. The curriculum is set up to do one with each chapter (writing project/focus). But to do them all in a chunk and then refer back to them when we need them will work better with the way Caroline learns. So we’re focusing on acquiring the grammar piece and then we will start with the writing projects.

Because we are starting with the WriteShop Junior set which is designed for kids a bit younger than Caroline, some of the activities are a bit childish for her. I’m opting to not use some of them and only using what is a good fit.

I’m also working with a different schedule than what is laid out in the book. Again, this is because she is beyond much of this but I’m using it to make sure she has what she needs before high school.

So I’m adapting and using my intuition which is largely how I’ve always homeschooled. By the time she’s done with eighth grade, we’ll have finished WriteShop Junior D, E, and F and will have moved on to something else. That will either be the next level of WriteShop (WriteShop I and II) or something else that works for where she is at that point.

It isn’t important to me when she gets there and I don’t see any indication that writing will ever be her “thing” the way it is for her mom. (David is not a writer either so she comes by it honestly.) My goal is to make sure:

she doesn’t hate writing
she’s a solid writer
writing doesn’t hinder her in any way in terms of high school and college.

As long as we get to that point, I’m satisfied. I think WriteShop has the right combination of structure and fun to get us there.

Category: Gifted/2e Homeschooling, Homeschool Curriculum Reviews1 Comment

Homeschooling a Child with Language-Based Learning Disabilities (LBLD)

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June 19, 2019 | Sallie Borrink
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When I submitted my name to review Helping Your Child with Language-Based Learning Disabilities, I thought it would be worth checking out as something to maybe refer to from time to time. I thought it would be worth knowing about the book in case it might be helpful for some of my readers either now or in the future.

I had no idea it was going to become one of those pivotal books in my life.

I received this book for free. I am being paid for my time to write this review and was not required to post a positive review.

Helping Your Child with Language-Based Learning Disabilities: Strategies to Succeed in School and Life with Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia, ADHD, and Processing Disorders by Daniel Franklin, PhD is so valuable I know I will be recommending it over and over again on my site.

Why?

Because it explains in-depth and from a professional viewpoint so much of what I’ve come to believe and understand. My own journey as the mother of a child with multiple LBLD has been long. I’ve questioned my choices because they didn’t fit with conventional wisdom. They didn’t fit with what it looks like to be a “good” Christian parent. We weren’t supported by people who should have believed in us enough to support our choices. It’s been a long and sometimes very lonely road. Large portions of this website document my journey as I’ve been open as to how I’ve made decisions, the things I’ve learned, and what I’ve tried to do for my daughter when things just didn’t make sense.

But over and over again Dr. Franklin confirmed that I’ve been on the right path. That I am still on the right path. More than a few times when I was reading the book, tears welled up in my eyes because he wrote something that confirmed beyond any doubt that I was right in the choices I made. Many times I only had my mother’s intuition and some reading I’d done online to go with, but I was right.

Children with LBLD Need Loving Relationships

This isn’t a Christian book, but it is full of what should be guiding principles for Christian parents as they work with their child with LBLD, especially if they homeschool. Dr. Franklin emphasizes that what children with LBLD need more than anything in order to succeed is loving relationships that include what I would call:

grace
compassion
understanding
longsuffering
patience
peace
laughter
joy

You know how I constantly talk about creating a cozy life of peace, understanding, and joy for you and your loved ones in your home, your homeschool, and for your differently-wired child? Guess what? Peace, understanding, and joy are exactly what children with LBLD need in their life.

Over and over again those concepts are expressed in various ways in the book. Not in those exact terms, but those are the concepts that Dr. Franklin emphasizes again and again when describing how to live and work with your child. The start of Chapter 3 states:

The kind of help I advocate for children with language-based learning difficulties requires a profound lifestyle shift for the whole family–not a set of quick fixes. Mine is a collaborative method that builds the foundation a child needs to transition to independence as soon as he or she is ready, in part by setting clear goals for the child and family and by emphasizing the need for family collaboration and teamwork. To succeed at this approach, parents must be willing to commit significant amounts of time, energy, and yes, kindness, to improving their child’s learning experience.

Can I get an amen?

Homeschooling a Child with LBLD

The book is written with a school paradigm in mind so the frame of reference Dr. Franklin uses is how to help your child succeed in school in terms of giving her the academic support she needs at home. But the principles and practical advice are still the same if you are homeschooling your child.

In some ways, they are even more applicable because you are your child’s teacher. Reading this book affirmed for me again and again that homeschooling a child with LBLD makes so much more sense because you can avoid all the effort needed to get on the same page with your child’s teachers and simply do it yourself. Educating a child with LBLD is a long journey that takes a great deal of effort, but I can’t help but think that it’s better to put that effort into your child than dealing with bureaucracy.

Dr. Franklin’s book also confirmed for me that homeschooling a child with LBLD is one that really is for the long haul. This chart in the book was like gold.

It’s a visual explanation of the skill development discrepancy that LBLD children face. See that big arrow? That’s where children with LBLD generally are the most “off” from their peers in terms of academic abilities. But do you see what happens as time passes if they get the support they need? They can end up right back with their peers.

I recently wrote at length about why our family enjoyed the tween years so much. Why did we? Because we emphasized relationship over pretty much everything else. If the relationship is there, the academic results can come in time. The important thing is to support the child with LBLD during those years when the skill development discrepancy can be soul-crushing if they don’t understand themselves and what you are working toward in the long-run.

A Book of Encouragement and Realistic Advice

This is such a practical book with realistic advice. It’s also incredibly encouraging. I’ve read so many articles and books about topics related to dysgraphia, dyscalculia, 2e, processing disorders, etc. and they are all about how to fix your child. They are all about seeing your child as a problem to be solved. This book is about how to first love your child as she needs it and then how by loving your child you can also help your child find the tools she needs to succeed academically, socially, etc.

Who should buy and read this book?

First of all, if you have a child with an LBLD or if you even suspect that your child has an LBLD (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, ADHD, or processing disorder), you need this book. Please buy it. On behalf of your child who needs your love and understanding, I’m asking you to buy it and take it to heart.

If you have a child like this and you struggle with frustration, anger, or being even-keeled with your child due to his/her struggles and how they impact your home life, homeschooling, etc. then you need to buy this book. Not only does your child need you to have it, you need it. Understanding the principles in this book could save you years or even a lifetime of regret.

Who else needs to read it?

Everyone who comes into contact with children and genuinely cares about children who don’t always fit in. Even if you don’t have a child with LBLD, you will benefit from this book because chances are you interact regularly with such children in:

homeschool co-op
sports teams
4-H
church
VBS
AWANA
GEMS/Cadets
Girl Scouts/Boy Scouts
volunteer places
grandchildren
nieces and nephews
neighbors

Children with LBLD are so often misunderstood and on the receiving end of people’s frustration, exasperation, and other short-tempered reactions to their inability to function as quickly and readily as their peers. If you can understand and identify these children when you work with them, you can be a significant adult in their life who demonstrates care and understanding of them as a person.

You can buy the book on Amazon, on Dr. Franklin’s site, or on the Franklin Educational Service Company site. If you would like to reach out to Dr. Franklin directly, you can contact him here.

I encourage you to take eleven minutes and watch this video. This is the author’s own story. It’s an amazing story of a boy who didn’t learn to read until he was eleven due to LBLD who went on to receive a Masters from Harvard and a PhD from UCLA. He is now a Board Certified Educational Therapist who helps children with the same issues that made his early years so difficult.