Best 7th grade L.A. curriculum?

[myjo]

I have an almost 13 year old who needs some remedial help with grammar and spelling after being in the PS system for about 3 years. I thought he would catch up there, but the opposite has happened. He also needs a really good writing program. He doesn't really understand how to form a really coherent, formally worded paper, which is a skill I think is really important.

So I'm looking for your suggestions for a program, or even several different resources that would be really helpful and also interesting and pleasant to use for teaching the skills he is missing. Thanks!

[mom2ponygirl]

www.rfwp.com We like the grammar, vocab, writing, and poetry books by Michael Clay Thompson. I'd start at the Town or Voyage level. The grammar books in particular can be gone through pretty quickly if stuff ends up being a review. These books really got my daughter loving language and loving to write and play with words. The writing books are excellent and once you get to the Academic Writing 1 level, they come with a very helpful grading CD. It goes over his grading philosophy and helps you give tons of detailed feedback. He stresses many small papers so that kids get a chance to truly learn the process of writing and what a finished piece should look like.

Sequential Spelling from AVCO is quick and easy to do.

Lightning Literature from Hewitt homeshooling has a nice mix of novels, poetry, and short stories to read and discuss. It covers all the basic literary analysis along with a bit of basic grammar and writing. We often just used the worksheets as discussion points though. They are a Christian company but the 7th and 8th grade literature we have used have been completely secular.

HTH!

[AAK]

We also are loving the Michael Clay Thompson series. I would go for the Town level if I were you. However, the grammar book can be a bit confusing (for my daughter at least) so we do use it together. I think she preferred the straight forwardness of Easy Grammar (for grammar) but she loves the rest of the series as much as I do. We are both learning a ton with the vocab book and the poetry and composition books are much better than anything I have seen yet!

This child is also using sequential spelling (mentioned above) but I still like All About Spelling better (my other dd is using that).

If cost is an issue, then just get the teacher editions. The teacher part is found at the end of the book rather than throughout the book like lots of curriculum. So, that means that the entire student text is at the beginning. Make a copy of the few pages that he will want to write on and you can resell it later.

Amy

[myjo]

Thank you so much!

[Callimom]

Originally Posted by AAK

If cost is an issue, then just get the teacher editions. The teacher part is found at the end of the book rather than throughout the book like lots of curriculum. So, that means that the entire student text is at the beginning. Make a copy of the few pages that he will want to write on and you can resell it later.

Amy

Hi Amy
Are you referring to the Michael Clay Thompson series here?
tia
Karen