Middle School Mondays - How Much Help to Give

Middle School Mondays is a new name for what used to be Jr. High Junction. I hosted this link-up years ago, but I want to get it going again. It's hard to find encouragement, ideas, and tips for homeschooling this age group. I define "middle school" as 6th-8th grades, but you may define it as something different. If you have any posts you would like to add to this link-up on Mondays, I would be so grateful! It would be wonderful to have one place with lots of great posts for homeschooling middle school.

Today I'm going to address the question - "How much help should I give my middle schooler?" We all know that students learn at different paces and in different ways. In fact, that may be one reason we homeschool! It's definitely a benefit of homeschooling. I'm homeschooling my third and fourth middle schoolers right now, so I'm not new to this. Mercie is in 8th grade and Silas is in 6th grade. There is a vast difference in these age gaps - almost 14 and 11. 

I feel like middle school is the big transition from elementary to high school. There are a lot of changes happening in this age group - puberty being the most prominent. I have come to realize that elementary students need a lot of hand holding, and high schoolers don't need much at all. Middle school is where your child learns to let go of your hand, little by little. Some will need more of your hand holding than others will, and that's fine!

Silas is a very smart kid. He was a "late" reader, but now reads way above his "grade level." He is a deep thinker and can ask (and answer!) some tough questions. He's a really fun kid to be around. However, math has been a bit of a struggle for him. It's not that he doesn't know how to work the problems and complete the steps - it's mainly that multiple step problems overwhelm him and then he kind of shuts down.

What I do is sit with him for math - for the entire lesson. He reads the lesson aloud to me and we work through the problems together. If he gets a little overwhelmed or frustrated, I simply walk through the steps with him. I ask him what he thinks we should do next, and if he can't voice it then I tell him. He can then do the step on his own. Then I remind him there's another step to do, and he can usually figure it out. I've found this is especially true with fraction problems - when he has to find common denominators, then borrow to subtract or convert to a mixed number, and then reduce. There are a lot of steps to remember! 

If I left him to do these problems on his own, he would feel defeated before he even started. He would give up before he figured it out. By "holding his hand" in this area, I am teaching him that it's okay to need help. I'm helping him to develop the skills he needs to solve these problems on his own. And by letting go of his hand just a little bit at a time, I am showing him how to be more independent.

He can do many things on his own - long division, multiplication, and we even started decimals this week! When there is a problem I know he can do on his own, I let him. If we encounter a difficult word problem, we talk it out together. When he is dealing with fraction problems, we walk through it step by step.

I am confident that in a few years or less, he will be able to master these problems on his own with no help from me. I am also confident that the help I give him is only helping him to build math skills. 

We have been doing the same thing with his grammar book until recently. We would read the lesson together and walk through each sentence together. I've noticed lately that he doesn't need as much help, and in fact, he has completed the last two lessons almost totally on his own, even checking his work with the answer key. The only thing he needed help with was finding the subject and predicate in inverted sentences.

We do science, history, and other subject together with his 4th grade brother. This is more family-style learning where I read, we discuss, we do projects, and we do notebooking. He is great at making his notebook pages and does most of this on his own. 

In contrast, my 8th grade daughter does almost everything independently. She rarely asks for help, and when she does, it doesn't take much to get her on track. This just reinforces the fact that everyone learns at a different rate. 

Different doesn't mean wrong or bad; it just means different! 

How much help do you give your middle schooler?

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The Peaceful Preschool - Letter D

This week was all about ducks, dogs, and donuts! The books Zeke had on his shelf were "If You Give a Dog a Donut", "Make Way for Ducklings", and "10 Little Rubber Ducks." He had some really fun activities this week! I'll share each activity under the book theme.

IF YOU GIVE A DOG A DONUT

This is a cute book, a sequel to "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." Zeke made a paper plate donut craft today which was so easy and turned out so cute! I cut a hole in the center of a paper plate and Zeke colored it, then glued on sprinkles. 

We also talked about circles (since donuts are circles!). He glued Cheerios on a circle outline and stamped circles with paint and a toilet paper tube.

He also matched the uppercase letters A-D to the lowercase letters.

I created this worksheet for Zeke. He likes to match pictures to their shadows or outlines, so I found some free dog clip art on TPT and made this for him.

He coloreded the "D"s on this worksheet.

He also did number puzzles 1-5.

He also glued sprinkles on his letter pages.

10 LITTLE RUBBER DUCKS and MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS

I set up a really simple water play invitation for Zeke with rubber ducks and a plastic tub of water. I numbered the ducks 1-5, and he named each number on his own.

I also created these worksheets for Zeke. He had to glue the ducks numbered 1-5 in order.

He also glued ducks with an uppercase D to lowercase "d"s in the pond.

He labeled a duck. He colored pictures that start with D. He water-color painted a duck.

I also set up a tray with a duck bath-sticker, glass beads, and tongs. Zeke had to balance each glass bead on the sticker. He didn't use the tongs because the beads were too slippery. This is actually a busy bag in my Etsy shop, but instead of glass beads it's pom-poms.

He matched his moveable alphabet with his tacticle flashcards we make each week. I use glitter glue to trace the letters.

He matched mama animals with their babies. The animals started with "D" - I just picked the ones out of the box that began with "D". 

He also played with his new wooden lacing beads and 10-frame tray.

Week in Review - 1/24/22-1/28/22

 We had a very productive but busy week. It seems like we have been on the go quite a bit lately! 

Zeke started speech therapy once a week on Tuesday mornings. The therapy center is an hour away from our home, so we leave at 8:15 and don't get back until 11:30. Fridays used to be our "short day" of school each week, but we've moved that to Tuesday. Mercie can do her schoolwork while I'm gone, but the boys aren't ready to do their schoolwork totally on their own. When I get back, we eat lunch and do their math, grammar, and handwriting. 

He is always exhauasted after the long car tip and speech!

Titus also started Tae-Kwon-Do, which is twice a week - Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:50-6:40. He really loves it so far! He is learning a lot and getting into shape - push-ups, crunches, squats, and leg lifts are the first things they do each session.

He was showing me some moves!

Mercie is playing tennis for the first time and enjoying it! She's playing with a local school that allows homeschoolers to play sports. She knows a few of the girls on the team, and she is a quick learner! Her tennis practice is on Tuesdays and Thursdays one week, and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday the next. It alternates, which is nice, but my Tuesdays are pretty full if you can't tell. She's also really busy with her horses. She loves horses and is training one of hers, Little Bit, to run barrels.

Eli plays basketball and is a starter for the Varsity team. His games are on Tuesdays (yep - Tuesdays) and Fridays with the occasional Monday game. I really love to watch him play! It's hard to juggle all of my Tuesday commitments, but my parents and my mother in law have been helping me get Titus and Mercie to practice when Eli has a game.

Silas is planning to play football on the junior high team this coming fall and has been trying to get in shape for that. He knows it's going to be tough, but he's really excited about it! 

WHAT WE DID THIS WEEK:

Silas and Titus made ichthys out of modeling clay this week, as they're learning about the early church. They learned that it was sort of a secret code for Christians back then. If a Christian met someone on the road, he would draw the top arch of the fish symbol. If the other person was also a Christian, he would finish the symbol. They thought it was neat that they had "secret codes" in Bible times!

The history books we are reading are "Grandpa's Box" and "Fountain of Life." Silas just finished "Little Miriam of Galilee" and is anxious for his next book. He really enjoyed that book! I wasn't sure he would, since a girl is the main character and he's at the age where girls are gross, but he told me that I had to read it! I just started tonight. I love when my kids are at the age where they can give me "book recommendations!"

We're reading "Find the Constellations" for science, and to be honest, we're not feeling this book. We have learned a lot, and the boys enjoy going outside and finding the constellations we read about. The science is just so light in Heart of Dakota. I did something crazy and ordered a unit from Gather 'Round Homeschool to use with them - the Space Unit! It came in this week, and I'm so excited to start it on Monday! It looks fabulous.

Abeka grammar is going well - Titus is learning about commas and comma rules and Silas is learning about capitalization rules. 

In math, Titus is learning about adding and subtraction fractions with like denominators. He's also been doing 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication and long division with remainders. He really needs to work on his multiplication and division facts, so we've added in some extra practice. He loves using two math dice (both numbered 0-9) and rolling them and multiplying them together. It's more fun than flashcards and just as effective.

Silas has been working on decimals, and so far he's doing great. Fractions still give him a bit of frustration (changing denominators, converting to improper or mixed numbers, reducing...) but so far he's got a good understanding of the decimal system.

Mercie is learning about word problems in Algebra - and I mean hard word problems like age problems. I have always hated those and never been good at them. Some of them she does in her head without writing down a formula, which impresses me! She is using VideoText Algebra and it seems to be working pretty well for her.

In history she has been learning about Holocaust. She is reading "The Shadow of His Hand" this week. She said she wasn't supposed to finish it yesterday, but it was so good she couldn't stop reading! Her next book is "I Am David." She's excited about that one. 

In science she is reading "Atoms in the Family" about Enrico Fermi and said it's the most boring book she's ever read! It's teaching her diligence even when things aren't fun or easy, so she's going to finish it.

Zeke learned about the letter D and ducks, dogs, and donuts this week! I'll be posting a more in depth week in review for him tomorrow. For now here are a few snapshots!

Also I joined the Homeschool Review Crew again! It's my third time on the Crew and I'm really excited about it. I always thought it was fun to try out so many different curricula and games and books. We have discovered some favorites over the years! 

How was your week? Link up any of your homeschool related posts. You can use this image on your blog if you want to - I would appreciate it!

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The Peaceful Preschool - Letter C

Zeke had a great week learning about the letter C with The Peaceful Preschool! Our books this week were "Caps for Sale", "Corduroy", and "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" - three of our family favorites!

I'll post each activity under the book that we used for inspiration.

CAPS FOR SALE

Such a cute book about some mischievous monkeys and a cap peddler! I found a few printables to go along with this book. 

One of the activities in the Peaceful Preschool guide was to sort coins. I really wasn't sure if Zeke was ready for this activity yet, but I decided to go ahead and give it a try. I used this tray and some plastic coins (nickels, dimes, and pennies). Zeke was actually really great at distinguishing between the coins and sorted the entire tray! 

It also suggested painting a scene from the book, so I printed out a coloring picture of a cap and let Zeke use watercolors. He has started painting objects instead of covering the whole page, and I love the tie-dye look his cap has!

I also found a free printable of some peddler's caps. I shrunk them and glued them to clothespins. I drew some colored lines on a craft stick and Zeke had to clip the hats on the correct colors. This was a great fine motor activity! He also matched caps with the lowercase letters to monkeys with the uppercase letters (A-C onlhy).

He also put coin stickers on his letters. 

He loves feeling the glitter glue on his tactile flashcards!

THE COW 

This poem was included in the curriculum, so I decided to make Zeke some Montessori-friendly cow printables! He really loves worksheets that involve gluing, so I made sure to include one of those!

I created a dot marker letter sheet with Montessori fonts. He loves dot markers! I also used a cow coloring page and added some "C"s for him to dot. I used the same image of the cow to make the counting spots worksheet, where he added brown dot stickers to each cow according to the number. He can recognize numbers 1-5, so we've been doing plenty of activities with those numbers! I also had him count the cows and glue the correct number in the square. 

CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM

Beat you to the top of the coconut tree! This book is so fun to read! I focused on the letters A-C since that is what Zeke has learned so far. I created these worksheets.

I made these cards with numbers and Zeke had to add that many "coconuts" (brown stickers) to each tree. He loves stickers!

I put the upper and lowercase letters for A-C on this tree and gave Zeke a basket with the same moveable alphabet letters. He had to match them to the tree.

I also added circles with the letters and called out a letter for Zeke to "dot" with his marker.

Zeke has always been excellent at tracing, so I made this tracing worksheet with the letters A-C.

We also played with the letters in his name using his moveable alphabet.

I used the same tray he sorted coins in and let him sort his letters A-C. This tray was $10 from Amazon, and I use it for so many different activities!

CORDUROY

Such a cute story! I knew we had to use buttons for these activities, so again I made some worksheets. I make my own worksheets because I can make theme just the level Zeke needs. 

Again, I used this tray and a package of wooden buttons in three sizes. We worked on the vocabulary for "small", "medium", and "large." Zeke was great at noticing the sizes of each button and sorted the whole tray.

He also used the counting cards from The Peaceful Press and small buttons. He put buttons on the numbers and color-coordinated them himself! 

I made a button shape matching worksheet and a coloring page for Zeke.

We are really loving the gentle preschool lessons from The Peaceful Preschool.