Thinking about Eighth Grade

I blinked and my toddler was suddenly about to turn 13. 

(Seriously, it does feel that way to me these days.  I'm getting very sentimental!)

Finn is in 7th grade this year, and so he has one more year of "middle school" before he hits high school age.  This seems unreal!  I remember when he turned 5--I couldn't believe it, and I cried because he was getting so big.  Five seemed old, since that's when children start school.  Now we're staring down adolescence!

This is the time of year when seed catalogs arrive and we start thinking of the garden, and the time of year when I start thinking of next year's schooling.  In reality, the past few years, everything has felt very fluid, without real stop-and-starts spots.  But even so, Finn and I have put our heads together to discuss what 8th grade might look like for him next year. And we're getting really excited!

He is quite set on learning to be fluent in at least two languages by the time he graduates from high school, so he'll continue with his French (he has had a tutor for a couple years now) and Spanish (he's taking an intro class this year, but next year will take Spanish 1 for a grade).  

He's also quite set on becoming a Really Good pianist.  In my mind, he already is! His playing astonishes me now sometimes.  But he'll continue piano--which takes up a chunk of time each day.  He practices faithfully, and is increasing his practice time and getting more serious. His spring music festival (a judged performance) is coming up this month, and this summer he will be participating in a week-long piano intensive sponsored by a nearby symphony orchestra.  He told me yesterday he'd like a Bosendorfer, or if that's not possible, a Steinway. Grand piano, of course.  I tried not to laugh too hard.  I love his big ideals and dreams!

So around those things we have to build the other things. 

He requested a class on the classics and Greek/Roman myths, so I'm designing that.  I'm pretty excited about it, too!  I took four years of Latin, so I spent time translating the Aeneid from Latin--it'll be so fun to read it *in English* with Finn.  And we always read two of Plutarch's lives each year.

He began a science curriculum in the middle of this year, so we'll just finish that up, and then probably study the history of science in more depth to complete his 8th grade year.  It's very textbook-y, but my husband (an engineer) wanted to introduce a bit of that, and Finn and I have actually enjoyed it so far.  To be honest, Finn is a textbook-loving human being sometimes, and I say: if it's engaging, then it IS a living book to him!

Annie will be taking state history with a friend who will be teaching a group of elementary homeschoolers, so Finn and I will do some American history--with a focus on our state--so that he can tag along on the field trips and enjoy/appreciate them. We'll mostly explore history through literature, so this will be history *and* literature.  

He's a grammar whiz (which I find baffling; although I'm a writer, I hate grammar), and so we'll pick up with Analytical Grammar.  (He completed Junior Analytical Grammar last year. LOVED it.)

As always: Shakespeare. My favorite!  He has actually requested an in-depth Shakepeare class for high school sometime, so I'll design that later.  For now, he's reading his ninth play...so in some ways, I feel he's already done a lot of Shakespeare.  I estimate by the end of high school, he'll probably have read 20-24 plays.  That is staggering to me; I never actually thought Shakespeare would be such a huge part of our homeschool (since I'd only read Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth in high school, and nothing at all in college or graduate school), but we've loved this part of our school life. 

We'll probably build writing into these other subjects, and/or he'll write on his own.

We read the Bible every day, but I don't get very formal with that.  

We may try to do a "running clinic" together for PE.  I may sign him up for a 5k, and use the training as our gym class!

And finally, math: just continuing on!

That's enough, and will provide several high school credits, a year early. He hopes to get most of his credits out of the way by the end of 11th grade so that he can do whatever he wants in 12th grade. I think this is a solid plan!

I just can't believe my toddler is planning his high school career. 

Mothers of little ones: don't blink.  Truly!!