7th Grade Homeschool Goals 2019-2020

Each year, I spend some time brainstorming goals for each child in our homeschool.  Since I have a goal or focus in mind for each child, it helps me pare down when I start to pile on too much.

I have a horrible tendency to want to do All. The. Things.  This never ends well, and I have to reign myself in from time to time.  Having set goals each year helps me get hold of myself when I start getting off track.

Today I’m sharing our goals for our 12 year old girl, a 7th grader for the 2019-2020 school year.

You can find more homeschool goals here:
→ 5th Grade Homeschool Goals
→ 3rd Grade Homeschool Goals

7th Grade Homeschool Goals

NOTE: I’ll post our full 7th grade homeschool curriculum in the coming days, so stay tuned!

Middle school goals are different than elementary goals, I have found.  We move past things like ‘learn to write a complete paragraph’ or ‘consistently hold pencil with correct grip.’  I find the goals have to be a little “looser” in some instances.

I also have found that goals tend to focus on reasoning and analytical skills, as opposed to more concrete, rote-based goals.  This is not a surprise since 7th grade is right smack in the middle of the dialectic stage of learning.

Just a note that these goals are for a neurotypical 7th grade girl, who is extremely efficient with organizing her time and managing several projects at once.  If you have a child that struggles with executive functioning, or has distractibility issues, please resist the urge to compare.  I know how hard that is!

{Some day I might write a post about my rising 9th grader who greatly struggles with time management, organizing his day, completing assignments on time, and needs occasional help with re-focusing on the task at hand.}

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For my 12 year old middle school girl, we are focusing on the following areas:

Spelling

Spelling remains a challenge for this particular 7th grader.  I know that many are able to drop spelling long before 7th grade, but that’s not the case here.

Plan of action: We made it through 6 weeks of Traditional Spelling II at the end of our prior school year, and will finish that up this year.

We might move on to Spelling Workout D using all of the spelling tips and tricks I’ve learned.  I want to see the result at the end of Traditional Spelling II before I make a firm decision on the next spelling step.

You can read more here: How I Teach Spelling in Our Homeschool

I also have a Traditional Spelling I review if you’re interested.

Math Facts

As I diligently checked math work through this past year, it became apparent that rarely are mistakes made with practicing the math algorithm or analysis.

The errors are almost always in math calculations!

Plan of action: Daily flash cards alternating the 4 operations.  She will also be able to answer 100 math facts of a single operation in 4 minutes, and 100 mixed math facts in 5 minutes by our Christmas break.

I created a chart for the year that plans a mix of flash cards and written timed quizzes.  This child needs the writing component of answering the facts, as well as the oral drill.

Would you be interested in this Facts Fluency Guide?  If so, I’ll clean it up for publishing.  It can be used for any age and isn’t specific to 7th grade.

Verbalizing and Writing Organized Ideas

I saw enormous progress in my 12 year old’s thinking throughout this past school year – she intellectually grew before my very eyes!

As her mother and her teacher, it has been such a neat experience to watch unfold.  What a privilege!

We will continue on with further instruction and guidance in organizing her thoughts on paper, and being able to articulate those thoughts verbally.

Plan of action: Continue to Second Form Latin.  We study Latin in our home for several reasons, but one of the most important reasons is to help with organizing thoughts and ideas.

Also, we will carefully work through her writing curriculum together, discussing the writing process (which is also the thinking process) as needed.

Lastly, when we meet together for “class”, we will discuss her science, history, and literature topics in depth, and that naturally guides her towards organizing thoughts and ideas and being able to articulate those with clarity.

In my experience from last school year, it is this final piece of discussion where she makes the most connections.

I haven’t used Thinking in Threes yet, but I’ve read through the whole book.  It’s a whole different bird than Chreia & Maxim, which is her main writing curriculum this year.  She hasn’t done much essay writing yet, and I need help with teaching it.  I predict this will be a great fit for us!

Learning Independently

While we do have “class” several times each week, I am not spoon-feeding my middle schooler information.  She has to come to class with the material pre-read, the vocabulary words defined, and a solid picture of what the text is presenting.

This means I have to be super prepared, too.  Yikes.  This part is hard for me since I have so many moving parts!

Plan of action: We will continue to have class, where she must come prepared to discuss and interact with the assigned material.  I will have her answer more of the comprehension questions before class, so she has to think critically about the answers before hearing my input.

Also, she will occasionally complete a 2- or 3-step outline on selections from her text before class.

Analyzing and Memorizing Poetry

Admittedly, we have only memorized small pieces of poetry through our homeschooling years.  We picked this task back up last year, and we will continue on with it again.

My daughter appreciates the beautiful words and images of poetry, so this is a fun task for her!

Plan of action: We will continue on with Poetry for the Grammar Stage by Memoria Press.  This year, my 12 year old will analyze several beauties:

— Columbus
— Paul Revere’s Ride
— The Bells
— The Lady of Shalott
— O Captain! My Captain!
— All of the poetry sprinkled throughout Rod and Staff’s English book

She will memorize a few of these, in addition to our weekly Bible verse.

The analyzation of the poetry is a little uncomfortable for me, since I don’t have a lot of experience with that.  While I enjoy lovely words and thoughts, I don’t always have the skill set to pull out the deeper meanings.

Thankfully, Poetry for the Grammar Stage helps me through this analyzing with their comprehension questions and teacher helps.  I often don’t need the extra help, but I am always grateful for it when we read through a more difficult poem.

And I think that’s plenty to focus on academically for my daughter’s 7th grade year!

Remember that these are only our academic goals – character and spiritual and emotional guidance are just part of the parenting and homeschooling day, so I didn’t list those separately.

Do you write goals for the school year?  What are your goals for your 7th grader?

Lauren Hill

Lauren Hill is a Christian mom to 5, ages 19 to 7. She homeschools her children in the classical education tradition and is currently in her 15th year of homeschool. She creates engaging worksheets and hands-on printable activities for Preschool and Elementary age children to supplement their daily studies.

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