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The first middle-grade level, Math 5/4, can be taken in either the fourth- or fifth-grade year and is followed by 6/5, 7/6, 8/7 (an optional year), and then Algebra 1/2 (pre-algebra), which can be started right after 7/6 unless students need additional work and practice.
We strongly suggest supplementing Saxon with Khan Academy or another of the conceptual resources listed below.
Saxon Math 5/4
Saxon Math 6/5
Khan Academy.
SUBJECT: Science: biology, astronomy and earth science, chemistry, physics TIME REQUIRED: 3 hours per week—90 minutes per day, two days per week—plus additional time working on independent experimentation
Grammar-stage science was a time of discovery. The youngest students explored the world around them, dipping into life science and astronomy, physics and chemistry, and collecting interesting bits of information. During the logic stage, the budding scientist digs deeper and finds out how those bits of information are connected.
Elementary students discovered facts; middle-grade students will begin to grasp the scientific concepts that link those facts together.
Then, we suggest that you once again use the notebook method to organize your study. Make four divisions in the notebook: Definitions Scientific Principles Scientific Classifications Scientific Descriptions
Whenever the student runs into a term and an explanation of that term, he should write it down in the Definitions section of the notebook.
Every time the student encounters a scientific principle in his encyclopedia, book, or curriculum, he should write it down and place it in the Scientific Principles section of the notebook. A principle explains how the world works. A principle may be a simple statement, a rule, or a law.
Once the student has done the experiment, watched the demonstration, or carried out the project, he should write a brief summary of the activity and put it in the notebook with the statement of the principle itself.
As the student works through his science spine, he’ll encounter descriptions: physical descriptions of objects in nature (the parts of a cell, the layers of the earth, the structure of an atom) and narrative descriptions of natural processes (the fission of an atom, the journey of a tree from seed to sapling, the orbit of a planet). Whenever he encounters one of these descriptions, he should summarize it briefly in his own words, write it down, and place it in the Scientific Description section of his notebook.
Finally, whenever the student encounters an explanation of a scientific classification, he should note it down and place it in the Scientific Classification section of his notebook. Classification happens whenever natural processes or objects are placed into categories.
Logic-stage science should be more challenging, and more organized, than grammar-stage science, but it should still be enjoyable—not tedious.
Fifth-grade students should make at least two to three entries in the science notebook each week.
In the middle grades, allow your science spine to dictate your work each day. Read; as definitions, principles, descriptions, and classification are addressed, make notebook entries; stop after each principle to reinforce with an experiment or demonstration; do experiments and projects in the text according to the student’s interest.
The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia, 3rd ed.
Human Anatomy Coloring Book.
SUBJECT: History and geography, grades 5–8 TIME REQUIRED: 3 hours of intensive study, 90 minutes per day, two days per week, or 60 minutes per day, three days per week, plus as much additional time as possible to be spent in free reading and investigation.
In the logic stage, history changes from a set of stories into one long, sequential story filled with cause and effect. Beginning in the logic stage, the study of history becomes the backbone of classical humanities study.
And that’s the goal of the classical education—to produce an adult who can take in new knowledge, evaluate its worth, and then discard it or put it to good use.
As in the grammar stage, students will not use a predigested interpretation of world history. Rather, they should make use of a core text that lays out the events in world history and allows them to investigate further.
He’ll still make up history notebooks as he did in the elementary grades. But the study of history will now incorporate four elements: 1. creating a time line 2. outlining 3. using and evaluating primary sources 4. organizing this information using the history notebook
The time line can be simple (birth and death dates recorded in red pencil, political events in green, scientific discoveries in purple,
Astronomers, poets, kings, wars, discoveries, and publication dates will appear, breaking down the walls between science, history, and literature.
In fifth grade, the student will begin to develop this skill by simply summarizing each paragraph he reads.
(Outlining helps the student remember and understand his history lessons, but it also serves as a vital composition exercise;
Logic-stage history involves both synthesis (fitting information into one overall framework) and analysis (understanding individual events). The time line will be the student’s tool for synthesis.
History and geography fall naturally together; every time you study an event or person, you’ll want to look up the location on the globe, on the wall map, and in the atlas (which will give you not only political borders, but also a brief history of the region).
Now the student is ready to begin. For the next four years, he’ll follow the same basic pattern. He will 1. read a section from the core text and list important facts. 2. mark all dates on the time line. 3. find the region under study on the globe, on the wall map, and in the atlas. 4. do additional reading from the library or from the Resources list. 5. prepare summaries of information on one or more of the above topics and file them in the history notebook. 6. practice outlining one to four pages of text, once per week.
Start in whatever period of history you please, progress at a normal rate, and transition into the Great Books study recommended for high school when the student reaches ninth grade—no matter what period the student has reached.
If you’re doing history with several children, follow the same basic principle: do the same year of history with all of them, so that you’re not trying to keep up with two or three historical periods simultaneously—a sure path to burnout.
If you are educating younger and older students at the same time, you can use the elementary core text to keep all of your students on the same basic topic.
After the student has done additional reading, ask him to write several sentences (a minimum of three; five to six is better as students grow more practiced)
Pay special attention to biographies.
Try to make a page for many of the great men and women you encounter
The student will use the Arts and Great Books section of the notebook to file pages created during literature and art study (see Chapters 18 and 21).
Whenever you run across a writer, musician, or artist—Homer, Virgil, Cicero, Praxiteles—make a biographical page listing his or her works and details about his or her life. Although these pages will be filed under Great Men and Women, those notebook pages covering the books, paintings, and compositions themselves will be created outside of the history lesson and filed in the history notebook.
If you’re studying history on Tuesdays and Thursdays:
Your fifth grader may spend an hour reading history on Wednesdays, but that’s not time-intensive on your part; you’ll spend ten minutes at the beginning of the period giving directions and guidance, and ten minutes at the end talking to him about what he’s read so that he can put the facts down in a composition.
The sixth grader will read her history pages and make her list of six to eight important facts to place in the history notebook. Remind her to choose the most important facts rather than just listing the first few she encounters.
The student should still choose pages from her additional reading to outline. But now, instead of simply condensing the reading into one sentence per paragraph, she’ll identify one main point and two to four subpoints for each paragraph.
The goal: to create an outline that lays out the logical development of the text. In a good outline, each supporting point is related to the main point.
The student will complete the same five steps: reading and outlining, marking dates, finding locations, doing extra reading, and filing summaries in the history notebook.
Primary resource evaluation, when done, can replace library reading and notebook-page creation.
Aim to cover three to four primary sources each semester, six to eight over the course of the year.
American eighth graders should take time during the year to memorize the Gettysburg Address.
Optional memory work might be done on the Emancipation Proclamation, the amendments to the Constitution, the wartime speeches of Winston Churchill, the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Fifth grade 60 minutes, three days per week, or 1½ hours, twice per week: study ancient times (5000 B.C.–A.D. 400), using selected history resources, including primary sources (four over the course of the year); do at least one outline (one sentence per paragraph) of five to six paragraphs; prepare at least one written summary; mark dates on the time line; do map work.
