Goals for Next Year Part 1 - 8th Grade

It's been a few years, since I have taken the time to formally sit down and write out our goals for the year.  Over that time, I've just kept a list in the back of my mind  for each of the kids and chosen curriculum that I believed would help us meet those goals.  Because we reuse curriculum from one child to the next, it's easy to say this child needs to do x,y,and z next year from the curriculum on our shelf and forget that within that each program there are portions that will need more focus or may require a bit of tweaking or supplementing to meet the needs of each particular child.  This is my attempt to step back and assess what we need to work on academically for the next year and how we will accomplish that with our current curriculum.

Goals for Jessie's 8th Grade

Math

Solid grounding in basic algebra

Complete Foerster's Algebra I and supplement with NEM 2 and/or Alcumus as needed for challenge or additional practice

Language Arts - Reading/Literature

Increase critical thinking of literature	Focus on a few works at a slower pace with more depth of discussion than last year.  Continue reading a second tract of books at a faster pace with a focus on 1 or 2 literary elements.
Review basic literary analysis and increase depth of discussion	Watch Teaching the Classics videos this summer. Work farther down the Socratic list of questions to increase depth.
Introduce worldview analysis and apply to literary selections	Work through Teaching the Classics worldview supplement and then apply questions to literature selections.  Place books in context by using research and writing skills learned previously in CW Diogenes Maxim.

Language Arts - Writing

Continue to build outlining and notetaking skills	Have weekly outlining selections for history.  Continue notetaking in BJU with physical science text.  Practice taking oral notes using a combination of Sunday sermons, Latin Alive DVDs, and possibly Traditional Logic DVDs.
Continue to refine summarizing skills	Write summaries for history of various lengths.  Write plot summaries for some literature selections.
Build essay developing skills	Work through Classical Writing Diognes Chreia.
Apply essay skills across curriculum.	Write some 5 paragraph essays related to history topics. Write literary essays covering specific Socratic questions from Teaching the Classics or discussing a theme for a specific work.

Language Arts - Vocabulary & Grammar

Increase exposure to roots and verbal analysis.	Complete exercises in The Word Within the Word Volume 1 and Building Thinking Skills 3 Verbal.
Solidify understanding of grammar concepts and diagramming and apply to more complex sentences with multiple phrases and/or clauses.	Complete exercises in R&S 8 as well as grammar exercises in CW Chreia.

History

Finish timeline through modern time.	Add HTTA figures weekly as encountered in reading.
Continue to asses the effect of worldview on history.	Discuss TruthQuest commentary.  Research the beliefs of select historical figures to determine the effect on their choices and actions.
Support opinions with facts, quotes, examples, etc.	Develop a few short thesis during the year in place of summaries and then support the thesis using the skills learn in CW.  Complete a few TruthQuest writing prompts.

Science

Exposure to topics related to physics and review of chemistry.	Complete BJU Physical Science.
Learn basic lab safety techniques.	Complete as many labs as feasible from BJU.
Learn to write basic lab reports.	Complete lab write ups for the majority of labs.

Latin & Greek

Increase mastery of languages.	Review Latin and Greek vocabulary and grammar over the summer.  Progress through Latin Alive 2 and Elementary Greek 3 start in the fall.
Continue to build vocabulary and grammartical knowledge.
Continue building translation skills and appreciation of language.

Logic

To improve critical thinking and reasoning skills.	Work through Traditional Logic 1 and at least part of 2.
To identify faulty assumptions.
To distinguish between valid and invalid arguments.