Tag Archives: middle school

My Daughter’s Graduation from Middle School

This past Friday I attended my daughter’s graduation from middle school. This ceremony was a bit more special than your average graduation. I say this because in most middle schools, the children move on together to high school. But my daughter attended a K-8 school where they are all going separate ways. These kids grew up together since either K-4 or kindergarten and so they had developed a very special bond. I think it’s a huge part of the reason that my daughter had so few problems in middle school. When we arrived at school, we were handed a pamphlet. … Continue reading →

Homeschooling Middle School Kids

Homeschooling during the elementary school years means teaching kids the basics. It involves teaching, reading, writing, and basic math. Homeschooling during these early years also means setting your kids in the right direction in areas of emotional and social development. Homeschooling during the high school years means preparing your kids for adult life. This means intensive academic preparation for the college bound. It means internships for trade bound students. It also means slowly transferring adult responsibilities to your children and helping them learn to step into an adult role. Homeschooling middle school students are a different animal altogether. You have … Continue reading →

A Middle School Lesson Plan that Addresses Different Types of Learners

Through a previous series of articles, I have discussed and described various types of learners that teachers encounter in the classroom. I have also listed some ideas to help teachers reach these learners through their lessons. I have now been giving examples of lesson plans that display information presented in various forms in order to reach more children during one presentation of material. My last article detailed a lesson plan for primary grades. The lesson plan was intended to reach the auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners. This article will focus on the middle school grades. I have taught both middle … Continue reading →

Encouraging Middle School Students to Read

In a previous article, I discussed the loss of interest in reading with most middle school students. During the primary grades students are more excited about reading and books. However the excitement is lost somewhere along the way to the early teens. As parents and as teachers we must find ways to encourage and restart the interest in reading. Many teachers use reading as a punishment or as a chore. Students must be aware that reading can be for pleasure and for entertainment. Learning to focus on reading and books can greatly help students out during high school and college … Continue reading →

Why Do Middle Students Lose Interest in Reading?

Kindergarten students have one major thing in common. When they walk into the classroom, they want to learn to read. They cannot wait to learn words and be able to read books by themselves. Checking out a book from the school library is one of the biggest things that can happen at school. This excitement for reading usually continues for a few years and then begins to slow down. Students seem to lose the interest in reading and the joy in taking home books. I saw this happen year after year when I taught eighth grade. Most students found that … Continue reading →

Dealing with the Friendship Stress of Middle School

To a young teen, school is life. And frankly life (school) is not always pleasant. Children can be very cruel about what they say and do. It can be also be very hard for a child to understand why they are being labeled as an outcast among their once crowd of friends. It can be even harder for the parents to deal with the child’s stress and sadness. In middle school, girls are likely to make groups and change groups often. They hold grudges and try to build themselves up by putting others down. While it is a normal part … Continue reading →

Crib Notes for Middle School Students

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It seems that every time I take a look at education, more and more nontraditional courses are being taught to students. I think that it all began with home economics and general building courses. It then moved to more elaborate types of vocational course studies. Next, we began teaching students about sex education. From there, we traveled into learning about the negative effects of drugs. Before long, a course about good character was added. The new course of study that I have discovered is one that I never thought would be needed in our middle school classrooms. Pontiac, Michigan has … Continue reading →

The Days You Consider Public Schooling

No one ever said homeschooling was easy. There will definitely be days when you want to send them back to public (or private school), just as there are days when teachers want to send children back home. Today is one of those days for me. I instead of listening to my instructions this morning, my daughter is throwing objection, after objection at me. As if I do not know how to write a book report, she is telling me why the model will not work instead of opening her mind and listening. I know our butting of heads comes from … Continue reading →

ADHD, Middle School, and Those Two Dirty Words

We were on a long drive, and I was trying to gather up the courage to tell my husband something. I knew it would be a little bit touchy, and I wanted to approach the issue in just the right way. After all, it was about his oldest daughter–my stepdaughter–and I knew he had very tender feelings for her. And I’d have to use two dirty words: special education. For months I had watched Sunni drown in her middle school classes. To read my previous blog on this story, click here. Despite working with her, meeting with teachers, and enrolling … Continue reading →

What Your Eighth Grader Needs To Learn

Today is the last posting in this “What Your (fill in appropriate grade)Grader Needs To Learn series. I hope you have found some useful information that will be helpful for both you and your student. The following is a brief list of subjects that your eighth grader should learn by the end of the school year. Unfortunately, the series titled “What Your _ Grader Needs To Know by the Core Knowledge Foundation only goes through sixth grade. The organization also has a teacher/school resource titled “Core Knowledge K-8 Sequence” that gives detailed information about what to include in the curriculum … Continue reading →