Subjects for 6th grade include skill areas of Math and Language Arts and more general subjects of Bible, History, Reading, Writing, and Science. We’ll look at each of these in detail considering the goal of the subject study, particular methods, resources, and pacing of each task for the year. The idea is to determine what the student should learn in a given subject for the year. Then gather quality resources for the student to interact with. Next determine the specific interaction tasks and break these into manageable daily tasks. You should have a long list of daily tasks for the year for each subject. The daily lesson plan amounts to choosing several of these tasks, one for each subject combined with the day’s math and language arts lesson.
It sounds confusing but is not very difficult. For each subject, we’ll work through a plan for the entire year. Remember, you don’t need to plan the whole year before the start of the school year. Staying just a few weeks ahead of the student actually works better. You can alter your plan through the year depending on the student’s interests and needs. At the 6th grade level, your child is changing from a child into a young adult, so a flexible plan is preferable. What may have fascinated a child’s mind at the start of the year may bore the young adult that is emerging before your eyes. You need the flexibility to experiment with your materials throughout the year as you determine when your child is ready for topics and ideas that require maturing reason. A personal, individual, flexible approach you can “tune” as you go is the best option.
Finally, remember your goal is not to mindlessly plow through a given set of books or worksheets or computer lessons just to “finish” by summer, but to create a love for learning in your child. This has worked well for us for 3 years so far, as we are now completing 8th grade. It will work for you and be fun for your family. Let’s get started!