I recently wrote a review for Fourth Grade and our changes that were necessary to better suit my daughter’s homeschool journey with an Waldorf inspired approach to homeschooling.
In the same way, Oak Meadow Grade 4 provided insights to fit my daughter’s needs, Oak Meadow Grade 6 catered to my 11 year old son’s personal growth.
I just want to make it clear, in our experience, moving from 5th grade to middle school/ 6th Grade work was a huge transition for us. I was expecting workload changes, read about it, and spoke to other homeschooling moms about it, but my goodness, it was almost like starting homeschool from day 1 and… and… and.. I didn’t take into consideration his natural sensitivity changes and its impact on schoolwork. Whew!
Some days, he was so on top of his schoolwork, but more often than not, he was pretty moody. A child, who was usually happy-go-lucky and shrugs things off, would get easily frustrated when he felt he wasn’t “getting it” as quickly as he wanted to or wasn’t completing his checklist within the allotted time.
Realization hit, I could no longer “wing-it” or “throw something together” for him. Ending his 5th grade year and moving into the 6th grade, he absolutely insisted on a detailed schedule. He wanted to choose his projects and set his own timelines. But what I had originally planned and presented to him was met with disapproval. “It’s boring, but I guess I’ll do it.”
I did not want him to feel uninspired about his home education journey. Where and how can changes be made to give him a sense of independence while simultaneously building his confidence and keeping his interest?
We need to slow this down and reassess!!
Well, well, well, here comes Oak Meadow Grade 6 strutting into the scene offering opportunities and wishes. Just as I did for my daughter during her 4th grade year, I applied some of the principles from The Heart of Learning that best suited my son’s level of success.
The combination of his personality, his workload, and enrichment in-person classes’ schedules, we unintentionally crafted a year of mainly arithmetics, reading/comprehension and introductory researching skills.
Just looking through the Grade 6 overview, you will gain some idea of the amount of information your child will be exposed to.
Side note: If anyone tells you that homeschooling is easy breezy and homeschooling multiple kids with completely different needs is peachy, can they share their magical elixir with us?! It’s a wild ride.
What is Oak Meadow?
Oak Meadow is a waldorf-inspired child-centered curriculum that focuses not only on the academic and intellectual developmental needs of kids but throughout the readings and projects, it also gives ample opportunities for the child to foster their imagination and creativity.
How the Course is Set-up
Oak Meadow Grade 6 is written to the child to provide a very strong foundation for independent work in the middle school and high school years. Unlike Oak Meadow’s Grade 4, where the main course contains all the lessons for language arts, social studies, and science combined in one book with the additional separate coursebook for Math, Oak Meadow Grade 6 has the four main subjects, English, Ancient Civilization, Basic Life Science and Math in separate course books in addition to the teacher manual for each subject.
Schedule/Lessons: Each course book is broken down into 36 weekly assignments. There is a weekly overview that states what needs to be completed during the week, but an explicit day-by-day schedule is not provided. Unless you know exactly which assignments will be completed, it is advisable to collaborate with your child and figure out a schedule that best suits the routine.
I’d highly suggest pre-reading the weekly assignments to better familiarize yourself with the material before having the 1:1 meeting. It will really cut down the distractions or the “Mom, can we please hurry up” cries.
Weekly Assessment: At the end of every week, there is a learning assessment to track their progress. This is extremely helpful when planning for the following week (s).
How Did We Personalize Oak Meadow Grade 6?
Even though the course is intended for the child to work independently, my son is not ready for that level of independence and execution, yet. The soft skills needed to move through the curriculum independently are still developing, so much needed guidance and daily collaboration are required to start laying down the foundation for a successful student.
We also had to consider two online classes that he was enrolled in, math and creative writing. Both took up a considerable amount of time during the week, so to avoid stress and burnout, we decided to approach Oak Meadow 6 a bit differently as originally intended.
The Four Main Subjects
English: The course covers grammar and mechanics, note-taking, report writing, and the four different types of writing: persuasive, descriptive, narrative, and expository. He completed a few writing assignments in the first few weeks, however, we dropped the writing portion because the combination of these assignments with his creative writing class was excessive. Honestly, we couldn’t do both even if we wanted to.
There are writing assignments across subjects: English, Science, and History. In my opinion, it is writing intensive; realistically, expect your child’s day to be longer and expect the assignments to take longer than planned. If they are not a strong independent writer, guidance is highly recommended.
Fortunately, there are about 10 literature books and a couple of reference books to read during the year. He read the books independently. If I was able to find the books on audio, he would listen to them while playing with Legos or on car rides. Even though we were not partnership reading, I would ask him some general comprehension questions regarding settings, plot, themes, characters, etc.. After a while, he learned to pay closer attention to the details and provide more complete answers, orally.
Ancient History: Now this was interesting! The course covers different periods from early human culture to the Roman Empire, to the ancient systems of government to the Middle Ages, and to the Inca Empire. We learned so much together.
My goals for him was exposure and to gain some background information. We would read the reading selections over a few days and utilized Oak Meadow’s resource links. I also pulled some folklore stories from around the world to add more layers of connection to these ancient humans.
So here is something cool, when we hit the medieval period, I introduced him to BBC One’s Merlin. At first, he thought it was completely corny, but by episode two, he was hooked!!
Science: We would do science on the week when history was not on the schedule. Basically, one week one and one week off.
The course covers basic life science. Scientific method and experimentation, Cell structure and cell division, Plant structure and reproduction, Photosynthesis, Soil and nutrients, Classification of living things, Plant and animal kingdoms, Animal life cycles, Food chains and food webs, Ecology and ecosystems, Global climate change, Human nutrition, Human body structures and system. A ton of information.
The goals here, as we did for Ancient History, was exposure and to gain some background information. We would read the reading selections over a few days and utilized Oak Meadow’s resource links. I also pulled science resources books to add color to his studies and use Khan Academy to solidify some topics.
Please note: English, Ancient History and Art are linked together. You may read a historical fiction book during a specific time period and create a project like pottery or a play. It’s pretty cool. Science has its own set of writing assignments .
Math: The course was separate from the main course book. The lessons are written to the students and provide easy to follow steps and example questions for each topic. My son enjoys math and didn’t mind adding a second math curriculum to his schedule.
But here’s the thing, he uses an online program and does most of the problems mentally or scribbles a number or two on a piece of paper. I prefer him to show his work entirely. I feel like math is better understood if worked out in pen and paper.
Oak Meadow math works perfectly here. There are enough questions here to cover understanding but not overwhelm my son. After working out the problems independently, I graded each lesson (he insisted). Any incorrect answers will be rewritten and reworked for understanding. Winning!
Final Thoughts
Oak Meadow Grade 6 was a great introduction to how realistic the workload will increase in middle school and even more so in high school. The high critical thinking standards put forth in grade 6 set high expectations for my child and I absolutely appreciate that.
Using Grade 6 as mostly a literature-based curriculum, this year, created a more relaxed learning environment and created space for growth and adjustments without any added pressure.
With our weekly meetings and sometimes daily updates, he felt in control of his education, we made sure to meet him at his needs and challenge him in areas that needed growth.
We made the curriculum work for him.
Wanna Know More?
Homelife with Us 