enlarge image

Ages Eight to Ten

Overview

Design a new plant species. Evaluate the relationship between a Native American boy and a pioneer boy who are able to learn from one another in spite of their differences. Experiment with magnets and electricity. Learn about simple machines and examine how they are used in a colony of rats in the The Rats of NIMH.

At Moving Beyond the Page we believe that children learn when they are actively engaged in their learning. Beginning with the Age 8-10 level, we use many hands on and engaging science kits to teach your child the science topics being covered. Your cannot find a more hands on science curriculum available for homeschoolers. Click here to jump down to the complete list of science kits.

The Age 8-10 level uses these and many more activities to thoroughly cover the state and national standards in Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts. Add Right Start Math for a complete and comprehensive homeschool curriculum.

Using the 8-10 Curriculum

The Age 8-10 Level has a flexible design that allows you to tailor a program to meet your needs. You can use the curriculum in each of the following ways:

• Comprehensive Curriculum
  With Moving Beyond the Page science / social studies core, accompanying literature units, and Right Start Math, you will have everything you need for a full year of homeschooling that will engage and challenge your gifted child.
• Complete Language Arts Curriculum
  Purchase all 12 Literature Units and teach your child vocabulary, grammar, writing, spelling, story elements, and figurative language while developing a love of literature using books like The Rats of NIMH, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Sign of the Beaver.
• Complete Science and Social Studies Curriculum
  Purchase the four Science and Social Studies concepts and teach your child about simple machines, Native American culture, magnetism and electricity, early explorers, animal adaptations, and many other topics using hands on experiments and integrating quality literature. Social Studies covers geography, history, government, and culture.
• Supplement Any Existing Curriculum
  Pick a science or social studies topic that piques your child's interest or a book that she will enjoy reading and supplement your current homeschool curriculum. Everything in our program is available to purchase individually.

What's New and Different for Age 8-10

Like the Age 7-9 level, the Age 8-10 curriculum covers the standards in Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts. The Literature Units can be bought independently from the Science and Social Studies curriculum. This provides you with the option of utilizing Moving Beyond the Page as an independent language arts program or as a science / social studies program to supplement your current curriculum.

There are a total of 12 Literature Units that accompany the Age 8-10 level. They are each designed to accompany one of the 12 science / social studies units that make up the year-long curriculum package. All units are broken down into daily lesson plans. When you begin lesson 1 of a science / social studies unit, you will also begin the first day of the corresponding literature unit. The knowledge gained in each science and social studies unit is reinforced through the corresponding literature unit.

The list below shows how each of the Science and Social Studies units line up with the Language Arts units.

Science and Social Studies Unit	Literature Unit
Concept 1: Interdependence
Unit 1: Dirt and Plants	Little House in the Big Woods Look at life through the eyes of a pioneer child as she contributes to the work of her family. Learn how the pioneers were dependent upon their natural environment.
Unit 2: Native Americans	The Sign of the Beaver Examine the relationship a pioneer boy and a Native American as they come to appreciate each other and learn from one another - despite their different cultures.
Unit 3: Ecosystems and Ecology	Native American Animal Stories Read a number of myths, legends, and folk tales handed down for generations by many Native American cultures that attempted to explain the relationship of humans, animals, and the environment.
Concept 2: Force and Power
Unit 1: Magnetism and Electricity	Ben and Me Examine the life of Ben Franklin and the events surrounding the founding of our country through the eyes of an intelligent rodent named Amos. Appreciate early inventions and the inventive process. Design your own kite to fly. Explore the elements of historical fiction and discriminate between fact, fiction, and opinion.
Unit 2: The Power of People	The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Explore the theme of Good vs. Evil and evaluate the proper and improper use of power. Engage in the writing process - from rough draft to final copy. Practice logical thinking, apply the rules of plurals, and work with possessive nouns. Analyze the power of effective imagery in writing. Compare and contrast the novel with the movie.
Unit 3: Forces of Nature	The BFG Learn about the culture of London, England and the role of the Queen. Learn the language and ways of giants! Examine cause and effect in literature. Analyze characters and their actions. Write a newspaper report on an event in the story.
Concept 3: Similarities and Differences
Unit 1: Africa and Asia	Akimbo and Sadako Experience the cultures of Africa and Asia through the eyes of a boy who lives in the African bush and a Japanese girl living in Hiroshima after World War 2. Appreciate the lives of children across the world by examining similarities and differences. This unit provides an introduction to writing a formal report, explores story conflict, introduces haiku poems, and reviews verb tense.
Unit 2: Rocks and Minerals	Holes Meet Stanley Yelnats, a boy who is wrongly accused of a crime and sent to a juvenile detention camp. Here, he meets a variety of interesting characters. Explore the desert biome and the dangerous animals that live in this region. Recognize irony, practice possessive nouns, and correct run-on and fragment sentences.
Unit 3: Europe	Charlotte in Giverny Read the diary of a young girl whose family moves to France in the late 1800's so that her father can paint with the controversial new impressionists. Here she learns about the culture of France as well as the techniques of the early impressionists. Create paintings that reflect the style and techniques of the impressionists. Practice using a thesaurus to find new words. Learn the rules of commas and apply them to your own writing.
Concept 4: Exploration and Survival
Unit 1: Animal Adaptations	Abel's Island How will a genteel rat learn to survive on his own in the wild? Follow Abel as he learns to rely on his instincts and the natural resources in his environment for survival and the chance to return to the family he loves. Learn the difference between predictions and inferences, practice writing thoughtful questions, and try your hand at the art of reflective writing.
Unit 2: Early Explorers	Pedro's Journal Adventure with a young sailor as he journeys to the New World with Christopher Columbus and his crew. Follow their dangerous journey as they struggle for survival in the high seas. Explore the elements of historical fiction, practice using quotation marks in dialog, recognize and apply subject-verb agreement, and practice identifying and using similes.
Unit 3: Work, Tools, and Simple Machines	The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Read the amazing story of Mrs. Frisby, a mother who struggles for survival as she strives to save the life of her sick son. Along the way, she encounters a group of mysterious rats whose past is intertwined with her own. These intelligent creatures use modern technology including simple machines and electricity. Explore the genre of fantasy, follow story plots, and learn to recognize homonyms and understand acronyms.

In the Age 8-10 curriculum, your child will explore all subject areas using a hands-on and investigative approach. Oftentimes, homeschoolers are only taught reading, writing, and math during the early years, but a truly comprehensive curriculum will expose them to science and social studies as well. These subjects can be the most engaging and exciting for a young child. The curriculum is also filled with quality literature to enjoy with your child.

Because all lessons are based on state and national standards, your child will learn all of the necessary skills for their age. Your child will continue to be challenged to read and write at a higher level.

Prerequisites