We have finished RTR!
Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 7:51 pm
This was our first year with HOD but definitely will not be our last! My 13 year old daughter just loved this entire curriculum. I never heard her say this was boring or too hard! She worked very diligently and mostly independently throughout the year. I am glad that I took the time to carefully examine the skills needed before I placed her in this level because it really was the key for having a successful year!
Her favorite part of RTR was the history project box. She made some very interesting projects that would not have happened without Carrie's wonderful plans. I love art and projects, but have never found a way to consistently make them happen before. Thank you Carrie! I enjoyed seeing her original artwork using Draw and Write Now. I think even my daughter was impressed with her artistic ability at the end of the year compared with her drawings in the first few units. She also was able to complete the cooking projects on her own and regularly treated us to tea and something she was baking.
She also enjoyed The Mystery of History book and how what she was reading about in her "Storytime" box was directly related to what she was learning in the "Reading about History" box. I enjoyed listening to her oral narrations, something we had never really done before and they just seemed to flow with excitement over what she was reading.
She did complete the Shakespeare study and is now more familiar with these timeless stories. Also something I always wanted to study with my children, but never happened. I think I have had "Tales of Shakespeare" on the book shelf for seven years untouched! I liked the way they were just able to read the stories, copy a quote or two and color a beautiful picture without having to dissect them at this point. I think this will open doors as they get older to explore Shakespeare in a deeper way if they desire.
The Bible Quiet time was a bit easy for her. However, she did complete it and I added to it as we are always studying something together as a family. I enjoyed discussing the Beautiful Girlhood Book with her, as she had already read this at an earlier age, but again she enjoyed reading it a second time.
I would say she read 3/4's of the extension books and enjoyed most of them very much. The only one she did not care for and just couldn't finish was "Robin Hood." I didn't force the issue because she was always reading something.
The language arts recommendations were right on for her age. She was a bit behind in grammar going into the year and we found Rod and Staff 6 to be a perfect fit. She flew through the dictation and I saw growth here as well. We have used IEW in the past so the Medivial writing was just an extension of what we had been using.
We started the science in RTR and my daughter found it engaging and enjoyable. Half way into our year she joined a co-op and so we stopped the science at that point.
On top of RTR she did use another math program and took high school Spanish on FLVS so her days were busy but she was able to complete everything in a typical 6 hour school day.
I have nothing but positive reviews for RTR and my daughter insists on using Rev. to Rev. for her first year of high school!
Her favorite part of RTR was the history project box. She made some very interesting projects that would not have happened without Carrie's wonderful plans. I love art and projects, but have never found a way to consistently make them happen before. Thank you Carrie! I enjoyed seeing her original artwork using Draw and Write Now. I think even my daughter was impressed with her artistic ability at the end of the year compared with her drawings in the first few units. She also was able to complete the cooking projects on her own and regularly treated us to tea and something she was baking.
She also enjoyed The Mystery of History book and how what she was reading about in her "Storytime" box was directly related to what she was learning in the "Reading about History" box. I enjoyed listening to her oral narrations, something we had never really done before and they just seemed to flow with excitement over what she was reading.
She did complete the Shakespeare study and is now more familiar with these timeless stories. Also something I always wanted to study with my children, but never happened. I think I have had "Tales of Shakespeare" on the book shelf for seven years untouched! I liked the way they were just able to read the stories, copy a quote or two and color a beautiful picture without having to dissect them at this point. I think this will open doors as they get older to explore Shakespeare in a deeper way if they desire.
The Bible Quiet time was a bit easy for her. However, she did complete it and I added to it as we are always studying something together as a family. I enjoyed discussing the Beautiful Girlhood Book with her, as she had already read this at an earlier age, but again she enjoyed reading it a second time.
I would say she read 3/4's of the extension books and enjoyed most of them very much. The only one she did not care for and just couldn't finish was "Robin Hood." I didn't force the issue because she was always reading something.
The language arts recommendations were right on for her age. She was a bit behind in grammar going into the year and we found Rod and Staff 6 to be a perfect fit. She flew through the dictation and I saw growth here as well. We have used IEW in the past so the Medivial writing was just an extension of what we had been using.
We started the science in RTR and my daughter found it engaging and enjoyable. Half way into our year she joined a co-op and so we stopped the science at that point.
On top of RTR she did use another math program and took high school Spanish on FLVS so her days were busy but she was able to complete everything in a typical 6 hour school day.
I have nothing but positive reviews for RTR and my daughter insists on using Rev. to Rev. for her first year of high school!
I know it will be a blessing to so many families to be able to get an inside glimpse into your year.