Need Placement Help PLEASE

[DawnTay]

Hi all,
I started homeschooling my daughter last year. She was 11 and going into the 6th grade. After some guidance from a friend who was also using HOD, I started her out in Preparing with extensions. We did start the year a little late in my opinion, and with summer added to that, we are actually still working on Preparing. Actually just about half way done! eek! My daughter is now 12 and should be in the 7th grade. I realize that when you are homeschooling, grade level doesn't matter as much, but there is the possibility we may send her back to the Christian Private school in town by 8th or 9th grade. So, just in case we do this, I want to be sure she is where she needs to be. I thought about just skipping her up to Creation to Christ or the one after that, but I don't want her to have any learning gaps either. She does well with what we are working on, but I do think she is capable of doing much more. I also just LOVE preparing and would hate to not finish it and just move forward from here. But I'm very concerned she will be behind if we send her to the 8th grade next year. (or 9th the year after) I would really love some advice and/or help if there is anyone out there willing to give it. Preparing just seems to be more for younger kids.... She will be 13 June 2014.

[TrueGRIT]

I don't really know how to help you. Maybe check the placement chart and really evaluate your daughter. See if she can do all of Preparing w/o gaps in skills - if so she might could move up to CTC?
At the very least I'll bump your post up for someone else to see.

[pjdobro]

Given her age and the fact that you say that she is ready for more academically, I would probably try to do school everyday, instead of 4 days a week, and finish out Preparing so you can start CTC. You could also do that 5 days a week and cover it more quickly if you wanted. I would definitely want her to finish out Preparing since it is such a wonderful guide! The workload is a pretty big jump up at CTC also so I wouldn't want to just skip ahead to it, though it might be worthwhile at this point to take a look at the placement chart to see where she currently places. Do you feel she is inaccurately placed and could/should be in another guide?

My other thought is that if you are sending her back to a regular school later you want to make sure that the 3 R's in particular are on track. What are you doing for math, grammar, reading, etc.? You might be able to cover those more quickly doing reading 5 days a week instead of 3, cover a bit more math each day, etc. if you feel she isn't up to the level she needs to be right now and could handle the faster pace, then you possibly could cover a bit more each day and/or do 5 days a week.

Those are a few thoughts I had. I'm curious though what you are thinking as far as how she places now and what levels she is currently doing in the 3 Rs. How is she doing with the written narrations and independent work in Preparing? How are you days going? Are they going quickly or is it taking a while? Are you both enjoying it? Is your dd still doing the extensions? One thing to remember is that with the extensions, you are extending the guide to a higher level already so when/if you do CTC with extensions that would be 7th grade level as long as you are doing the 3Rs at 7th grade level as well.

I think there is a lot to the guides that doesn't meet the eye and in general the whole CM philosophy of learning really gives a dc a great way to learn. So dc who have been reading books at this level, doing narrations, notebooking, etc. and have become independent learners have quite an advantage when compared to their peers schooled in a traditional way. Though the transition to the traditional learning environment can be difficult, in general I think the tools they have developed in learning will serve them well there.