Curriculum Help

[supers]

We have decided to homeschool our three oldest children. We have chosen for two of them: LHFHG for Kindergarten and Beyond for 2nd grade. My oldest would be entering 4th grade (9yo), but is advanced. I wanted to know what program would be best from people who have used them. She reads novels and writes short stories on her own. Her evaluation recently put her at reading at grade 5.6 (public school evaluation) and math at grade 4.3. She learns extremely quickly, and can do work independently. She was in gifted services, so she was taught on a higher level than most 3rd graders. I don't want to hold her back by choosing something too easy, but I also don't want to overwhelm her. I was thinking creation to Christ would be best for her reading/math, but would she miss anything foundational for science/ history by starting here? She has studied ancient Egypt and a few other countries. Any input would be great!
Thanks!

[MomtoJGJE]

IMO, you really don't want to put a 9yo higher than Preparing. Have you checked the placement chart?

[MomtoJGJE]

To expound on that a little.... I know the age range lists 9-11. From my experience the lower end of the age range is really for kids who have come up through all the other guides with HOD. My kids are all ahead of grade level by at least one full school year, with my current 8.4yo being about three grade levels ahead she tested 4th grade level overall after her first grade year using Beyond... we haven't tested this year) and I cannot imagine her being in CTC next year. She's about halfway through Bigger now and it's more than enough and very challenging because she can dig even deeper into topics. My 10yo is about two months away from starting CTC. She's mine that "only" tests one grade level ahead and tested 4th grade level at the end of 3rd grade using Bigger and a few units of Preparing.

You can do math and grammar/spelling at their level/pace, and have them read more independently than the guide calls for to make it more challenging. As for DITHOR, you want the books to be easy for them to read so they can think more about the questions asked. For instance, since you said her reading level was tested at 5.6, you wouldn't want to go higher than the level 4 book pack, and probably level three because level three ranges from reading levels 3.5-5.1. You can give her harder more challenging books to actually practice reading in her free time.

[Jennymommy]

Preparing is a really fun year This is a good place to get familiar with all the skills built into HOD, without running too far ahead of her maturity. You would add DITHOR at her level of understanding, along with extension readers. You want to do the math and grammar at her level as well. She will still be plenty early for the highschool guides this way.

[crlacey]

Welcome!
I would agree that Preparing makes for a wonderful 4th grade year. Even though your child is gifted, there would be no need to push them into material that is too mature content wise than needed. You can always choose higher level books for them to read independently. But Preparing is really a year that prepares your child to start working more independently. We used CTC in 5th grade and even then it was very tough for the first half of the year even though we had used all of the previous guides.

[Nealewill]

It sounds like you checked the placement chart and your child places in CTC. If she reads really well, she can focus for 4.5 hours per day, and she likes to write, then I do think she will be fine in CTC. We started HOD last year and my oldest placed in Preparing at 8. She has a great year. She has done CTC this year and all went well again. My youngest actually started Beyond at 5 (I didn't realize how important the age ranges were) and so this year I chose not to put her in Bigger at 6. She did Little Hearts this year but 100% independent. My youngest is also gifted. She is doing grammar with her brother and her math is advanced. She is doing dictation spelling and excelling. All in all, she is doing Bigger next year and I am making her do it independently. This year in Little Hearts she has done it mostly independent - I have her read everything to herself and she just likes to read in general. She can read the level 4/5 books easily and reads everything she can get her hands on. She also likes to write. I get it. My youngest would be bored out of her mind if I didn't give her a load of work to do

So anyway, as long as you did check the placement chart and she really places there, then I think you will be fine. Just know that you may want to go 1/2 speed for a bit until she gets used to the schedule. Also, I would print off the first week of plans and check the websites out for the land animals book and the ancients book. I would verify that your dd wouldn't have any trouble with those books. And I do see that you listed that her reading level is 5.6 but the books that she will be reading are geared toward middle school or even junior high. So I would just check the sites, have her read some of the texts, see how long it takes her and see what she thinks. That is JMHO.

[supers]

Thank you all for your responses, being new to homeschooling and jumping in to do three kids at a time can be quite overwhelming, lol! I have looked into as many of the books on both levels and can say she definitely could handle CTC, but my concern is science. Apparently they only read from a text, maybe do a worksheet, and then test :/ I want to be sure she can handle the notebooking, so I think we'll go with Preparing and do math/english on her level, probably buy the books from CTC girl interest that she hasn't already read for independant reading, have her write some short stories, and then do CTC with history interest next year. This will allow me to focus more on the K and 2nd graders, and she might be able to entertain my almost 3yo if I'm busy with them. She also shows an interest in cooking, so maybe we'll add in some home-ec to fill her time I really appreciate all the advice! Thanks!

[Nealewill]

I think that sounds like a great plan.

And as for science, maybe I read your post wrong but it isn't set up that way at all. Science in CTC is extremely similar to Preparing. You read the text each day. On day one, you make a notebooking page based of off what you read. Day 2 you read the text and then orally narrate what was learned. Day 3, you read the text and then answer 5 written questions. And then on day 4, you read the text and complete a science experiment. There are no tests in CTC for science for this level. To be honest, I don't even think there are tests for science for R2R or RevtoRev. MTMM may have tests but I just don't know. Hopefully this is an encouragement as she moves up in level each year.

[3greatkids]

I pulled my 3 kids out of public schools and started homeschooling a third grader and two first graders two years ago. My kids were considered "advanced" by school standards (they don't test for gifted programming here until grade 3 though) but what they were receiving in public school wasn't nearly as comprehensive as HOD. They had not had any grammar and very little history or science. While they were able to do the work, we went 1/2 speed for a while. I looked at the placement chart and opted conservatively and am thankful I did. I think you will have a great year with Preparing and I hope that homeschooling is as wonderful for your family as it has proven to be for ours.

[supers]

For science only reading and testing, I was referring to what she was doing in public school, not the CTC curriculum, sorry I didn't make that clear!

[Nealewill]

Oh.....ha ha......I see

[LynnH]

It sounds like you have a plan. Preparing is a very solid 4th grade program. Written and oral narrations are very different from anything they do in public school. If they do anything they tell back a summary, but that is different from the type of thinking that goes into a narration. There is creative writing scheduled in Preparing and also writing in Rod and Staff English so really you wouldn't need to have her do any more. Preparing was the first guide my son did when I brought him home from ps and it was a great year. He had really only covered spotty time periods in history in ps so getting an overview of history from the beginning of time was great for him. It gave him lots of "hooks" of information to hang the detailed stuff he learned in future years.

[Rice]

I'm going to add my voice to confirm the soundness of your plan.

My 9yo is completing CTC this year. I don't know where he would test since he's always been public schooled but the books in HOD were a significant step down in literary difficulty from the curricula we came from (he'd already read a Shakespeare play), but HOD is more rigorous in written work and more rounded (especially since the other relied on my own planning too much). He tested around a Grade 7+ reading level last spring.

He's done well this year, but Preparing might have been a better choice. However, his older sister and brother both had some issues with their learning this year and it worked better to have them all separately placed and since my 13yo couldn't handle CTC he was the one I moved down to Preparing. I remain flexible as I move him on to R2R, knowing that I can take longer than a year for him to complete it, if that turns out to be best.

I think that you're wise, not only for her, but for your sanity as you jump into three homeschooling all at once you'll find that it's best for her not to be pushed all the time, but to be able to add, if she finds Preparing light. I was used to managing multiple kids in school (as you can see from my signature). It's not for the faint of heart! Blessings as you take on this journey, and welcome to HOD!

Blessings,

[blessedmomof4]

As a former Preparing user (also with an advanced reader who was age 10 and read several grades above grade level and coming from a year and a half of public school) I encourage you to start Preparing as written for a while before adding any "extras". It is a very different way of learning and takes some getting used to, for both mom and kids Once you both find your rhythm, then see if you feel like you need or want to add to it. In Preparing you have a choice of several levels of Singapore math. Singapore math is very advanced as well and quite different from other programs, so if you plan to use it, your advanced child should take the written placement test available on their website to be sure she is using the right level. To meet my daughter's voracious appetite for reading, in addition to using DITHR we made a lot of library trips. I found that, coming from public school, she needed the instruction in written narrations provided in Preparing, as well as the training toward more independent work. She most definitely would have tanked if she had jumped into CTC at the time. Just my own experience, and you know your child best, just wanted to offer my perspective You mentioned your daughter likes cooking-I seem to remember some of the history projects in Preparing had recipes too!