Combining 12 and 14 yo

[MamaKim]

Hi there! I have been stuck in a land of indecision and I'm ready to throw in the towel.

I have a son who will be 12 in July, and a daughter who just turned 14 this week. We have been a bit lazy in the past. I don't even have a good excuse. But this year we worked pretty hard and are in a better place with Math and language arts than we have been in years. What we lack is a solid history, science and literature program. I have used HOD in the past and loved it, but drifted away. I'm back again in a WAY better place and really struggling to place them (hopefully together).

My daughter is somewhat "repeating" 8th grade to give her more time to catch up with math. We are blurring 8th and 9th so she gets four more years to "complete" high school in 2025.

My son is pretty much on track, and is finishing up his 6th grade year.. but because he is a young kiddo for his "grade" we might extend his schooling an extra year also.

We plan to continue the current math, English, and word building (spelling/vocab) we currently have.

Here's where I'm hesitantly at.

They want to work through CTC. They want to do work through Ancients, but I think it's become familiar. (I'm over ziggurats as we have 'started over' sooooo many times). But okay, if we were to, is that just wayyyyy to young for them? If so, where SHOULD we begin?

Advice is so appreciated.

[StephanieU]

Have you looked at the placement chart and determined where each one places? I would think CtC would probably be low. RtR might be a great place to start. It is fairly straightforward to adjust Rev2Rev and MtMM for high school, but RtR takes more adjustment. You could get some of the books for CtC and just let them read them before you start RtR if they want to study that period.

[Carrie]

Hello! We're glad to have you here!

I agree that it would help if you could look mainly at the first page of the placement chart linked here: https://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

That would help us know better where your kiddos might fit in HOD. Placement is quite dependent on reading, writing, and independence levels.

If you get a chance to pop back and share your thoughts after looking at the chart that would help! If you are overwhelmed with the chart, you could just share titles of a few books your kiddos are each reading right now, share what they have used for history and science this past year and whether they are used to reading their own history and science, share how many hours a day they are used to doing school, share if they read and follow written directions pretty easily, can work independently, and are used to writing quite a bit throughout their day? Either way, will work!

Blessings,
Carrie

[MamaKim]

Okay thank you. For chart recommendations my knee jerk was to put the 12 year old boy in CTC and my daughter in Rev to Rev. Her favorite story was "One Small Step- The Year I Had Polio." She is currently reading the second Harry Potter and prior to that read "The Fault in Our Stars." (Yes, I know that is mature, she wanted to keep up with her older sisters, so I allowed it.

My reasoning for holding her back with her brother was because they LOVE working together.

She is diagnosed with dyslexic but has really come very far with her reading and spelling. She loves to do copywork and is probably a year or maybe even 2 behind her public school peers academically. Not much experience writing essays, but a little. She wrote three this year for co-op but I really had to redirect her from unintentionally plagiarizing.

My son is a reluctant reader. He's content with graphic novels. I recently checked his reading level with the Reading IQ app and I believe he placed in about a 5th grade level.

Does that help at all?

We have like ZERO science under our belt.

[Carrie]

Thanks so much for sharing a bit more about your kids. Based on what you've shared thus far, it does sound like your son would be well-placed in CTC and your daughter would fit well in Revival to Revolution. Since you shared that they love to work together, you could also consider combining them within RTR instead. This might mean your son would be quite challenged in RTR, as he would need to be reading his own material each day. Yet, it would allow your pair to work together. If your son ended up over-challenged in RTR, you could always bump him down to CTC and continue in RTR with your daughter. They would each need their own levels of language arts and math either as written in the guide or with whatever you are currently using successfully in those areas. It would be very good for them to do Drawn into the Heart of Reading as well.

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

Thanks so much for sharing a bit more about your kids. Based on what you've shared thus far, it does sound like your son would be well-placed in CTC and your daughter would fit well in Revival to Revolution. Since you shared that they love to work together, you could also consider combining them within RTR instead. This might mean your son would be quite challenged in RTR, as he would need to be reading his own material each day. Yet, it would allow your pair to work together. If your son ended up over-challenged in RTR, you could always bump him down to CTC and continue in RTR with your daughter. They would each need their own levels of language arts and math either as written in the guide or with whatever you are currently using successfully in those areas. It would be very good for them to do Drawn into the Heart of Reading as well.

Blessings,
Carrie

I agree! Thanks for sharing about your kiddos, and your son sounds like he places in CTC, while your daughter placed in RevtoRev. However, if combining is a priority, you could put them together in RTR. If you decide to try to combine them, you could give it a good month or two. Then, if it is proving too difficult for ds and too easy for dd, you could move your dd up to RevtoRev at that time, and either move your son back to CTC (using RTR the next year with him) or do half-speed RTR with him. All of these guides are good, so it's just a matter of what placement fits your individual children and your overall family needs the best! Hope this helps!

In Christ,
Julie

[MamaKim]

I SO appreciate your feedback. I am going to just take the two-guide approach. I think it would serve them better in the long run, and I have learned the hard way that letting the kiddos lead isn't always what's best for them. (Sorry unschoolers.. it's just not for us!)

Thank you again for your time spent in responding.

-Kim

[my3sons]

Oh good! I think you made a good decision! I've always enjoyed teaching multiple guides in our home. It gives me special time with each child, and it lets me tailor the guides to each child's specific needs. I also find they share more of their thoughts and their hearts with me privately, especially in regard to their faith, their questions, their goals, and their struggles. I think it's good they have different amounts of time expected of them work-wise too - just works nicely with their different levels of age and maturity. I hope you have a fantastic year with your guides and homeschooling your kiddos, Kim!!!

In Christ,
Julie