Which guides to miss?

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Mgs
Posts: 135
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:31 pm

Which guides to miss?

Post by Mgs » Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:35 pm

I have decided for now to back down to doing 1 guide with the three older kids (bigger- 9&11). We are mostly using it as a guide for science, history and poetry. Next year I’ll do preparing (possibly with all, or let the 11 yr old (will be 12) restart creation to Christ since we will be spending some time in ancients with preparing, and he’s already quite a ways into creation to Christ). Either way they will miss out on a guide or two depending. Are there any guides in the upper levels that you wouldn’t want to miss/ wouldn’t care if you missed? Will it be hard to use Rev to Rev in high school?

Hope
Posts: 40
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 8:35 pm

Re: Which guides to miss?

Post by Hope » Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:10 pm

There are links at the top of the board with guidance for using the middle guides for High School credit. A number of moms did use the middle guides for High School credit before the High School guides were written.

Here is a link, and if you follow the links on it you should get a lot of helpful information:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6571. Two of the links have how to use CTC and RTR for High School; MTMM and Rev2Rev are in the various threads too.

My children’s favorite guide in the upper levels was MTMM. It really is fabulous! And, it has a state study that is helpful.

The guide and books they have liked the least is World Geography.

Blessings,

Mgs
Posts: 135
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:31 pm

Re: Which guides to miss?

Post by Mgs » Thu Mar 23, 2023 9:18 pm

Thank you, I have the geography guide and didn’t care for it Either (impression of it). I didn’t want to miss the middle school guides- they all look wonderful. I’m guessing I’d need to add geography in for highschool credit. I’ll have to reread those posts soon.

Jaimejac
Posts: 114
Joined: Wed May 04, 2022 5:02 am

Re: Which guides to miss?

Post by Jaimejac » Fri Mar 24, 2023 6:05 am

Hi Mgs,

If you don’t mind me asking, I’m curious why you’re dropping back from CTC? I thought you’re 9 &11 yo were enjoying it and doing well?

Blessings,
Jaime
Christ Alone Homeschool
DD10 - Res to Ref
DS7 - Bigger
DS6- Little Hearts
4 babies in heaven

Mgs
Posts: 135
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:31 pm

Re: Which guides to miss?

Post by Mgs » Fri Mar 24, 2023 7:21 am

They were doing fine, it just was a lot of them working alone and I miss our group conversations. I noticed my 9 year old daughter’s personality was also struggling. As a mom you just know. I felt like I was so BUSY trying to get through all these guides each day, and my focus was so much on “getting it done” vs just being with them. I have a bigger family so that plays a role. I wish I found it sooner and combined them then. I want to help them more with ELA/Math, do some history/science together, then allow them some independent learning.

Hope
Posts: 40
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 8:35 pm

Re: Which guides to miss?

Post by Hope » Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:23 am

Geography isn’t a High School graduation requirement; it also isn’t required for college entrance.

The essential requirements for High School graduation and college entrance for history are:
U.S. History
World History
American Government

It leaves time for an elective history year to get a full four credits (or more) in history. HOD uses Geography for that elective year.

The threads I linked above show how moms used the middle guides for High School credit.

daybreaking
Posts: 312
Joined: Thu May 20, 2010 12:21 pm

Re: Which guides to miss?

Post by daybreaking » Fri Mar 24, 2023 11:27 am

Hope wrote:
Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:23 am
The essential requirements for High School graduation and college entrance for history are:
U.S. History
World History
American Government
Just a reminder (to others - not Hope :) ) to double check the homeschool regulations for your particular state. For instance, our state also requires a half year of economics be taught as part of its history requirements. :wink:
Last edited by daybreaking on Sun Mar 26, 2023 12:18 pm, edited 4 times in total.

Wife to one amazing husband and mother to two precious blessings from above:
ds21 & dd16

Mgs
Posts: 135
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:31 pm

Re: Which guides to miss?

Post by Mgs » Fri Mar 24, 2023 3:30 pm

I can see with a smaller family (2-4) children how nice it would work. Not sure what we will do.. not worried about academics, my dh is an amazing teacher and helps us stay on track in that regard no matter what we end up using.

Rice
Posts: 526
Joined: Tue Aug 06, 2013 10:00 am

Re: Which guides to miss?

Post by Rice » Sun Mar 26, 2023 1:50 pm

Mgs wrote:
Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:35 pm
Next year I’ll do preparing (possibly with all, or let the 11 yr old (will be 12) restart creation to Christ since we will be spending some time in ancients with preparing, and he’s already quite a ways into creation to Christ).
I would not have your son restart CTC, but pick up where you left off and continue on. We did this our first year with HOD. I actually had 2 kids who had to each move down a guide in order to succeed, so we did units 1-10 of guide Y, moved down and did Units 1-25 of guide X to finish out our first year, then the second year finished guide X (units 26-35) and then jumped back into guide Y, which they had started at the beginning of the previoius year and finished units 11-35. It worked well and they were able to grasp where they were in history. Re-doing the units they had already completed would have been redundant and frustrating.
Mgs wrote:
Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:35 pm
Are there any guides in the upper levels that you wouldn’t want to miss/ wouldn’t care if you missed?
Skipping guides in the middle (especially before the high school guides) is challenging for both mom and student due to the skills taught in each guide building on the ones from the last. For that reason, we just did the guides in order and skipped the ones they didn't get to.

However, we are not American and so most of my kids will stop HOD after WH anyway, and add in Canadian and interest-based studies for their last year or two.
When using some of the middle school guides for high school, you would have two choices to get American History in for their transcript (and this is where checking your state requirements is important):
1) add some to MTMM (and Rev2Rev?) to make it cover American history. Pulling in a few books from US 1 and 2 could be done fairly easily, especially if you drop the corresponding number of books from the Extensions to make room, rather than overloading them - just sub out some world history books for American history books to make sure that is covered.
2) do the middle school guides as written then skip WG or WH (under the direction of HOD - I would call them to discuss what is best for your student based on their skills, the requirements of your state, etc.) to then be able to do US1 or 2 at the end.

You'll also need to look ahead and consider what else you may need to drop and add to get things like Economics, Civics, Personal Finance in your schedule.

Personally, I am glad my kids will all do WG and WH. The World Religions and Cultures study is excellent and I even cut half the World Geography to allow time to do WR&C, since we need only 1, not 1 1/2 credits of social studies. I also really appreciate the BJU Fundamentals in Literature and EIW scheduled in English in that guide.

One other aspect of looking at the need for skipping, is making sure when you start that your child is placed well for their skills. For example, if your 12yo places in CTC for skills, that's fine if you then need to use middle school guides for high school. However, if your 12yo could do RTR or even Rev2Rev, then placing them in CTC is holding them back, and that creates high school issues for you as a mom that you don't need to deal with if you place them in RTR or Rev2Rev. If you have to because that's where their skills are, it's totally worth it. If they could do more, let them.
Mgs wrote:
Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:35 pm
Will it be hard to use Rev to Rev in high school?
Is it hard to use it? No. Does it mean needing to make some adjustments and possibly sub some things out/in to get the credits you need? Yes.

If using Rev2Rev for grade 9, it's great. However, the next year in MTMM you will need to find an alternate Literature, as DITHOR can be used for 9th (using the 6/7/8 workbook and as challenging of books as your student can handle from the available book packs), but isn't advised for 10th.

If using MTMM for 9th, I would recommend switching sciences between Rev2Rev and MTMM, as Rev2Rev's EE Advanced is good for high school credit, but if using Rev2Rev for 9th, I'd use the EE science with that, and MTMM's science will need supplementing for high school credit.

Otherwise, the History, etc. is fine in Rev2Rev for 9th and MTMM for 10th, especially when adding the Extensions.

Blessings,
Rice

DS 21 - GRAD '20: after WG
DD 19 - GRAD '21: after WH
DS 17 - GRAD '22; did CTC-WH + 2yrs non-HOD (🇨🇦)
DS 15 not using a guide this year (DONE: LHFHG-MTMM)
DS 13 MTMM (DONE: Prep-Rev2Rev)
DS 11 +
DD 9 CTC (DONE: Prep)
6yo DS phonics

Mgs
Posts: 135
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:31 pm

Re: Which guides to miss?

Post by Mgs » Tue Mar 28, 2023 6:49 am

I guess I just have to take it 1 year at a time 😂. It is so much better for us right now.. and the guide does go up to 11 with extensions, so it makes sense. We are almost done, so going to slow down a lot, I love these book choices in bigger. I think American is such a literature rich year, so many good books I don’t want to rush through. If he restarts creation to Christ in the fall I would just have him pick up where he left off.

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