Preparing Hearts - could you stretch for a 7th grader

[1shortmomof4]

I'd love to be able to do this with my dd next year but she is entering the 7th grade level in her studies. I'm using a lower level right now for my 2nd grade son and while he wouldn't be ready for Preparing as he isn't reading on his own yet, this is the kind of curriculum that you actually can handle working on 2 different levels at once. Just wondering if this would enough for a 7th grade adding in the 5/6th items or would I need even more?

Heidi

[MamaMary]

Hi Heidi, (((Waving)))

I have no idea, but I couldn't see your sweet smiling face and not pop in! I can't wait to hear what the others say!

[water2wine]

Hi Heidi!

I am excited to see the answer to your question. I think Carrie is the only one who can answer it besides others here who may have seen it already. I can't wait to hear the answer and I thin it is a great question. Anyway excited to see you!

[kerby]

Am I on the wrong board?

I am curious, too.

[netpea]

welcome to the board. I'm not going to be any help either, my kiddos are K and 2nd. But I wanted to say HI!

[1shortmomof4]

I didn't realize you all would remember me. Sometimes in this big www one can feel like a little fish - while I haven't an answer to my question - yet - it sure was a special to see your notes tonight. Made my day!
Heidi

[Carrie]

Heidi,

Welcome to the boards. I've been pondering the answer to your question today, as I didn't want to make a snap judgement. Saturdays are also big writing days for me as my hubby makes time to watch the kiddos while I write, so I didn't get back here until now!

I think the feeling of whether Preparing... would be enough for a 7th grader in the area of history, depends on what that child has had in the past for history study and also what your philosophy of education is.

For a CM-style educator, Preparing... would probably feel like enough in the area of history with its judicious selection of books read slowly over time, its emphasis on narrating (both oral and written), notebooking, Bible study, and basic introduction to research. For a textbook-style educator or a classical educator with emphasis on volume of material read and on answering questions, writing essays, outlining, and researching it would not be enough.

You would also need to add in your own language arts (English and writing), math, and additional science. Drawn into the Heart of Reading is enough at the 6/7/8 Level for a 7th grader's literature study.

If you are doing "Preparing..." with a younger student and wanted to have the 7th grader involved as well, I think it could work in that situation. You could easily expect more if needed in each area as you worked through the program. I find it easier to beef up a program than to water it down. If it was meant for a 7th grader to do on his/her own, I don't think it would be the best curriculum choice for that child then. However, I will say I have often been surprised at the way creative moms are able to make a program fit their child in ways I never imagined, so you may have a different opinion than mine.

I hope this helps! I wish we had our upper level programs complete at this time, so I could just point you in that direction. With my oldest son son heading into 7th grade next year, I wanted to think through whether it would be enough for him in order to carefully ponder through your question.

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

Hi Heidi! It's nice to meet you! I think Carrie answered this so well already. I just wanted to comment on what you said here:

this is the kind of curriculum that you actually can handle working on 2 different levels at once.

I am doing Little Hearts..., Bigger..., and DITHOR right now, and having a very happy year. I think you are exactly right in your above comment. As far as Preparing... and your questions about that, I'd love to hear your thoughts after you read Carrie's post, and also, whatever thoughts you had after checking out the placement chart. We've found that to be accurate in placing our children. HTH - glad you're here!

[water2wine]

Heidi,

I have been thinking about this. I have my oldest going into Preparing on the second half of 6th grade and then continuing on into 7th grade level. I started mid year so we are on the half year cycle with everything but LA and Math. We are using Bigger now and looking forward to Preparing. It hit me very clear just now that for you I just needed to think what would I do. So here is what I came up with in my head and if it is long forgive me I am killing time with a bunch of sickies today.

Here is what I love about preparing. I really haven't seen anything like it, and that is two fold. First, there literally is nothing like HOD both in material and in what I hate to just simply call customer service but I am at a loss for any other way to describe it, however it is in truth more of a ministry. I definitely feel that HOD has partnered with my family to help me get what we want for our children spiritually, morally and intellectually. And I know if there were ever a place where their vision did not match mine, they would work with me to achieve my vision for my family and give me their best advice on how to get to what is in my heart even if it is different than what was in theirs. I can't think of an age when that is more important than the preteen just becoming a teen years. So for me getting my kids plugged in there and knowing really that for us our values will be like minded is a tremendous burden lifted from me.

Second is the content of what is being studied. There is the HOD way that is awesome and will make it different in itself. And then there is the fact that your child really gets a tour of history all in one year. The classical model says do four years over and over and one cycle leads to the rest. I think it is a good theory and I do want chronological history but in my head I think it is naive to think that they will actually tie together each year to the next just because it came before. I can see the year before leading into the next and the flow of that but I am at a loss to see them tying in the whole picture. Beyond that I have no idea how all of history ties in myself. While I will freely admit my field before I was a mom was science, I will also freely admit I dropped out of highschool the age of 15 years old (I know that is before it is legal but I still did it) to become the bread winner for a time in my family. When I did get into college history was not a priority since in general I hated history and in practice I missed most of it anyway. That of course is me, but I bet 95% of the parents that enjoyed history still do not have solid grasp on the over all world history in a snap shot. Many may have American but few really have all four cycles in their mind leading together and are linking them for their children unless they are a pioneer in homeschooling.

And even if you really had a great understanding of the big picture, looking back would not a year taken to review it all and connect the dots from one cycle to the next have made great sense before you did four cycles of history? To me that just makes a lot of sense. So even though my oldest, who is an advanced reader, will have most of seventh grade on something maybe I would have picked in the sixth grade for her I am very excited to do it with her and just pick the higher level extension pack and require her to connect things a little more. In fact I am relieved to do this study at a "simpler" level because that gives her a very clear foundation of what will come for the next four years and I know she will absorb it all. Then she goes into the in depth study of each cycle of hisotry with a clear snapshot in her mind of where she is heading.

As far as what else will we use with it, for Math she will be doing Saxon finishing up 76 and moving to Algebra 1/2 I am hoping. For LA she will be doing R&S English level 6 and moving into level 7 aloud with DITHR on the higher level using the books form the $5 list on HOD. And then we will be doing the higher level extension pack with the Short Lessons in World History book added to it. Along with that she will do HOD Bible and a chronological study of the New Testament, and that will complete our first tour of the Bible. So to me that is looking pretty beefy for her even up through 7th grade and then we will do the next level HOD that I know Carrie will be releasing next season. When we get to where she is clearly out of the age range, I will have some that are well within age range so I may actually continue on some level with her adding to the Science and presenting her with some deeper level world view material so that HOD becomes kind of the overview for something else is what is in my head now. We'll see when we get there. But she has at least a good 4 years of HOD that she will easily get and still be appropriate for her age.

I guess the only question is if we were on clearly only the 7th grade level would we have our daughter doing Preparing and the answer, without hesitation, is yes. She needs the over view year of all of History more than she needs a "level". So hope that helps to either confirm or deny that it would work for your family.

[Carrie]

Ladies,

I did want to pop in and thank water2wine for her excellent comments that I completely agree with! The way she outlined her goals for her kiddos, I would agree that "Preparing...." would be enough for a 7th grader.

I did also want to mention that I am adjusting the "Preparing Hearts..." package to remove "Short Lessons in World History", not because of controversial content, but because it is too difficult for a 6th grader. So, if you did add Short Lessons in World History for a 7th grader, it would bump up the level of Preparing.... considerably for the last half of the year.

I just cannot schedule the "Short Lessons..." book in the Extension package, while leading moms of 6th graders to believe it is right on their 6th grader's level. While an advanced 6th grader would have no trouble with it, an average one would, so I needed to remove it to eliminate that confusion.

One other change is to the Preparing Hearts... Economy Package. I am replacing the Genesis 1 and 2 study with a study of the Psalms that I will be writing into the "Preparing... guide itself. I really felt that if I want to make sure that the Bible is integrated throughout the school day, I can't include a book that could just be lifted out (like the Kay Arthur Genesis study). I needed to instead write the Bible into the guide, as we have done in "Bigger...", so it is there to be done daily with no additional purchase necessary.

As the guide comes together, there are always some package changes, but the overall spine of the program remains the same.

Just wanted to clear up the upates.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Callia]

Carrie,

I am more and more amazed with the thought and concern you put into each aspect of your manuals. I hope you have at least some idea of how much you are appreciated.

You know I continue to pray for your family. Please pace yourself! Don't burn out!

Thank you!! Adding the Bible content into the "Preparing Hearts" manual itself sounds wonderful. We love the way everything is woven together in "Bigger Hearts".

[MamaMary]

Carrie,

I am more and more amazed with the thought and concern you put into each aspect of your manuals. I hope you have at least some idea of how much you are appreciated.

You know I continue to pray for your family. Please pace yourself! Don't burn out!

Thank you!! Adding the Bible content into the "Preparing Hearts" manual itself sounds wonderful. We love the way everything is woven together in "Bigger Hearts".

I totally agree.

[1shortmomof4]

I so very much appreciated all the valuable advice and insight. I hadn't really given much thought to what my education philosphy has been. I've been hsing for now almost 4 years and only within this past year have I really begun to think about what my philosophy versus how I learned as a child and relying on only that method. I guess when it comes down to it I'm a CM girl at heart although not all of my 4 kids are CM-style learners. I really appreciated water2wine's comments about the 4 year history cycle and whether a child is really able to put it all together when it is said and done. My exposure to history is probably completely different than many others as I grew up overseas living in underdevelopment countries. We did not study American history or even ancient history - we studies social history. We learned about the host country's cultures, values, religions, etc but never once did I learn about American history until I attended 10 th grade in the US. I took the required coursework to graduate from hs and then moved on into higher history studies in college. I found it fascinating then but in high school it was to study hard to make the good grade. So, now here I am tasked with educating my own kids in the US. If I picked up what I needed in HS to be prepared for college my thoughts are that a gentle exposure and the freedom to explore topics as interests arise is probably, for us, the best approach at this point. My dd has studied much early American history but nothing from the ancient times nor anything beyond the shores of North America. I will have to give more thought at watch for samples and see how things finally end up when this program is released. It is definitely something I will keep in thought and prayer. It is very hard to have 4 kids with just enough gap in age and skills that they aren't able to work together as much as I'd like and HOD really makes doing different levels manageable without mom (or the teacher) losing their perspective on things. I'm enjoying working through Beyond with my 2nd grader and DITHOR with my 6th and 8th graders - they've now been exposed to some genres of reading they never would have tried on their own. We've made some great family memories and looking forward to so many more.
Heidi

[water2wine]

One other change is to the Preparing Hearts... Economy Package. I am replacing the Genesis 1 and 2 study with a study of the Psalms that I will be writing into the "Preparing... guide itself. I really felt that if I want to make sure that the Bible is integrated throughout the school day, I can't include a book that could just be lifted out (like the Kay Arthur Genesis study). I needed to instead write the Bible into the guide, as we have done in "Bigger...", so it is there to be done daily with no additional purchase necessary.

I am so excited that was done! That could not be more perfect for us. We just did a really extensive Genesis study on our own and I had just said to my husband that since you did Proverbs this year we would do Psalm next year along with our own NT Bible reading. So this could not be more perfect for us! Just today I said that to him. And I looked at Short Lessons in World History online. To me it looks like something that would be very easy for my oldest daughter to read on her own and then we would discuss the Critical Thinking points together or she could write a short answer and we could discuss that. It seems like if you wanted to use it that it coordinating it would be really simple since it seems to be clearly defined nuggets of time. So if it is a good source I would just plug it in on the side for my oldest only. Especially since the content has already been checked. And I am thinking when I see the finished guide it will be obvious how to coordinate it by just topic. This year I just used the Key Idea to coordinate things and it was super simple. I coordinated some character study to the Proverbs this way. Perfect.