Where to Start

[Homeschooling6]

Hi, Ladies,

I would like to keep my children together but not sure if that's possible. They are all close in age but academically is another story .

I have dd12, ds11, ds10, ds9 and ds7. This will be for next school year 12/13, so they will all be a year older .

I would like to use CtC but am not sure my youngest who will be 8yrs. old can handle the writing. All my boys are also late readers who are not strong readers. DD is a very good reader. Same with spelling. My boys are currently working their way through AAS and using Simply Spelling which is prepared dictation. They copy and study the passage 3x week and I dictate it Fri.

Because my youngest son is currently learning to read still (cvs words finally ) I am not sure how he will be a year from now.

Okay now for questions. Would it be better to split the children up? Have my 12, 11 and 10 your old do CtC and the two younger boys use Preparing (I'm mostly wondering because of the writing, spelling and dictation passages)?

If I don't split them up are there dictation passages that my two younger one can handle (I could always use something else for LA as well). Most likely the older children will use Shurley English or Analytical Grammar (we already own them).

I would really like for my three older kids to do a lot independently but again even my two middle boys are not where they should be with reading. I may have to read most everything, anyone else using CtC this way?

Sorry for so many questions. I wouldn't mind using two guides but am not sure if I can really handle it. I'm still teaching phonics, grammar, writing,spelling and so forth with many of my kids. Plus my oldest will start high school as well.

I guess my main concern is the two younger ones. Any help or advice will be much appreciated.

Blessings,
Linda<><

[water2wine]

I would definitely look at the placement chart http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php and place them by level but assuming that lines up CTC sounds like a good idea for your older three. The younger two I would probably re-think just based on where your youngest is. I might look more at Bigger if your 7 year old could place there. Preparing requires a lot of skills that your 7 year old does not look ready for yet and Bigger is plenty for your 9 year old. I do have a 7 and 9 year old doing Preparing myself. But my 7 year old reads on a very high level, writes well and can spell. Don't ask me how that happened it has to be that she has only had HOD. To me age is important but skill levels are really more important and for your youngest I would in particular look at anything LA related. For the long haul I think those groups together are going to work. With the younger ones it evens out when they get those LA skills and then after that a 2 year span works well in general. HTH.

[my3sons]

I would love to hear your thoughts after checking out the placement chart! I would be glad to help with more specific placement then, so if you get the chance to share your findings with the placement chart in mind, we will all be sure to jump in with options you can consider! I think it helps to print just the first page of the placement chart and make a copy for each child. Then, you can circle in each column where a child best fits and see visually which HOD guide each child would individually best place in. From that information, we can suggest different options that fit your family the best. We do 3 HOD guides, as my dc are quite spread out and have very different needs. We LOVE our days with HOD - they flow smoothly, and each child is happily doing school so well! I'd love to help you with placement so your family can get to enjoying HOD too. I'll check back here later to see what you've found!

In Christ,
Julie