read aloud ? for Rev to Rev

[Maadrose]

How essential are the read aloud titles to the history portion? The catalog says they can be omitted if limited budget. We would miss reading them, but at this point I will be having my dd13yo read them to herself. I'm concerned about the amount of reading for her. There is reading in history, science, literature, etc. I would like to omit them but want to really make sure she wouldn't be missing an integral component to the history portion. The other option is to assign them in place of literature reading. If I do that, would I choose the regular package of read aloud titles or the extensions, or a combination of both? She will be in eighth grade and is a strong reader--enjoys reading. I will be counting some credits for high school for her while using Rev to Rev. She will receive credit for the science and history portions--I will be adding to the history portion to make it credit worthy as half of her American history requirement. She will receive the other half of the credit during MTMM for ninth grade. She will also be receiving a partial government credit with some added reading in addition to the signers portion. So I don't want to overwhelm her because she will be doing a heavy amount of reading for history and science. I will not be able to read the read aloud titles to her because of time constraints, working, and homeschooling 4 dc.

[Mom2Monkeys]

My 11yo dd is reading them herself. She enjoys them very much so far! It only takes her about 15m to read and ponder the higher level thinking questions or orally narrate. I think the skills within the box are quite deep and important. If you could at least borrow part of them as needed from the library, that would be better than none of buying isnt an option.

[StillJulie]

If you're concerned about her reading too much, would it be an option for you to read them to her?

[Maadrose]

There just isn't time for me to read them to her.

My concern is that she is already reading so much already with the history, science, literature, etc. she is a voracious reader anyway and I don't want to kill that love for reading. So she is already reading the content of the history, is it ABSOLUTELY necessary for her to read those titles? I know she will be missing out on great reading titles but many of them are books that she would probably pick up and read on her own. I just don't want to burden her. I also want to free up time for her to really read to learn with history and science. Many of the skills covered in the story time box we will cover with the lit study.

[Mom2Monkeys]

The skills in storytime differ from those in DITHOR (the lit study). They are quite specific. I'd probably at least do a few of them. Maybe every other one, and could always let her read the others for pleasure. I'm just really big on skills and we don't find them burdensome at all for my 6th grader who is just 11. She in fact, is the one that suggested I tell you dont' let her skip any of them! LOL She says it's one of the easiest parts of her day and she enjoys it.

YOu'll know best though, of course. I just can't recommend the skills or books enough!

[8arrows]

Are you already buying the extension packet? If so, you can skip the read alouds. Clearly, as the mom, you can skip whatever you want. We have really enjoyed the read alouds. My kids would mutiny if we skipped them (but two of them are in the age range that doesn't use the extensions). I might lay everything out, either physically or on paper, and see how many books she would be juggling to make a decision. What you are adding will make a difference whether you should include the read aloud set or not. It is listed as optional (though highly recommended). If she is doing the advanced science I might be tempted to skip the science readers before I would skip the read alouds (if you have to eliminate something). Again, if she is using the extensions, it is fine to skip the read alouds. Reb and the Rebcoats has been our favorite this year followed by Marie's Home.

[Maadrose]

I was not going to purchase the extension pack or the story time pack. I would really like to have her read several American lit classics etc. which is my reason for opting out of the above two packs. I'm just not really sure of the purpose of the story time or extension titles. Since we are aiming for high school credit I'd ideally like to skip them and have her focus on really comprehending the history and science portions. Then for lit focus on really great American lit. Haven't decided on continuing w DITHOR or using Teaching the Classics. Also should be noted that I will be adding to the history potion to make it high school credit worthy--thinking in the direction of All American History vol 1. Please do not think I am saying the story time titles are not important, etc. I'm just trying to decide how beneficial they will be. This yr in RTR she has read a mix of regular story time readers and extensions. We have not done the activities in the story time box and I just can't understand how they enhance the study. It just seems like its adding extra reading time which could be spent on really digesting history, science, and DITHOR.

[LynnH]

I can say for us this year doing Rev to Rev the read alouds have really enhanced his study of the history and allowed him to truly understand and absorb the facts of the history study. At least 2 of the books we have read are more non-fiction in nature, "Only the Names Remain" and "Florence Nightingale". He has a totally different understanding of what happened to Native Americans and the Crimean War than he would have had if he had only read the chapters assigned in the history spines. "Seaman" is historical fiction yes, but very factual based and again to read in the history spine about the Lewis and Clark expedition is one thing, but he didn't fully understand what an absolutely brave and amazing thing this expedition was until we read Seaman. For my ds at least these books take him from just reading about the history to truly understanding it in a way he will remember it. As for the follow up activities they have started him thinking in a much deeper way than he has been asked to before. This has been enlightening for me as his teacher to see where he is able to think deeply and then where he struggles. I can see where it really paves the way for the Socratic discussions we will have next year. You of course have to make the decision for what you think is best for your dd, but I just wanted to show you what I have seen the purpose of the storytime box to be in our home.

[Carrie]

Maadrose,

The ladies are doing a good job of discussing your questions with you! I can understand that as you look at beefing up Rev2Rev for high school it is easy to get overwhelmed in thinking that you need to add to it to make it work for your unique situation. However, it is so important not to add so much more textual type information and forego the more narrative and living connections that occur when reading the Storytime or Extension books along with the spines of the program!

So, in your situation, we would recommend that your child needs the Extension Set along with her spines scheduled in the Reading About History part of the guide. Students in her age range are actually the target of the Extension Set. Your daughter doesn't, however, need more textual information (like All American History:Volume I - which is a curriculum in itself) to add to the spines already in the guide. This would be heavily weighing her down in the textual area, and omitting the narrative extension books which bring a whole different facet and perspective to the learning.

The extension books are chosen to show different sides of the issues and situations that students are often reading about briefly in the text. When you look at the Extension (or the Storytime books) in this way, then the order in which they are scheduled to be read makes a huge difference! This is because they are scheduled to be read in conjunction with a specific period in time to flesh out that particular time period and make kiddos dwell on it and ruminate upon it. You can see then that simply reading the Storytime or Extension books on their own (not in any particular order without coordination with the history plans in the HOD guide) will not produce the same results, as at that point the child is simply reading a good book that has no connection to anything else. This is not the experience we're seeking for kiddos to have (as there are plenty of other good books out there to simply read for pleasure).

Each book in our packages holds a purposeful place in our guides. The reading of the book itself is as much a part of the lesson and learning as any follow-up that goes with it. Additionally, we are assuming that students at the Extension level are also doing the recommended written narration/oral narration/and research follow-ups. This really raises the level of the Extension Pack and makes the student sift and sort through what was read to share about it in a CM way. Without doing the follow-ups, your child is missing the upped level of skills in writing written narrations, giving oral narrations, and choosing topics of interest to include for research/notebooking (as described fully in the Appendix). I would consider these to be a necessary part of the readings at her age.

With all of this in mind, I would highly recommend that your student read the Extension books according to the schedule in the Appendix, including doing the recommended follow-ups. You will not need the Storytime books then at this level as they are targeted for a younger age range (however they are wonderful too)! I would not recommend adding All-American history to the program. There is no need to do that in order to award only a 1/2 credit in American history as the HOD guide is already very full on its own! Plus, it will add more textual material, which is not what is needed in the program. Additionally, it is good to remember that adding American literature classics is a great idea for credit in literature, but that will not replace the Extension books in the area of history. These are two different areas of credit. I know it is hard to figure out what to add and what to cut, so I hope this will make it a bit clearer for you!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Maadrose]

But if something HAD to be cut In Order to be able to financially afford using HOD, could the extensions be cut? Would the history portion still be credit worthy?

I do understand all that is being discussed and appreciate the responses that I have gotten. I am in no way saying that the extensions or the story time titles are unimportant please understand that is not my purpose.

I am concerned for two things:
The amount of reading required AND the cost.

[Mom2Monkeys]

But if something HAD to be cut In Order to be able to financially afford using HOD, could the extensions be cut? Would the history portion still be credit worthy?

I do understand all that is being discussed and appreciate the responses that I have gotten. I am in no way saying that the extensions or the story time titles are unimportant please understand that is not my purpose.

I am concerned for two things:
The amount of reading required AND the cost.

Perhaps you could afford the extensions if you weren't going to have to add All American History:Volume I as you were planning? Or perhaps find them one at a time as needed??

[8arrows]

You might be able to make it work if you carefully picked your literature to correspond to the same time period as the books in the extension pack, but it will be a lot of work. You could do Bejamin Franklin's autobiography (Mr. Franklin certainly had character deficiencies.) instead of Poor Richard, The Scarlet Pimpernel (I know I used some white-out in this one.) or Tale of Two Cities (can't remember about the white-out as I did this one a while ago with the older boys) instead of In Search of Honor, etc.

However, why not just let her use the guide as is without extensions (or a few extensions) in 8th grade for just 8th grade? Then you can do MTMM for 9th with economics, Geography for 10th, World for 11th, and the next guide American History 1 with gov. for 12th? I think this would be a much easier scenerio. What do you think?

I think you could give a full credit for MTMM with extensions for 9th. I know this has been discussed somewhere. But even if you only gave a 1/2, you would have another 1/2 credit with economics.

My daughter is using REV2REV with extensions for high school credit this year. We did add the first 1/2 of BJU history as well since I had it from her brothers. Carrie would not recommend this since it is adding a textbook. I did it for ease of grading and because I was very familiar with it. With this addition we did skip a couple of the ship books in the extensions. She has read Mama's Bank Account, Ivanhoe, Scarlet Letter, and The Scarlet Pimpernel (with SMARR guide) for literature.We are just finishing Teaching the Classics and will head into Windows to the World (also left over from her brothers). We will take that into some of next year. I know you aren't trying to up the literature component, but I just wanted to give you a little more picture of what we are doing, because the lines between subjects can blur in high school. I think that is a good thing. She is using EIW for writing and used some of what she had learned to write an essay about the Scarlet Pimpernel. Although that is for Literature; it is also about the fear and spirit of the French Revolution.

I will say that I am looking forward to the high school guides that already have everything laid out. That is why I think just waiting to start credits in high school may be a good answer for you and a breath of fresh air. The guides I needed would not all be written before my daughter graduated, so I am adding as needed to those already written. I must say that we are enjoying this tour through high school much more than with my two older boys. I think HOD is great at adding the literature that makes for great connections and great discussions. Good luck with your choices. We are a blessed homeschool community.

[Carrie]

I'm so glad that 8arrows came back and posted, as I somehow missed the fact that your daughter is in the 8th grade going into this guide! I was thinking your daughter was a 9th grader. This does make a huge difference! I'm so sorry for the confusion! I honestly have never visited about beefing up a guide for high school credit with someone who is desiring to do this for an 8th grader. This is why it threw me for a loop!

I agree that I wouldn't push your daughter into trying to earn high school credit as an 8th grader through Rev2Rev. Instead, I would just let her be an 8th grader and hone all of the needed skills that will help her so much as she heads into high school! In the case where you are not counting credit for high school, you could forego the Storytime and the Extension books due to budgetary needs, even though your daughter would be missing such great books and connections.

If you are working toward high school credit though, you'd need to add the Extension set of books. If you are concerned about your daughter having too much reading, I would take a good look at what you are adding to Rev2Rev. The guide as written has a good balance of reading. Often it is when we begin adding things to a guide that things quickly get overwhelming!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Maadrose]

I guess I was thinking of counting partial American history credit for eighth because our state doesn't require all of the guides that will be written for high school. We only need world history OR geography, 1 year of American history and half year each of government and Econ. So it was my intent to get half of the American history this yr and the other half next year. Then choose either the geography or world history. For now the geography looks great but I'm not sure it's in line with our needs. I'm also not sure it would be a good fit for us. It does look fabulous though. It seems like the science isn't going to line up either with the geography guide as we only need 3 sciences for the core 40 requirements. Please don't take that as offense anyone. And thank you to anyone who is talking this through with me. I really appreciate it. Right now I'm just deciding if we will be able to continue to afford HOD or if I should just go out on my own. While it is super convenient to have everything already written and planned for me, that does come with a heavy price tag! I do have an education degree and am actually teaching currently although part time, so I am confident in my abilities. I'm just wondering if there is a less expensive option for some of these subjects.