Placement for 8th/9th grader

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easnave
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 3:12 pm
Location: North Carolina

Placement for 8th/9th grader

Post by easnave » Sat Apr 27, 2013 5:08 pm

Hi Everyone!
I'm new here at the HOD boards and to HOD and very excited to be planning a purchase to use in the fall. I have read and re-read tons of posts on here and have enjoyed learning about the curriculum. I still have questions/doubts on where to place my child. Let me give you some information. My only daughter is 13, turning 14 Aug 30th. This year we are using Beautiful Feet Medieval History for intermediate/Jr. High and while the books are great, I'm finding I need more structure. Before that we used MFW both Countries and Cultures and Creation to Greeks and before that Sonlight. For writing this year we are using WWTB1, and last year we used Writing Strands. She is using TT and is just starting Pre-Alg. We just had her tested for the year at an end of 8th grade level and she scored college level (Junior in college or above) in Reading, Comprehension and Writing. She scored slighly higher that grade level in math. Overall, she averaged at grade 13 and I was told she needs to be challanged. :shock:
The thing is while she scores high in reading and comp she is not a fast reader and too much reading overwhelmes her. She is also highly distractable and not in Alg yet (she hates math and it generally takes about an hour to finish a TT lesson). For those reasons I decided to hold her back and called this year 7/8. We have done lots of copywork and some narration...oh and this year we finished Easy Grammar 6 and will finish CLE reading 7. She did great with both. She also has a running reading list of all genres of books she reads for 1/2hr a day 4 days a week.
I guess what I'm wondering is where to start her. Should it be RevtoRev with extensions and do MTMM the next year with extensions, or should I just pick either one and then jump to the Geo guide the following year? :?
I hope this wasn't too rambly and someone is able to make sense of it. I really, really appreciate any and all help! I've definatley been over thinking this and could use some perspective! Thanks in advance for your help! :D

garnet
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Apr 26, 2013 2:19 pm

Re: Placement for 8th/9th grader

Post by garnet » Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:46 am

Following :D

8arrows
Posts: 965
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:49 pm

Re: Placement for 8th/9th grader

Post by 8arrows » Mon Apr 29, 2013 6:32 pm

REV2REV would be a nice place to start. Are you planning on counting any credits for high school? At this point you may want to decide whether you are calling her 8th or 9th grade. If you are counting her 8th grade, you can finish REV2REV this year and then assess if you think she could skip to the geography guide or if you just wanted to keep going and beef up MTMM a little for high school. If you are counting her 9th grade, it may make some difference in our recommendations.
Melissa, wife to Jim for 28 years
3 graduated, 2 using US 2, 8th grade dd using Missions to Marvels
Isaiah 40:11 ...He gently leads those that have young.

easnave
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 3:12 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Placement for 8th/9th grader

Post by easnave » Mon Apr 29, 2013 7:29 pm

I am planning on calling this year her 8th grade year. The only subject I was thinking of counting for high school is science. Thanks for your input! :D

arstephia
Posts: 286
Joined: Fri May 14, 2010 4:58 pm

Re: Placement for 8th/9th grader

Post by arstephia » Tue Apr 30, 2013 7:34 am

Because of the course my kids are on, they hit the Rev2Rev guide in 8th grade and MTMM in 9th, so we just use the extensions and beef up the science for high school credit. We did give the hs credit for the EE science in Rev2Rev. It works well!
I've done all the guides now with at least one child and still feeling the HOD LOVE. LOL!
DD 9- Preparing
DD 13- Rev 2 Rev
DS 15- Geography

easnave
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 3:12 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Placement for 8th/9th grader

Post by easnave » Tue Apr 30, 2013 8:33 am

I appreciate your suggestions and input so far! But I'm wondering... would there be any drawbacks do you think in starting her at MTMM? I've read in other posts that this is not one to skip. Just trying to think through all my options. :D

my3sons
Posts: 10702
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Placement for 8th/9th grader

Post by my3sons » Fri May 03, 2013 2:27 pm

Hi easnave, and welcome to the HOD Board! :D Thank you for sharing about your dd - that really helps so much! Based on her reading ability, she could do either RevtoRev or MTMM with extensions. I am wondering if you could share how much writing she is used to doing each day? I know she has done WWTB 1 (an excellent writing program, BTW :wink: ) and Writing Strands, as well as some narration and copywork. But, were her narrations written or mainly oral? And how much writing did she do within a day, would you say? RevtoRev will have less writing than MTMM. So this is something to consider. I am thinking in this case, as dd LA-wise could probably do either RevtoRev or MTMM, that it may be best to really look at the "History," "Bible," and "Science" columns of the placement chart. The workload and skills is upped in MTMM in these areas as well, so this may be a good place to focus on when making this decision - here is a link to the chart, you can scroll down to the history, Bible, and science columns...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Dd's ability to work well independently and follow multi-step directions may factor into this decision as well. The upper level HOD guides from CTC on up intend for students to use the guides as student planners, as well as for moms to use the guides as teacher guides. So, you may want to look at the "I" independent boxes especially, as well as the "S" semi-independent boxes, to see how dd would do following the directions independently in the guide. Here are links to each of the guide's first weeks, with RevtoRev's being first, and MTMM's being second...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/Rev2Rev-first-week.pdf
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/MTMM-first-week-1.pdf

Finally, if you are still feeling that either guide could truly be a great fit for dd, I would personally choose MTMM, as it will make counting credits ultra easy since "World Geography" will be for 9th grade already, and all the subsequent guides will follow suit. However, if you are feeling RevtoRev is a better fit, it is still quite easy to count credits for MTMM for high school too. HTH, but what are your thoughts now? :D

In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

easnave
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 3:12 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Placement for 8th/9th grader

Post by easnave » Fri May 03, 2013 5:37 pm

Thank you Julie for the warm welcome and for answering my post! (Thanks to 8arrows and arstephia too :D ). The information you've given me has helped a lot!
You asked about writing - I would say she does between 30-60min of 'school' writing 2-3 days a week. She does more in her free time in the form of notes on things of interest and stories. The independent work would be fine, I think as it looks like the guide really lays out what needs to be done and she can see all she accomplishes as she does it. Hopefully, this will help out with the dawdling issue. :roll: As far as the chart goes, she seems to easily fall into the MTMM guide. :)
Here is another question for you - Should I just go ahead and get the 'World Geography' guide and go half-speed or go lower and have to finish two guides in two years? I don't want to under estimate what my dd can do which I feel like I may have been doing especially since she did well on her tests leveled at the end of 8th grade. The one thing that does concetn me is the amount of reading which is why I would do half-speed if I did it next. Do you know about how many pages a day there are to read?
Please tell me if you think this would be a bad idea and THANK YOU for putting up with all of my questions!! :D

Beth

my3sons
Posts: 10702
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Placement for 8th/9th grader

Post by my3sons » Sat May 04, 2013 9:33 am

Good morning, Beth! We are getting there, aren't we? Hooray - on the way to a good placement! :D I think it makes good sense for dd to do MTMM full-speed. I don't think this is underestimating what dd can do, and full-speed MTMM will probably be more of a challenge overall than half-speed "World Geography." :wink: MTMM is quite meaty and will make a wonderful eighth grade year for your dd. There will be an increase in daily reading and writing, I anticipate, from what she has been doing. I will paste the schedule we used for my ds, Wyatt, for MTMM, so you can see a general layout of time allotments...
Image

For just reading, I'd say approximately each day about... 25 minutes for Reading about History, 20 minutes for Storytime, 15 minutes Bible Quiet Time, 20 minutes Drawn into the Heart of Reading, 20 minutes for science... there is other reading for things like the President Study, Nature Study, Economics, State Study as well, but these subjects do not have daily reading, nor is the reading lengthy. :D I think your dd will LOVE the living books she will get to read so much - they just draw you in! :D I would not add the extensions for dd. My ds has been testing at the college level for reading on standardized testing for several years, and the reading in MTMM was enough of a challenge in the scope of things. :D But, you will know best here!

HTH!
In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

easnave
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 3:12 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Placement for 8th/9th grader

Post by easnave » Sat May 04, 2013 10:22 am

Thank you sooo much for your input Julie!! I have now FINALLY decided. It was so hard to decide - they all look so great-but with your help and the help of the other ladies, I've decided to go with MTMM!! Yeah! I am so excited as I know it will be such a great year :D Now I just have to wait until the NCHE Conference to get all the ' goodies'. I hope to meet you there. Thanks again for the hand holding :)
Beth

my3sons
Posts: 10702
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Placement for 8th/9th grader

Post by my3sons » Sat May 04, 2013 10:28 am

Oh good! :D Isn't that a great feeling to have decided?!? :D So glad to be of any help - and I'll look forward to meeting you too at the book fair! :D :D :D

In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

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