**Please help me choose!!

[Carrie]

Liz,

I'm back! The book is successfully off to the printer and the Student Notebook is in its proof stage at the printer, so we're feeling joyful here!

My son loved The Story of the Ancient World, but it requires a good reader. Here's a link to the text, which I found fascinating (since it's taken from other historical documents in addition to the Bible): http://www.nothingnewpress.com/guerber/ ... face2.html

As far as wondering about separating your kiddos goes, I've found with my own boys that if I didn't separate them at some point I was either dragging along my younger kiddos or watering down for the olders. My boys do not fit (even as pairs) within the target age ranges of our guides, so they are pretty much in the no-combine zone for us! They are 3, 6, 10 and almost 14. My older son enjoys having school that is on his level and is an avid reader. I enjoy time spent with my youngers in getting to know them as individuals.

I honestly found that to keep them together meant I would always be teaching to the older and never really giving my youngers what they needed as individuals. So, my older son needed to become more independent, not for me, but for him as he'll need those skills in life. Too much hand-holding can be a negative, as it can keep kiddos from growing and maturing as independent people. So that is something to weigh too. I can see my 10 year old is ready to fly on his own a bit more now too, as he's had me right by his side for years! It is a bittersweet and yet exciting moment for me and for him!

While you can still group kiddos for some things that work well across age levels (music, art, poetry, storytime read-alouds, etc.), the bulk of a child's school day should fit him/her better than the blanket "group" approach does. Only you can know if you desire to keep your kiddos together above all else. I'll pray that the Lord will give you a peace with your decision in that area as different families have different goals.

The ladies have given you terrific advice and now it will be up to you to decide what will fit your family best. I would lean toward doing Beyond with your two middle kiddos, from what you've shared about your desires. I would work at Beyond 4 days a week, going 9 weeks into the next school year to finish Beyond. This will allow your younger child to grow up a bit before heading into Bigger. I would do LHTH only 2-3 days a week, spreading it out over 2 years.

If you have other questions about CTC, I'd be glad to answer those too!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Mamochka5]

Hi Carrie,

Thank you for responding. All good suggestions and I will take this weekend to pray for guidance about everything concerning the upcoming school year.

Regarding CTC, my goal isn't really to combine with everything, but we have enjoyed doing History readings, mapwork, etc. and science together as a family. Particularly my 7 and 10 y.o. The younger ones (so far) have not been terribly interested. I read the link to the Guerber book. The site says that they consider the book to be written for elementary, specifically "*1st* grade and up." Does that mean it would work okay as a read aloud, then?

Also (I asked Julie this, too), how doable is it to do some of the independent stuff together (but not all)? Which sections would you recommend as being better/or harder to do that with (other than poetry, music, etc.)?? Julie mentioned doing a feast, Olympic games, etc. Those seem like great things to do together. Are they written in a way that we could do it that way? I DO like the idea of my 10 y.o. becoming more independent, but he said he felt sad about having to do more "alone" and wanted to be with the family. (Which I think is sweet.) He studies his AWANA alone and has been studying (all summer) for the National Bible Bee alone, too. So, it's not like he just doesn't want to do work. I don't want him feeling sad about the upcoming school year. I also agree very much with the little ones often getting kind of lost trailing along with the olders. I want to focus more on them, but also want my oldest included in some things, too.

And, I really do love the looks of CTC and feel excited about maybe using it this year. I like the looks of the first week (sample lesson) and the books themselves. It's hard to get a clear picture (for me) since I don't actually have the TM in my hand. I just want to see how it will fit with our goals before buying it.

You mentioned music. Is there a music portion of CTC?? Composers? I didn't see it listed.

Thank you!!
Liz

[Carrie]

Liz,

There is a Philippians 2 CD that the kiddos use in CTC for memory work along with their daily quiet time scheduled within the guide.

If you did end up going the Beyond and CTC route, you could easily choose one read-aloud to do with everyone at lunch (from either Beyond or CTC). You could also do the poetry from Beyond at lunch or near lunchtime if desired to have your kiddos join together. Your older will be doing a poetry reading from CTC on the fourth day of each week and could do this at lunch as well.

If you wanted to play both the music for that day from Beyond and CTC all kiddos could listen to each other's and sing along. I also have my older kiddos do their "project" type work and science after lunch, so they can take their time with it and so my 6 year old can join in and do it too (if the older child doesn't mind).

My olders often narrate their science to my 5-7 year old, having the younger one hold the science book and look at the pictures while the older one narrates (I, of course, am listening nearby as well). My 5-7 year old often join right in with the older child as he worked on his science experiment and participated or the history project (unless my olders specifically requested that the younger not join in). My toddler I did try to keep out of the picture (napping during this time).

So, for example last year, my 6 year old made a constellation book, right along with my 9 year old (who was doing Preparing). My 9 year old narrated to my 6 year old from science, and they had many fascinating talks about it. My 6 year old was the experiment helper during science experiments, and made many of his own versions of the history project. I did not jump in and supervise this, as it was an independent time for my 9 year old and my 6 year old could join in or not depending on interest. I just made sure my 6 year old's school was done shortly after lunch, so he had free time while my 9 year old was finishing these types of things. They naturally joined one another.

Some of the projects involved all of us, which we enjoyed too. The boys all still took a morning recess together for 45 min. mid-morning. We all had lunch together for 45 min., and my boys all finished on time in the afternoons to have time to play together. So, when you get right down to it, there was a portion of their day that they were separate, but it was kept in balance with their together time during the day.

Blessings,
Carrie