Preparing for 6th grade?

[Laura O.]

I'm thinking that my dd10 (but she'll be 11 in January) will go into Preparing. She actually fit really well in CtoC for almost everything. But, I just thought it might be good to ease into HOD with narratives and all. With the extensions, it should work well for 6th grade, right? Then she can move into CtoC for 7th grade? Also, she was doing 6th grade studies this year, her grammar was Language Round up Level 6 and Writing Skills bk 1. Would you recommend R&S grammar 4? would 5 be better? is it ok to do 5 with Preparing?

Thanks for your help!

[Tidbits of Learning]

If she fit into CTC better, then that is probably where you should start. I tried starting my 5th grader in Preparing at the beginning of this year with the R&S English 5 book. She was just ready for so much more. She had placed into CTC, but I was nervous about the narrations so we started Preparing and then returned it for CTC. CTC guides you through oral and written narration. There is a guide in the back for the teacher and the student. I made copies of ours so that I can have it handy during narration and my dd has a copy of the student suggestions for narration as well.
I would say that placement is the key and if looking at the placement your child fits in CTC the best, then that would be where to start. If it is just narration that is worrying you, CTC does a great job easing you into it and helping you and your child know what to expect from a good oral and written narration.
You know your child best, but I wouldn't think that a child doing 6th grade studies last year and fits in the placement chart at CTC would find Preparing challenging enough. We had tried Preparing with the extensions as well. My dd was a little surprised when I told her we were returning it for CTC and worried b/c it was a level up, but I showed her the blogs (graceandfur's blog) from CTC last year and she got very excited. It also helped me to visualize what a week of CTC is really like and I knew that she could handle it and it would be a challenge and she would grow in skills. This is just my experience though and others may have different experiences.
As for R&S English, if your child has been on grade level english before now, then I would just pick up with the grade that they are currently studying. My dd10 is a 5th grader and we are using English 5. In CTC, you only use the English about 3 times a week though and you use Write with the Best the other 2 days. If you choose Preparing, you might want to do R&S English 5 only 3 or 4 days a week.
If you get a chance, go to the week in review and look on people's blogs to see what a week of Preparing is like and compare it to a blog with a week of CTC.

[Laura O.]

Thanks so much for you reply. It is actually just what I needed to hear. After I wrote my post, I kept going over my choices, thinking that maybe CTC would really be better for. She really isn't the kind that struggles with her studies and really does work well independently. It was encouraging to hear about your dd being suited for CTC and that it wasn't too hard to start with the narratives. I'm feeling more at peace with the thought of CTC for her

Thank you for your help

[netpea]

On the other hand, is she ready to work independently and is she ok doing writing? My son placed in CTC, he is an 11yo 6th grader. I thought he would be up to the challenge and ready to start doing some independent work. We completely 4 units of CTC and every day was taking from 8am to 5pm. We have switched to Preparing without the extension package at this point and with 2 units in so far, it seems to be a better fit. I am hoping to add some of the extension readings partway through the year. He was using a different grammar and was not up to speed for R&S5 so we are using R&S4. He will be finishing Singapore 5B this fall. He just wasn't ready to take on the independent challenge.

you know your child better than we do. If she works well independently than I'd say go for CTC. If she doesn't, then go for Preparing.

[my3sons]

You have received some good advice to ponder here. I would print out the first week for PHFHG, and the first week for CTC. Really ponder the "I" boxes, and see if dd can do those things completely independently. Then, check out the "S" boxes, and see if dd can do those boxes with some help from you to get started, but then finish them out on her own. Here are links to the first week of each of these guides...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/PHFHG-sample-week.pdf
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/CTC-First-Week.pdf

The level of reading material is higher and harder in CTC. I'd say "The Story of the Ancient World" is one of the harder history books dd will be doing. Here is a link to an excerpt from that book, so you can see if she can read and comprehend this well...
http://www.nothingnewpress.com/guerber/ancient26-27.pdf

Here is the first chapter of another one of CTC's history books...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/kemp_g ... review.pdf

In PHFHG, you read a portion of the history, and your dd reads the other portion. In CTC, dd would read her own history, so it is good to check if she's ready for that.

As far as LA goes, here is a sample of CTC's dictation...
CTC Level 5 Dictation Sample:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5068&p=37153#p37153

PHFHG has 1 x a week short creative writing lessons that are done with the poetry. CTC has 2 x a week creative writing lessons that are done with "Write with the Best". You can view part of the WWTB writing guide here...
http://www.edudps.com/WRITE-WITH-THE-BEST-Vol-1.pdf

PHFHG has very short written narrations, about 1-3 sentences, ending with around 3- 5 sentences. CTC has longer written narrations, around 5-8 sentences long, but CTC still does a great job of teaching written narrations at the start of the guide. The helps in the Appendix are wonderful.

Finally, here is a rundown in time allotments of the day for each of the guides...
CTC time it takes:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3765
PHFHG time it takes:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4244&p=31219#p31219

I hope this can help you choose what is right for your family. As you can see from the wise words of the 2 pp's, HOD is not a one size fits all curriculum - which I personally LOVE. You can make it fit your family like a glove, it just takes some well-spent time to figure out the best placement for your dd. Keep asking questions, and hopefully some of this will help!

In Christ,
Julie