CTC with my 6th grader

[Tidbits of Learning]

Well, we have abandoned the online school with my 6th grader. It was stressful and honestly a bit much for 6th grade. It took all of our joy out of learning. She longed to do HOD with her siblings. She was quite jealous of their mixture of learning while she was reading, taking notes, answering discussion questions, writing papers....all day long. I have been doing CTC with my 5th grader and intend to combine my 6th grader with her starting next week. I have ordered her another set of notebooking pages. My main question is about the R&S English. She is a bright girl without any issues in this subject. My 5th grader is using R&S 5 exactly as written in the CTC guide which means we will finish up the 2nd half of it next year when she is a 6th grader. I am wondering whether I should just have my 6th grader in R&S 5 with my 5th grader. I will probably add on the extension books for her as well.
I plan to have her do the Singapore test tomorrow, but am reserved on it b/c of her grade level and whether she will place anywhere close to where she should be in Singapore for her grade. She was doing Pre-Algebra and had completed to the number sentences like n+6=15 and such in her previous online school.
Do you think R&S English 5 will be the right place to start? I will be asking more about math after she takes the placement tests.

[dawntx]

I am also currently using R&S 5 for my 6th grader and using CTC. It has been a great fit for my ds. One of the great things that I have found with R&S is that each year it reviews and builds on the previous year. I think your dc would be fine in R&S 5 as well. What a great blessing for you to have 2 kiddos in the same book- a great time saver for you!

Good luck! Sounds like a great switch for your dc!

Dawn

[beverett]

Hello! I am excited for your daughter, we had a great year with CTC. I am sure she will love it! I just wanted to add that the plan is to have children finish Rod and Staff 8 by the end of 12th grade. So you could do a couple of things
1) have her do all of level 5 this year for 6th (that would have her doing level 6 for 7th and 8th then she would be ready for level 7 by 9th)
2) have her do half of level 5 this year and half next then she could do all of level 6 for 8th grade to be ready for level 7 by the 9th grade
Just some thoughts

[Tidbits of Learning]

I appreciate the help. I think we will do all of R&S 5 this year with my 6th grader and just have my 5th grader continue it as scheduled in CTC.
Thanks.

[Carrie]

The ladies are doing a great job of discussing your options with you. It sounds like you have a good plan forming.

I would likely look at doing English 5 with your 6th grader as well for two reasons. One is that it will be wonderful to have two children in the same level of Rod and Staff time-wise. Two it will still allow you to accomplish the goal of completing English 6 by the end of grade 8 for your oldest child. A third benefit is that it is always easier to bump up a level in English than it is to back up a level. So, you have a great back-up plan in place if you ever feel your older daughter needs more.

As far as math goes, I agree that it makes good sense to see where your oldest daughter places before deciding whether Singapore will be the best route for her to go at this stage of her math learning. At HOD, we will likely recommend a choice of Discovering Mathematics (Singapore) or Videotext for late middle school/high school as kiddos head into Algebra.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Tidbits of Learning]

I looked at the Singapore placement tests and think she will place at 6A. I haven't printed them yet. I plan to give them tomorrow. I am printing 5B and 6A tests for her to take. We still have her math that she was doing with her online school and it is ours to keep. I could just continue it. I want to see how she does though on the Singapore. I think I understand how to do the placement. If she passes 5B but fails 6A, then she should start with 6A...right?
Thanks again for all the help with figuring out what to do with English. She is taking a co-op class that uses IEW (american history). Should I still do Write with the Best with her on the days it is scheduled in CTC or should I just focus on her doing R&S English 5 daily? My 5th grader is not taking the writing class at co-op b/c I knew she would be doing writing with CTC, but since I started out with the online school for my older dd she has been taking the IEW class.
My other question was since my 5th grade dd has completed 4 units of CTC already, should I start my older dd in Unit 5 next week and try to go back on the weekends for her to do Units 1-4? Or should I just have her start with Unit 1 and go forward? Since CTC is mainly independent, I don't think there will be a big issue with them being at different points in the guide. She could do CTC on Monday too (we normally do CTC T-TH b/c M is our co-op day) and catch up to where dd10 is in a few months. If they are in the same point though, they can share the guide more easily.

[my3sons]

It sounds like you have a good plan coming together for your oldest dd here! I used to be an online instructor for a well-known homeschooling curriculum, and though I tried to leave lots of positive notes for my students, it was just tough to make it interesting enough or personal enough. I think your oldest will really enjoy the change of pace of doing CTC.

... If she passes 5B but fails 6A, then she should start with 6A...right?...

Yes, that would be right.

... Should I still do Write with the Best with her on the days it is scheduled in CTC or should I just focus on her doing R&S English 5 daily? ...

I think doing IEW and WWTB would be too much, so since she is already enrolled in a class to do IEW, I would just have her do that instead of WWTB. As far as R & S English 5, you may want to just start with her doing it half-speed, and see how that goes. She could just start at the same place as your other dd, and move forward with her. Carrie writes the guide with a balance of written work in mind each day, so doing it half-speed would maintain this balance nicely. However, you may find that she has enough time (and energy) in the day to full-speed English too, and you could always do that if you wished.

... My other question was since my 5th grade dd has completed 4 units of CTC already, should I start my older dd in Unit 5 next week and try to go back on the weekends for her to do Units 1-4? Or should I just have her start with Unit 1 and go forward?...

I would just start your older dd in Unit 5 and not go back and have her do any of the first 4 units of it. She has been working hard at her online school and doing double duty right at the start of CTC seems like too much. I think a fresh start beginning wherever younger sister is would be great, and I wouldn't worry about going back. This will have your 2 dc enjoying working together, you enjoying teaching them together, and oldest dd enjoying her start of CTC. That's just my thought on it though, you will know what will work best.

In Christ,
Julie

[Tidbits of Learning]

Thank you so much for the great advice. We are going to start R&S 5 at the same point with dd10 and half-speed. I appreciate your feedback about just picking up with Unit 5 also. I do think she has become very burnt out with the online school and doubling up would not make transitioning to CTC a fresh start. Starting fresh with Unit 5 is perfect. I feel better about not stressing the first 4 units now. We received her notebooking pages today and will be starting Monday. Thanks so much for all the great advice!