heartofdakota.com

Hi there,
I have a 12 year old currently in 7th grade. He has requested to be homeschooled because he is not liking the school he is currently attending. I am considering both CTC with extensions and RTR but cannot make a final decision.
My questions are..
Do the extensions get used in place of the basic package books or do we use both? Is there a schedule for those or do we just wing it?
If I were to do RTR instead, how would we do the Rod and Staff English? It starts where you left off in CTC , so would that be harder for him? Or would we just start at the beginning?

I would really appreciate your help. Thank you so much!

Hi, the first thing you want to do is see where your son fits in the placement chart: http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php
Once you have done that and can share a little more about his strengths and weaknesses, we can advise you better
I will answer about the extensions-For CTC or RTR, you may use them in place of or in addition to the basic package (history read-alouds) depending on how much your child loves to read and depending on whether he truly needs the extensions. Another consideration is your child's sensitivity, as the extension books require more maturity and are intended to be read independently by the child. Also for the extensions there is a daily schedule and instructions for suggested follow-up activities in the appendix of each HOD guide.
For Rod and Staff, it is best to follow where he falls in the placement chart.

Thanks blessedmomof4.
I think CTC would be the best fit for him. He is a very strong reader, not in the least bit sensitive, but does not like to write. He is extremely bright, but a huge procrastinator. My biggest two concerns are the English and the math. I'm not sure where to put him and how that would play into next year. We are actually debating waiting until next school year to start him. If I did that, we would just do RTR and so I had wondered where he would be in english if he hadn't done CTC. I hope that makes sense. Thanks for your help.

CTC is an awesome program - we enjoyed it immensely. It sounds like a good fit for your ds! One question - what grammar has ds had so far? CTC has several excellent grammar choices. R & S English is advanced. To give you an idea of how advanced - R & S English 7 and 8 are high school credit worthy.

CTC schedules half-speed R & S English 4 and 5. I'd lean toward doing R & S English 5 with your ds, either half-speed or full-speed, depending on his grammar background. HOD suggests doing 2/3 of it orally or on a markerboard. We do this, and it helps the lessons clip along. We reserve about 7-8 things for my sixth grade ds to write and do the rest orally. It works well. What are your thoughts?

In Christ,
Julie

My3sons,
I am also leaning towards English 5 with ds, he has not had a ton of formal grammar, just the normal public school language arts. I doubt he could even diagram a sentence (Although we did do Rod and Staff in 3rd grade, but that seems like a long time ago) I think he would definitely be grateful for doing most oral, since he hates written work.

My husband is leaning more towards starting him in the fall, and if we did that I would probably start him in RTR instead of CTC, would that change where I started him in English? Or would I still start him in the beginning of the book and just do as much as we could?

I appreciate your help very much and I hope I'm not beating a dead horse here, I just want to make sure I start him in the right place.
Thanks again! Anna

Glad to help! Since the first half of either 4 or 5 is covered in CTC, the second half of either 4 or 5 is what is scheduled in RTR. You could actually start now, and do the first half of 5, so that by the fall he could pick up with second half. RTR begins with "Following the Plan" Lesson 59. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you! That is such a good idea my3sons! I could definitely start now. That takes a worry off my mind.