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Hello mamas,

Indulge me please. I am needing help making a choice for my son on which guide to do in the fall. Here's where my brain is stuck, I'd LOVE yall's feedback. My older 3 girls are in Highschool and rarely need me, so I plan to really indulge myself and my son with a delightful year of learning together. When I think of homeschool and delight, I think of Heart of Dakota. I did Bigger years back and relished every moment. Now we are back and thanks to SO many good choices I don't know where to begin.

My son will be 11 (sept.) and in 5th grade. Via the charts that puts him in CTC, okay BUT I really wanted to do A Childs History of the World, also love Preparings science. Assuming I do grade level language arts and math, what would make Preparing's suited for 3/4 only? Is it just the English and Math assignment schedules? Also assuming I pick Preparing, how is the extension program for history read alouds meant to be used- are they in addition to or in place of the scheduled read alouds? Doing both seems like a LOT of reading, yet I can't see why just the regular scheduled set would not be good for a fifth grader, especially if I'm doing the age appropriate readers in DITHOR.

Here's my 2nd kicker, I must use Write With The Best Volume 1, which is scheduled in CTC perfectly. So do I drop Preparing inspite of the rave reviews it gets and my wish to do ACHOTW and go with CTC for the more age appropriate history plus the
writing I wanted already scheduled, or just do Preparing and add the writing to it!? These guides are all so delicious its SO hard to know what to do! I'd LOVE any input!

Warmly,
Ruth (blessedmomof4)

Ruth,

where does he place with his reading and writing skills? That will make the difference!

I have been using Preparing for 4th grade and have thought many times over this past year that it would make a great 5th grade curriculum as well. His reading and writing skills do matter here in placing him, I agree. If his writing is not very strong, then you may want to place him in Preparing. However, I am not sure why you couldn't go ahead and do Preparing while also scheduling Write with the Best the way it is scheduled in CTC. The extension books for Preparing are also quite good! Even though I only have a 4th grader, I've had him read many of them just for free reading time, and he has really enjoyed them. So, you could always purchase those for him to read in addition to what is scheduled in Preparing. My son has really enjoyed reading those books. (again not all of them ... but several of them)

I would look carefully at the placement chart and try to figure out exactly where he places according to each skill level and then give us a little more information. There are definitely ways that you can beef up Preparing, but depending on how he places, you may not have to do that. It's true though that placement really does matter. You mentioned that you really wanted to indulge in a delightful year of learning with him - Preparing is more teacher involved than CTC. So, keep that in mind as well.

Larissa wrote:I have been using Preparing for 4th grade and have thought many times over this past year that it would make a great 5th grade curriculum as well. His reading and writing skills do matter here in placing him, I agree. If his writing is not very strong, then you may want to place him in Preparing. However, I am not sure why you couldn't go ahead and do Preparing while also scheduling Write with the Best the way it is scheduled in CTC. The extension books for Preparing are also quite good! Even though I only have a 4th grader, I've had him read many of them just for free reading time, and he has really enjoyed them. So, you could always purchase those for him to read in addition to what is scheduled in Preparing. My son has really enjoyed reading those books. (again not all of them ... but several of them)

I would look carefully at the placement chart and try to figure out exactly where he places according to each skill level and then give us a little more information. There are definitely ways that you can beef up Preparing, but depending on how he places, you may not have to do that. It's true though that placement really does matter. You mentioned that you really wanted to indulge in a delightful year of learning with him - Preparing is more teacher involved than CTC. So, keep that in mind as well.

I think Larisa's comments are great! I have a 5th grader in Preparing and he is REALLY enjoying it! The world history overview, the science, the extension readings. WE work together on the bulk of the material and then he does the extensions and the independent history on his own.

Thank you Larisa, that helps a lot! Florence you mentioned your son does the extension readings on his own, is this in place of the read alouds that are scheduled in the main guide? I'm still a bit confused on this part. I will check out the placement chart now. I guess I do wonder at times if between the history text itself, the history read aloud, then extension plus regular DITHOR books ...it "seems" like a lot of reading, so I want to make sure I'm understanding it correctly. I haven't actually started so it may sound like more than it is.

My5th grader did preparing this year and she just read the extensions on her own, in addition to the books scheduled in the guide. There are far too many skills woven in with those in the guide already, so if it's too much and you need to pick one or the other, I'd opt OUT of the extensions and just do the guide as is besides bumping up R&S and math. It's been a wonderful fit for her. Maybe you could just wait and do WWTB next year in CTC?

blessedmom4 wrote:Thank you Larisa, that helps a lot! Florence you mentioned your son does the extension readings on his own, is this in place of the read alouds that are scheduled in the main guide? I'm still a bit confused on this part. I will check out the placement chart now. I guess I do wonder at times if between the history text itself, the history read aloud, then extension plus regular DITHOR books ...it "seems" like a lot of reading, so I want to make sure I'm understanding it correctly. I haven't actually started so it may sound like more than it is.

He does the extensions in addition to the read aloud. I usually read-aloud the story time and history assignments to him, BUT if it is a day we are short on time then he reads them himself. If the box is marked for independence he does the work on his own, if it is marked for semi-independence or teacher then I work with him. In his case, he works very efficiently and is not a dawdler, so he gets through all of his work in a very timely manner. The work-load for him does not seem excessive at all. I enjoy doing the readings with him, because it helps me "keep up" with the content. And in truth the readings are not lengthy. You move through them pretty quickly. I think it does sound like more than it is.