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Just looking at the sneak peek. And reading the wording I am wondering something about what I would need for a high schooler if she is the only one using it next year. I have always used the basic and the extension for my oldest. This year from the description I am seeing for a younger child it is about content which is very understandable for this guide. So the extension seems to really be fore high school level. But I am wondering if that means that the basic would be skipped now that we are getting into the higher guides or if my oldest should do them both. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks! We are excited to use MTMM

water2wine,

I'm so glad that you got a chance to see the sneak peek! You're right that at the MTMM level, students who are in high school will need the Extension Package for sure but it is up to you whether you also want to include the Basic Package or not. This is because the amount of work and the time it takes to complete the work continues to rise as kiddos get to their high school years, and truly to award credit for the area of history your high school student wouldn't need the Basic Package in that capacity. If you have an avid reader who loves books, then you would likely want the Basic Package.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you! I do eventually need it because I have five others who will be using it at different levels. But that is exactly what I needed to know if it was essential for her. She is a book worm so more than likely we will go that way but just wanted to know my options. Thanks for getting back so quick! We are so excited to use MTMM! My oldest is really loving HOD for high school. I am so glad we went that way. Thank you for your help on making that happen!!!!

I am planning on using the extension pkg for the high school level, but having my child read the "basic" books as well, just not doing any narration or work with that book. He is a fast, avid reader so it won't be too much for him. It will basically be his "free read" book, which we are always struggling to find for him. I talked with Carrie at the conference in MN and she encouraged me to not let him read the next basic book until it is scheduled so he doesn't get ahead in the time periods being studied, which I thought was great advice since he can sometimes devour a book over a weekend. That way if he does devour a book, he won't pull the next basic book out until it is scheduled to start in the guide.

arstephia wrote:I am planning on using the extension pkg for the high school level, but having my child read the "basic" books as well, just not doing any narration or work with that book. He is a fast, avid reader so it won't be too much for him. It will basically be his "free read" book, which we are always struggling to find for him. I talked with Carrie at the conference in MN and she encouraged me to not let him read the next basic book until it is scheduled so he doesn't get ahead in the time periods being studied, which I thought was great advice since he can sometimes devour a book over a weekend. That way if he does devour a book, he won't pull the next basic book out until it is scheduled to start in the guide.

Thank you for that advice. I appreciate it.

So let me clarify here...

Carrie is suggesting that if you have a high school student, to skip the basic book pack and do the extension pack instead? The she is suggesting the if your child is an avid reader, to go ahead and add the basic book pack?

Where my confusion lies is that I always thought that extension packages were meant to be add ons, not replacements. Have I misunderstood this in the past?

Liberty

Hi Liberty,

I can answer this! I spoke with Carrie about this very topic last year. Here's the nuance. It has more to do with your child doing high-school level work and the time involved in that. If you find once you pull together your total program that something needs to go - then the basic package is a good place to start. For example, this year my son as a high school Freshman did a very heavy literature and composition course. The time involved in reading and writing meant we really needed to let something else go, Carrie suggested the basic package (which is the read-aloud or alone package). I did get the books for my son to read on his own, but in truth as much of a book-lover as he is, he simply has not had time. Oh, and as an aside, my son used RTR for his Freshman year.

Does this make sense?

Great responses here! I agree wholeheartedly. In the guides previous to high school, it is advisable to have your child listen in to the Basic Package (or read them himself/herself) and also do the Extension books if he/she is in the Extension range. However, once a child hits the formal high school years (and subjects like math, science, and literature really begin taking a huge chunk of time each day) it makes sense to keep the study of history in balance with the rest of the day.

So, the concern at that age becomes making the study of history high school worthy in depth and content and also in keeping it from overloading the child's day. At that point, the Extension Package becomes key for a high school student, and the Basic Package (while truly wonderful) becomes secondary and even optional in the balance of the day.

Blessings,
Carrie

So, then, this has me thinking...

My oldest ds is entering high school in August. He will likely just do all of the reading, as he is an avid reader. But this thread has me wondering--could/should he use the extension books and their assignments as his main notebooking component? Could he use the included notebook pages for that? The notebook pages are so beautiful, I hate to miss them, but I do see merit as he gets older in having his main writing assignments be from the extension books.

He will be using Rev to Rev in August for 9th and MTMM the following year for 10th.

mamas4bugs,

Much of the meat of the program is in the Student Notebook, so you wouldn't want to move toward doing the Extensions in place of the Student Notebook. The guide honestly wouldn't work without the Student Notebook.

Instead, we would expect a high school student to fully complete all of Rev2Rev and MTMM, and to do it well. The only part you could forego if your child is in the high school range for those guides is the Basic Package (and only if you use the Extension Package could you do this). Instead, to make the Extensions high school worthy, you will want to employ some of the follow-ups suggested in the guide for the Extension Package. These would include oral narrations, written narrations, and some additional notebooking (all of which could be filed in the main Student Notebook).

Blessings,
Carrie

Now I'm confused.

In RTR, the assignments for the student notebook pages--at least for the written narration--come from the basic package (unless I'm misunderstanding what the basic package is). If we skip the basic package reading, he won't have read the pages necessary to complete the written narration, correct?

I wasn't suggesting skipping the student notebook. I'm sorry I was unclear. We love the notebooks! And I agree that they are the meat of the program. I was asking if we should use the extension reading to complete the assignments in the notebooking pages because if he didn't read the assignment from the basic package, he wouldn't have the information needed to complete some of the assignments (mostly the written narration, but also the box with questions to fill in on a particular person).

Clear as mud?

The Basic Package is simply the Read Alouds. The Economy Package has all the History books needed to complete the notebooking. So, you would still use those books and complete the notebook as scheduled. You would just drop the Read-Alouds (or the extra books if your child normally reads the Read Alouds by himself) from your day. Does that help? I had to look at the magazine to clarify which package is which.

Tiffini wrote:The Basic Package is simply the Read Alouds. The Economy Package has all the History books needed to complete the notebooking. So, you would still use those books and complete the notebook as scheduled. You would just drop the Read-Alouds (or the extra books if your child normally reads the Read Alouds by himself) from your day. Does that help? I had to look at the magazine to clarify which package is which.

Perfect! Yep, that makes complete sense now. We call those the "storytime" books here. I should have looked at the packages. Silly me.