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Help! I have two daughters 9 and 11 who are almost finished Preparing. I already have CTC from when my oldest did it. She was quite strong academically and didn't have any problem but I'm nervous that my 11 year old will struggle with the reading and independence and my 9 year old, who is a good reader and independent worker for her age may be on the "young side" for CTC. Not sure what to do in the meantime? My one thought is doing CTC at half-pace, giving me a chance to help each of them more. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Shannon

Nearing the end of Preparing, have they done the independent portions (independent history study, science) by themselves by this point, meaning including reading and following the directions and gathering materials as well as completing any written work? Did they grow in their oral and written narrations? If the answer is yes, they will probably do fine at CTC, which you can start with a little hand-holding at first until they get the hang of being even more independent. If not, then starting CTC at half speed for a while may be a good idea to give them more time. Hope that helps

I am worried about this for my almost 11yo as well. We jumped into HOD when she was 9 (4th grade) and did Preparing. She was not quite ready for this guide (I was trying to combine with on older sib) and she struggled all the way through. I had to constantly tweak it so she wasn't in tears. I knew she was not going to be correctly placed in CTC for 5th grade. I loved HOD though, so we decided to do Bigger with extensions and some additions this year to give her another year to mature and develop her reading and writing abilities. It has been a good year, but she was not challenged quite as much as she would have been in Preparing, so I'm not sure I've adequately prepared her for CTC.

I have decided to start CTC half-speed with lots of hand-holding for the first few weeks. I am hoping that after a few weeks, we will be able to move up to full-speed. If not, we will continue half-speed and I will add in a few enrichment things to round it out as I don't think half-speed will give her quite enough. Math and LA will, of course, be full-speed at grade level.

blessedmomof4 wrote:Nearing the end of Preparing, have they done the independent portions (independent history study, science) by themselves by this point, meaning including reading and following the directions and gathering materials as well as completing any written work? Did they grow in their oral and written narrations? If the answer is yes, they will probably do fine at CTC, which you can start with a little hand-holding at first until they get the hang of being even more independent. If not, then starting CTC at half speed for a while may be a good idea to give them more time. Hope that helps

Great questions here, and I am wondering these same things, as it would change my advice! If they have not done the portions in PHFHG independently with success that are marked as such, I'd slow PHFHG down to half-speed now and work on helping them be independent in those areas. If they have done well with these areas in PHFHG, they will more than likely do well with CTC. Having taught CTC before, you know what they will need to be able to do. If you are thinking they are not ready at the close of PHFHG, I'd start CTC half-speed, remembering that 1/3 of it is meant to be a new challenge, 1/3 of it is somewhat of a challenge, and 1/3 of it should be what they can do well now. There is always meant to be a "growing into a guide" time, so I'd not go half-speed an entire year. Perhaps you could do CTC and RTR over 3 years? That works well as a plan as it does not draw a single guide out too long, but gives some growing room. What are your thoughts?

In Christ,
Julie

MicheleW wrote:I am worried about this for my almost 11yo as well. We jumped into HOD when she was 9 (4th grade) and did Preparing. She was not quite ready for this guide (I was trying to combine with on older sib) and she struggled all the way through. I had to constantly tweak it so she wasn't in tears. I knew she was not going to be correctly placed in CTC for 5th grade. I loved HOD though, so we decided to do Bigger with extensions and some additions this year to give her another year to mature and develop her reading and writing abilities. It has been a good year, but she was not challenged quite as much as she would have been in Preparing, so I'm not sure I've adequately prepared her for CTC.

I have decided to start CTC half-speed with lots of hand-holding for the first few weeks. I am hoping that after a few weeks, we will be able to move up to full-speed. If not, we will continue half-speed and I will add in a few enrichment things to round it out as I don't think half-speed will give her quite enough. Math and LA will, of course, be full-speed at grade level.

You are such a good mama to be carefully considering what's best for dd! Sometimes the best way for me to figure out what to do is to give my best idea a try and then reflect on it. It seems like you did just that and then adjusted as was necessary by having dd do Bigger with extensions. You could always do PHFHG with extensions with her this coming year, as she would probably take so much more out of it this time around, and the extensions would make it quite different. I just thought I'd throw that idea out there as I know you don't want another year of struggle for dd, and I'm not sure if CTC would be a struggle or not. Praying for clarity for you, and you will definitely know best here!

In Christ,
Julie