heartofdakota.com

A bit of background:

We did LHFHG and BLHFHG and 1/2 of BHFHG, then left HOD for 1 1/2 years and recently came back. Because I heard such great things about Preparing and we had been gone for a bit, I decided to put my 5th grader (along with his older 9 year old 3rd grader) in it together. My 5th grader probably could have done CtC but I am glad that he's doing Preparing as we are thoroughly enjoying the lessons we are learning.

However, looking ahead, I REALLY want to be on the correct track for highschool and if we don't skip a guide he will do MTMM in the 9th grade. As I've been reading various posts about MTMM for highschool it does seem to be missing a literature tract adequate for HS credit. I hate tweeking things because I'm always second guessing myself, so I'd prefer to be in a guide that IS designed for 9th grade vs. beefing up a guide to make it suitable for 9th grade.

So I was wondering if he should skip CtC next year? I know that each guide builds on itself and I hate the thought of missing any of the good things that CtC has in it, but if the result is he'll be on the correct tract for highschool, then I'm wondering if it's worth it.

Thoughts for those who are in the upper guides especially!

Can you school 5 days a week? I ask this because we are using Preparing for 5th grade this year. I am hoping on the weeks we don't have bible study to get 5 days in. we also school longer in the spring because the ps goes till the second week of June. We are 5 weeks into Preparing and will finish before the end of the school year barring unforeseen illnesses / circumstances. Lord willing, we will then go straight into CTC until big brother is done with his PS year. over the next few years, we should be able to do an extra few units of the next program each year.

Curious why you ask that?

For now we are actually involved in a co-op that we've been with for 4 years so I don't see us changing. The boys really enjoy seeing their friends, etc. each week there.

I wouldn't skip from Preparing to RTR that is a big jump! The reading in CTC is challenging and gets them ready for RTR. There are so many incremental steps in CTC that build skills for the next guides. To me CTC is where some deeper thinking starts taking place with the prophecy chart and other things. Also the biblical foundation in CTC was an important one that I didn't want my ds to miss. Technically my ds should be in 9th grade next year when he does MTMM. I am not sure at this point if I am going to consider him a 9th grader because he is young for his grade and has mild CP. However I have looked at what I would need to do to MTMM to beef it up and as far as the literature goes that seems pretty easy. I may use DITHOR one more year or I may just do around 3 books with progeny press guides or something similar. If when you get up to 9th grade and you just really don't want to tweak then you could look at skipping MTMM.

Thanks Lynn! I really value your opinion. I LOVE the prophesy portion in CtC and I too would hate for him to miss that. I think you're right...for now we'll just keep on keeping on and cross the HS bridge a bit further down the road. Still have 3 more years ahead till we get there!

tiffanieh wrote:Curious why you ask that?

For now we are actually involved in a co-op that we've been with for 4 years so I don't see us changing. The boys really enjoy seeing their friends, etc. each week there.

Well for us, if we keep the pace we are going, we should get in an extra 4 - 5 weeks this year due to keeping up with PS schedule and a few weeks we will do 5 days a week. that means we should end the year 9 weeks into CTC. I would expect the following year to also get 4 extra weeks in. At that pace we will be halfway through MTMM when we hit 9th grade.

Some people who are able to school 5 days a week are able to get 9 extra units in each year which means they would do 5 programs over 4 years. That's not us, but I am hoping to get that extra guide in spread out over the next 8 years.