Another 9th Grade MtMM vs Geog Guide Question
Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:31 pm
Carrie,
I almost feel guilty about posting another "case study" for you. I do know that we will be ok whichever way we go, so...I promise I won't hold it against you if you don't get to this
.
Based on what you said in the other thread (specifically about the depth and spiritual connections in the Modern guide), we are leaning toward doing right side Geo guide and left side of MtMM. I just would kind of like a "what Carrie would do in this situation"
DD will be 15 in September (going into 9th grade in our state). She has been with HOD since 5th grade, started with Preparing with extensions. She did CtC in 6th, RtR in 7th, and is currently doing RevtoRev for 8th. We have done all guides completely as written, with the exception of math. She has always used the extensions; however, only did the readings for Preparing and CtC. She did only one of the extension assignments per unit for RtR and is now (in RevtoRev) doing two extension assignments per unit (doing the readings everyday).
Math: Currently in TT Pre-Alg every day, and twice a week does a lesson from Richard Fisher's pre-alg (in addition to TT). She makes mostly A's in the TT lessons, and though I don't grade the Fisher workbook, she would have A's on those also). We plan to do VidoeText Alg for 9th/10th.
Science: Science of any sort is her favorite subject, but she prefers life sciences. She has done the advanced science for RevtoRev and has done well. She's gotten frustrated on some of the advanced days where there is more building or detailed work, but has made A's on the three quarterly exams she's done so far (as well as done well in her workbook, though I haven't officially graded those).
Language Arts: By the end of this year, she will be finished with Level 8 dictation (or at least very, very close if not), and finished with Level 6 of R&S English. She has done grammar everyday this year, rather than half speed to meet the goal of being done with level 6 by the end of 8th grade. For Dithor, she is working through the level 7/8 book pack. I think she will have done all but one book by the end of the school year. (She is on her second 6/7/8 student book; she did the 6/7 book pack with the first workbook). She has done well with each of the writing programs--she enjoys them and seems to be a natural. (I will admit that writing is my least favorite thing to evaluate....I am not confident in my own writing abilities, and am never quite sure my critiquing skills are up to par and/or beneficial....but she likes to write, and I think she does quite well. In addition to the writing programs in CtC, RtR, and RevtoRev, she has also done "just for fun" (and no teaching/evaluation from me) the one year adventure novel dvd (we had received it free), as well as written many short stories.
She does well with narrations. She does better with written ones than oral ones. She typically writes several paragraphs for written narrations that are on topic and interesting. Oral narrations are either very brief and to the point, or they go on and on for what seems like forever
(I'm not sure which is better 
).
Work habits: She is my distractable child. She does take more time than she should to do her schoolwork, and has very little organizational skills. This is the part that has worried me about the geography guide. Though, honestly, I just don't know that another year is going to make that much difference for this gal in terms of time management. She does know that she needs to work on these things, but knowing and doing are of course two different things. She generally works from 9:00-4:00 or 4:30. We usually have about an hour for lunch, and she takes other breaks that add up to about an hour or so. So actual school time of approx 6 hours. I guess with doing the extra English and math, plus extensions, maybe she's not as slow as I was thinking
. As far as outside activities, we meet friends at a park one afternoon a week (and this is only done if all schoolwork is done). She also volunteers a a veterinary clinic, but there is no set schedule for that. If her work is done, and things are generally going well, she goes one day a week (usually the "5th" day---normally we do school 5 days, except when she volunteers). Other than church (Sunday and Wed evenings), that's all the on-going outside activities she has.
Wow! This ended up being long. Now I feel even more guilty .
Bottom line is....if we were coming to HOD new, I would put her in the geography guide. We just don't want to miss MtMM history. But at the same time, I know we won't want to miss what's to come in the last guide either
. I guess I'm wondering mostly would it be too lenient to put a child that is capable (and willing) to do the geography guide into MtMM instead. I don't know if it makes a difference in the answer, but she will most likely be going directly to a private university (not a community college) after high school.
Angie
I almost feel guilty about posting another "case study" for you. I do know that we will be ok whichever way we go, so...I promise I won't hold it against you if you don't get to this
.Based on what you said in the other thread (specifically about the depth and spiritual connections in the Modern guide), we are leaning toward doing right side Geo guide and left side of MtMM. I just would kind of like a "what Carrie would do in this situation"
DD will be 15 in September (going into 9th grade in our state). She has been with HOD since 5th grade, started with Preparing with extensions. She did CtC in 6th, RtR in 7th, and is currently doing RevtoRev for 8th. We have done all guides completely as written, with the exception of math. She has always used the extensions; however, only did the readings for Preparing and CtC. She did only one of the extension assignments per unit for RtR and is now (in RevtoRev) doing two extension assignments per unit (doing the readings everyday).
Math: Currently in TT Pre-Alg every day, and twice a week does a lesson from Richard Fisher's pre-alg (in addition to TT). She makes mostly A's in the TT lessons, and though I don't grade the Fisher workbook, she would have A's on those also). We plan to do VidoeText Alg for 9th/10th.
Science: Science of any sort is her favorite subject, but she prefers life sciences. She has done the advanced science for RevtoRev and has done well. She's gotten frustrated on some of the advanced days where there is more building or detailed work, but has made A's on the three quarterly exams she's done so far (as well as done well in her workbook, though I haven't officially graded those).
Language Arts: By the end of this year, she will be finished with Level 8 dictation (or at least very, very close if not), and finished with Level 6 of R&S English. She has done grammar everyday this year, rather than half speed to meet the goal of being done with level 6 by the end of 8th grade. For Dithor, she is working through the level 7/8 book pack. I think she will have done all but one book by the end of the school year. (She is on her second 6/7/8 student book; she did the 6/7 book pack with the first workbook). She has done well with each of the writing programs--she enjoys them and seems to be a natural. (I will admit that writing is my least favorite thing to evaluate....I am not confident in my own writing abilities, and am never quite sure my critiquing skills are up to par and/or beneficial....but she likes to write, and I think she does quite well. In addition to the writing programs in CtC, RtR, and RevtoRev, she has also done "just for fun" (and no teaching/evaluation from me) the one year adventure novel dvd (we had received it free), as well as written many short stories.
She does well with narrations. She does better with written ones than oral ones. She typically writes several paragraphs for written narrations that are on topic and interesting. Oral narrations are either very brief and to the point, or they go on and on for what seems like forever
(I'm not sure which is better ).Work habits: She is my distractable child. She does take more time than she should to do her schoolwork, and has very little organizational skills. This is the part that has worried me about the geography guide. Though, honestly, I just don't know that another year is going to make that much difference for this gal in terms of time management. She does know that she needs to work on these things, but knowing and doing are of course two different things. She generally works from 9:00-4:00 or 4:30. We usually have about an hour for lunch, and she takes other breaks that add up to about an hour or so. So actual school time of approx 6 hours. I guess with doing the extra English and math, plus extensions, maybe she's not as slow as I was thinking
. As far as outside activities, we meet friends at a park one afternoon a week (and this is only done if all schoolwork is done). She also volunteers a a veterinary clinic, but there is no set schedule for that. If her work is done, and things are generally going well, she goes one day a week (usually the "5th" day---normally we do school 5 days, except when she volunteers). Other than church (Sunday and Wed evenings), that's all the on-going outside activities she has.Wow! This ended up being long. Now I feel even more guilty
. Bottom line is....if we were coming to HOD new, I would put her in the geography guide. We just don't want to miss MtMM history. But at the same time, I know we won't want to miss what's to come in the last guide either
. I guess I'm wondering mostly would it be too lenient to put a child that is capable (and willing) to do the geography guide into MtMM instead. I don't know if it makes a difference in the answer, but she will most likely be going directly to a private university (not a community college) after high school. Angie
(along with mamas4bugs high school questions too 
, and doing the writing programs scheduled in our guides, along with writing written narrations very well, and completing all of Rod and Staff English 6; she is perfectly poised to begin the lit./comp/grammar as scheduled in the World Geography guide.