Combine 12 and 14 yo in Rev To Rev or RTR or?

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deltagal
Posts: 930
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:29 pm
Location: Virginia

Combine 12 and 14 yo in Rev To Rev or RTR or?

Post by deltagal » Sat Mar 23, 2013 10:55 am

Hi all,

I'll confess I've been so incredibly absorbed for most of my home-school journey with making sure my oldest is on the right path that I haven't spent a great deal of time and energy thinking about the ones next in line. But now that the 16 yo is well on his way and doing great, my thoughts are turning to the others:

I'm thinking this through....

My 14 yo will be a high-school Freshman in the fall. He does GREAT work across the curriculum, but takes a LONG time. The 11 yo is a great independent worker. I also have found it beneficial to work with the 14 yo and 11 yo in a couple of subjects together this year - primarily language arts and math. It seems to help the 14 yo move along a bit quicker and gives the 11 yo the attention he needs. As I look to my 14 yo's Freshman year my primary areas of concern are:
keeping up with the science reading and labs
maintaining a higher-level reading
continued development of writing skills
beginning foreign language study
maintaining his momentum in math

As an aside, my 14 year old is a very fine athlete and artist and invests a great deal of time daily in these areas. (And it requires a lot of time from his parents, as well.) He also has a very great interest in music and would like to devote more time to study in this area if we can figure out how to make it work. So, I would like to keep his academic load to 4 hours a day maximum - 4 days a week, with 3 hours on the 5th day. I don't know if this is reasonable, but I certainly think it is realistic for us.

Both the 11 and 14 yo have completed the guides from Beyond up through a portion of CTC. The 11 yo is currently in CTC and will reach the 1/2 way point by the end of May. The 14 yo is currently reading a variety of poetry, classic novels and literature on ancient greece and mythology, along with completing CTC science. We've devoted a great deal of energy this year to getting him on the level with math and grammar and writing. I needed to give him a chance to work his own plan this year and it has been great! He has matured immensely.

One of the ideas I am pondering is to simply put both of these boys together next year because they could work together on the science and history projects and I could work with them more intentionally on the Worldview, language arts, math, foreign language and enrichment study - such as composer. And everyone literally would be on the same page.

if we use RTR - I would need to do an alternate to the science for the 14 yo. Although the 14 yo has not had any earth science and I feel he would benefit from some study in this area. They've both completed the picture and Shakespeare study in RTR, as well as the Bible Quiet Time selections.

if we use Rev to Rev - we would need to "skip" or do some sort of abbreviated study of RTR. The 14 yo could use the option 2 science for his first year of High-school and the 11 yo who will turn 12 in May could keep him on track with this ; ) I would probably not use the extensions or storytime for the 14 yo, but would give him a higher-level of literature. We might even use the Literature pack Carrie has selected for the World Geo guide, which I believe looks like a very good fit for him. And I would use some - not all - of the extensions or storytime selections as family read-alouds. I would use most of the 7/8 book pack and DITHR with my 11 yo for literature.

The 14 yo also needs to begin foreign language study. I think it would be easier to simply begin the 12 yo in this area as well. I'm really counting the minutes til Carrie posts her plan ; )

My final option would be to put the 14 yo in the World Geo guide, but I think he needs more time to study and fewer subjects. He could handle the work, but I'm not feeling a pull in that direction.

Of course these options result in skipping the last 1/2 of CTC and possibly all of RTR. Perhaps, we could begin the year with some sort of abbreviated concentration on the RTR period? Hmmm.

Boy! This has been fun to type out. What do you think?
Last edited by deltagal on Sat Mar 23, 2013 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
With Joy!
Florence

My blog: http://florencebrooks.com/

Began HOD 1/2009
Currently using: Bigger, RTR, Rev to Rev and MTMM

deltagal
Posts: 930
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:29 pm
Location: Virginia

Re: Combine 12 and 14 yo in Rev To Rev or RTR or?

Post by deltagal » Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:41 pm

Well, I'm not done thinking this through. I just spent the bulk of the afternoon reading through all of the plans for the Geography guide, along with the placement chart. It looks to me like he could easily handle MTMM or the Geography guide. I do need to continue to work with both of the boys together on :

math and language arts
and I am concerned about keeping the oldest on track with the science.

I think he would really enjoy the State Study and the MTMM study. Maybe there's some other way to work that in as an elective in High-School and to go ahead and go to the geography guide?

I could then put both of the boys together in Rev to Rev - physical science.

Hmmmmm. I think ultimately simplicity needs to prevail for the momma and the boy.
With Joy!
Florence

My blog: http://florencebrooks.com/

Began HOD 1/2009
Currently using: Bigger, RTR, Rev to Rev and MTMM

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