help me place my student

[MY3monkeys]

I've finally come to a decision and we're going with HOD but I'm still not sure where I should place my 6th grader. She has been struggling a LOT with her science, history, Bible, and reading comprehension. But keep in mind we were using A Beka for history and science, CLE for bible, and choosing our own readers. I think the A Beka subjects were just too hard for her, the bible was boring to her, and we have been fighting a lazy streak lately with the reading (she does well when she wants to and does pretty well on her standardized tests, but when she doesn't want to nothing will get it through her head). She also needs work on composition and spelling skills.

I was just looking through the CtoC guide and the samples don't look too hard at all and almost look too easy for her. She hasn't studied a lot of the topics in it so it would be new stuff for her. But I'm not sure if that's the right place for her? Does CtoC get a lot hard by year's end? Or do you think RtoR is a better fit for her?

I'm also wondering how to work out high school if we use CtoC in 6th grade? In NY we are required to cover 4 units of social studies which includes one unit of American history, one half unit of participation in gov't, and one half unit of economics. How can I pull this off if I place her in CtoC? I'm almost leaning towards putting her in RtoR even if it ends up being a bit too hard since it's where she'd normally be for a 6th grader and it wouldn't offset her high school stuff.

Also when will the rest high school guides be coming out? My DH is very nervous that the high school programs won't be out in time for us to use them. He wants me to go with MFW because of this.

[Nealewill]

I came from MFW but switched to HOD for 2 reasons. I like the book selection better for HOD and I like keeping my kids separated. As for high school, if your husband is worried about it, you could always start with R2R and then each year there after. Then once your kids make it to high school you could re-evaluate. I think you said before that you did study ancient history but it was just different stuff. That is okay You can't study absolutely everything in only 12 years and chances are good that even if you did, you would forget it. I am learning ALL the time with my own kiddos. I also am one who likes to play EVERYTHING out for my kids for every year and it practically kills me to not know what the last 3 years will hold. But I also can see that I love every year of HOD so far and trust that they will give another 3 fantastic years in the end - that just seems to be their style. I think we both have the same style for school - AKA - I do exactly what they list and my kids love it, I love it, that makes it a good fit for us .

Good luck with choosing and I think whichever you choose you will be fine.

[LynnH]

First of all be careful comparing an Abeka style text book to HOD and thinking that CTC looks too easy for her. So often I see people who are new to Charlotte Mason make that mistake and then their child struggles because they aren't able to do the deeper thinking that oral and written narration requires. CTC does get harder as the guide progresses, mostly in the area of writing and also the reading comprehension is more challenging as it moves away from familiar bible stories into more descriptions of battles and things to do with Rome and Greece. At some point in the guide they are no longer given the questions to help with written narration. They are told more to just write a narration about the topic of the reading. It is still 5-8 sentences though.

If you think she can handle RTR you can place her there and just start out slowly making sure she is moving towards handling all the I boxes independently. It does take a certain maturity and work ethic to do that and only you can determine if she is ready for that. There is quite a bit more writing in RTR. They are expected to do a history written narration and a science written narration each week. The amount of reading is also significantly increased.

If you use CTC you could easily get the credits she needs. She would do MTMM as a 9th grader and that would give her at least 1/2 a credit in American history and I know some have beefed it up to a credit. You could easily add to the economics that is in MTMM to make it 1/2 a credit. Then in 10th grade she would do the World Geography guide, 11th the World History high school guide and in 12th grade she could get her other 1/2 credit in American History with the Early American History guide. This guide will also have 1/2 credit in government scheduled.

As far as when the other guides are coming out Carrie has said that she plans on putting out a high school guide a year so the next one is planned to come out in late August of this year. She so far has been able to put out a guide a year. Even if there was a year break in there for some reason you still would be fine because the guide would come out way before you need it.

[MY3monkeys]

Thank you. I think we'll stick with CtoC. I'd rather have a year that is not pushing her and let her catch up and improve her skills before moving on instead of battling our way through a year that is just too hard like we've been doing.

I feel better too knowing how I might be able to arrange things for high school and that the guides should be out in time for us to use.

I guess I have some shopping lists to make so I can give DH a total of what I need.

[my3sons]

I just wanted to pop in and say I think you made a great decision going with CTC! First, I wouldn't want you two to miss it, and second, I think it sounds like the right fit for dd. Let us know if there is anything else you have questions about!

In Christ,
Julie