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Hopefully this will be my last post and I can make a decision!!! Thank you, in advance, for your help...

I *think* I have decided to combine my (just turned) 8 year old daughter and (almost) ten year old son in Preparing next year. My 8 year old places pretty firmly in Preparing, while I think my son could do Preparing or CtC. A few notes about these two kiddos: they both LOVE to read, but have had little practice with narration. My son does NOT like writing, copy work or creative. I hope that might help a little... Here are my questions:

- I am thinking I'll purchase the 5th grade extensions for my son... as we move through the guides, would I always have to purchase the extensions for him? Would this in any way be holding him back at all?

- Rod and Staff question: My son will have completed Christian Light Education's level 4 Language Arts curriculum by the time we start HOD. In my opinion it's very thorough and he does a pretty good job with it. Would I need to go to R&S 4 or 5 with him? I am not familiar with Rod and Staff's LA curriculum, so I don't really know how much it differs from what we are doing.

- Do I really need to purchase the Deluxe package available with Preparing? I am really wanting opinions here... I'm leaning toward getting it, but don't want it to add a lot of time to our day or just a lot of extra work.

-According to the placement chart, my daughter fits into Preparing, I'm a little skeptical about her being able to "grasp" and "understand" everything? Has anyone else faced this problem?

Again, thank you SO much!

If they place in those ways then combining in Preparing is definitely a good idea.

The Extensions will expand the learning for your son since he is older and capable of understanding things at a deeper level. They will also make sure he is on track for HS level work by the time he gets to HS. I think as long as the challenge level is right and you continue with them combined, you would use extensions for each guide.

You may want to look at the R&S website for placement help for your son in grammar. I will say that I think R&S is very meaty and the general schedule is to try to complete R&S 6 by the end of 8th grade. Because of the writing in the upper guides you do 1/2 of R&S 5 in 5th, 1/2 in 6th, then split R&S 6 over 7th and 8th grades. I THINK that's how it works.

The Deluxe package is for the child to do independent history readings and I think it really adds a lot and it develops their independence. I would absolutely recommend buying it.

All I can say on level is that you should look through some of the books, especially the history spines and science books, and see what you think as to whether she is ready for the material. If she is not just barely 8 and really places well there then she should be able to get it.

Excellent advice given already - I agree!

In Christ,
Julie