heartofdakota.com

I think I just put boy in the title because parenting both boys and girls has taught me the true difference between them as they progress through the years.

My ds12 is in 6th right now. I am thinking about this coming fall, next September, for his 7th grade year. He is one of those at the oldest end of the grade so he will be turning 13 as he moves up to 7th.

He did CTC for 5th. I remember Julie saying that she thought he placed in RTR at the time. He would have been turning 11. The guide did seem low for him, and his main HOD complaint that year was that it wasn't challenging him enough. By challenge I think he meant that he wanted to be writing longer narrations and to have his reading and thinking challenged more. I went with CTC for content, and did live to regret not taking Julie's advice.

This year I have continued DITHOR, which is fabulous. He has also been finishing the second half of R&S 5. I have continued to work on the depth of thought in oral narrations and done some copy work. Not grass Civics has been a part of it. He did electric circuits for science and is now doing the Fossils book that goes with the Evolution book used in MTMM science. It would lead nicely into the Evolution book. It feels scattered to me, but I have seen progress in his writing and thinking this year. He is good at grammar and started Pre-Algebra in January, which he is doing excellent with. He is a very avid advanced reader. He remembers what he reads easily. He needs continued work on being able to really think deeply on many issues and readings as he progresses through 7th - 12th.

Does anyone have any input if Rev2Rev or MTMM would be a better fit for 7th / age 13 for him? I have looked at the placement chart. It looks mostly MTMM for him, but I am never fully sure with HOD. I placed him too low last time so I would love some input. Please ask if I haven't included enough information.

Thank you kind ladies!

P.S. I do have 3 others I will be thinking about, but I want to take them one at a time. My youngest dd7 has down syndrome and would place into LHTH because she really is blessing us with age 3!

I can understand why you would be tempted to go with MTMM and in all honesty from what you have shared he could probably do MTMM this year. There isn't a huge jump between RTR and MTMM. The biggest differences are length of readings and also the amount of writing is more in MTMM. My concern would be trying to do the WG high school guide as an 8th grader. There is a big jump from MTMM to the WG guide. The length of day significantly increases as well as the amount of writing and the level and amount of reading. It is pretty challenging for those who have come all the way up through HOD so since you haven't done that I think it might seem overwhelming to him. So I would just say before you decide make sure you look at the big picture of the following years.

Do you plan on sticking with HOD through high school? If so, I would lean towards doing Rev2Rev, and add extensions as you see fit. There is an advanced option for science, so if he wants more science, you can go that route easily. And then the extensions would add to the history and include extra written and oral narrations if you choose. That way you would have one guide a year for high school as well, so you wouldn't have to figure out how to fill his senior year.

I would highly recommend reviewing the placement chart and circling where your son places in each of the boxes. If he places in the MtMM guide more, then I would go with MtMM. If he places in RevtoRev more, then I would go with RevtoRev. However, if your son loves to read and not write so much, then I would consider doing the level RevtoRev and adding in the extensions. I do think that the placement chart is a very useful tool and can help to guide you to which level you should use. Also, I would consider content. Even if your son places in MtMM, which level would he prefer to complete? If he would prefer RevtoRev, then I would go RevtoRev. There are a lot of factors that can go into picking the level.

I wouldn't recommend jumping into MTMM for 7th grade unless your son has gone through all the previous guides and just wound up ahead at that point, but you say 7th grade 13 year old who is doing Pre-Algebra and finishing R&S 5 already. I also have both boys and girls and my girls came first. So when I started teaching the boys it was a very different experience. I think there is a jump from CTC to RTR so I could see why RTR would have been more challenging and that would have set you up to be at MTMM now. You could also look at his age for grade and say a lot of kids do start 8th at 13 and if he is doing Pre-Algebra and everything well--you could bump him to MTMM as 8th and go into WG as 9th at 14. It would depend on when his birthday is and if he just missed the cutoff for starting school and is on the older age range for his grade.
I would probably tell you to do Rev2Rev if he was an upcoming 7th grade 12 year old, but as an upcoming 13 yr old 7th grader who is already doing Pre-Algebra in 6th and sounds like will be doing R&S 6...well I can see just upping his grade level and doing MTMM if he is just in 7th b/c of missing a birthday cutoff in the past. It sounds like he really is ready for 8th grade. But if you did MTMM as a 13 yr old 8th grader finishing Pre-Algebra...you would need to complete R&S 6 in one year before getting to WG in high school the next year.
I would look at his capabilities and look at the grade level compared to HOD's guide typical for that grade level (8th would be MTMM), and then I might would think about moving him up a grade on paper and doing MTMM.

LynnH wrote:My concern would be trying to do the WG high school guide as an 8th grader. There is a big jump from MTMM to the WG guide. The length of day significantly increases as well as the amount of writing and the level and amount of reading. It is pretty challenging for those who have come all the way up through HOD so since you haven't done that I think it might seem overwhelming to him. So I would just say before you decide make sure you look at the big picture of the following years.

Lynn, I really appreciate this insight. It is giving me much to think about and talk with DH about. I can see how he could really use two more years of study and maturity before the work load, literature study, and writing in WG. I appreciate too the insight that it is a challenging jump for those who have come up through the guides. Carrie puts so much into her guides that builds that I can appreciate that thought. I can see how two more guides could help much in the transition. I am one who likes to do Carrie's guides as written with all of the work built into them since I think they create a balanced richness done that way. Thus, he has to be ready for a big jump in work load like you are describing for WG.

StephanieU wrote:Do you plan on sticking with HOD through high school? If so, I would lean towards doing Rev2Rev, and add extensions as you see fit. There is an advanced option for science, so if he wants more science, you can go that route easily. And then the extensions would add to the history and include extra written and oral narrations if you choose. That way you would have one guide a year for high school as well, so you wouldn't have to figure out how to fill his senior year.

Yes, I am thinking the direction of making a plan of using HOD through high school for all 4 of them. I love HOD and I see many elements in it that have benefited each of my children differently in very good ways. I really want that consistency through the rest of home schooling of one path that builds towards graduation. I like the Christ-centeredness and academic rigor in HOD, and I am seeing more and more the point to the deeper thinking that Carrie is really going towards in DITHOR and the TMs. I think I am finally understanding the point of CM and narration! Thank you for the reminder that I could use the extensions and advanced science for 7th. He is really wanting to read the history books Carrie uses for story time and extensions for Rev2Rev so it could be a good fit.

Nealewill wrote: However, if your son loves to read and not write so much, then I would consider doing the level RevtoRev and adding in the extensions.

Yes, this describes him well. He loves to read, and has only begun to enjoy writing in the past year or two. His main strengths in schoolwork have been reading and math.

Tidbits of Learning wrote:I wouldn't recommend jumping into MTMM for 7th grade unless your son has gone through all the previous guides and just wound up ahead at that point, but you say 7th grade 13 year old who is doing Pre-Algebra and finishing R&S 5 already. I also have both boys and girls and my girls came first. So when I started teaching the boys it was a very different experience. I think there is a jump from CTC to RTR so I could see why RTR would have been more challenging and that would have set you up to be at MTMM now. You could also look at his age for grade and say a lot of kids do start 8th at 13 and if he is doing Pre-Algebra and everything well--you could bump him to MTMM as 8th and go into WG as 9th at 14. It would depend on when his birthday is and if he just missed the cutoff for starting school and is on the older age range for his grade.
I would probably tell you to do Rev2Rev if he was an upcoming 7th grade 12 year old, but as an upcoming 13 yr old 7th grader who is already doing Pre-Algebra in 6th and sounds like will be doing R&S 6...well I can see just upping his grade level and doing MTMM if he is just in 7th b/c of missing a birthday cutoff in the past. It sounds like he really is ready for 8th grade. But if you did MTMM as a 13 yr old 8th grader finishing Pre-Algebra...you would need to complete R&S 6 in one year before getting to WG in high school the next year.
I would look at his capabilities and look at the grade level compared to HOD's guide typical for that grade level (8th would be MTMM), and then I might would think about moving him up a grade on paper and doing MTMM.

Thank you Tidbits of Learning. This paragraph has given me a lot to think about, pray about, and talk to DH about. I agree with you that if he does MTMM it would be easiest to just move him into 8th (we do have to declare grades on our intent forms each fall for our state). He is 3 weeks before the cut-off, and a wise Kindergarten teacher at a private school who had taught 30 years of K recommended to have him wait until age 6 even though he was reading. I tried at age 5 for 3 weeks and that was enough pencil for us! So I waited until just after his 6th Birthday to start K, and at just turned 6 he was ready to learn to write.

Thank you ladies. The point of whether he is not only ready for MTMM, but also only one year away from being ready for High school is very valid. 9th grade takes a certain amount of maturity for work load and readiness in the areas of writing and thinking. This reminder was very helpful. I can see how in the areas of writing and literature analysis and work load he could use two more years of preparation. I have started the conversation with DH and this thread is helping us a lot in talking it through. Thank you for all of the thoughts and insights!

I just wanted to thank you all for your input. We are in a similar situation and I was looking to the board for insight. Coming out of RTRef with a going to be 14 yr old 8th grader who loves to read and is just coming into writing but doesn't like to do it much. Thank you again for your confirmation of my first thoughts about sticking with Rev2Rev next.