Preparing versus CTC?

[LovingJesus]

This is my last child to try and place for fall! I am still praying about and sitting on the decision of Rev2Rev versus MTMM for our oldest (I did do a thread on this question that was very helpful). My second son I just started a thread today for CTC versus RTR. Now I am coming out with a thread for my third born. My dd7 has down syndrome and isn't quite ready for LHTH so I won't be placing her.

My dd9 is 9 1/4. She won't be 10 until the end of next January. She is in third grade and will be in fourth grade in the fall.

She is currently doing DITHOR 2/3 work book and is almost done with the level 3 readers. She can read though around a 6th grade level by the books I see her pick up for fun reading. She has a great vocabulary. She is finishing up Rod and Staff English 3 this spring. She is currently doing Land Animals with her older brother with the Apologia Note book, which does have written narrations to do inside it. She finished level 2 dictation in the back of Preparing this year. She can write a 2 - 3 sentence written narration. I will have her move into DITHOR 4/5 work book in the fall. Her academic strengths are Bible, Bible memory, reading, oral narrations, and science. Her writing and spelling are coming along. I haven't seen her write yet beyond writing a 3 sentence paragraph or copying a longer paragraph which she can do and has done. She is doing very well in R&S 3. She is used to a work load lower then HOD: Spelling, Rod and Staff English, math, Apologia science, DITHOR, and listening to a literature book read aloud.

I have looked at the placement chart. She seems CTC to me, but I am not fully sure.

A few options I have thought of:

1. Doing Preparing for 4th grade

2. Waiting and starting CTC when she turns 10 in January, has some greater maturity, is ready for a harder work load a little more, and has continued to grow in writing.

The advantage of the #2 would be to give me only 2 guides in the fall and wait for 4 months before trying 3 guides again.

I would most of all though like to put her where she really places.

Are you seeing Preparing or CTC?

[LynnH]

It actually looks like she fits solidly into Preparing. Preparing is great for a 4th grader. It puts her right on target for the rest of the guides and will allow her to grow in the areas of writing and getting used to the HOD workload. Preparing also is a pretty key guide for giving dc lots of hooks to hang future knowledge on.

[LovingJesus]

It actually looks like she fits solidly into Preparing. Preparing is great for a 4th grader. It puts her right on target for the rest of the guides and will allow her to grow in the areas of writing and getting used to the HOD workload. Preparing also is a pretty key guide for giving dc lots of hooks to hang future knowledge on.

Thank you Lynn. This is very helpful too!

[countrymom]

Based on what you shared I would go Preparing. CTC was a big jump for us and one of the reasons was my son was not a strong writer (as in writing multiple sentences or putting a lot of thoughts on paper). I think Preparing will be perfect and after a year of Preparing she should be able to get the most out of CTC.

[LovingJesus]

Based on what you shared I would go Preparing. CTC was a big jump for us and one of the reasons was my son was not a strong writer (as in writing multiple sentences or putting a lot of thoughts on paper). I think Preparing will be perfect and after a year of Preparing she should be able to get the most out of CTC.

Thank you countrymom this is helpful.

[Kteni]

I'll be putting my 11yr old son in preparing as it is what he needs most. It was a guide that really taught my daughter how to transition into more independant work, gave her good research skills, encouraged her writing significantly, and prepared her for more mature reading. I can not say enough good things about preparing. It was one of my regrets in leaving HOD last year, and loosing so much ground in skill building in my son. anyways, what is done is done and he will bloom in this guide I think. We will use extentions for him. It looks from your daughters info, this guide would be a very good fit for her. Blessings on your planning!

[LovingJesus]

Thank you so much Keteni for your kind encouragement. Your post on the other thread for the other mom, that I just read, is beautiful.

I am glad I started this thread. The LORD is calling and leading me back to HOD. This time it will be one foot in front of the other to have the slow and steady in every area of our homeschool & not in R&S English alone.

I think all of you have helped me 'see' where she is beyond her reading strengths (she often has a book in hand). It has helped immensely. I am feeling a lot of peace about Preparing for her. I think she will grow a ton and it will be a good fit for 4th & the preparation she needs for the years to come. Thank you ladies for helping me see what she needs.

[Nealewill]

Have you printed off the placement chart? Have you thought of going through and circling the boxes that she fits. For example, if she is 9, the she would qualify for Bigger, Preparing and CTC. Reading - she would definitely qualify for Preparing and CTC. Writing - has she done creative writing before? In Preparing, they are expected to write 3-5 sentence narrations. In CtC, it moves up to 5-8. Does she do copy work already? In Preparing, you will copy 1-2 sentences at a time. In CtC, it might still be 1-2 sentences but sometimes it could be 3. I found that the difference between Preparing copywork and CTC copy work was not a huge jump. Grammar - she is already going to be ready for R&S 4 which is used in CtC. Math is somewhat irrelevant. My dd used dictation level 3 when she did CtC so if your dd has finished level 2, then starting level 3 in CtC would be fine.

Personally, if your dd is a strong reader and you think she could easily grow into the writing, I would probably consider CtC. You can always go 1/2 paced for a bit. In addition, I found the creative write to not be overwhelming. But I would say that the writing portion is probably going to be the area to consider most when considering Preparing vs CtC. The one nice thing about CtC versus Preparing is that CtC is more independent than Preparing. The volume of reading is a bit more than Preparing also. If your dd likes to read and can read for 1-1.5 hours a day, then CtC will be great. But if your dd struggles with reading that long, then I would do Preparing.

[LovingJesus]

I have circled the placement chart and came up with CTC.

Currently her written narrations are 2 - 3 sentences for science and 3 - 5 for lab write ups. She hasn't done written narrations for history since 2nd.

She has done a ton of copy work and can copy paragraphs. Her dictation would be level 3 for HOD. She has copied long Bible passages since first grade.

She loves to read and chooses to read 1 - 1 1/2 hours a day around a 5th level.

R&S 3 has her write sentences to use the grammar and for pictures.

Work load she is lower then HOD. I need HOD for accountability, rigor, & a plan in place through Highschool. I find we do less then I want with eclectic. I read Bible and literature to her daily, but she reads more to herself then I read. Plus, the Christ centered learning in HOD is wonderful. . She loves to play but she is an independent starter who wants what is next and if she knew all day it would help. She loves to draw also and do crafts so I think HOD would do well for her.

She did Beyond history for second with the emerging readers. I added MFW ADV and Apologia science to it since she was ready for written narrations. She has grown a lot this year.

Does that help place her?

PS. I just looked again and she is CTC for age, CTC for reading (starting 4/5 DITHOR in the fall, CTC for writing (except she hasn't really had any creative writing, but the rest of the writing box is CTC), and grammar CTC (done diagramming in R&S 3 and ready for R&S 4 in the fall). She started written narrations in MFW1 for first and did them in 2nd with MFW ADV and Apologia, and more in 3rd with Apologia. They are still around 3 sentences, but CTC would be the next step of 5 sentences or more. She would do fine with CTC copy work. Does that help place her?

[Nealewill]

Yes, I think I would place her in CTC. CtC still has helps for written narrations for the first half of the year. I think she will be fine. It may be a bit of an adjustment at first but I think she can catch on.

[LovingJesus]

Yes, I think I would place her in CTC. CtC still has helps for written narrations for the first half of the year. I think she will be fine. It may be a bit of an adjustment at first but I think she can catch on.

Thank you for the encouragement Danaele!

I think she would catch on too!

[MomtoJGJE]

You might want to start out slowly at first for you both to get the hang of what boxes are what. Just a unit or two half speed would probably be enough to let you guys get the feel of it.