Science questions

[snadig]

Hello Ladies,

I am needing some advice. My middle dd is just finishing up RevtoRev for her Freshman year. She has grown in many areas and is now ready to make the jump into Geography guide. She is a great student, but lacks motivation and doesn't like school, but tells me she would never want to do anything but Heart of Dakota. I think some of her issues are due to not enjoying some subjects, like writing and math. We have worked through some of this and it is a daily thing. I do think she can make the jump (skipping MtMM) to the Geography guide, but science is where I am not sure what to do. She is finishing up advanced Physical Science and has done pretty well. So with jumping ahead we would be in "Intergrated Physics & Chemistry", but it seems a lot of the same things would be covered again that she is just finishing.

So some thoughts I had are doing Geography as written, use the science from MtMM, or just not do a science and let her pick some projects to work on that interest her. She loves the idea of archaeology, plants, ect. I don't want to change the Geography guide too much as it seems very full and she will have to grow into it, the writing, mapping and lit will be a big work load at the beginning, but I think she will grow into it as we go. She doesn't seemed interested in college at this point. We are just praying for all our kids to follow the Lords leading for their future.

Any advice would be very helpful.

thanks
Stacey

[LynnH]

Did you do the advanced Exploration Education this year for high school credit? The IPC in the WG guide is more detailed information and requires more math as well as has pretty challenging experiments, however if you already gave her a Physical Science credit this year then you should do something else. If you plan on doing Biology and Chemistry the next 2 years then she should meet any requirements that are required by college if she does decide to go. I do think Chemistry will be harder without doing the IPC. It might be good for her to have a more interest led science, because if she doesn't like writing the WG is going to be very challenging for her. We didn't skip MTMM and it was a big jump for my son. I will be honest I can't imagine going from Rev to Rev to the WG guide, but you of course know your daughter best.

[snadig]

Lynn,

Thanks for the feed back. I am giving her credit for the science she has done this guide. I am waffling with just doing the Geography guide as written and leaving off the lab part. I know she would cover similar information, but it is the easiest way to go. But then I was thinking covering the same things again would be not necessary.

I know the Geography guide will be a jump but I think a good jump. She seems ready for most of it, the writing she just does not enjoy but can do it. I guess one nice thing is I have both guides and can keep looking them over. I might just let her do the science from MtMM. Oh the things we stress about . It will all work out I am sure of that. I just want to do what's best for her. Maybe letting her pick might make it more interesting to her also.

Thanks again!

[Carrie]

Stacey,

While you can move your child to the World Geography guide if you feel she is ready, prior to making that kind of jump it is good to ask what will be gained if we do that. Typically, families who jump forward over MTMM do it because Rev2Rev was not challenging enough in that they now feel the need for more challenging math, more challenging science, more challenging literature, desire a longer school day, or need a certain set of requirements high school wise for their future college plans.

In thinking through what you have shared thus far, it seems like your daughter is ready for more of a challenge (which both MTMM and the WG will definitely provide). But, she also is not a lover of school (which I am assuming means she is not desiring a much longer school day), not a writing lover, not needing a very particular science path, and hasn't decided yet on a certain path for college that would be giving her less wiggle room in her high school years. With these thoughts in mind, it is good to consider why it is necessary then for her to jump forward over MTMM?

My thoughts would be that MTMM would give her the extra challenge she is needing, would give her the science that would fit her well, and would lengthen her school day while increasing the writing load (without making the jump too huge, so she doesn't end up faltering under too big of a load too soon). She would still earn needed credits for graduation, then, the following year she would be better prepared for the World Geography Guide.

Anyway, just a few thoughts to ponder before we head into trying to piece together a plan from multiple guides. It is possible that we could do almost no tweaking and have her on a very good path for graduation simply by doing MTMM.

Feel free to share your thoughts as we dialogue about this, as sometimes simply talking through things helps solidify thoughts. You know your daughter best, and would know better than I would what would suit her. But, before skipping a guide, I always like to look at the reasons for doing so and to calculate what would be gained by such a move. Sometimes it truly is best to jump ahead, and other times it is better to stay the course.

Blessings,
Carrie

[snadig]

Carrie,

Thank you for your reply. I have been looking both of them over and I really think moving into the Geography guide will be the best thing for her. I really thought about what you said regarding "what would be gained by moving her forward" and I think she would feel that she is in the guide for her age. I think it would boost her confidence.

I will keep praying about it and looking it over. Thanks so much for your help.

Stacey

[momxnine]

Hi Stacey,

Just a couple of thoughts here. My son is 14 1/2 and just finished RevtoRev. He'll be going into MTMM in the Fall. He sounds like your daughter, doesn't like school, hates writing, etc. He did enjoy EE in RevtoRev though (except for all the writing parts). My thoughts on jumping to WG (I considered this too) are that she'll miss half of American History. I think MTMM covers it differently than what the AH guides are doing, at least from what I've seen.
You can always pick up the second half (WWII) in AH2, but that's a whole 4 guides away. There's no way my son will stay in school that much longer. You could skip AH1, but I'm not sure what the continuity there is going to be like.

We're going to only do the next three guides, MTMM, WG and WH. He'll still need to pick up some of the credits that will be in the AH1 and AH2 guides, like government, economics, health, etc. but he'll have all his American History covered between RevtoRev and MTMM. We're going to try adding the extras in at different places in these next three guides and/or in the summer months. That way he'll have all the credits done and be finished with everything by the "normal" time when he's 17 1/2. He'll also not be too overwhelmed by the writing skills that are involved in WG.

I guess my questions would be: What are the laws in CO.? How long do they "have" to stay in school? If she's not planning on college (my son isn't), does she have any ideas of what she's going to do? Is she going to want to just keep on with the guides? I learned with a couple of my sons that if they aren't motivated and enjoying what they're doing, they're just going to quit. So i ended up with two dropouts. I'm hoping to keep this last one going until he graduates and try to cut the time down. Boys just seem to have more of an "itch" to be done sometimes than a girl, but girls get that "itch" too.