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Hello!
I am needing to place my 12 yo son (he will be 12 years and 8 months when we start). He is all boy and doesn’t really “like”school, simply because he rather be outside playing or outside working. He is mostly independent in his school work. He is really behind in writing composition and grammar and doesn’t like either one, and this is why I struggle where to place him. I know we need to step it up in order for him to be ready for high school, so will you help me please? Thank you!

ETA: I don’t know if it matters or not, but he loves structure and needs to be pushed.

How did he place on the placement chart? Which levels did he score in for the reading, writing and grammar?

Nealewill~
For reading he would place in Res. to Ref.
For writing he would place in CtC
For grammar some in Preparing, some in. CtC and some in Res. to Ref.

I would probably start in RtR then. The IEW writing, especially the second edition is excellent. It starts out by teaching the kids how to take a source document and write from it. This will aid significantly in doing the written narrations. With these you will probably have to do a bit of hand holding at first but I would think that by mid year he would be able to do them alone or with minimal help. In addition, the guide says to do an 8-12 sentence written narration at this age for history. CtC has them do a 5-8 sentence written narration. You could always start him out doing less sentences and then move into longer written narration eventually. As for grammar, CtC starts with R&S 4 and they only complete half the book. RtR completes the other half of R&S 4. That means that grammar is scheduled twice a week in these two guides instead of everyday. In Preparing, RevtoRev and MtMM, grammer is scheduled daily though. If it were me, I would just do R&S 4 every day. That way you finish the book by the end of the year.

Thank you very much, Nealewill, that sounds like a great plan.

Great advice already - I'll just wish you a happy homeschooling year with your son! RTR is such fun to teach and to do - much learning there - but much to just enjoy as well. God bless!

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you Julie!

The ladies are doing a great job of helping you talk through your options! Depending on how much of a challenge writing is for your son, you may also want to give CTC some consideration as a possible starting point. I mention this because CTC does a great job of training kiddos in writing written narrations, has fewer sentences and less writing overall required, yet is a great stepping stone to more difficult writing. It will also lay a solid foundation in many skill areas that will make the coming guides easier transition-wise.

From my perspective, it is easier to jump forward a guide than it is to back up a guide. So, it can sometimes make sense to start in a more manageable place like CTC instead of having to down-size a guide that is too hard. CTC is also the first guide that requires quite a bit of independence, so it is a good place to enter into increasing independence. The readings in CTC are also quite challenging reading level-wise, so I don't think it would be too easy in the reading area. Anyway, just something to ponder!

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you Carrie, for responding. You make a lot of good points, of course. I will look at CTC, too, and go from there’s.

Often finding the right fit can take a bit of pondering. I honestly think you could do either CTC or RTR. Both have advantages placement-wise to your son's situation. I just wanted to mention CTC as a possibility as you are thinking through things, so you don't wonder later if you get going with RTR and find it pretty challenging whether CTC might have been a possible fit.

If you don't mind mentioning what your son is currently doing for history, science, and language arts that might help us discover better what might fit him well.

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie wrote:Often finding the right fit can take a bit of pondering. I honestly think you could do either CTC or RTR. Both have advantages placement-wise to your son's situation. I just wanted to mention CTC as a possibility as you are thinking through things, so you don't wonder later if you get going with RTR and find it pretty challenging whether CTC might have been a possible fit.

If you don't mind mentioning what your son is currently doing for history, science, and language arts that might help us discover better what might fit him well.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you Carrie. I’m not quite sure what to do. But I would really like to figure it out before we start. For History and LA we have been using The Good and The Beautiful. For science iphe has been using God’s Design-Answer in Genesis.

RtR would definitely be a challenge, maybe too much of one, but I’m not sure CTC would be challenging enough.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me figure this out.

I wonder if a happy medium would be to do RTR half-speed for awhile? What do you think?

In Christ,
Julie

my3sons wrote:I wonder if a happy medium would be to do RTR half-speed for awhile? What do you think?

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you, Julie. I think that is the way we are going to go.

Oh good! I hope you enjoy RTR! We sure did - God bless!

In Christ,
Julie