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Last year I used Preparing for my then 8 yo & 11 yo DS. I loved it, but we actually didn't finish, and I went with a more pure CM approach this year. I have really enjoyed the CM schedule, but I really miss HOD and all of the skill building that my sons received over the last three years with HOD. I saw so much progress with them in HOD. This year I am not seeing that as much as in the past. So now I am thinking of picking back up with Preparing and finishing it with my now 9yo son. I'm not sure what to do with my 12 yo, maybe he should finish too with the extensions?? The extensions look pretty spot on for him. He is a slower writer and speller, though an excellent reader and narrator. His slowness in grammar and spelling is more of his lack of desire, not his ability. He fits in Preparing/CTC for writing and grammar and RTR for reading. He is strong in science and nature studies, and would benefit from challenging studies. He has done Apologia Zoology and Anatomy through our co-op. This year we are doing/reading through Our Island Story, The Storybook of Science, Shakespeare's The Tempest & midsummer's Night Dream, Minn of the Mississippi, Tanglewood Tales, SCM Artist Studies, Studied Dictation, The Light and the Glory, & Plutarch (a struggle for us) Robinson Crusoe (even a bigger struggle, so we shelved it). So I'm not sure where that puts with HOD. We have really enjoyed the books we've been reading this year, and my sons love the short and varied lessons, but the structure of HOD is really good for us, as well as the pre-planned days for me. I feel like I can see where we are going more with HOD, and how each year builds upon the last. It gives me a better gauge of how my children are advancing and where we need more work, rather than going it more solo. I love that I can look at the guides and see my kiddos education all the way through high school, with the community support that I need.
Thanks for any input!

Are you planning on starting back in Preparing soon? If so, I would do the extensions for the oldest. Then, when you are near the end of Preparing (Unit 30 or so), see where the oldest is in writing, etc. He might be ready to skip CTC and jump into RtR. Otherwise, I would do CTC with extensions.

Yes, I still have all of the Preparing books, I just need to re-buy the guide. My plan is to start preparing now and use it until we finish in may. We were at about Week 22 when we stopped last year. So your plan sounds good! I can then put my 9yo in CTC and decide on the oldest.

After talking with my husband, I feel like my 12 yo needs more of a challenge than Preparing. I'm not sure if I should put him in CTC or skip it. I am really feeling this urge to propel him forward rather than cater to him and keep him behind with his brother. My youngest is perfectly placed in Preparing, and CTC will be perfect for him next year. It's my oldest I need help with. I have tried to combine them over the past few years to make it simpler on myself, but now I'm seeing that my oldest needs to be further ahead. I don't want to overwhelm him too much though. I'm confused.

Where do you think he needs the challenging? You mentioned he is behind on writing. Maybe doing Preparing with extensions, and then adding in an appropriate writing curriculum for the next couple of months would be wise. That should help him be ready for the workload and writing/grammar in RtR.

He is behind in grammar and writing. It was such a struggle in the past to even get him to write a couple of words, so we went very slowly. Now I'm concerned that he is behind. He is capable of CTC and the next guide, the only thing holding him back is writing, grammar and spelling, I think. I'm also concerned about him not finishing all of the guides when he graduates. I'm having some "mommy freak-out-anxiety" at the moment! Unfortunately, he has been my guinea pig as my oldest, and we have switched a couple of times. We stayed with HOD from Beyond, Bigger, & Preparing. Now that we've done a whole semester with just CM, I'm seeing the gaps that weren't there last year. His skills were really advancing last year, his writing in particular. he was able to copy passages that were in cursive, and that were longer. He did still complain that the day was long for him and he felt like there was a lot of seat work. He also is a very active boy that wants to be outside, so a lot of that is just his own strong will and personality. So I'm not sure where that leaves me. I am leaning towards Preparing with extensions to finish out this year, I just don't want to do him a disservice by keeping him back if he needs to be ahead. He is 6th grade right now and his little brother is 4th, I don't know if they should stay combined or not anymore.

If you finished out preparing, you could see how he does writing wise at the end of the year. This way you can determine if he would be ready to move up to CtC or RtR or RevtoRev by the beginning of next year. Or you could just do one level a year and have the 12 year old complete the extension. Also, if you wanted the 12 year old to feel different than the 9 year old, you could always use a different science level. You could have the 12 year old start the Exploration Education next year instead life sciences. And then just have the 12 year old move up in science separately from the history. This would put you on track to be able to do all of the sciences more at his grade level and would help you to have them separated a bit.

That's a good idea to ponder with the science! We always seem to mature a lot over the summer, he will be 13 this August. So Preparing now seems like the best option and then rethink it once he finishes. What guide does Exploration Education start?

twolittlebears wrote:That's a good idea to ponder with the science! We always seem to mature a lot over the summer, he will be 13 this August. So Preparing now seems like the best option and then rethink it once he finishes. What guide does Exploration Education start?

EE is in the Rev2Rev guide as physical science.

My new question now is, in order for my 12 year old/6th grader to be on track when he is a senior, and to have all of the credits that he needs, what guide SHOULD he be in for 7t grade? Or what guide can he finish out with and still be ok for college?

Thank you so much!!

twolittlebears wrote:My new question now is, in order for my 12 year old/6th grader to be on track when he is a senior, and to have all of the credits that he needs, what guide SHOULD he be in for 7t grade? Or what guide can he finish out with and still be ok for college?

Thank you so much!!

To complete all of the guides, one year per guide, then you would want to do Rev2Rev for 7th grade. But it is easy to modify Rev2Rev and MtMM for high school. So, that would be CTC or RtR for 7th grade.

Some have even used CtC and RtR for high school! These guides are very strong in history. The challenge is the science in these guides aren't really high school level. The history and Bible is enough, but not the science (math and language arts are always on their level).

twolittlebears wrote:Last year I used Preparing for my then 8 yo & 11 yo DS. I loved it, but we actually didn't finish, and I went with a more pure CM approach this year. I have really enjoyed the CM schedule, but I really miss HOD and all of the skill building that my sons received over the last three years with HOD. I saw so much progress with them in HOD. This year I am not seeing that as much as in the past. So now I am thinking of picking back up with Preparing and finishing it with my now 9yo son. I'm not sure what to do with my 12 yo, maybe he should finish too with the extensions?? The extensions look pretty spot on for him. He is a slower writer and speller, though an excellent reader and narrator. His slowness in grammar and spelling is more of his lack of desire, not his ability. He fits in Preparing/CTC for writing and grammar and RTR for reading. He is strong in science and nature studies, and would benefit from challenging studies. He has done Apologia Zoology and Anatomy through our co-op. This year we are doing/reading through Our Island Story, The Storybook of Science, Shakespeare's The Tempest & midsummer's Night Dream, Minn of the Mississippi, Tanglewood Tales, SCM Artist Studies, Studied Dictation, The Light and the Glory, & Plutarch (a struggle for us) Robinson Crusoe (even a bigger struggle, so we shelved it). So I'm not sure where that puts with HOD. We have really enjoyed the books we've been reading this year, and my sons love the short and varied lessons, but the structure of HOD is really good for us, as well as the pre-planned days for me. I feel like I can see where we are going more with HOD, and how each year builds upon the last. It gives me a better gauge of how my children are advancing and where we need more work, rather than going it more solo. I love that I can look at the guides and see my kiddos education all the way through high school, with the community support that I need.
Thanks for any input!

I'm so glad you shared your story because I'm struggling with decisions. We are using MFW (ECC) and I'm thinking to change after using MFW since P-K. I was between stay in MFW, move to HOD, do CM with Ambleside or simply CM (pure approach as you said, an attractive but scary option for me) or consider another CM style curriculum. Overwhelming indeed!! So, thanks, your post gave me some clarity here.

About your doubts, I think you should do Creation to Christ before go the next step in history, thinking in sequence, but this is my opinion with little information, I don't know what you did in history this past last year, beside the books you mention, that can be good, not bad for him. (I'm sorry English is my second language and I'm struggling to express my self correctly).