heartofdakota.com

A question about placement:

We are on unit 25 of Preparing, using it with 3 kids at once ages 14, 12, and 11. The 14yr old is dyslexic and reads at about a 5th grade level. Her comprehension is much higher but she struggles to read things that are at her grade level. The 12 year old reads at about grade level and the 11 year old read above both of his sisters but writing is somewhat of a struggle for him. Just in the last two units they've started doing all the independent work on their own including reading and following the directions without my help. A day's work seems to be a pretty good fit, if not on the easier side.
I am also doing Bigger Hearts and Little Hands with my younger kids, and have a 10 month old.

My question is should we go into CTC after this or skip a level or two and get closer to their actual age levels now. How hard are the independent readings in the levels above CTC? I would be substituting my own grammar and math in whichever level we choose. I looked at a sample week of MtM and the two levels above that and everything looked like they would be able to handle the workload if the reading level is not too difficult. I figured if the written narrations are too hard to start with then we can reduce the number of sentences required and work up to it.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks!

Unless you want a lot more work and much longer school days due to the expectations being beyond what your kids are used to/ready to move up to, just continue on with CTC. Although it seems handy to have them "on grade level", the reality is that trying to support kids who are in above their heads is exhausting and frustrating - for them and you! (BTDT!)

I have kids way below where they "should" be for grade level, but the reality is that if they are progressing well where they are at, and feeling some success, you don't want to mess with that! They are learning well and developing the skills they need at the level that is best for them.

Feel free to go a bit faster, if the day is easy (finish 2 units in 7 days?), but just because things are going well at Unit 25, doesn't mean they'd go well if you skipped a guide. It's not just about the reading level, or length of narrations expected; there's the overall workload, the length of the readings, the independence, skills that they would miss (there are still stepping stones through the first units of CTC to continue to teach them how to do written narrations), the thought processes and the more mature themes. I know your oldest might be ready for more mature themes and even longer school days, but the length of the readings for one with Dyslexia might be quite daunting. She would need a lot more support (you reading aloud), etc.

That said, the first history book of CTC is one of the hardest you will face in the middle school guides, so don't base your decision off that one! It seems to be the perfect storm of great living book for ancient history, but difficult language. You'll probably find that reading it aloud for all 3 kids will work well, then they can move on to independence for the next history book.

So, my 2 cents is to keep on where you are at. If it was just your oldest and you had the time to spend, a skipped guide might work well. But with multiple kids and multiple guides, I've learned that it's best to make steady progress, rather than trying to take leaps that might result in a huge crash (or a situation where HOD doesn't work well for you any more because you can't move forward due to difficulty but going back to where you skipped would be too far back ).

(FWIW, I have one that will finish High School after just WG, one who will finish after WH, and a third who could finish USII [if we were going to go that far, but as Canadians we'll probably look for something else after WH] by the end of 11th! So I totally understand your conundrum, and the dynamics with the older two struggling and a younger one surpassing them.)