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I need some help with placing my youngest son. I am going into a lot of detail to get help in placing him.

He homeschooled up to grade 2 and then went to full time school until grade 4. He is currently in a co-op that meets twice a week for grade 5, but they do all the fun stuff together and I have to do all the boring work with him at home and we want to go back to homeschool next year, and I think we will probably end up just homeschooling for the duration of his education (as the Lord leads).
He was doing very well when he left our homeschool, and then just crashed in full time school for grade 3 and 4 and has been falling behind in his progress ever since. We took him out and placed him in the co-op I work for. The co-op provides the schedule and lesson plans and they meet twice a week in a class. The other three days I work at home with him in workbooks, not very exciting. If I wasn't committed I would quite yesterday.

In the co-op this year he is working with Mystery of History volume 1 (which he is not retaining), and IEW Ancients which sounds like it covers similar subject matter as HOD Creation to Christ. The grammar is not a good fit (Abeka, he is not retaining a thing). They use a Reason for Handwriting cursive and his handwriting is not improving - it is only three days a week we work on that. I teach the science (chemistry this year) and math. They also do Wise Guide for Spelling and the school he was in used a similar very intense phonics spelling program that he just failed at miserably. There is minimal literary analysis or comprehension in the co-op. I try to supplement this as best I can. So I was going to put him in HOD Resurrection to Reformation next year as it is the next logical sequence and which is great because that is my favorite time period and I know he will just love it.

However upon looking at the placement guide, I don't think his language arts skills are up to it. He hates to write by hand, he is not very proficient at narration, I know dictation skills are completely lacking, he cannot spell, and his handwriting is sooooo sloppy that I wanted to really work on helping him with cleaning up his manuscript and cursive. He hates to read or analyze the literature, although he reads at a high level - about grade 6-7, but getting him to read more than a couple paragraphs and then talk about or write about it is so very painful for both of us. (It is as though he regressed when he went to school, because when I homeschooled him these things were not an issue). The school had him writing on the computer for about three hours a day, it was way overkill with thirty spelling words a week and IXL math drills that killed math for him. It is like he is completely burnt out and the thought of doing work sends him into a negative downward spiral - there is just no joy in learning in any subject except science and math. I already had to go back to grade 4 level math to help him this year with getting back on track (we use saxon and he is doing very well as he doesn't retain anything with other methods). He can only take very short lessons and then his quality goes down hill. I will say though that he likes to write when given freedom to write about video games or other things that interest him. But proofreading is very difficult for him as he just doesn't have a good foundation in good quality writing/reading. Sometimes when doing spelling quizzes I will ask him if he is sure that is spelling is right. He tells me that he knows they are wrong but isn't sure how to correct them - so at least he can recognize that they don't look right but can't recall the correct way to spell. The mistakes he is making are putting in spelling rules that don't belong that would belong in a similar word. I get the impression that he has had too many phonics/spelling rules and mixes them up instead of just getting a visual of how to spell a word. I also think that because he doesn't read much he doesn't have a visual of how they should look. My eldest read a lot and was a shining star in language arts because of it I think. When we use HOD I will probably just use saxon grammar because he does so well with the math, he needs a ton of review in order to learn something and he does very well with that method. It also uses dictation, but I may just use HOD for that part, the gramamr exercises are mostly what he needs with saxon. So math and grammar would be Saxon and HOD for everything else.

So I am worried that maybe I should back up and get him back on track with Preparing Hearts for Glory and use the extensions. But then he will repeat Creation to Christ subject matter again the following year and I worry he will get bored, and then by the time we get to high school he will be two years behind and not get the economics and government, etc. courses that he will need to graduate. This really makes me anxious. I really want to use HOD for the rest of his education (I used some with my oldest and it was just such a precious time together that I want my youngest to get that opportunity too.) It is just such a perfect fit for him. And I would prefer to just follow it exactly (I am a box checker), and not have to modify much besides what is provided for modification. Can I just add the economics and government and combine US history into two years? I really think that is important for a high schooler and I don't want to have him miss out. Or can I skip the freshman and sophomore years and do the last two years of high school? Would the last two years of the HOD middle school be enough to modify for first two years of high school?


To recap my son has
Weaknesses - language arts, spelling, penmanship, reading for long periods of time, literary analysis, long lessons in any subject except the strengths below.
Strengths - loves to do hands-on projects and very creative and musical, math, science.

Do you think we should go ahead with Resurrection to Reformation next year and modify? I am worried the pace will be too much. Or should I take him back to Preparing Hearts for Glory and start those grades over again with him - he really needs remediation and not worry that he will be two years behind. I don't want to overwhelm him as he really needs to heal from the nightmare the last three years have been. It is like he needs to heal educationally and I don't want to rush it but at the same time I want him ready to graduate on time and not feel like he isn't smart enough.

Thank you for any direction you can guide me in. I am going back and forth over how to proceed.

God Bless!

My recommendation, if possible, is to switch to some HOD things this semester. The first would be to try dictation. Since the dictation is taken from a public domain book, you can find the passages easily. And you can find how to do CM dictation videos as well.
I personally would switch to Rod and Staff English, which HOD uses. I would probably even start him in Level 4 and try to do a lesson a day. If you have to stretch a lesson out to 2 days, that is fine. (Most use Rod and Staff 4 over 5th and 6th grades/CtC and RtR.)
Then if you can afford it, I would start DITHOR 4/5 with him. This will work on his narrating from what he reads.

Then, in May, come back and see where he places on the placement chart. He might very will be ready for RtR after that. But, CtC or even Preparing might be a better fit. Don't worry about repeating history. The books HOD uses are very different, so I don't think it will feel so much like repeating.

As for high school, it is easy to add in economics and government if necessary. So don't stress about high school now. Place him where he is best served, and then modify as necessary the last few years of high school. Also, since he is only 10 now, you both might decide that another year at home is best, having him graduate at 19 or almost 19. I know many boys with spring birthdays start kindergarten at 6yo, so he wouldn't be the oldest one as a college freshman wherever he goes (if he decides to go to college). My husband graduated at 19 with a March birthday, and at times he was very thankful to be a year older, wiser, and more mature.

Good advice, thank you!

Thanks for sharing about your son! I think you will love using HOD with him, but you are so right in wanting to take time to get placement right! In addition to the very helpful information you have already shared, I am wondering if you could answer some specific questions about placement for me, as that would help so much!

First, HOD guides increase incrementally in reading/writing skills each year in all subjects, so these skills truly are more important to consider than the history cycle. What kind of books does your son sit down and read fairly easily? Small chapter books with pictures? Medium size chapter books with a few pictures? Large chapter books with no pictures?

Second, as far as writing, let's say your son read his own history or science (on his level) and then was asked to retell what he remembers in writing in one setting. Would he write 1-3 sentences? 5-7 sentences? 7-10 sentences? Also, is his writing small enough to fit on lined notebook paper, or is it still quite large?

Third, do you read history and science to your son now, or does he read them on his own?

Finally, how does he do with independent work? Can he independently follow 3-5 step directions quite well, or do you need to be by his side to help with that more?

If you could answer these questions, we can definitely figure out the best placement for your son and get you started on enjoying HOD right now! Our phone is ringing off the hook with families starting HOD guides right now. Many families are making a switch mid-year to HOD and thrilled to be doing so! Some of these families are starting a guide half-speed for the rest of this year until May, taking a summer break, and starting that HOD guide back up full-speed in Sept. They love this idea because they are making a change now, which they really want to do, but they are easing into it and starting next year ahead! Other families are starting a new HOD guide now full-speed, and looking at their homeschool year as a Jan. to Dec. school year. They are also super excited to be making a switch and getting started on enjoying the change right now! I will wait to hear back from you in answer to these questions, or just give us a call at 605-428-4068. We answer placement questions all of the time and love to help!!!

In Christ,
Julie