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I'm now using Switched On Schoolhouse with a 4th grade grandson and am so far pleased, but....I'm really beginning to get worried because he doesn't do any real writing. Everything he does is on the computer. The upside is that he's learned to type fairly well.

I'm considering Preparing for his 5th grade coming up this fall. I do have a couple of questions. First, for the 5th grade student, will we (his parents and I) only need to buy the extention package for older students, or do we have to buy the History read alouds in the 4/5 package also? I noticed that the sample teacher's guide uses the book Draw and Write Through History for the Independent History Study. That book is only in the History read aloud 4/5 package, not the extension package for older students. I'm also confused about Teacher directed read alouds. Does the teacher read these to the student, or is the student supposed to read these aloud to the teacher? I'm also concerned about my grandson not wanting to write a lot of answers to questions or do a lot of notebooking in cursive. Would it be OK to let him type some things and write some? I do want him to have to begin to do some cursive writing again before he loses that skill from typing all the time.

I want to thank, in advance, anyone who might reply to this. It may be late tonight or even tomorrow before I have a chance to get back on my computer. I'm sure you all can relate to that! I'm really interested in HOD, but want to be sure I choose what's best for my grandson. BTW, he is definately reading at a 4th grade level now. I'm actually considering HOD because I'm afraid he may begin to lose ground in Language Arts (the writing part) if I don't switch cirruculum by next year.

Hope to hear from some of you soon,

Grandma of 7

grandmaof7 wrote:I'm now using Switched On Schoolhouse with a 4th grade grandson and am so far pleased, but....I'm really beginning to get worried because he doesn't do any real writing. Everything he does is on the computer. The upside is that he's learned to type fairly well.

I'm considering Preparing for his 5th grade coming up this fall. I do have a couple of questions. First, for the 5th grade student, will we (his parents and I) only need to buy the extention package for older students, or do we have to buy the History read alouds in the 4/5 package also? I noticed that the sample teacher's guide uses the book Draw and Write Through History for the Independent History Study. That book is only in the History read aloud 4/5 package, not the extension package for older students. I'm also confused about Teacher directed read alouds. Does the teacher read these to the student, or is the student supposed to read these aloud to the teacher? I'm also concerned about my grandson not wanting to write a lot of answers to questions or do a lot of notebooking in cursive. Would it be OK to let him type some things and write some? I do want him to have to begin to do some cursive writing again before he loses that skill from typing all the time.

I want to thank, in advance, anyone who might reply to this. It may be late tonight or even tomorrow before I have a chance to get back on my computer. I'm sure you all can relate to that! I'm really interested in HOD, but want to be sure I choose what's best for my grandson. BTW, he is definately reading at a 4th grade level now. I'm actually considering HOD because I'm afraid he may begin to lose ground in Language Arts (the writing part) if I don't switch cirruculum by next year.

Hope to hear from some of you soon,

Grandma of 7

Welcome to the HOD board, Grandma of 7! I am so amazed by the way you are helping out your grandson - you are such a blessing to him and to his parents!!! You'd better not share where you live - we may all be too tempted to call on you!

Well, we are using Preparing right now - and I bet you'd love it just like we do. So, now for some answers to your questions:
First, for the 5th grade student, will we (his parents and I) only need to buy the extention package for older students, or do we have to buy the History read alouds in the 4/5 package also?
Here is a link to the packages:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/preparing- ... ckages.php
If you click on the little light bulb at the top, a "How to Order" box will come up and be very helpful to you. But, to answer your specific questions - you do need the the Basic Package of History read-alouds first, which you will be reading to your grandson.

You will probably want the self-study Deluxe History Package for the Newly Independent Reader because it has matching plans and activities in the "Independent History" box in the plans of the Preparing guide. This has wonderful independent assignments planned out that include using the Draw and Write book you mentioned. If you would like him to read more higher level material in addition to this, you can also get the extension history package.

I'm also confused about Teacher directed read alouds. Does the teacher read these to the student, or is the student supposed to read these aloud to the teacher?
The teacher reads these to the student. They take us about 20-25 minutes a day to read (that is including the History read-alouds in the Economy package and the history Read-Alouds in the Basic Package) because they are scheduled in nice manageable chunks.

I'm also concerned about my grandson not wanting to write a lot of answers to questions or do a lot of notebooking in cursive. Would it be OK to let him type some things and write some? I do want him to have to begin to do some cursive writing again before he loses that skill from typing all the time.
The notebooking doesn't take long to do (unless you have a little honey who loves to expand upon the assignments ). The cursive writing is kept to about 3-5 sentences at most a day (it rotates around different subjects in different boxes). Most of the assignments are done in print. I've appreciated this as it has eased my ds into cursive writing nicely.

BTW, he is definately reading at a 4th grade level now. I'm actually considering HOD because I'm afraid he may begin to lose ground in Language Arts (the writing part) if I don't switch cirruculum by next year.
I just wanted to comment that you may want to do Drawn into the Hart of Reading Level 4/5 for your grandson then. He would read these books by himself, and they would be the literature part of his day. You could use books you already own or HOD books. And, finally, I tutored on-line for about 200 students with SOS for 3 years, and while there were good aspects to SOS, you are right to be concerned about the writing.

I'm so glad you posted on this board, and if you have other questions - please post again and the ladies are great about helping!

In Christ,
Julie

Julie,

Thank you soooo much. I'll try to write more tomorrow, I don't have any time tonight.

Hi Julie,

This is Grandma of 7. My name is Barbara. Your reply just helped me so much. I finally got the time to print out the sample of the Week 1 teacher guide and I also printed out the introduction. With these in hand, I'm beginning to see how the curriculum works and it looks great! It also made me feel good that you are very familiar with SOS so you understand my concerns there. I'm going to try to read a good bit on this discussion board today, as I have time, in order to get an even better feel for HOD. I just can't thank you enough because one of the best feelings in the world is that there are other Christian women right at my "finger tips" waiting and willing to help me.

In His Love,

Barbara

Oh Barbra - I was so encouraged by your post! I have been taking time to pray for the Lord's guidance in answering posts. I feel Him at work on this board in so many ways. Thanks for your post here!

In Christ,
Julie