CTC users

[Alison in KY]

Can you please share with me how this is working for your kids? I just received a CTC TM, and when my first look and initial thoughts are that the work in it will blow my son away . I'm talking about a non-independent, silly, wiggly, inattentive to details boy who would much rather be outside tearing something up than inside doing schoolwork. Did I mention that he doesn't like to write either? I just feel like there will be some tears in our future if we start this when he's 11. I know I can lighten it up a bit and make it work for us, but I'm just wondering if you have a child like this...how did you get through it?

Thank you

Alison

[water2wine]

I skipped my oldest to CTC from Bigger and she has done fine. My worry with her is that though she can work independently we have not always had the highest integrity in that. The way HOD is set up though we have not had that issue. I still go over what is in the independent mostly just to know what is going on. She comes to me if she has question but she has really like the independence a lot and we enjoy the reading time together. Last night I almost threw out her history project becasue it looked like something had gone bad in the refrigerator and she was beside her self becasue after it was all done she gets to eat this thing.

I think it would be easy to ease a more reluctant kid by sort of looking to see how Bigger and Preparing are run in terms of independence and maybe taking the first month to ease into things stepwise with the boxes. I have one of those coming into it next year and probably by the end of preparing they really will be ready but I have this idea just in case. I know there will be other moms that maybe needed to lead them into CTC a bit. My dd is 12 and reads well so it has not been a hard transition. It is very flexible though. If they are ready for the work level then I think you will find you can work it. If not maybe looking at Preparing would be a good idea. That is a very full program too. I really feel I could have had my 12 year old in that program have done well but it worked better to separate her out for us. I guess it just depends on how well your child fitr on the placement chart. If it lead you to CTC then I am sure you will be able to ease into it and it does not have to be as independent as written if you do not want. HTH

[Carrie]

Alison,

This past thread may help a bit: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5092&p=37395

Also, as water2wine mentioned, if you haven't already had a chance to look at the placement chart, make sure you take a peek there. Link: http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

I'm wondering if your son may fare better in Preparing Hearts? Pay the most attention to the first page of the placement chart when pondering his best placement as his level of comfort with writing and reading and his independence will certainly play a part in how well CTC fits.

If you get a chance to pop back in with your thoughts on where he fits best on the chart, we can discuss some options with you.

Blessings,
Carrie

[deltagal]

Hi Alison,

I'm just getting ready to move my soon to be 11 yo son into Preparing just as he's turning 11. Preparing will be a HUGE challenge for him - but a good one. At the same time I'll be moving my soon to be 13 yo son into CTC. I can't imagine having my 11 yo in CTC, but my prayer is that while he is in Preparing I will see the maturity he needs for the next level emmerge. The placement chart will provide great insight about where your son needs to be.

With Joy!
Florence

[Alison in KY]

Thank you all. I feel more confident about CTC now. Looking at the placement chart he is in both Preparing and CTC. Normally I would go with preparing, but I'm just less interested in that program. I'll probably change my mind before it's time to order. I think I can start off CTC less independently and see how we do. I'll know a month or so into it if I should do a re-order:) Either way, I believe all of the materials will be used in the future, so other than the initial expenses, I'll be okay. I'll also have part of this year to begin, since we'll get done with Beyond in Jan. or Feb., plus all of the upcoming academic year. So with my being able to extend the four day schedule out also...it looks more promising.

Carrie, I am doing my own writing program right now (which happens to include some grammar and copywork). I also use my own grammar program and latin(even more grammar){you would think my son could then tell me what a verb and noun are, but he still can't...even though he can pick them out in a sentence:)} And of course a spelling program which does include dictated sentences. I usually do all of our LA's daily, doing short lessons in everything. Then on days in writing that he has to do a rough or final draft, I'll usually skip all or most of the other LA's subjects. I tend to do about 15 minutes in each subject. All that being said, CTC has dictation passages, copywork, some narration, and probably more. These things are not all listed in the LA's section of CTC. What is your opinion on how much of this I should add to what we are already doing? I'm thinking I should skip everything in your LA's section (but maybe not?), but I'm also wondering if I should cut even more out. I know I'll have to wrangle things a bit so I don't wind up doing a long narration/notebook entry the same day he's doing a rough draft, etc, but in general do you have any ideas for me? Have I mentioned he's all boy and he hates to write anything .

I also think I will do the shorter storytime books from Bigger with all 3 kids. Do you have any suggestions, for both boys and girls, of books that will work? We all really enjoyed Helen Keller, and Sara Witcher's Story, and A Lion to Guard Us. We're doing a Cricket in Times Square now, and it's going well.

I am not sure I will be able to pull off doing DITHOR, but I thought about at least having ds read through the book suggestions over the year. I'm having a hard enough time getting all things wrapped up in my day with my kids combined in Beyond....so with my possibly doing two programs next year (and combining the kids in diff aspects of each program) I just don't think I will have room to add in more schooling. We'll see, I already own DITHOR, so maybe I'll have him do something over the summer from it. Are there any other books, storytime books perhaps, that anyone would suggest as age appropriate readers?

As far as memorizing Phil. or any other scripture in CTC (or my other program for that matter), would you just ignore that if your kids already work on memorizing scripture through church? I'm not so worried about the kids, as I am about my being diligent and following through with helping them memorize everything. I was thinking to myself that if my point is to have them be familiar with certain scriptures, then doing one scripture a week should be enough. What do you think?

Thanks to all, again, for your nice comments and advice.

Alison

[Alison in KY]

One more comment. Someone mentioned to me that they thought the Independent History Study was for the older (6th and up) students, is this correct?

[mariaw]

Hi Alison,

I just wanted to comment on my similar experience with Preparing. We are part of a co-op, and I originally wanted to use HOD's history portion to substitute what they were doing in co-op (because I didn't like the curriculum they'd picked out). I was happy with our spelling, grammar, writing, science, etc. So my plan was to do just the portions that went along with history.

I think that you probably CAN do that, but after getting the manual, I decided to drop everything else and do everything in Preparing as written. I am so glad that I did, because it all flows so cohesively together. Granted, R&S doesn't go along with the history topic, but all the extra writing assignments (like written narration that comes under "Reading About History" once a week) does. I wanted to do those assignments, but didn't want to overkill in writing, so that led me to switch our English to R&S because our other English program was more inclusive and had a lot of writing.

Same thing with Bible memorization. My dd is in AWANA, and I didn't want to give her too much to memorize. So, we spend time with her TNT book each day, then do the Bible section in Preparing. I told her that I wouldn't require her to memorize it, but I did want to study it with her. The result has been wonderful--we are able to talk about the deeper spiritual issues (which often are SO applicable to the characters we are studying in history), and she is memorizing them without much effort because we spend so many weeks on each Psalm (just adding one verse at a time).

All this to say, there is a real beauty to the program that is difficult to see just reading through the manual. You really have to do it all and see where the discussions lead to appreciate this fully. I am SO GLAD that I am doing everything as written, because I see now how much we would have missed by skipping some of the subjects. That's not to say that it can't be a great program if you do make substitutions. Every family is in a different situation and each child has his own needs that you have to consider. It's just something to think about.

[my3sons]

We're doing CTC and really enjoying it. My ds has done the previous HOD guides which helped him slide into the independent parts of it easily. If you are finishing Beyond and having your oldest go into CTC, that is quite a leap. However, if you're thinking he placed either there or in PHFHG after consulting the placement chart, we've found the chart to be very accurate. There is a fair amount of writing in CTC, which is something to consider, since you've mentioned this is not a favorite of your son's. PHFHG has less writing and requires less independence, so that's something to weigh, since he also placed there for some things.

I think the way the LA is laid out in CTC literally makes time fall off our day. Dictation takes 5 minutes. Grammar is half-speed and can be done with no prep and almost completely orally or on markerboards. Grammar is alternated with writing lessons using Write with the Best (which has become a favorite at our house), so these 2 subjects are not doubled up on days. Copywork is all woven into history. Written narrations are once a week and are guided nicely, keeping them appropriately short for this age. I think using your own LA would add time to your day. I just can't see how it wouldn't add time, as CTC's LA is streamlined and rotated so nicely. We've chatted before about the option of combining all of your dc in BHFHG, if combining is your goal. But it seems like you are drawn to having your oldest do CTC - I totally get that - we're doing it and it's awesome! You make a good point about easing into it, trying it out to see if it's the proper level, and then ordering PHFHG or BHFHG instead if it proves to be too much, knowing you'd use CTC down the road anyway. I think this is a good plan, and as long as you keep in the forefront of your thoughts that you are training your ds who is not so independent and does not love writing to ease into these things with your help at first with CTC, I think you'd have a solid plan for moving forward. I do really think it would be very worth the time to try the LA in CTC first, especially since you are easing into it anyway, because I know it will cut down on your schooling time while still giving excellent academic results. I know from other posts of yours that you'd love to cut down on schooling time - don't we all - as life requires more of us as women than just homeschooling. So, I'm in prayer for you about this, and I know you are too - God will give clarity. He always does in His time - hope something here helps!

In Christ,
Julie

[Alison in KY]

Thank you Julie, I appreciate your suggestions. It's tough when you really do love what you are already doing. So many good choices. I have a friend who uses Rod and Staff, so I'll try to borrow her book and see what I think. I know when I looked at it on my own (w/o HOD instructions) it wasn't doing anything for me, but when I look at the HOD instructions, it looks pretty good.

My quest for history next year has recently taken a few unexpected turns . We'll see how it goes, but for now I'll be working on more American history with my oldest, and my younger two, then I'll probably do CTC with the oldest around 6th grade. I have no idea what I'll do with the younger two at that time, but that's okay. I would love to look ahead and know what I will be doing and have it all figured out, but somehow that hasn't ever worked for me .

If anyone has any other suggestions to my previos post's questions, I would enjoy reading them.

Thank you,

Alison

[Alison in KY]

Thank you all. I feel more confident about CTC now. Looking at the placement chart he is in both Preparing and CTC. Normally I would go with preparing, but I'm just less interested in that program. I'll probably change my mind before it's time to order. I think I can start off CTC less independently and see how we do. I'll know a month or so into it if I should do a re-order:) Either way, I believe all of the materials will be used in the future, so other than the initial expenses, I'll be okay. I'll also have part of this year to begin, since we'll get done with Beyond in Jan. or Feb., plus all of the upcoming academic year. So with my being able to extend the four day schedule out also...it looks more promising.

Carrie, I am doing my own writing program right now (which happens to include some grammar and copywork). I also use my own grammar program and latin(even more grammar){you would think my son could then tell me what a verb and noun are, but he still can't...even though he can pick them out in a sentence:)} And of course a spelling program which does include dictated sentences. I usually do all of our LA's daily, doing short lessons in everything. Then on days in writing that he has to do a rough or final draft, I'll usually skip all or most of the other LA's subjects. I tend to do about 15 minutes in each subject. All that being said, CTC has dictation passages, copywork, some narration, and probably more. These things are not all listed in the LA's section of CTC. What is your opinion on how much of this I should add to what we are already doing? I'm thinking I should skip everything in your LA's section (but maybe not?), but I'm also wondering if I should cut even more out. I know I'll have to wrangle things a bit so I don't wind up doing a long narration/notebook entry the same day he's doing a rough draft, etc, but in general do you have any ideas for me? Have I mentioned he's all boy and he hates to write anything .

I also think I will do the shorter storytime books from Bigger with all 3 kids. Do you have any suggestions, for both boys and girls, of books that will work? We all really enjoyed Helen Keller, and Sara Witcher's Story, and A Lion to Guard Us. We're doing a Cricket in Times Square now, and it's going well.

I am not sure I will be able to pull off doing DITHOR, but I thought about at least having ds read through the book suggestions over the year. I'm having a hard enough time getting all things wrapped up in my day with my kids combined in Beyond....so with my possibly doing two programs next year (and combining the kids in diff aspects of each program) I just don't think I will have room to add in more schooling. We'll see, I already own DITHOR, so maybe I'll have him do something over the summer from it. Are there any other books, storytime books perhaps, that anyone would suggest as age appropriate readers?

As far as memorizing Phil. or any other scripture in CTC (or my other program for that matter), would you just ignore that if your kids already work on memorizing scripture through church? I'm not so worried about the kids, as I am about my being diligent and following through with helping them memorize everything. I was thinking to myself that if my point is to have them be familiar with certain scriptures, then doing one scripture a week should be enough. What do you think?

Thanks to all, again, for your nice comments and advice.

Alison

Does anyone have any thoughts on the above questions? Thank you.

Alison

[Carrie]

Alison,

It does sound like you have much of what is in the Language Arts box covered with your current language arts plans. So, I would lean toward omitting the CTC Language Arts box, except for DITHR. I would make it a goal to add DITHR 3 times a week sometime prior to high school, as it is great prep. for high school literature study.

As far as the rest of CTC goes, I would do all of the left side of the plans (except for the read-alouds if you are planning to do the read-alouds from Bigger Hearts instead). I do think it is fine to do only one set of read-alouds with all of the kiddos if desired. We have read aloud many of the "girl books" to my boys and found they liked them too. I will say that for the read-alouds in Bigger Hearts even my rough and tumble boys loved Phillis Wheatley, Baby Island, Emily's Runaway Imagination, and an Ordinary Princess from the girl set. All of the books in the classic set can easily go for both girls or boys. Some of the boy books that also appeal to girls would be Snow Treasure, Indian in the Cupboard, Rascal, and By the Great Horn Spoon.

As far as the Bible memory work goes, I would still have your kiddos do the Bible study box in CTC and go over the Philippians 2 memorization each day as scheduled, however you wouldn't need to check on them to make sure it is memorized. You'll be surprised how well they'll take it in just doing it that way. It is scheduled to be independent. I wouldn't omit the Bible study as it meshes so well with the history portion. The same is true for Bigger Hearts. The Bible study is short and sweet and great for character building discussions. Just don't feel the need to drill them. Just do the lesson and move on.

If you have other questions, ask away!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Alison in KY]

Thank you Carrie, I appreciate your answer