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I've been reluctant to post this because I don't know if anyone can really help me with this problem, but here goes....

My daughter is in CtC and really doing great with it. She is excelling with every box, but we are having a really hard time with Story of the Ancient World (the history spine). As I have mentioned before, reading comprehension and narration are not her strongest points academically. Story of the Ancient World is a challenging read for her, especially when read in large chunks. I do believe that the readings should challenge and "stretch" the child in order for them to grow in skills, I'm justconcerned that it is just a little too much stretching for her. Also, I do want her to enjoy history and truly draw knowledge from her reading. I'm concerned that the difficulty of this book for her is robbing her of those things. I'm not sure what to do....here are some of my ideas....

--Read it aloud to her, stopping often to discuss what we just read. Really holding her hand as long as needed until she is more "ready" for this book.

--Breaking up the reading assignments into smaller bits, thus slowing down the pace of the history elements. I would keep Language Arts, Math, Poetry, Science, Storytime, Teacher Bible Study, Geography going at the normal pace. So I guess that would mean Reading about History, History Project, Independent History Study, and Bible Quiet time Box would be the boxes that would slow down to her pace.

I just really really want her to "get" what she is reading about!

I hope this doesn't make my daughter look bad! She is such a bright, sweet, independent girl and has always been so mature for her age. She excels at so many things, it's just the history book that seems to be a struggle at this point!

Thanks for reading this, I know it's long...

UPDATE--shortly after I posted this I had a conversation with my daughter regarding this matter. When I asked her about Story of the Ancient World she said, "Sometimes I get it and other times I feel a little lost." I just thought I would mention this because it might give you more insight to this situation! Maybe you have had a child do this, too!! Thanks!

Liz,

I'm so glad that you posted this, as this bit of information is one more helpful piece of the puzzle in finding the right fit for your daughter. In all honesty, if Story of the Ancient World is tough for your sweet daughter reading level wise and comprehension-wise, coupled with the fact that half-speed CTC has been a necessity for her right now, and the fact that she has never been through Preparing Hearts, I would really lean toward placing her in Preparing Hearts instead of CTC. I think that Preparing would be a better fit for a few reasons.

1. If you end up reading the history spines to your daughter right now, then as the guides progress in difficulty, you may find yourself always having to read the history spines aloud to her. In each subsequent guide, the readings get longer and more difficult, as we're assuming the students are able to do these readings on their own. So, if you back up to Preparing Hearts, she will be able to handle the readings on her own more easily and comprehend them better, as they are easier reads. This will be good preparation for CTC and would also enable you to have your daughter more accurately placed for future guides and years to come.

2. If you are needing to half-speed CTC in order for her to be successful, then full-speed Preparing Hearts would actually be more rigorous in many areas than doing CTC half-speed.

3. Moving back to Preparing Hearts would also give you, the teacher, more helps in training your daughter in many of the skills needed for CTC in bite-sized pieces. This will help so much with your daughter's success in CTC the next year and wouldn't really be much of a change for you teaching-wise, as you're having to help your daughter more than expected with CTC anyway.

4. Preparing would help your daughter move into the independent skills gradually, rather than having her be thrust into independent tasks that feel like too much.

5. The final consideration, and a very important one, is the balance between something being challenging, and something being too hard. While your daughter may grow into the skills in CTC by the end of the year, with a lot of help and guidance from you, it is likely that this same pattern will repeat with guide after guide. School needs to have an element of fun, and just shouldn't be so much work! Kiddos placed too high, may eventually feel they aren't good at "school", when in truth the placement just isn't quite right.

Even if you are beyond the normal return policy period, we would be willing to work with you to exchange any items you have from CTC that are new in order to get your child placed in Preparing Hearts if that is the direction that you feel you should go. From the information you've shared so far, and over the past month or so, this is what I would advise. You'll know best, but remember that your older child should be able to do what we're asking of her without so much additional help needed in so many areas. Correct placement will boost her confidence and her enjoyment factor and free you up to work with any littles you have at home too.

Hope this helps! Correct placement can be a search, but it is one that is so worth it when the pieces fall into place! If I am incorrect, and your daughter has already been through all of Preparing Hearts already, then my advice will be different. So, definitely let me know if I am off-base here.

Blessings,
Carrie

Hi Liz!

I just thought I would share a little about our situation in the hopes that something in this will help you!

At the beginning of this school year in August, we started my oldest in CTC. He has always excelled in school and I didn't have any doubts that he would do the same with HOD as well. (We had come from a textbook/workbook type curriculum before finding the blessing of HOD this school year.) With the CM way of doing things being a bit new for him, and starting out in a guide where he was expected to have a certain level of independence, he struggled to get everything done each day. I was so discouraged. I didn't want this new curriculum to be something that he hated. After giving it a good three weeks, I emailed Carrie, and she gave me a lot of the same advice that she gave you in the previous post. At first it was a struggle within myself, because I didn't want him doing a guide that was too young for him. I just kept praying about it and started to see that this was the best plan for us. I also thought that I would have to return all the CTC materials, and get Preparing. God also worked that all out, so we were able to just buy Preparing without returning anything that we would need anyway for next year. I say all of this not to sway you to do what we did, but to just encourage you that sometimes our best plans don't always work out in the timeframe that we'd like them to. I could be completely off on all this and maybe you just need to stick it out with CTC and your daughter will do great! You'll know better than any of us what's right for your sweet daughter!

I just wanted to add that we ended up doing Preparing with extensions and it has been such a HUGE blessing! God had some really great lessons for us to learn at just the right time that corresponded with things that were happening in our lives! My son has loved every minute of Preparing, has been appropriately challenged in his work, and now I know what skills to build independence in. Knowing where he needs to be to successfully do CTC, gives me an advantage in working him toward those levels during the course of this year. Now I feel really confident that he'll hit the ground running next fall with CTC.

Blessings as you decide what path to take!

Thank you for your kind replies!

Thanks, Carrie for taking the time to give me your input!

Have a great weekend!