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Hello Everyone: My name is Kris and I am new to these boards. I am looking to order the HOD curriculum for the fall for my 10 yo son and my 12 yo daughter. They have been doing an online public school, so this will be my first year of actually teaching them. I would like to combine them and am thinking about using the Resurrection to Reformation curriculum. Do you think this would be a good starting point for someone new like me just beginning to teach? I used the placement page and it seems like this is where they both fit. Also, how does the Singapore Placement Testing work? I know they should test, but I am not sure where to start the testing and how to grade it/place them. Any help? Please be patient with me, because I am sure I will have several more questions and I really want to succeed in this endeavor. Thanks in advance for any input.

Hi Kris!

Welcome to the boards and HOD!

If your children place in RTR on the placement chart, then that is probably the best place to start with them. We have RTR here (just ordered!) to use for the upcoming school year, too. It would be great to share experiences! (We just came new to HOD last summer and are using CTC this year. We really enjoy it!)

Sorry I can't help you with the Singapore placement, because we use another math curriculum, but there are lots of helpful ladies on the board that should be able to point you in the right direction.

Re Singapore: I think the suggestion may be to use a math more along the lines of what your children have been using. Singapore is a completely different way of learning/doing math. I'm not sure a 12 y/o could jump in doing it. I'll let someone with more wisdom tell you for sure, but this is my understanding.

If your children fit into RtR it should be fine. Just plan to move slowly and take extra time with things like narration and dication since they are very much a learned skill.

Welcome to HOD!

raceNzanesmom wrote:Re Singapore: I think the suggestion may be to use a math more along the lines of what your children have been using. Singapore is a completely different way of learning/doing math. I'm not sure a 12 y/o could jump in doing it. I'll let someone with more wisdom tell you for sure, but this is my understanding.

Welcome to HOD!

That was our experience, too. We had used Abeka (traditional, text book) math for years, and when we tried the Singapore samples, our dd was "lost" and didn't like the style at all. If we had found HOD in the earlier grades, we most likely would've just used the Singapore suggested, and it could've been fine, but coming into it later wasn't as easy of a choice.

That's the beauty of homeschooling--you can use what works best for you and your children.

Hi and welcome! I ditto about starting this far along with Singapore. It may be a very difficult transition b/c it is super strong in mental math, conceptual understanding, and uses the bar method to solving word problems (rather challenging word problems at that!)...it's very different than typical American math programs and very advanced. If you still wanted to give it a go, then I'd expect them to start probably 2 levels behind their grades...possibly more. Others have done this, so it's a viable option.

As for starting with RTR, I HIGHLY recommend starting with CTC instead. , possibly even Preparing Hearts with Extensions for your oldest. There are SO many skills in RTR that they will be expected to do independently that are very Charlotte Mason-y and not at all typical of public school type curriculum (narrations- both oral and written, lab sheets, deep reading, notebooking, etc) and the basics of learning those skills (both for them and for you!) will be taught in Preparing Hearts and CTC. You could start with Preparing or CTC and just use a higher level of grammar if you felt the need, but you may find level 4 a perfect fit for both as R&S english is VERY thorough and also advanced. Possibly level 5 for your 12yo who could just do half that level this year and half next year most likely. And each in their own level of math of course.

There is so much more "meat" in each level than meets the eye...so I strongly suggest starting lower. We all want you to be successful and coming out of public school type programs deserves different placement than someone that has been using a Charlotte Mason method all along....your kids won't be behind whatsoever by starting lower. My very bright (considered "gifted") almost 10yo (in june) DD will start Preparing this coming fall as a 5th grader. It's a perfect placement. She will get to CTC and be perfectly capable of doing the independent parts independently and that sets her and I both up for success in each guide to follow.

Wishing you well in your new journey!! You're going to love HOD!!!!

Welcome to HOD Kris! I can't comment much on RtR because we haven't done it yet. I would give yourself and your children time to adjust to the new skills such as narration and dictation. Charlotte Mason methods are effective and wonderful, but different from traditional. As for Singapore, I would ask yourself if the style of math you have been using worked for your children. I agree that jumping into Singapore might be difficult for older students. On the opposite side, I placed my dd in Singapore at age 10 after trying a couple of different programs that weren't working for us. I actually tried Singapore because HOD recommended it so highly and because the cost was reasonable. To my surprise, my dd loves the program! She has been using it for a few months now and is making such great progress! She missed all the hands-on training in the earlier guides, so I was afraid that she wouldn't do well by this age. There are skills that have taken some time, but it's the differences from other programs that I feel have made Singapore so effective for my dd. If she doesn't understand a concept, we slow down. She usually gets it with some time, patience, and looking at the wonderful examples in the text. Her placement was a little lower than her actual grade level, but that didn't bother me. I hear this is normal. So, if you decide to try Singapore with your children, don't fret if they initially place a little lower or have to take the time to adjust. Enjoy HOD! It truly is a great way to educate your children! God Bless!

Hello Everyone and thank you sooo much for the wonderful welcome and input. You have given me much to ponder and work through. I will revisit my options and look forward to getting to know you all better in the coming year.

Mom2Monkeys wrote:Hi and welcome! I ditto about starting this far along with Singapore. It may be a very difficult transition b/c it is super strong in mental math, conceptual understanding, and uses the bar method to solving word problems (rather challenging word problems at that!)...it's very different than typical American math programs and very advanced. If you still wanted to give it a go, then I'd expect them to start probably 2 levels behind their grades...possibly more. Others have done this, so it's a viable option.

As for starting with RTR, I HIGHLY recommend starting with CTC instead. , possibly even Preparing Hearts with Extensions for your oldest. There are SO many skills in RTR that they will be expected to do independently that are very Charlotte Mason-y and not at all typical of public school type curriculum (narrations- both oral and written, lab sheets, deep reading, notebooking, etc) and the basics of learning those skills (both for them and for you!) will be taught in Preparing Hearts and CTC. You could start with Preparing or CTC and just use a higher level of grammar if you felt the need, but you may find level 4 a perfect fit for both as R&S english is VERY thorough and also advanced. Possibly level 5 for your 12yo who could just do half that level this year and half next year most likely. And each in their own level of math of course.

There is so much more "meat" in each level than meets the eye...so I strongly suggest starting lower. We all want you to be successful and coming out of public school type programs deserves different placement than someone that has been using a Charlotte Mason method all along....your kids won't be behind whatsoever by starting lower. My very bright (considered "gifted") almost 10yo (in june) DD will start Preparing this coming fall as a 5th grader. It's a perfect placement. She will get to CTC and be perfectly capable of doing the independent parts independently and that sets her and I both up for success in each guide to follow.

Wishing you well in your new journey!! You're going to love HOD!!!!

Hi Mom2Monkeys, I really appreciate your insight. Could you give me your opinion on a good math curriculum? I notice a lot of the others have said that the Singapore approach might not be a good fit for them coming from the public school environment. They have been working with the Saxon program at their school, but that doesn't seem to be "clicking" for them. Thanks again for helping me to succeed!

There is a good curriculum called Math Essentials that Carrie has suggested here before, for older kids. There are 3 level, Book 1 (Grade 4/5) Book 2, (Middle School to High School) and PreAlgebra Concepts. They each come with an instructional DVD (the teacher does problems on an electronic white board and you hear his voice explaining), and the workbook practice is a page a day. I am using Book 2 alongside LOF with my youngest daughter who is in grade 6 and it is helping her a lot. Since Carrie herself has recommended this one before, I felt free to suggest it. The lessons are short like Singapore's.
You could definitely administer the Singapore placement test as well, just to see how they feel about it, and where they place. If it works out, Singapore is a great program!

Welcome to the HOD Board! I am using RTR right now and loving it - in fact, we are nearly done with it, and it has just been a terrific year for my ds and me. I've posted in pictures and words about our journey through RTR all year on the weekly check-in, so if you'd enjoy it, you could check that out. Also, RTR has its own photobook too, and here's that link:
http://heartofdakotasphotobooks.shutterfly.com/

I'm so glad you checked out the placement chart - that has helped us place each of our dc with great success, and we've had such stress-free, happy years with HOD. To get a feel for the work they would be doing, you can print off the first week of plans here:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/rtr-we ... glance.pdf

The "T" boxes are teacher-directed, the "S" boxes are semi-independent, and the "I" boxes are meant to be done independently. It is a good idea to read through the "I" boxes especially, to see if dc can do what is asked of them, including being able to read the books scheduled in those boxes, as well as independently follow the step-by-step directions. This makes a huge difference in how the day flows!

As far as Singapore goes, we have loved it, and it is the math curriculum HOD recommends, so I'm glad you are interested in using it. This is the right place to ask about it! You can give the free placement test by clicking on the "placement" tab at this link:
www.singaporemath.com

I would have your 10 yo begin taking the test at level 3A, and your 12 yo at level 4A. Be sure resist the urge to help them, even with the reading of it, as this inflates the score and makes the results be off. (I would struggle with this! So, I thought I'd mention it. ).

I think you will love RTR - we have made so many memories this year together with it! And it has drawn my ds and I closer and closer together. As he nears his teenage years, I know this is no small thing. Please keep asking questions - I'd be glad to help as will others!

In Christ,
Julie

Don't have experience with the upper levels yet, but just wanted to welcome you to the board! But I can vouch for starting out on a little lower level of the guides, since they have been in school. My two sons came out of private school last year, and we had some adjustment, but they are thriving now with the Charlotte Mason approach.