HI Carrie,
Thank you so much for your response. I have looked multiple times at the pages you linked, and I have gone over and over the catalogue pages. I asked my daughter to read the catalogue pages for both programs. She said she would rather do Missions to Modern Marvels. I think that is going to be the better fit after careful consideration.
So, here is where she fits in the skills:
Reading/Literature - we have never done formal reading/literature activities. What we have done is read. A lot. My daughter and I read many of the same books, and we love to talk about them. We discuss characters, character development, writing styles and techniques, plot lines, and other things. We also like to read a book, watch the movie, and compare the two.
I love poetry, and we read it just because. We have never really formally studied poetry though. We talk about our impressions, form, rhyme scheme, meter, and lots of other things because they are simply a part of enjoying poetry. Right now we are preparing to present a poetry program for our library’s Summer Reading Program, and we are reading a lot of fun poets, such as Shel Silverstein. My daughter had one of his books last night and was reading aloud to me while I finished up some work on the computer.
Writing/Literature - We have not done a lot of formal writing assignments either. My daughter does write - constantly. When she is not at the computer she carries a notebook and writes notes and other things down for when she can get back to the computer. She has just finished a rather extensive book that she has been working on for over a year. She also writes quite a bit of poetry, as well as a lot of “new” lyrics or parody lyrics for songs. Again, we have never done this formally; it’s just something we do.
We are members of ClubPonyPals.com and she belongs to the writing clubs on their forums. She also frequently enters the monthly story and poem contests and has had multiple entries published in the Pony Pals magazine. This all started about five years ago when I modified a Sonlight assignment. I was supposed to give her three pictures from either books or magazines, and have her choose one to write a story about. Instead, since we had just joined Club Pony Pals I chose three paintings from the CPP site (members earn W-bucks and use them to buy virtual things for their cabins) and had her choose one of those to write about. She entered the story contest with it. I think she may have won, but it has been so long I don’t remember.
The writing club members challenge and encourage each other, and are always coming up with ideas for writing. Recently a member suggested that they pick a word and have everyone write a story containing that word. The results have been impressive. There are also role-playing clubs, which my daughter participates in.
While she excels at creative writing, she does not care for pedantic writing. Since I have not given her a lot of formal writing assignments, she has not had to do a lot of this. She does do some of the writing assignments in Rod & Staff, but I don’t ask her to do all of them. When writing something “serious”, she usually manages to insert a creative twist in it.
English - We have done some formal grammar study, but not a lot. We have Rod & Staff 5, which we have used some, so she has had exposure to rudimentary diagraming, and we have studied the parts of speech, though not intensively. She has never had formal spelling instruction as it was not necessary. Her grammar is excellent and her writing reflects that. She has no problem with grammar, usage, capitalization, or punctuation. She rarely asks how to spell something. If she doesn’t know she either looks it up or figures it out. Her writing is quite clear and organized, and she is constantly working to make it better.
She has done only a very little outlining, in R&S, and that was under protest.
She recently finished writing an extensive book which she did not outline first. She has never done a report from an outline. In fact, she has not really done reports. She is a member of LitPick, and has several book reviews published on the site. She is adept at using reference materials, but has had no instruction in note-taking. She has written thank-you notes since before she could write (she dictated and I transcribed), and I still have her write thank-you notes if someone does something for her. She has not, however, written many letters.
Math - We will be using our own math program - Life of Fred - and she is where she is, so I don’t think this will have any bearing on which HOD program we choose.
Bible - We tried the Alpha Omega Lifepac and she was bored to tears with it. She normally enjoys workbooks and writing, but she did not like this at all. We finally just stopped. She has her own Geneva Bible and reads it on her own. We talk as a family about things we read or how Scripture applies to different situations. She has not done a lot of memorization, and that is something we are going to approach as a family. We sing hymns at church, and she is my page turner when I accompany the choir. We do some hymn singing at home, but it is not formal. It is like most things, just part of life, and we just “do it”.
History - My daughter has kept notebooks before, simply by putting all her completed work in it as she finishes. She does not like oral work, and really dislikes oral narrations. We have done quite a bit of presentation work, simply because it is fun, and she is really okay with doing it just for the family. But she will not “perform” in front of other people; I do not require her to. She is an excellent reader, adding voices and characterizations, and masterfully using nuance and expression. She speaks clearly and distinctly, and the only thing she really needs to work on is slowing down a bit. (She gets that from her mother!)
She loves to write and said she would be fine with doing written narrations. Whenever she has been assigned copywork she has done it quickly and well. She has done some map work, but not a lot. While my son had no formal geography study because he did it extensively on his own (to the tune of a full high school credit) my daughter will need guidance and instruction because it is simply not as interesting to her as other things. We are studying state history right now, and she cheerfully completes her map assignments. But if she were choosing something to do for fun, map assignments would not make the list.
She loves museums, and has no difficulty discussing the things she sees. She is able to describe items in detail and relate them to each other within the historical context.
She typically will complete an assignment speedily and move on. Sometimes, if she really doesn’t like something, she will drag and either not do it or not finish it. She will finish it with prompting and monitoring. I’m sure this is pretty normal. While I know that no one will like everything and that she will probably have some assignments she doesn’t like, I believe in her ability to tackle tasks and complete them.
A couple of years ago we studied the Eastern Hemisphere with Sonlight. While we did not do a lot of the assignments, we did do a lot of the reading. I searched for and checked out myriad extra books to complement our studies. She enjoyed all the books and the discussions that ensued, and she enjoyed learning about areas and people we did not know much about.
She enjoys history, and chooses various topics to read about. She has started her own collection of WWII books, including biographies and non-fiction. She has really not read books on a schedule, since she will read what she wants when she wants. Whenever we have done Sonlight she has gone through her readers in a matter of weeks, and then I spend the rest of the time scouring the library catalogue for more books. We never did the read-alouds or history readings “on schedule” either. We just read until we had to stop. After the first few weeks, we were all over the place in the schedule, and language arts assignments never lined up, which is probably one reason we just made our own.
SO -
As I read what I have written, I am reminded again that we have not done a lot of formal study. I wrote my own curriculum for years, because I enjoy doing it, and because I could follow my children’s interests and let them learn about a topic when their interest was high. We used My Father’s World Adventures when my daughter was in “first” grade. She was supposed to do the MFW first grade program, but begged to do Adventures with her older brother. So, I let her. I modified writing assignments for her. I gave her the choice to not do it, dictate it to, dictate then copy, write it herself and let me help her with spelling. At some point during the year I think she used all the options, though I believe she only used the first option once if at all. We still did some of the first grade program but we didn’t finish and it didn’t hurt her any. We have used Sonlight off and on because we love all the books, and sometimes I need to take a break from so much research and planning. I have always figured that writing was important, but not so much what she was writing. So if I could give her something to write about that she enjoyed it was fine.
At this time, I am ready to have a curriculum already laid out for us. I know there will be areas where she will just keep moving on her own and all I will have to do is make sure I document what she does. But in other areas I know we will need guidance and a plan. The HOD catalogue gives SO much information, including book description, and it looks like it will be a really good fit. I love the way the lesson plans are presented; I gravitate towards “boxes” as they are easy to see and focus on. I think that my daughter will be able to regulate herself with these plans, and I think the content is going to be something she will enjoy and get a lot out of.
I don’t think I mentioned that she is an artist. She had a cartoon series that ran in the Pony Pals Magazine for well over a year. She has taken a break from it for the time being as she has concentrated more and more on her book (which she finished last week). She draws and is getting into painting, right now with acrylics. She works with clay and Model Magic, and recently made a beautiful little figurine of my Welsh mule, which she gave to me for my birthday. She draws on EVERYTHING, including every assignment paper she has ever turned in. She can’t help it.
Most of her time is divided between reading, writing, drawing/painting, and some work outside such as weeding, caring for the chickens, etc. She square dances twice a week most weeks, so her PE is taken care of.
I think the fact that so much of her education has been informal, just a part of life, is a big factor. She is not used to having specific assignments every day, day in and day out. She is used to reading, discussing, writing, and applying, but not to sitting at a desk and just following an assignment list. She is also not used to confining “learning” to a particular time each day, and she does “stuff” all the time, day and night.
Thank you for encouraging me to think about all these areas, both as a review and in relation to the MMV and Geography programs. It has really helped me to see where we are. I honestly think she COULD handle either program, but I think that she probably SHOULD go with Missions to Modern Marvels. How will this affect her high school courses? I look forward to your opinion, since you know your programs. Thank you for going over this with me, and helping me to find the right placement.
Thanks so much for sharing about your daughter. 