How is CTC going for everyone?

[horsinaround]

We are in week 17 (day 2) of CTC and I thought I would just ask how CTC is going for everyone and what week you all are on?
We are really enjoying CTC. They are loving the Birds of the Air book right now! They also thoroughly enjoyed the Apologia book as well. They have loved the books from the extension package as well. Every book has been excellent. It has been a very good year so far!

[Daisy]

We are having a great year as well. Also on Unit 17 this week. I love how my daughter is making connections with history and Bible. CTC really gives her a wonderful mix of creative projects and strong academic content. There is enough variety to keep my daughter engaged with the material and yet enough consistency to really help her build independence.

There has been no jealousy for my time with doing two programs. I really though the kids would be more jealous of each others projects but in reality they've been excited to see what brother/sister is up to and thrilled to have their own shining moments.

We really couldn't be happier with CTC and Bigger.

[inHistiming]

Well, after a move, the holidays and ordering our HOD stuff late we are only on week 3. However, ds seems to be settling into a sort of routine and he's really enoying the readings. He wasn't sure at first if he was going to like the books on cd...he prefers (or at least thought he did) to read an actual book....however, he just told me yesterday, "Actually, Mom, I do like The Cat of Bubastes." It's been an adjustment getting used to the new independence but it's going pretty well. I have more time to spend with my middle two children on their work, which was our reason for moving him up....we had combined before. So, feeling fairly successful at this point.

*Edited to add:

My son loved the food coloring experiment in week two so much that he's been coloring all of his drinks just for fun. And of course his two younger siblings have been joining right in! I've had to tell them that we just can't color everything....but it is nice to see how much he enjoyed it and that the other two 'caught' it.

[water2wine]

We are not as far along as you all but we are absolutely loving it. I am watching my daughter really grow and learn to question things in a really mature way. My son keeps begging me to let him do Preparing and CTC. I think in the end if he knew the work load involved that would change but it is great to have them already looking forward to the next program! One of the huge things I love about it is it lets them have their own private time with the Lord and leads them toward that habit but you still get to share with them as well. Really impressed with it. It's been everything I hoped it would be and well worth the effort of doing three programs for our family.

[my3sons]

We are in Week 16 of CTC, and it could not be going better! In short, we love it. My ds loves his newfound independence, and I love the things we do together. I feel they are the things I should be doing with him at this point. The discussions we have are meaningful ones that we should be having. The lessons I am responsible for teaching are the things that I think I truly need to teach for his age. While I enjoy reading aloud, that is one thing I am glad I am NOT doing for many subject areas. While that's a comfortable place for me to hang out as a teacher, I don't feel it's the best use of my time now that my ds can finally truly read extremely well on his own. I enjoy the balance and look forward to reading aloud for Storytime each day, and the follow up activities are short but oh so good at teaching narration skills (and we LOVE the Proverbs one). I also like reading together Geography of the Holy Lands and Genesis Finding Our Roots on a rotating basis. These are definitely higher level books that require discussion afterwards and just beg to be read aloud and shared between parent and child. However, the reason I enjoy reading these selections so much is because I am NOT reading everything else. My ds thoroughly enjoys reading his other books on his own, and then showing me what he learned through narrations, notebooking, activities, projects, etc. He is growing up before my very eyes!

This leads me to another part of CTC I love seeing my ds do - and that is his Bible Quiet Time. There is just something that tugs at a mom's heart when she hears her son singing Bible verses heartily (albeit a tad off key). His heart is in it. He is memorizing all of Phil. 2, and doing it easily! This from my ds who began his life with several years of speech therapy. We are reading Matthew at night together as a family, a chapter at a time, and I cannot tell you how much my ds knows when we discuss it. He just throws out these amazing tie-ins that leave my dh looking at him in amazement. They are all just things he's learned in HOD, and I realize that he does not battle separating Biblical history from World history in his mind, as I do having learned them totally separately when I grew up. What a blessing.

The hands-on portions of CTC are a life saver for me. I would not get this done if it was not planned in such a smooth way in the guide. Wyatt's experiments and history projects are the high-light of his day. Just today he begged me to have the feast for his history project a day early, and wanted to "just please do the whole box that's planned tomorrow today, Mom". I had to say no as I had an afternoon full of other things to be done today, but boy that did my heart good to hear.

And that student notebook - well, it's just beautiful! I mean BEAUTIFUL! My ds who does not have an inclination for artistic pursuits is quite bent on making that student notebook beautiful each day, and it looks great. This from a child who used to scribble black over everything and call it coloring. That brings me to his writing. It is blossoming with Write with the Best. I love to write creatively and have gotten to really value his ideas when I am stumped. He just has a love for poetry and writing that I didn't have till I was so much older (like in my 30's ). I think reading so many wonderful living books over the years with HOD has made him just able to somehow absorb so many things I used to have to try to teach in ps. He just "sounds like" those authors. It's amazing to hear, and nothing I could have taught in a formal writing lesson. He uses words like "extraordinary", "musket", "calvary", "decisively" "shorn", "ebony" - I can't think of enough good examples here - but you get the idea. It's just a part of how he writes. He also gets the humor and wit of classically sounding authors. He has learned the art of recognizing a truly good living book.

As far as other Basics skills - narrating, grammar, math, notebooking, etc. - he is strong in them. And they don't take us forever to do. He scores well on them on tests, and he likes them overall. He also rarely spells things incorrectly now. Again, a struggle earlier with his speech troubles. He just can see if it looks right now almost all of the time. I attribute it to the excellent methods of CM and the manner in which HOD plans them. Copywork, dictation, written narrations - all things I was skeptical about coming from a ps background and having gotten a masters where I'd never heard of them. They work. Period. They need time to grow though. Years to see the fruit of the labor, but then, oh my, look out. You'll see fruit tenfold. My ds is amazing to me, and our relationship is strong. I thank God for HOD every day because it keeps me accountable, it keeps us interacting, it keeps me sharing my faith, and it keeps us together. I don't know how I'd relate to my dc without it. Maybe this is a special concern for me because I am a woman that has 3 sons. My dh just clicks with them on everything, but it's more work for me. HOD eases that work and makes it a joy that I can feel good about each day.

Yes, we are having a great year with CTC. We like our life. We love our days together. Not that everything goes perfectly - no, we too have sickness, difficult health concerns, LOUD toddler, traveling husband, financial concerns, attitude concerns, etc. - but CTC? That is just right. Wouldn't change a thing. Glad you asked!

In Christ,
Julie

[Tiffini]

Thanks for this, Julie! This is so great to read and gets me excited for next year!

[Carrie]

I just wanted to chime in with our own, very biased, update on CTC too. We are loving it with our second son this year. It's amazing to see the difference in my two oldest sons and the areas within CTC that were the favorite for one son last year that are different areas for my next son in line this year. Yet, I'm so glad both boys have had an opportunity to go through CTC as I can see the fruit in their Spiritual lives.

It does a momma's heart good to see my boys, who are quickly becoming bigger than me, humbled through God's word to be better Christians, better siblings, and better role models for the younger boys we have at home. They are growing into young men too quickly to suit me, but their constant struggles to be more Christ-like are a good daily reminder to me to be more like Christ too.

We pray each of you who feel led to use CTC in your own home will experience a closeness with our Lord that can only come through daily study in His word and through prayers at His feet.

Thanks for sharing!

Blessings,
Carrie