Getting on track for High School

[deltagal]

Hi all,

My soon to be 13 yo is in mid-7th grade. Theoretically, we have a year and a half before high school. I'm wondering how important it is that we be "Up to speed" on several items before high school. And, if it is important, I'm wondering how we can get there in a year and a half.

This is my soon to be 13 year old's current status:
1.) he'll begin CTC w/ extensions next week
2.) he'll enhance the science with the Biology 101 DVD's
3.) he'll begin Rod and Staff 5 next week - he finds grammar a bit confusing, but is making good progress
4.) he'll begin Singapore 5B next week and seems quite solid up to this point
5.) he's currently in dictation level 4 - finally is making progress with this, wondering if maybe I could even move him up to level 5
6.) he'll begin Write with the Best next week
7.) he'll continue with DITHOR level 6/7/8 - this is going well
7.) After a bit of discussion in a previous post on this bed, regarding his decoding skills I've decided to also incorporate some spelling instruction 2 days a week (non-dictation days) using All About Spelling. He is in Level 3 of this program.

Where do we need to be by ninth grade and how do we get there?

I value your thoughts.

[3musketeers]

Florence,

I do not have a H.S.er yet, but I wanted to give you a bump.

[Carrie]

Florence,

I think your plan sounds like good solid coverage for the last half of your son's 7th grade year and first half of his 8th grade year. You will have covered your 3 R's well, taking into account where your son is at right now in each area. If your son is making steady progress with dictation, I wouldn't worry about bumping him up a level (unless it is clearly too easy for him). We will be including dictation passages through Level 8 in our forthcoming guides, and your son can just steadily work through them even into high school. Steady progress with dictation is the goal, rather than a certain level of achievement.

As far as math goes, you'll want him to begin Algebra I by his 9th grade year at the latest, so I'd have that as a goal for math. If he is ready earlier for Algebra I that would be good too. There's no need to rush through the maths unless he is planning to major in a science-related field that will require him to have more math earlier to be able to work the formulas required for the science part of his schooling.

Double dipping him in writing through Write with the Best and Rod and Staff will also really help his writing skills, along with what is required within CTC. One other thing that would be good would be to have a goal of having him writing a written narration 4 times weekly (or once each day). CTC will have him writing a history narration once weekly. I'd likely have him write one narration from the read-aloud or science each week and two from the extension pack each week too (or some other combination to get him writing one narration daily). Daily written narration practice is terrific practice in sifting through the information provided, choosing what to say and how to say it, and borrowing from the writing style of tremendous authors. It pays dividends in writing in the long-run and is so helpful in learning to conquer the blank page.

Blessings,
Carrie

[deltagal]

As far as math goes, you'll want him to begin Algebra I by his 9th grade year at the latest, so I'd have that as a goal for math. If he is ready earlier for Algebra I that would be good too. There's no need to rush through the maths unless he is planning to major in a science-related field that will require him to have more math earlier to be able to work the formulas required for the science part of his schooling.

Carrie,

A math question - what do we do after we complete Singapore? And are you still recommending completing Singapore 6B? I don't know what math - level - type comes after Singapore 6B. I anticipate that he'll complete 5B, 6A, and 6B by the end of this year - which will be mid-8th grade.

[Carrie]

Florence,

Singapore Primary Mathematics 6A/6B is considered to be the equivalent of Pre-Algebra. Some students are ready to move into Algebra I after 6A/6B. Other students need more of a Pre-Algebra (U.S. style) before heading into an Algebra I program. So, the next step partly depends on your student and how well he did with Singapore and how mathy he seems to be. Another consideration is how strong his skills seem in the areas of decimals, fractions, percents, positive/negative numbers, etc. A last consideration is his age and whether he's mature enough to think algebraically (which he is, if he's doing alright Singapore)!

I'd likely lean toward doing a short Pre-Algebra warm-up before heading into your high school math program, utilizing something like Math Essentials Pre-Algebra linked here: http://www.mathessentials.com/samples.html

We're using that now with our son in 8th grade and really enjoy it's steady preparation for Algebra without having to devote an entire year to pre-algebra. Then, we'll have our son head into VideoText Algebra for high school, but you can use any high school math program that you think will work well for your son. Even though most Algebra programs have a pre-algebra part to them, we wanted to make sure our son was ready by doing a pre-algebra warm up through Math Essentials first. You may find that with your son that is not needed (depending on the math program you choose for high school Algebra). Whichever math route you go, we've discovered that most people find that Singapore prepares their kiddos well for whatever math program they head into next.

Blessings,
Carrie

[deltagal]

I'd likely have him write one narration from the read-aloud or science each week and two from the extension pack each week too (or some other combination to get him writing one narration daily). Daily written narration practice is terrific practice in sifting through the information provided, choosing what to say and how to say it, and borrowing from the writing style of tremendous authors. It pays dividends in writing in the long-run and is so helpful in learning to conquer the blank page.

Blessings,
Carrie

One last question - how long should the daily narrations be? And thank you for all the other great thoughts!

[Carrie]

Florence,

You caught me on the board, so I'm glad I can get back to you as you're pondering! Honestly, my oldest son's written narrations vary widely in their length. He can by very brief, or he can really write up a storm when he's inspired. During his 7th grade year, he was required to have a two-three paragraph minimum for me, one of which was an opinion paragraph on the reading. But, my son had been writing written narrations since the end of 3rd grade by that time, so he was ready for the opinion paragraph and the minimum.

Depending on how much written narration practice your son has had up to this point, I would likely not place a restriction or a goal on his written narrations at this time but rather just let them flow as to his interest and his inspiration. Good writing is like that and is hard to do on-demand to a particular specification. It can take years of writing written narrations to really become comfortable with the process. In CTC, I believe we strive for a 5-8 sentence written narration. Your son's narrations should likely not be shorter than that, but if he wants to write much, much more, he should!

I also had my oldest son read his narration aloud to me each day to catch as many of his own mistakes as possible. Then, I underlined in pencil any misspelled words and wrote the correct spellings in the margin for him to correct. I also underlined 3 times any needed capital letters and put in any missed punctuation with a circle around it. He looked over it, made the corrections, and put it away. The proofreading guidelines in CTC should help you with the editing stages.

Blessings,
Carrie