my3sons wrote:So, I'll answer your questions here, but Carrie may or may not think the same...
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I wanted to say that I welcomed your input but I didn't want to sound pushy toward you or ungrateful for any advice Carrie gave me.
I also think that you'll find things go much more smoothly and can be done much more independently with your dd doing BHFHG and your older doing CTC. I would not want to be reading aloud the number of pages read in CTC and definitely not in RTR - they're meant to be read independently at that age.
I made the big announcement this morning that they will each be following their own guide and doing the work independently. They are SO excited. I am happy too because CTC WAS kind long to be reading aloud.
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DS is doing his work right now and loving it. It's weird too because he's actually talking to me about what he's reading More than he did when I was reading it. Before, it was just listen to mom and lets get this over with. For right now until we get dd's books she is doing Math, English, and DITHR everyday.
How has the written narration gone? If well, and she can still give reading the focus you want her to and can still do the rest of the Bigger Hearts guide well, I'd continue with the written narrations once a week.
Weeell...kind of so-so. Last time I told her to use the questions to help her get an idea of what to write. So she wrote out the answers to the questions (w/ lots of spelling mistakes) and showed it to me.
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So I told her to tell me a story about what we had been reading and she laid on the couch and told me a really good and complete narration. So I wrote as she dictated and then had her copy it in her Student Notebook.
I'd look at the extensions and see if she can read them independently easily. If not, I would not do them. Bigger Hearts will be meaty enough without them and they're intended to be read independently rather than to become another read-aloud for parents.
Yes, I've learned my lesson about doing all the reading.
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I came to HOD knowing nothing about CM and I still don't know much because my library does not have ANY books by her. My library does, however, have Pedro's Journal which is the first book in the extensions so I'll check that out and see how she does with it.
For R & S English 4, how's it going? If well, I'd continue with the pace you've started, and do it mainly orally. Finishing level 6 by the end of grade 8 in an overall goal, but you can finish out 6 her ninth grade year if need be too. English 7 and 8 are high school credit worthy and can be done throughout high school, with completing 8 an option.
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She is doing really well with English 4. I think I will start out on schedule to finish it this year and see how it goes. I can always slow down if we need to.
For dictation, I always think if they're missing a bunch in a row and not improving, it's too hard. If they're missing a few here and there and then progressing, they're probably accurately placed.
I think we will fall back to about the middle of the first level in Preparing because she has been getting every passage wrong at least twice.
OK I've pasted something she said below.
Carrie wrote:These titles would require a strong 6th-7th grade reader/literature lover to read on his/her own. If your kiddo is not wired that way, you could just use the Extension Package in "Bigger..." for additional history literature and add a single spine such as "This Country of Ours" by H.E. Marshall to "beef up" the history.
She is not a strong reader so I think we will stick with the extensions. Would I be reading "This Country of Ours" or would she?