Newbie ?s

[flackattack]

Hi all,
I am new to HOD and planning on using Beyond for my upcoming 1st & 3rd graders and then using Res to Ref for my 6th and 8th graders. I have some questions, of course, that I was hoping you ladies could help answer!
1. We have already done the Science in Res to Ref but have not done the Science in CtC. Can I just get the guide for CtC and do the Science in there? Will it change the integrity of the program at all? Everything looks so beautifully intertwined and I don't want to ruin that, but I also don't want to bore my kids with more Earth Science...
2. I noticed that the R&S that is scheduled in Res to Ref is the last 1/2 of the book. Should I try to get my daughter up to speed before the Fall or will she be ok jumping in mid-way thru the book? She's done Sonlight's LA one year, Easy Grammar (with Winterpromise's LA) the following year and then CLE LA this year. I actually bagged CLE mid-year and have been doing a more non-traditional approach to grammar with Grammar Punk and Grammar with a Giggle. I was finding that although my kids did ok on their workbook pages in CLE, the grammar they were learning wasn't translating to their writing or language skills. With all that in mind, do you think I should try to do the 1st 1/2 of R&S 5 this summer or just follow the plans in the Fall?
3. As for my younger 2, I want to keep them together and Beyond seems like the best fit. I know my older daughter will be technically out of the grade range for that guide, but she has had little grammar exposure, as we've been pushing phonics. She was slower to read and still needs more phonics review, which I am considering doing by adding All About Spelling. I am thinking the skills learned in Beyond would be fine for her, but then I would need to do one R&S level per year in order to get her done with level 6 by 8th grade. Any advice on that? Do you think it would be better to do 1/2 of level 2 this year and 1/2 next year so it isn't such a jump next year into so much grammar instruction?
4. Last question... I noticed there is a 1st grade skills book scheduled in Little Hearts, but not in Beyond. Are those types of skills in the Beyond program in some other way or do you think it would be good to add one of those books?
I would appreciate any advice you have for me! I am super excited about using HOD and about trusting Carrie's choices. I have flip flopped around for awhile and I love that these programs look so well put together. Being eclectic in my approach to homeschooling has made our days too busy and too long. HOD looks like all I have been striving for and more, but in a lot more manageable way!
Thanks!
Blessings,
Katie

[pjdobro]

We haven't done CTC or RTR yet, but I think you would be fine to substitute the science in CTC for RTR. Though the areas being studied in science are loosely related to the time period, they are by no means dependent on one another. So you can substitute in that area if needed.

I'm not for sure how it would be best for you to handle the grammar. I'm thinking your probably wouldn't want to jump 1/2 way into the book without doing the first part, at least I wouldn't want to do that. I know the reason that grammar is scheduled 1/2 pace for those 2 years is so that dc have more time to work on the writing lessons that are scheduled. Hopefully someone else can guide you better in this area. If were me, I would probably either try to do 1/2 the grammar over the summer of do the first half of the book next year. I would feel funny missing the first half of the book, but that is just me.

I think Beyond sounds like a wonderful placement for your younger two. You could go either way with the grammar, but since your daughter hasn't been exposed to much grammar yet, I think I would just go with the gentle grammar in Beyond this year and wait for R&S2 next year when you do Bigger. It would be easier for you just to do the guides as written and keep both of your daughters together in this.

I'm not for sure about the Thinking skills book. We didn't do that one. I had gotten the 2nd grade book, but since it wasn't scheduled I never remembered to do it. They are fun workbooks and if you are going to have your younger daughter doing one, your older daughter might enjoy it as well. It certainly isn't necessary though as the skills that are in them are covered elsewhere such as mapping skills in the geography section of your guide, math will cover a lot of the problem solving, other history activities and science exploration will cover other thinking and reasoning skills. So don't feel that you need to add anything extra.

I hope that helps a little. I'm sure more ladies will come along and add more. Welcome to HOD!

[flackattack]

Thanks for your advice.

[beverett]

I was just going to comment on the rod and staff... The goal is to finish level 8 by 12th grade, so doing level 7 for 9th and 10th grade and level8 for 11th and 12th grades. If this would be your goal also, you could look at the table of contents and see if they have already covered the content in the first half and if not, you could do what you said and have them cover the first half over the summer, or one other idea would be to have them do one lesson a day instead of doing half speed.

This is what I think I would do...Depending on if you are talking about your 6th grade dd or your 8th grader. I think that if you just did 1 lesson each day of level 5 instead of going half speed, you would be able to accomplish this with both girls (finishing level 8 by 12th grade). Then for the 8th grader you would have to do level 6 for 9th and level 7 for 10th, then you could go half speed for level 8 in 11th and 12th grades...whewww.

Then for the 6th grader you could do level5 for 6th grade and level 6 at half speed for 7th and 8th grades, then you would be right on track to do half speed for level 7 and 8. I hope all of this makes sense! Sorry if it is confusing

Then for the third grade daughter, I think it is probably a good idea to do the rod and staff level 2 at half speed, then do the same next year??

WELCOME and I am certain you will love your journey with HOD as we have!!!

[flackattack]

Thanks for the insight!

I have read on this forum that when combining multiple ages, some people will use the right side of a higher guide for the LA portion and use the left side of the lower guide. In this case I could potentially use the right side of the Bigger guide (which includes the schedule for R&S 2, cursive, etc) and then use the left side of the Beyond guide for history, geography, etc. That could be a good option for me. We shall see...

I purchased a used copy of R&S 5 and I think I will try to do that with my soon to be 6th grade daughter. That way I can follow the schedule of the RtR guide in the Fall. I am planning on my soon to be 8th grader just doing all of R&S 6 next year so that he's up to speed to.

Question though... Does anyone have any more thoughts on swapping out the Science portions of CtC and RtR? Someone told me that the Science topics are only loosely tied to the History portion, but how about it being tied to the flow of LA with copywork, dictation, narration, vocab, etc? I know that skills learned are progressive from guide to guide. Will swapping the Science hinder that?

Thanks!

[beverett]

I just wanted to bump this for you, so that someone might see and answer the science question!

[flackattack]

Anyone have any thoughts about my Science question?

[my3sons]

You sure have a great plan coming together here! I just read through this whole thread and am nodding, nodding, nodding in agreement with it all. I will try to help you with your science question here, as the rest of your ideas are all wonderful and what I would have suggested anyway. I am wondering when you say you did RTR's science, what that means? Did you read just one of the books, or do just a bit of the resources? Or did you do it all? The reason I ask is you are right about the LA skills being intertwined with the living books used in all subject areas. The skills are taught incrementally, and they are chosen to keep the rest of the LA in balance within the rest of the guide.

Here is the rotation of the skills taught within science in Creation to Christ...
Day 1: create a science notebook entry
Day 2: practice oral narration by retelling the science reading
Day 3: write answers to five provided questions based on the science reading –
including scientific terms and Biblical application
Day 4: conduct an experiment related to the reading and log it in a science
notebook or on a copy of the “Science Lab Sheet” found in the Appendix

Students also do the following within CTC's science (which my ds loved!)...
Please note that students will be making a book of animal tracks, bird sketches, and
plant sketches as part of their notebook assignments. As directed in the plans,
students may either make 3 separate booklets, or use a hardbound nature journal
for this purpose.

Here is the rotation of the skills taught within science in Resurrection to Reformation...
Day 1: Create a science notebook entry that includes diagrams, scientific terms,
and Biblical copywork.
Day 2: Alternate between oral and written narration to retell the science reading.
Day 3: Alternate between oral narration and a choice of written narration topics
with accompanying vocabulary work.
Day 4: Conduct an experiment related to the reading and log it in a science
notebook or on a copy of the “Science Lab Form” found in the Appendix.

For the units scheduling Exploring Planet Earth, students will instead answer the
provided questions on Days 1-3. When using Option 2, students will instead follow
the schedule provided for Option 2 in the Appendix.

Okay - so, you can see the LA and science skills are upped in RTR compared to CTC. Of course this is not a make or break it kind of decision. It is just something to consider. If your dc have not done a fair portion of RTR's science, then it may be worth a repeat of a book or something to do it. If they have done quite a bit of RTR's science, then doing CTC's science is an excellent second option. What do you think? HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[flackattack]

Thank you, Julie! That was exactly what I was wondering... the LA being tied to Science. I am assuming that there would be other places within RtR to practice written narrations though? It looks like it is a part of the history reading as well from what I can see of the "week's glance" online. We have not used the exact resources that RtR uses except for Exploring Planet Earth, although my kids did Christian Kids Explore Earth Science one year and then we did the Science from WP's Sea & Sky (oceans and weather there). I feel like it would be overkill to do Earth Science again, especially since we have not studied the human body and much in the way of animals/plants. We were planning on just using Apologia's Astronomy book starting now and then into the summer because we have not studied Astronomy yet. I figured if we did that now then we could do the entire CtC Science next year. Does that make sense? Anyway, as it stands now I am leaning towards doing CTC's Science so my kids are not bored by learning similar material again, but I am hoping it won't change the program too much. I would have to buy a CtC guide to make this work, but I would obviously have the RtR guide already. Do you think I can just ask my kids to do similar assignments from the RtR guide that applies to what they would be learning in CtC? And just an FYI, my kids are not used to doing a ton of narration anyway. We've done some, but we are coming from a different background...
Can I ask you one more question about CtC's Science? For the study of plants and birds, does it matter what time a year it is when that is studied? We tried another program before that involved nature studies and it was a big flop. We couldn't do a lot of what was asked because we live in Colorado and it can be snowy!
Thanks soooo much!

[my3sons]

...I am leaning towards doing CTC's Science so my kids are not bored by learning similar material again, but I am hoping it won't change the program too much. I would have to buy a CtC guide to make this work, but I would obviously have the RtR guide already. Do you think I can just ask my kids to do similar assignments from the RtR guide that applies to what they would be learning in CtC? And just an FYI, my kids are not used to doing a ton of narration anyway. We've done some, but we are coming from a different background...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts here, and I think that I would do CTC Science as written to get the very most out of it. You are right that narration skills are covered in other subject areas within RTR, and as your dc are new to narration anyway, that will probably be just the right amount to begin with. I wouldn't try to change the assignments to match RTR - too much tweaking and too hard to make the connections intended. Besides, CTC's science is awesome as is - no need to change it as they haven't done it before.

Can I ask you one more question about CtC's Science? For the study of plants and birds, does it matter what time a year it is when that is studied? We tried another program before that involved nature studies and it was a big flop. We couldn't do a lot of what was asked because we live in Colorado and it can be snowy! Thanks soooo much!

HOD writes guides so they can be used any time of year, so no worries here. We live in SD, so we are no strangers to snowy weather either. It is suggested that the dc may enjoy trying to observe birds when they can, but the living books provide all that is needed to do the assigned lessons.

I think you are about set here, with a super plan in place to enjoy HOD with your dc! I'm excited for you to begin. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[flackattack]

Thanks once again, Julie! I was able to order last night 1/2 of what I want to get from HOD. I am so excited to get my hands on it! I'll be ordering the other 1/2 once I sell a few more of my older items...