Placement (and a little chit-chat)

[blessedmomof4]

Hi ladies! Many of you have been privy to my ongoing saga with my 13-year-old. Well, she has been putting forth better effort, so I am more certain of placement for her. By an honest evaluation, she could really start RTR, but Rev to Rev would be too much. That being said, I want to keep her in CTC, mainly because I want to have steady movement forward and finish what we started. (I will be taking summer break as of next week though, and just continuing math, along with their free reading and writing) One of her complaints was she felt like she didn't learn anything this year, because for the first half she chose an online school, then I pulled her out and had her doing the 2nd half of Bigger with extensions because it is what I had. So I want her to stick with CTC for consistency. I am thinking of adding the extensions so she can feel like she is doing more advanced work than her sister, but she is not an avid reader except for science, so I wonder if that is the best way to beef up history for her. Also, I don't know how to extend the area of science for her. Otherwise, the dictation level 5 is actually fine, because she finally started to make a few mistakes; Rod & Staff 6 is perfect for her (she just finished Lesson 29); she is finishing pre-algebra over the summer; DITHOR 6/7/8 is challenging in a good way, and she is finding all the history and Bible interesting.
So my questions are: 1)Is there a way I can beef up the history without adding the extensions? Or any suggestions for using the extensions in a way that will not overwhelm? She will be entering grade 8 in the fall, and I want her 8th grade year to prepare her for high school level work. 2)How can I beef up the science-she has studied nature, field guides, animals, birds, plants, etc. on her own for years and years-I need some age-appropriate ideas.
Now for chit-chat My first class in the continuing ed program is going great-I have to say it's fun because we are doing inductive Bible study which also includes noting what type of literature is used in the portion of the Bible being studied. I had to laugh because I have learned a lot about this in DITHOR and the first weeks of CTC I told my girls, if you want to go to Bible college in the future, you'll be ready! Also I am studying Exodus in my class, so along with CTC I get to study in depth the first two books of the Bible Also, my 15 year old is starring in a full length ballet for her ballet school's spring concert this Saturday! Soooo proud of her for earning her scholarship, and the lead role

[blessedmomof4]

Anyone? I did have two questions buried in my post

[pjdobro]

Sorry Lourdes, I'm not familiar with CTC enough and my dc are still young. My only experience would be my own from ps 8th grade, and I don't think that would be very helpful. That's really neat that some of what you are studying in college is a repeat of things you've learned with HOD! Congratulations to your dd on her ballet scholarship and lead. That is awesome!

[my3sons]

That's good news all around, Lourdes! I think that makes good sense to have your dd finish out CTC. I wonder if she could pick and choose some of the extensions, or if you could choose some of the titles that are not as difficult? Maybe half of them or so? And then she could alternate days reading one day, doing the suggested follow-up the next day, and have a good balance of both without it being too much. For science, you could have her do RTR's science instead. That would up it nicely, and it would be independent still. I'm so glad to hear your classes are going well too - that's great to hear!!! And that your dd is doing so well with her ballet - that's wonderful! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[blessedmomof4]

Julie,
Thanks for the ideas! Another thing I thought of was to have her slowly do some of the extensions during the summer, since she said she didn't want to just do nothing in the summer, and we have gone through 5 units of CTC already. It would kind of ease her into them, and perhaps by the time we start up full-speed in the fall, she will have grown into everything a bit more. RTR science sounds good too-I think option 2 would appeal to her because of the 'textbook" Our Weather and Water. Does option 2 include the teacher book for Our Weather and Water, or is that a separate purchase?

[my3sons]

Good deal - sounds like a plan is coming together!

...Does option 2 include the teacher book for Our Weather and Water, or is that a separate purchase?

Yes, Option 2 includes the Teacher Supplement in the package as well. HTH - have a good Saturday!

In Christ,
Julie