PHFHG with a 6th grader

[off2workigo]

I am new to HOD (and giddy with excitement). I am using Preparing with my 6th grade daughter this year. She is fairly high academically in everything except spelling (this does NOT come naturally for her...and the level 4 dictation will be right on target, I think).

I have a question about the Rod & Staff English. I like the looks of the program (I can imagine us snuggling up on the couch to do read and do the oral portions together), but am worried that it won't be "enough" (but that could be just because I am not familiar with it). My daughter has completed through Easy Grammar grade 4 (half in 4th grade and half in 5th, so you can see I think that the grade level listed on the front doesn't mean much except as a general guideline) and writes prolifically (though not in a way that is as polished and well organized as I would like it to be).

My options are:
1. Do Rod & Staff 4 three days a week and just expect longer writing from her.
2. Do Rod & Staff 5 three days a week (I notice that Preparing "skips" approx. 20% of the lessons in the grade 4 book.)
3. Do Bob Jones English 6 (grammar and writing) five days a week.

You should know that I struggled with whether to do CTC or PHFHG this year, but felt that the "mental pegs" idea of history was just exactly what *I* was missing in my own study of history; I got parts and pieces but never figured out in my mind how they all fit together. So I chose Preparing...with a catch. We are enrolled in a public school charter program (we have to report only the concepts we studied each month, not the actual materials used...so using a Christian curriculum is no problem at all as long as we purchase it ourselves) and have to get through ancient history, middle ages, and American revolution by the end of 8th grade. My solution is to do HOD *five* days a week instead of four, and finish up RTR by the end of 8th grade (we're only doing math for the 172 days of lessons her math program prescribes...and we'll drop Spanish, Typing, grammar, on the day that we drop math, so the last 15 days of school each year will be *just* HOD...we'll come to a good stopping place so we're not in the middle of a book, then take a summer break). Because we're working 5 days a week, I plan on letting her skip one grammar and one DITHOR lesson each week...so that she only has the THREE grammar and THREE DITHOR lessons per week that everyone else has (I hope that makes sense).

Any comments on using Rod & Staff 4 with a 6th grader? What would you do?

Thanks!

[my3sons]

It sounds like you have a good plan in place here! I think I'd have dd do R & S English 5, 3 days a week. HOD recommends having dc do 2/3 of it orally or on a markerboard, while reserving about 1/3 for the dc to write in a composition book. PHFHG is an excellent way to give dc "pegs" - we especially loved "Grandpa's Box" at our house. You may want to consider adding the extensions if dd is able to read them well independently. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[off2workigo]

Thanks for your reply. I did order the extensions, and in the time after this post I was able to find a recommendation on the HOD site that students should normally start a grade below their grade level, and that the "olders" should start at R&S level 5, so that's been ordered and is on its way as we speak.

I've looked over the program (daily, while I'm blowdrying my hair...LOL) and feel that with the extensions, grade level math, and grade level grammar, it is plenty "meaty" enough for my high-performing 6th grader (the one area where she truly does not excel is spelling, so the 4th level dictations may well work for her...if not, it's a great excuse to purchase the next level of guide? Yes?)

-Rebecca