Placement for a soon to be 10 yr old

[momoffourblessings]

I would like some input and help placing my soon to be 10 yr old. I do not want it to be too easy, or too difficult and overwhelming. He fits all the catagories for PHFHG except one-cursive writing. We never really covered cursive because I wanted him to excel in his printing first, which now he prints beautifully. He can recognize most of the cursive letters except for the ones that do not resemble the printed letters. He fits most of the CTC except the cursive of course, he has had no written narration just oral, and really no creative writing as of yet. We aslo have not done long diction passages, just short ones. Grammer, he already does basic diagramming, recognizes for the most part, the basic parts of speech with an occasional reminders along with sentence mechanics and applying grammer rules with occasional reminders. Everything else he matches on the CTC. We will be using our own Math.

My little guy is a wiggly worm, very active and has to be reminded to focus. He is a right brainer like his parents. He does get frustrated and overwhelmed if too much information is thrown at him too fast and shuts down. If the subject is something that is interesting to him.....he soars, if it is boring to him, or he can't make sense of it, he shuts down and feels unintelligent and struggles. Often times he will understand more complicated subject matter or ideas that takes higher cognitive and reasoning abilities but at the same time he will sometimes have trouble grasping simple (in my opinion) subject matters or ideas. Needless to say that drives me batty. lol Yet he always scores in the upper 90 percentiles in his yearly testing.

He is reading at and above his grade level, although he can read above his grade level sometimes his comprehension is not at the same level as his reading skills. He loves to be read to, he loves good stories and books. I have him read aloud books to me as well, but he is not confident in reading quietly by himself. He narrates very well and can grasp complexe ideas, thoughts and storylines.....when it interests him, otherwise he zones out.

We have always used a Charlotte Mason approach for the most part. My real concern is about the comprehension of some of the books, getting the right level and fit for him. My experience in the past with different Charlotte Mason style curriculum is that the books for reading, or for read alouds are IMHO too difficult. Pilgrims Progress for second grade? Really? Sorry my kid is not a genius, and this would only make him feel defeated, and frustrated. I do want to appropriately challenge him, but not kill his desire to learn or make him feel inferior in his intellect.

I have been homeschooling my kids for 16 years (we are on our second set of kids now, lol) and over the years I have only found a handful of curriculum subjects that we really like and work well. I am hoping this curriculum is the one! Thank you for your input.

[Gwenny]

It sounds like you've checked the placement chart and he fits in Preparing except cursive, correct? If so, from that and what you shared about him, Preparing would be a great fit. Just add in Cheerful Cursive and decide which Rod and Staff he fits.
I get to do Preparing starting around the beginning of December with my 10 year old and I can't wait. It looks so incredible!

[amysconfections]

I agree with the pp. Do Preparing and just require him to print in the beginning of the year until he finishes cheerful cursive, then have him do the notebooking assignments in cursive. I would start cheerful cursive now trying to get alot of it in before starting Preparing.

[my3sons]

Thanks for sharing in detail about your ds - that helps so much! I think he is well placed in PHFHG from what you've shared. I don't think PHFHG would be too easy or too overwhelming - I think it will be just right! It will give him excellent guidance in written narrations, creative writing, and dictation. Your wiggly worm will love the hands-on history projects, science experiments, and notebooking in PHFHG. From what you've described, I also think he will really enjoy the depth and creativity encouraged in the Storytime follow-ups, the Biblical discussions, and the research. Because ds enjoys being read to and is not as keen on reading silently on his own, PHFHG will be a good fit in this regard as well. You read a portion of the history, and he reads a portion of the history. You read the Storytime History Read-Alouds. He reads his science. In CTC, you read the Storytime books, and he takes over more of his core history readings, so this will be a super way to transition him into this maturity of learning. For his reading, you can use HOD's "Drawn into the Heart of Reading - DITHOR" (which has been in Cathy Duffy's Top 100 Picks, and has been our family's favorite way to do reading for many years now! ). You can use any books with DITHOR, but our sons have LOVED HOD's boy interest sets. For grammar, ds could really do R & S 3 or R & S 4 - 3 will be more familiar, and 4 would be more of a challenge. Either way, HOD suggests doing 2/3 of R & S English orally, reserving only 1 section to write. This has been a hit with our sons, and their retention has not been hindered. So, that's my 2 cents, but what do you think?

In Christ,
Julie

[mom23]

I agree with Preparing for him. My daughter was in a similar position between PHFHG and CTC, seeming ready for CTC except for the written narrations, creative writing, etc. I chose Preparing, and I'm so glad that we did!! It's been a perfect fit for her, and I'm happy that she's not behind and struggling to catch up in these two areas, but is learning gradually and gently as we go along. It's not been too easy, or too boring for her in the least

[momoffourblessings]

Thank you everyone for your input, advice and information. It's unanimous I have picked the correct level for him. Now hopefully it will interest my wiggle worm as much as it does his mom!