History and science extensions with CtC and others.

[Wilfam12]

Hi!
We will be doing CtC next year, and I was deciding what to order and how to schedule. My dd9 (4th grade next year) will be using the books from the basic package and science add-on and I am planning on getting the extension package for my ds11 (6th grade next year). For the "Reading about History" and "Independant History Study" sections, I was wondering how this works with the extensions. Do dd and ds take turns reading Stories of the Ancient World and then ds reads Dinosaurs by Design in addition for example? Or does dd read "Stories" and ds read "Dinosaurs" as their individual history readers? Or should I read "Stories" aloud to both, and then ds can read Dinosuars on his own? Just wanted to know how others are doing this............

Thanks!

Julee

[MicheleW]

Julee,

The extension books are in additon to everything in the Economy and Basic packages. The extension books are scheduled in the back of the guide. There are no questions or activities to go with them. I just have my kids read them and give an oral narration. We are doing CTC with extension next year as well with my 6th grade DD, so I haven't used those ones specifically, but we have used the extensions with Bigger, Preparing and RTR. They are excellent books and add so much to the program that I have purposely placed my children to be on the older end of the age-recommendations, so that they can always add in the extensions! (Plus, since I am schooling 4, it is nice to have some additional reading that they can do themselves while I work with siblings.)

[blessedmomof4]

With CTC, each student is expected to do the "I" boxes independently, which means doing the reading independently and following the directions in the "box" in the daily plans independently. Boxes labeled "S" are semi-independent, meaning you may have to work alongside them or get them started, and "T" is teacher directed. The extensions in CTC are intended for students ages 12-13, and there actually are suggested follow-up activities along with a daily reading schedule in the appendix of the CTC guide. These activities include drawing a picture with a paragraph, doing an oral narration, and doing a written narration. These follow-ups are optional, but they can add a lot to the child's study. Hope that helps

[my3sons]

Hi Julee, and welcome to the HOD Board! The pp is right - the extensions are for older dc ages 12-13. You can certainly get them for your 11 yo, but I have to say CTC is a very meaty program. Just to check - have you looked at the placement chart to be sure the 9 yo can do CTC? It does fit some 9 yo's well, but it also can be too hard for some 9 yo's. So, with your 9 yo in mind, you may want to check the placement chart out, as well as the first week of plan's boxes labeled "I" and "S", to be sure 9 yo can hang with it. As far as Storytime, I'd enjoy reading those aloud to the 2 of them in CTC. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[SMiles]

Hi Julee,
I just want to echo what everyone is saying about placement. I had my 4th grader in CTC for a while, but I was doing the reading for both dc. I had the chance to put her back in Preparing when we were around unit 21 in CTC and I took it. I can't tell you how much that changed school for both my ds (6th at the time) and dd. She did great in Preparing and by the end her reading and writing confidence had soared. It was great to see her performing at a level that challenged her and was not frustrating.

As I look back, I see that I was robbing both my children of a growing time in their lives. They both gained new skills and when I stopped doing the reading for them, they both stepped up to the plate and worked harder then if I had continued the way we started.

My initial thought, when she finished Preparing, was to put her in Unit 21 of CTC, but after much debate in my heart and mind, I knew it would be better to put her back at the beginning of CTC. She is just finishing up unit 1 today and she has done wonderful! She has been able to do all the reading herself and has rocked the projects as well.

Also, one other tidbit that I would add. Even though your younger child can read the beginning of The Story of the Ancient World it does get harder because the beginning is bible stories that they have heard quite a few times. They have a background to which they can resort. I would have dc read toward the middle of the book and see how it goes.

Just my .02 based on my experience of a 4th grader in CTC.

Blessings,
Sherry

[Wilfam12]

Thank you all for your replies. Yes, I have been praying about placement in Preparing or CtC. We're doing Bigger right now, but we've also just come from using Ambleside Online, which is very rigorous. Both my DC read above grade level. They're finding both the History spines a little too "babyish," although the stories themselves are wonderful - the wording is a bit below their level. Dd is doing the 2/3 readers and ds is doing the 4/5 readers for DITHOR (although we are currently not actually using the manual), and they are breezing through the books. I believe they are both up to the challenge of more meat and work. DD is a workbook kind of gal. DS is close to finishing up 2 years of Dyslexia remediation and has excelled beyond belief - he just asked me the other day to help him do research because he wants to write a report on castles!!! I caught him writing lyrics to a song he made up!! I have also been having him write short written narrations on the extensions books for Bigger. He does it twice a week per the instructions in the appendix in Bigger. Both of them have really caught on to orally narrating. The only reason I chose Bigger to start was to stay in the era of history we were in. I know now this was a mistake. We should be in Preparing right now, skill-wise.

So, here's a new question.........should I dump Bigger (we're so loving studying American History, though!) and pick up with Preparing? Maybe jump in where we are in history?

Thank you ahead of time!!
Julee

[Mom2Monkeys]

I wouldn't jump in where you are with history bc it's skills that are.the focus, and those are woven throughout all the subjects. Your kids sound ready for Preparing! My gifted, advanced reader will.start 6th grade.this fall as a just turned 11yo. She's going into CTC now and no extensions required. I can't say skipping Preparing is the best idea unless that's really where they place and they were placed wrong to start. They should work very well ALONE reading all directions.themselves and reading assignments themselves and completing work themselves for about 2-2.5 hrs. They should have in place already pretty decent time management skills and organization skills and be able to write a lot, physically. the first bit of Story of the Ancient World is easier and familiar. Therefore the narrating is easier. Try the middle amd past that. The research is deeper and there's more work for it. Land Animals is technical and meaty and independent. Lots of new terms and new skills and a new level of study. The prophesy chart is a whole new level of thinking and does require a good critical thinker and I think it's pretty spot on skill wise for 6th and older. Write With the Best isn't an easy writing program and even for my girl who is a really great writer, she will learn aaaa llllllllot from it. It will challenge her.
my daughter is finding her first week of CTC easier than I expected but we've been with HOD for four years and she's on.the older end of the age range and in the extension range grade level wise. I see much quicker progression of skills in CTC from week to week than any precious level. Meaning, it isn't baby stepping whatsoever and moves more quickly through skills....the guidance for written.narrations and such change throughout and by the time they finish and start RTR they are able to write a history narration many sentences long, do it well, and without guidance. Just "write a 10-14 sentence narration about today's reading".
I would never have started my gifted 9yo 4th grader in CTC. she could have done it but I've learned can do doesn't mean should do. She is learning and thriving and learning so much right now in CTC as an almost 11yo and completing the work and getting.things out of it most 9/10yo kids wouldn't get.

I'd be extremely cautious placing a 9yo in CTC and honestly advise against it. It truly is middle school level. Preparing was a great year for my 10yo. She really learned the skills needed for CTC and the independence needed to do those skills herself when called for.