help with placement and economizing

[rainbowacreshs]

HI. I have two children, both girls, ages 12 years (will be 13 in Nov.) and a soon to be 16 month old. I found LHTH when I began purchasing the 12yr olds curriculum for our next school year. I was intentionally going to use LHTH with my 4 & 5 yr old Sunday School Class. The more I began to review the curriculum the more I began to fall in love with its very basic but comprehensive design. At that point I had already bought from another website, my oldest's (Kasey) Science- (God's Design series), CLP's applications of Grammar, and as a hand me down I also have both TE and SWB for the LLATL. History- I had planned on using mostly a lapbook approach. Now, Kasey is not a very strong reader and her writing skills, it is a constant struggle. She's seems to be a more hands on learner and can (when she's into it) learn things by memorization. I know she can because for three years straight she's been State Winner (only one away from Perfect because of a timing/step issue) with the Children's Bible Drill. Math we are currently using Saxon and she's seems to be a year behind their schedule as we are working in 65 for this year.
I have reread the catalog and the web site, I am finding myself drawn back over and over again to HOD as a possibility for my oldest. My husband and I don't have the expenses to put out the amount needed to buy the entire CTC. How would you suggest that I can economize, using what I have already purchased, save money, and somehow purchase into CTC. I want desperately to turn on my oldest's want to read and experience other generes with joy (if it isn't about animals from the non-fiction area of the library, I have to assign it to her or she want even glance at it). It took her 3 months to work through Trumpet of the Swan[/u
I am intrigued with the history that CTC uses, and I know its something we haven't covered in detail before, as most of the history we have done has focused on early American and U.S. History.

Now with the littlest one I have begun introducing the music and reading the Bible stories to her. Would 20 months old be to early to start the actual LHTH with her?


Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you all for your time.
Jasmine T.

[my3sons]

HI Jasmine, and welcome to the HOD Board! You've officially caught the HOD bug - once you start looking, you can't stop - it's just all too good. I initially used LHTH at church with 2-4 yo's too - what fun that was, and a relief to have something fun, sound, and easy to do. I think you could start it slowly with your little one, maybe just a bit at a time or just a few days a week. You could begin with the easier set of Bible/devotions, and then go through it again with the harder set of them. At that pace, your little one could start LHFHG next around age 5. I think you'd love doing LHTH with your own little one - it is precious and gave me great memories with our 2 dc that I've done it with.

Now, for your older dd - she really could do either Preparing Hearts for His Glory with extensions, or Creation to Christ since she is 12. Thank you for telling about your dear Kasey; that really helps. You can easily use the grammar and math you own, as well as the science, though you'll have to decide if you want to miss the HOD science, it is very good. You'd need the Economy Package of whatever program you choose, and from there we can sort through what would be best to purchase next. I have a few quick questions - as far as Kasey's writing - has she done some copywork, dictation, creative writing, and/or written narrations? The Reading about History core part of PHFHG is read out loud by the parent to the child, but the Reading About History core part of CTC is read independently by the child. The books used for this box are in the economy package for each of the guides. That may be something to consider as you look at the economy packages and try to place your dd the best spot. I'm going to link you to the placement chart, as well as put links for the first week of both PHFHG's and CTC's plans so you can look them both over and maybe share which you think might be the better fit:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/PHFHG-sample-week.pdf
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/CTC-first-week.pdf

Then, if you could please share a bit more what your dd's writing and which program you are leaning towards, and we will all chime in and help you choose what's best both academically and economically!

In Christ,
Julie

[rainbowacreshs]

Kasey is familiar with copy work, dictation and memory work. Learning Language Arts Through Literature is grounded very firmly in this. The program includes at least 4 book studies through its 36 week year. This year though I had to boost the grammar work with some sections from Easy Grammar.
Her history this year though seemed to consume more of our time. We worked with a co-op class on Drive Thru History, Characters of Faith the focus on the pre through the revolutionary war period. Please keep in mind she was mixed in with high school level students, she was the youngest child in class. This particular program proved itself to be very cross curricular. She researched and wrote a bibliography on Anne Hutchison. Kasey wrote a very short (about 3 paragraphs) creative story about a little slave girl. She also wrote (her daddy asked the questions and she gave verbal answers) an interview with Christopher Gist for a collaborative group newspaper. Wrote --on her own to my pride-- an acrostic poem about the stars. Researched and created her own almanac. She had to read and write notes on note cards about an assigned historical figure. Researched the bibliography on a president and then had to present her arguments on why he should be elected during a mock debate (didn't due to hot as the teacher did not make it completely clear that it would be a debate on class day). I showed her how to use note cards the next time she was given a person to research and she did much better presenting the facts on class day. She also created her own almanac.
I think perhaps I am hung up on the perfection and "finishing" all the curriculum that we have been doing. Looking at the amount of things she actually accomplished in the history class, I think maybe it has more than made up for what we haven't done in the Language Arts book?
Now, many times, her father or I had to get her to verbalize her thoughts, we wrote or typed them for her, showing her how the sentences should look on paper. She is still having difficulty creating a solid topic sentence and supporting sentences. This makes discussion questions very painful. I have introduced to her a concept thought, paragraphs are like houses. Through the front door and the first room of the house contains the topic sentence. Then you go to each room, adding details in every room until you get to the attic where you sum everything up. But in her writing, sentences are many times hideous run-ons or so fragmented that you're not entirely sure where it belongs. Is this "normal" for her age group? When she writes, I constantly circle words and encourage her to become friends with the thesaurus. Her favorite words are "like" and "so"--- drives me buggy!
Ok, as far as the program I am leaning toward it is definitely the CTC. I don't want to go too far backwards and make her feel like she hasn't accomplished anything.
Would going with the Economy pkg, and then just stick to the Basic Package, skipping the extension package completely work? Could I use the Basic Package, option 1, mix it up using some of the material as read alouds and then assign some of them for independent reading?
Now a note about where we are in the LLATL series we are still working through the Purple Book, supposed to be for 5th grade. I have noticed though that these books can overlap grades, therefore the next book is supposed to be for 6th, but I can use it for a struggling 7th.
I do so appreciate the help and input.
Thanks again, I look forward to more advice and suggestions.

[my3sons]

Thanks for sharing about Kasey, and she definitely would enjoy Creation to Christ! I am not as familiar with LLATL as Carrie is, so I'm not going to comment much on that, other than I am wondering how tied you are to using it? There are wonderful LA skills - copywork, dictation, poetry study, written narrations, oral narrations, summaries, notebooking, etc. - written right in the CTC guide, and they often link to the history theme. I don't think you'd want to double up on those areas, especially since Kasey isn't overly fond of writing. I also think Kasey would really enjoy Drawn into the Heart of Reading as her reading program, and possibly Write with the Best for writing - but again, I'm not as familiar with LLATL and not sure if you think Kasey would enjoy using that again or not. As far as grammar, if you've been using Easy Grammar and you and Kasey like that, you'd just keep going with that. Otherwise, R & S English is a very solid program that is teacher and student friendly. I think it sounded like you had a math you wanted to continue with, right? Otherwise, Singapore math has a free placement test you could give and you could order that. So, these preferences of yours will affect what you order.

You do definitely need the Economy Package. You need books to read aloud for Storytime which would be one of the Basic Packages - you could decide whether you want to do the History Interest Set or the Girl Interest Set. You can use books you already own to economize otherwise, just making sure you have 1 biography, 1 adventure, 1 historical fiction - 1 book for each genre. For science, you would either need to order the Science Economy Adder or do your own science - you can decide if you'd like to use your God's Design Science either as your only science or as an extension to the science in the CTC guide. For history, you can extend it for Kasey easily by adding the Extension package, but I am not sure if she might get frustrated trying to read those independently? You could read them aloud to her otherwise? But the extension is a great way to extend the history in an easy way. I am wondering if Kasey would be doing another history class like the one she attended last year? If so, I'm guessing the high school level of it made it take some time and as you'd mentioned added more LA requirements to Kasey's day. Since writing is not her very favorite thing to do, I'm thinking it would be good to make sure she's not doing way too much writing in the day to day. CTC has enough writing for her as is, so that may be something to weigh as you decide what extras to do for her - you will know best, because you are the mom!

I know Carrie will chime in here soon, but if you happen to have any more to say about which things you are really tied to using that you already own, and any thoughts you may have about doing HOD's R & S Grammar, DITHOR, Science Adder, History Extensions, and/or Write with the Best program, that will help her give you some advice about what things are most important to order for you to have the best fit you'd enjoy the most with your dd. I hope some of this has helped - I wish I knew more about LLATL and could advise you better there, but one thing I know for sure is CTC is a wonderful program that is very full of excellent learning! You will enjoy whatever aspects of it you choose to use.

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Jasmine,

I just wanted to pop-in and welcome you to the board! I agree from what you've shared that CTC would be the best fit for your daughter. If finances are tight, you could begin with just the Economy Package and Science Adder. If you have your own science, then you could forego our science and use your own instead. However, the science in CTC is meant to be independently completed by the student and includes wonderful living books, so it is definitely worth a look.

As far as the Basic Package Options and the Extension Pack goes, you will need either the History Interest Option or the Extension Pack Option to raise the level of the study to the target range of an almost 13 year old.

I agree that down the road DITHR would be a good option to look at in place of LLATL, although you can easily keep what you have for this upcoming year. DITHR focuses on reading and digging deeply into what is read in a literature study format, without all of the additional language arts components tied into the reading study as well. This really helps kiddos move along in their reading skills and greatly enhances the joy of reading. The rest of the language arts skills are covered within the scheduling in our guides, separately from the reading skills. This makes it easier to adjust to one level for reading, a different level for spelling/dictation, a different level for grammar, and a different level for writing. It helps customize the program to better meet a child's needs in each of the individual language arts areas.

If you have other questions, ask away!

Blessings,
Carrie

[rainbowacreshs]

Thank you both so very much for the insights and help. My husband and I have made the hard decision to "hold" her at the 6th grade for one more year, at least by means of registration with our homeschool association. This curriculum I know is going to help in so many ways. CTC is so different from anything we have done that it will make it easier to do an extra year of 6th grade. I know this will give her time to come into her own and give her a firmer ground in the concepts and skills she needs before moving on to the next grade level. Oh I wish I had seen this program 4 years ago!
Money wise, as with nearly everyone, it is tight.
By the end of July I should be able to purchase the Economy Pkg and the Basic Pkg - opt. 1, as you have suggested doing Carrie. I hope to buy the music cd, Kasey has enjoyed memorization work through music. I plan on using a LapBooking (shutterbooking) approach for her science in order to keep it hands on and with minimal direction. Since I already have it, I'll go a head and use LLATL for this next year and will definitly keep DITHR in mind for the coming years.

As I did say in the earlier post, I have already fallen in love with LHTH. I have used a couple of the lessons with my SundaySchool's 4 & 5 year olds as trail runs. I am looking forward to incorporating more into the next "school" year with my SS kids. My little Tiffany (almost 16 months) loves the music and the stories.
Thank you again, for the beautiful curriculums. I look foward to using CTC with Kasey this fall!

[my3sons]

Thank you both so very much for the insights and help. My husband and I have made the hard decision to "hold" her at the 6th grade for one more year, at least by means of registration with our homeschool association. This curriculum I know is going to help in so many ways. CTC is so different from anything we have done that it will make it easier to do an extra year of 6th grade. I know this will give her time to come into her own and give her a firmer ground in the concepts and skills she needs before moving on to the next grade level. Oh I wish I had seen this program 4 years ago!
Money wise, as with nearly everyone, it is tight.
By the end of July I should be able to purchase the Economy Pkg and the Basic Pkg - opt. 1, as you have suggested doing Carrie. I hope to buy the music cd, Kasey has enjoyed memorization work through music. I plan on using a LapBooking (shutterbooking) approach for her science in order to keep it hands on and with minimal direction. Since I already have it, I'll go a head and use LLATL for this next year and will definitly keep DITHR in mind for the coming years.

As I did say in the earlier post, I have already fallen in love with LHTH. I have used a couple of the lessons with my SundaySchool's 4 & 5 year olds as trail runs. I am looking forward to incorporating more into the next "school" year with my SS kids. My little Tiffany (almost 16 months) loves the music and the stories.
Thank you again, for the beautiful curriculums. I look foward to using CTC with Kasey this fall!

It sounds like you have a great plan for Kasey, and I'll look forward to swapping stories with you as we do CTC this coming year as well. Thanks for sharing here, and I know little Tiffany will continue to love LHTH as well. We'll be doing that soon too with our youngest!

In Christ,
Julie