Placement advice (8th grade)

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rcarp74
Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Jul 14, 2013 5:06 pm
Location: Austin, Texas

Placement advice (8th grade)

Post by rcarp74 » Wed Jul 25, 2018 8:35 am

Hello,
I am asking for help in placing my 13 dd (she'll be 14 in mid December) who will be in 8th grade this fall. We have done HOD in the past. She has completed Bigger in 3rd grade and CTC in 5th grade. We have done other more eclectic (classical and CM) things in between. I have the guide and a few of the books for Resurrection to Reformation but not sure if that's where she places best. She is very interested in studying Middle Ages history however I am aware that is not the ideal way to place her. That being said, I would like to see if that's an option as I do prefer to take her desire to learn into consideration. My guess is she places higher than this guide but that is what I have and what she prefers to study history-wise. I am guessing I could beef it up some and get the extensions but not sure if that will work or if I should take another route.

Here are some other things to know about her that may be helpful in placement...
She has completed one year of Drawn into the Heart of Reading.
She has completed one year of Essentials at a Classical Conversations community. They used IEW and did diagramming (she did a little diagramming also when we completed R&S in 5th grade). We did CC for 3 years.
She is a very fluent oral narrator (she's been doing this since 3rd grade)
She has completed over one year of written narrations. She is currently writing 3 books of her own (creative writing). She loves writing and does this on the computer in her spare time. We have done some work on editing and revising her narrations but not much. I gave her a lot of freedom this past year with her writing and written narrations and she blossomed quite honestly in this area. Hence the 3 books.
She is an avid reader and devours anything she can.
She has done over two years of dictation and does passages of copywork using the Spelling Wisdom book 2 from SCM.
She has completed half a year of Latin from CAP.
She is currently on TT 7 and will be moving on to TT pre-algebra in the fall.
She easily follows instructions and is in general, a very easy-going child.

I love a lot about HOD but my biggest reason for change was the complaining she did re the history and science notebooking. She is a very creative soul and complained about doing the planned notebooking pages. I don't want to stifle her creativity however I realize she does need some direction and structure with some things esp as she ages. I really would prefer her to take her education in her own hands (so to speak) w/gentle guidance but I struggle with how exactly to do that on my own. And now as we approach high school, I get concerned that I might miss some things by continuing to piece things together myself for her so here I am again wondering where she would place if we chose to do HOD again.

I welcome any suggestions and advice and thank you for your time!

Rice
Posts: 526
Joined: Tue Aug 06, 2013 10:00 am

Re: Placement advice (8th grade)

Post by Rice » Wed Jul 25, 2018 4:20 pm

Where DOES she place, looking at the placement chart? Does she place in Rev2Rev? MTMM?

Could you use RTR for history (the left hand page), with Extensions, then do something else (either the guide in which she places, or something altogether different - possibly more creative) for Math, LA, and science. Bible you could go either way - either use RTR because it's easy to follow, being scheduled there, or from the guide she places, or your own. And electives, too: Shakespeare, and artist study/Biblical womanhood from RTR OR composers, 50 States, Signers study and Who Is God? (Biblical worldview) if she is in Rev2Rev for Bible/LA/Science, OR Nature Study, Who Am I? (Biblical worldview), President study, State Study, and possibly Economics if in MTMM for Bible/LA/Science.

You can, additionally, expect more of her from the History (the number of sentences expected in the guide she places), to make it "at grade level" but with her writing interest/skill, it doesn't look like that would be a concern.

With everything laid out the same from one HOD guide to the next, it's easy to use more than one guide, if a selection of history and skill level is needed. (Of course, it's easier to just pick one guide and go with it, but if that isn't going to work, it is not difficult to customize HOD.)

With her overall skill level (reading and writing) that you explained, I would think she'd be able to do RTR History, and everything else from MTMM (or Rev2Rev - your eyes need to be on the placement chart to see which would be more appropriate), if you feel that HOD would be a good fit overall. Then, next year, if wanting to stick with HOD, move on into MTMM or WG for 9th.
Rice

DS 21 - GRAD '20: after WG
DD 19 - GRAD '21: after WH
DS 17 - GRAD '22; did CTC-WH + 2yrs non-HOD (🇨🇦)
DS 15 not using a guide this year (DONE: LHFHG-MTMM)
DS 13 MTMM (DONE: Prep-Rev2Rev)
DS 11 +
DD 9 CTC (DONE: Prep)
6yo DS phonics

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