What do you think of my plan to add my stepdaughter, who is on an IEP, to our homeschooling?
After a chaotic semester of trying to make my own plans, I’m returning to Heart of Dakota (HOD). I was crazy to leave, and I’ve definitely learned my lesson. My kindergartener will begin Little Hearts for His Glory (LHFHG), and my 7th grader will begin Resurrection to Reformation (RTR) in the next few weeks. Over last summer our situation changed a bit. My husband and I were given permission to homeschool his daughter, my step-daughter. She had spent years in public school struggling with learning disabilities, an IEP, and LD specialists. She had been seeing a private tutor for years.
Upon getting permission to homeschool my stepdaughter, we used the curriculum recommended by the tutor. This was a more traditional curriculum. For the first time, my stepdaughter doesn’t feel like she is a horrible student. In fact, she is getting nearly all A’s. After having worked with her all semester, I’ve seen that her struggles are mostly attention issues (diagnosed ADD). The one-on-one, quieter, calmer atmosphere at home helped a lot. She does sometimes struggle with comprehension/retention in reading, but usually this accompanies textbooks. My stepdaughter used to rebel at all reading, but has devoured all the books I’ve placed in front of her as extra reading for our schooling.
Would it be a good idea for her to do Revival to Revolution?
I think a Charlotte Mason-based curriculum would be perfect for my stepdaughter; shorter lessons, hands-on projects and notebooking, and a slower pace through living books. She will be going into 10th grade next fall. I’ve read many of the posts about beefing up programs for high school. She is taking World Geography and Biology this year. Since she is supposed to take physical science next year, I’m thinking Revival to Revolution (RevtoRev) with the extensions and advanced options for science would work.
I realize I’ll have to beef up and supplement here and there to make it all high school credit worthy, plus add in electives. Her math and grammar would stay traditional because that is what she has been doing. I would add in the creative writing from RevtoRev and a high school lit course. Doing three guides is a bit scary, but I don’t want to skip guides with my 12-year-old and miss important skills, even to combine her with her sis. What do you think of my plan?
Sincerely,
“Ms. Please Help Me Add My Stepdaughter to Our Homeschooling”
Dear “Ms. Please Help Me Add My Stepdaughter to Our Homeschooling,”
I think that your plan for your stepdaughter sounds like a good one, and your placement sounds right based on what you’ve shared so far.  Since your stepdaughter has an IEP, she will have a bit more leeway in her placement. You’ll have to see whether you feel she could handle the extensions.
One other thought that I had would be that she could potentially do RTR with your 7th grader if desired, as this would give her a credit in world history (which she’ll likely need for graduation). If you did go the RTR route, you could add in the Advanced Version of the science from Rev2Rev for her physical science requirement instead of the science in Rev2Rev.
If you did follow this plan, then she would do Rev2Rev and MTMM for her final two years of high school, which would give her a credit in American history that will be needed. You could add a bit to Rev2Rev to gain her government credit and add a bit to MTMM to gain an economics credit. So, this is one other possible route.
If, however, the mix of the older two in the same guide would be a negative, then I would definitely shy away from that option. Then, instead, you could do Rev2Rev followed by MTMM, skip over the geography guide (since you’ve done a year of geography already), and finish her senior year with our one year overview of world history (that is coming out after the geography guide).
Either option would work well. May the Lord richly bless your homeschooling your stepdaughter!
Blessings,
Carrie
