Placement question

[cabpharm]

I am going to try to briefly sumarize my question and situation. I just want to make sure I'm making the right decision.

I will have a 7th and 8th grader next year and I am looking at Resurrection to Reformation. This means my 7th grader is right in range and my 8th grader is in the extension range. We did Preparing when they were in 4th and 5th grade and loved it. However, we decided to go a different route the next year and this current year. We did ECC with MFW for 5th and 6th grade and hated it. It was too easy for the most part, but we made the best of it and honed in on research skills and did lots of projects, which the girls loved. The year wasn't a total loss, but definitely one of our most challenging years. Fast forward to this year and I decided on MOH IV. We all really like HOD, but I can honestly say that the cost is what caused me to try something else. This year has been tough in MOH. First of all, I was fully aware that book IV was written for high school students, but I was convinced I would be able to use it as my girls are pretty advance. Plus, I really felt like they needed a good basis of US History and this was my best option with MOH which I really did like. I read the material, but we were unable to do any of the extra projects because we were so overwhelmed with the material. We are still trudging through and I like the book itself...it was just a lot for the girls.(Remember, it was written for high schoolers). As you can see, we've gone from just right with Preparing to too easy with ECC to too hard with MOH. I can't seem to get it right.

We are taking the turn back to HOD because we all agree that was our best and most favorite. Here's my issue. I'm thinking Resurrection to Reformation for this year. My 8th grader will then go back into school and I'll have the 8th grade year with my other daughter, and I am considering just the next level from Res to Ref. I feel like the material in Res to Ref is stuff that we haven't covered as much and don't want to miss. I know they will get it all again in high school, but I want to give them a good background/foundation. However, I want them to be challenged, but not overwhelmed. Any advise that you can give would be greatly appreciated.

[MelInKansas]

If your younger one fits in Res to Ref and the older one can do extensions that seems like it would work well. I'm not that familiar with either of the programs you were in, but HOD is challenging enough for anyone, as they have to manage themselves, follow directions, be detail oriented, etc. I assume you will have each doing their own notebooking pages, and of course they could work together on the science and the projects. I've used Res to Ref for 6th grade with my oldest, and that seemed to work just right, but I can see how it would be fine for her even now, especially if she hadn't done the levels before it. You don't want to choose your guide based on the part of history you want to study, you really want to choose it based on the placement chart so that, as you noted, they will be challenged enough but not in over their heads.

My two recommendations, especially since they haven't been doing HOD, is to really put in the extra time and work in the first 4-5 units to make sure they know what's expected and are doing quality work. Obviously checking and grading you have to keep up on, which I don't always do well and have seen my daughter's school work suffer for my lack of diligence. She keeps me honest.