MTMM-high school, where to go from here?

[blessedmomof4]

Does MTMM need the extensions to be appropriate for grade 9?

[Carrie]

Great question! Yes, it does! That is the reason for the Extension Pack. It is meant to raise the level of the study in the guide to be able to include high school students (who are technically outside of the target age range of the guide). The extension books are chosen to show different sides of issues and situations that students are often reading about briefly in the text. This is a different experience than simply reading books for pleasure. Instead, each Extension book holds a purposeful place in the telling of history, adding many facets to the study that require the student to think and assimilate information on a higher level.

Additionally, we are assuming that students at the Extension level are also doing the recommended written narration/oral narration/and research follow-ups. This really raises the level of the Extension Pack and makes the student sift and sort through what was read to share about it in a CM way. Without doing the follow-ups, your child is missing the upped level of skills needed for a high school student in writing written narrations, giving oral narrations, and choosing topics of interest to include for research/notebooking (as described fully in the Appendix). I would consider both the readings and the follow-ups to be a necessary part of the readings at the 9th grade level.

I will mention that for those students who have reading challenges, the response will differ. That is because students who have difficulties reading will flounder under the weight of more reading. In this case, perhaps some books in the Extension pack could be found as audios to listen to and some could possibly be read aloud by a parent. Others who have difficulties in the area of reading may have to omit the Extensions all together, just because school is such a challenge already without adding more. This would definitely be the exception, however.

Blessings,
Carrie

[blessedmomof4]

Thank you Carrie, for your response. My question has to do with the fact that due to many factors, my 8th grader is just finishing up CTC with extensions. She will be 14 this September. She is a very bright girl and probably capable of much more than what I have required; the slow pace and inconsistency of work has had much more to do with family situations, pregnancy, birth of my preemie baby, etc than with my daughter's capabilities. She can read high school level literature with comprehension. She is finishing up pre-algebra. Her written narrations are detailed and thoughtful, and often longer than required by CTC. She does the extension follow-ups without trouble. She is currently doing Rod and Staff English 6. She does DITHOR 6/7/8 with ease. She finishes her school day within 4.5 hours, including extensions and is quite self-motivated. She does a lot of creative writing and researching topics that interest her on her own time, and often we wind up adding many other things to her day because she wants to. I know that skipping guides is not usually recommended, but I am wondering where to go from here with my bright daughter. I want her to be challenged enough but not overwhelmed. Should we go on to RtR with extensions, Rev to Rev with extensions, MTMM with extensions? Or just jump into the geography guide with no extensions? Where can I go from here where I don't have to "beef" up so much that it almost doesn't resemble HOD?