? on placement our son has 5 years to graduation

[heritagehomestead]

Hello,
One of our sons has five years until his eighteenth birthday, and I a not quite sure where to place him within HoD. While his age would put him elsewhere, I wonder if it might not be better to start him in Creation to Christ for a full comprehensive coverage of history. This would leave him one remaining year to do ?. I am not very familiar with the high school programs. If we were only to do one, which one may be the most optimum one to choose? Could the Creation to Christ, etc. give high school credit? Perhaps we could take the five years to slowly go through the high school program, but I am afraid it may be overly challenging for him even at a slower pace. While I've appreciated much about Charlotte Mason, I have not faithfully implemented everything everyday. We would be especially weak in Language Arts. I want him to have a successful next five years with a full rich education that will best equip him.
Thank you for your advice and council.

[LovingJesus]

The placement chart can be sometimes difficult to read when it is new. After using HOD I can see better how it clearly states the skills in each guide. Can you look at it though and tell approximately where his skills are at? If you come back on this thread and explain where he is at in reading, writing, and math these ladies will be able to help place him.

Carrie discourages picking based on the history in the program, and she encourages picking based on skills and academic abilities.

The placement chart is a link on the Heart of Dakota web-site. It says to consider age 1st. So at age 13 he would be somewhere between Rev2Rev, MTMM, and WG. Then it says to consider reading second and writing third. If he is weak in one area the growth will take time but it will come.

I hope that helps.

[heritagehomestead]

Thank you so much for your kind reply. It really takes a different approach for me to go about this without primarily focusing on history. Perhaps I’m afraid of falling into a gap several thousand years big.
I worked through the Placement Chart and his age puts him in Revival to Revolution. He has not had any formal literary study though which would place him in Creation to Christ. In writing, I am not sure what he could do as far as dictation. I never got beyond copy work and oral narrations. However, he is probably at Resurrection to Reformation to maybe Revival to Revolution. Language Arts as a whole for us has been very weak having done much orally through oral narrations and discussions. So, writing mechanics at that level would be rather difficult (spelling, grammar (diagramming), paragraph formation) and he would be more at Preparing Hearts for His Glory there.
We use Math-U-See, where he is working at his age. I believe in Bible he could appropriately be placed in either Resurrection to Reformation or Revival to Revolution. For history, I think he could handle Resurrection to Reformation and even the beginnings of independent work found in Revival to Revolution. But I definitely would not say that we have fully covered the earlier time periods. He has shown great interest in early American and later World history- reading independently in these areas. He has done less independent work in science, and so I feel would probably fit better in the Creation to Christ there. He’d be in Resurrection to Reformation in Story Time and for Poetry and Rhymes definitely.
Otherwise, he is a very observant boy with a delightful ability for drawing and a desire to begin more independent studies.
I'd appreciate any help in where we should begin our adventure in HoD, and also what would be the best options for upper level high school if we are not able to denote three years to those programs. Also, when would it be best to start Drawn Into the Heart of Reading and with which set of books for him?
Thanks again.

[LovingJesus]

I am bumping you up since placing him is beyond my oldest in 6th grade.

I would though suggest not putting too much emphasis on literary study since doing DITHOR for one year in 8th would pull him up quite a bit in that area.

I know your input will help these more experience ladies help you.

[MelInKansas]

My oldest also is not as old as your son, but here's my thoughts having used HOD for many years.

LA is somewhat adaptable. If you start DITHOR you can use a different reading level of books (pick the book pack that's at his reading level) but if you feel literary analysis is a weak point you could in fact use the 4/5 level student workbook. But if he's pretty sharp and you think he'll do fine once he gets it, you could do 6/7/8 but walk him through it for a while until he gets the hang of it (it not then being completely independent as it's supposed to be at that level, at least not until you feel he's grasping the concepts or make sure he will come to you for help if he comes across something he's not familiar with). Grammar with R&S you can do whatever level he fits in for any guide. Writing would also be somewhat adaptable, the IEW program in Res to Ref for example has levels and you can make it harder or easier.

It would be best for him to be well placed in the areas of History, Bible, and Science and for him to be able to handle the workload of his guide and do independent work independently. From what I read in your description it's maybe Res to Ref or Rev to Rev. Really don't worry about the history, he will pick up the rest through the high school study.

The JH guides CAN be augmented to make high school credits. There's a sticky thread at the top explaining some of the ways you can do this. Really place him where he fits in the guides and then add on for high school credits. You will find it goes SO much better if you do. You may want to back up a guide if you want to spend a lot of time trying to work on LA and get "caught up." Choose an easier guide so you have a little extra time to focus on that.

[rumkimom]

Last fall I place my 14 year old daughter (going into 9th grade) in RtR in everything except math and writing/grammar. I placed her in the writing from CTC and it has worked just fine and she is growing in that area. I also just switched back to R&S grammar and she is going though the level 4 book and will switch when she changes books (to level 5). She does have learning disabilities and that is why I placed her as low as I did, but it has been a good fit. I do plan on getting her though World Geography before she is done with school.

I would go with where your son fits the best on the placement chart and it sort of sounds like RtR might be a good fit for him. If you are able to do 1 guide a year and if you would start with RtR, your son should still be able to get though World History (and get anything he miss as I believe that goes though all the history in one year). If you feel he is behind in his writing, you can always go with the writing that goes with CTC instead of the one in RtR like I did. Also you can use the lower level grammar if you feel he needs more help in that area also.

[heritagehomestead]

Thank you all so much for your helpful insight. I've been having a super fun time looking through my HoD catalog that came a couple days back. We've decided to use Resurrection to Reformation for our son. All of your advise was so helpful. It is a great comfort to go forward or back within Language Arts to where we will be best situated to succeed and then press on.
Thank you again so very much. We are looking forward to an incredible year.