Going from "regular" 3rd to accelerated 4th?

[Amanda U]

We did the regular package for my third grader this year and have been completing the material over the course of one year instead of two. We tend to just do the next lesson. I forgot about this until looking at next year's curriculum choices. It seems I need to order accelerated 4th as the next step.

4th accelerated skips what I thought was 4th literature and astronomy. Is there a big difference between the 4th and 5th lit options? Is my child missing out on anything going from "regular" 3rd to accelerated 4th?

Thanks!

[momgineer]

Just keep in mind that originally there was only the accelerated track. That’s still the way they do it at Higlands Latin School. When they decided to break up the material in 3rd over two years, the created a whole new year of literature and science. They added the 4th literature and the 3rd science. Accelerated 3rd has astronomy. So, if you jump to 4th accelerate, yes, you are missing the newly created 4th literature, but so do the kids at HLS. It’s ok. They still do literature all the way through 12th- they just have time to get to harder books in high school. You would also kiss astronomy which I wouldn’t want to miss. I’m not super fond of the insects course (just a person thing) and would easily choose to sub astronomy in for insects.

[enbateau]

You have options. You can sub in Astronomy for Insects and push all of the sciences one year off or delete one to start Physical Science in 8th. Astronomy was easy (until the last unit) and informative, and so is Insects, but neither one will make or break your student at this age. Some parents completely omit science until 6th or 7th, if that tells you how much you should fret over missing out or replacing one for another.

We never did 4M literature formally, but because my eldest was a voracious reader, we enjoyed it over the summer. There was nothing in there that was a skill or theme needed to succeed in the next year, but the guides, of course, are wonderful for building skills in sentence formation, character and plot component identification, analysis, and quote identification.

You will find a bit of Astronomy as memory work in Recitation for 4A. You can omit these questions or try to learn a few. Also, if you start with Insects, a note will tell you to begin each science class with a recitation of the 15 brightest stars (and their constellations) and name, in English and in Latin, the constellations, bright stars and asterisms of the winter sky: Gemini, Canis Major, Canis Minor, and Taurus (with Orion in the center), spring sky: Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Bootes, Virgo, and Leo, and summer-fall sky: Summer Triangle (Cygnus, Aquila, Lyra) and Hercules. I think we were also supposed to recite some facts about the planets, but that has....fallen by the wayside. Maybe MP can come up with a couple of specific questions they are doing with their students at HLS for this review specifically. I'm sure this sounds strange, but it was really easy to make Astronomy a hands-on science because all fall, winter and spring it gets darker earlier, whereas after about November, there haven't been hardly ANY insects to behold. We found as many as we could in Sept-Nov, and we will again in April/May, but everything has been book learning about insects since then. For Astronomy, we found a telescope at a thrift shop for $3, and that was fun! For Insects, we invested in a modest microscope, and we have really enjoyed looking at the insects we collected. We clearly saw the barbs on a cricket's legs, the furry moth bodies and fern-like antennae, as well as the butterfly's scaled wings.

[enbateau]

Picture of Lepidoptera Order monarch butterfly wing:

[Amanda U]

Thanks so much for your thoughtful responses!