Questions

[Enigma]

I am putting together the last of the materials my older two have not done in preparation for MP 7 this fall. I want to be sure I have covered, as much as I can, everything essential in MP through 6th grade. They know the Greek Myths and Trojan War and have read all the Famous Men books.

American History: {the one area much neglected [read: never covered] in their education thus far}
Are the 200 Questions now included in the Guerber's study guide?
How does SOTW Vol. 4 fit in now? Do I really need it?
Is the Everything book still needed?
Are all these resources scheduled in the 6th grade plans available separately?
Would just using the 200 Questions and reading be okay?
Any hints on condensing it down?

Geography:
I was thinking of going through the States study to complement the above.
The Review seems to be just that...no instruction. Is this the case?
I looked at the Reviews book for Geo 1. Is a similar book in production for Geo. 2?
I cannot figure out how to condense all 3 books. Since the boys have a general idea of places thanks to a family love of maps, I wasn't going to cover these. Would this be a mistake?

Lit:
They have not done a guide correctly {not just taking the TM and copying} though they have read all the books through 6th and many from 7th, too. Not real sure what to do here. I was thinking of pulling a guide from each grade. They need solid work on forming complete sentences, narrating, and academic writing in general.
I was toying with Horatius, as well.

Science:
I have no idea for this. Frankly, I am not sure I would have time for a full on class.
Should I have them read only through the Tiner books?

Lastly, I don't own a mint or have the ability to slow down time so to prioritze for both reasons, what is most important to cover? I will be working with them 1-on-1. They cannot work independently at all. {I already made that mistake.}

We are also covering R&S English 5 {mostly orally} for grammar and writing, and Christian Light Education Math 500. I will be adding R&S spelling, not sure what level yet, as that is another area they need work in.

I may have more questions later but I think that is it for now. Thanks!

[tanya]

Hi, Enigma.

The 200 Questions are not included in the back of the Guerber study guide. In fact, we don't use the study guide in our school because of lack of time. We just read the Guerber text and the students complete the 200 Questions. We use SOTW Vol 4 to pick up the 20th century, and we only do selections from it that pertain to American history.

The geography reviews are not instructional. They just review each area of the country or world to make sure students retain that information. That isn't something you need to try to do in a crash course. Just be aware as your students go through middle and high school of the areas of the world they are studying, and use maps frequently to show them where these areas are located, how they fit into the rest of the world, and how their locations may affect the events being studied. We actually have a middle school geography course that we are still tweaking for 7th grade. It doesn't spend a lot of time in students mapping the world because it makes the assumption that students mastered this in grammar school, but it would still be a good fit for your students.

I don't feel like you need to do any catching up in science. Our 7th grade science consists of the geography course and Tiner's Exploring Planet Earth. In 8th grade, we do 3 more Tiner books. Science is really just introductory until high school, when your students will need to complete biology, chemistry, and physics.

And don't worry about literature either. The 7th grade literature and classical studies guides will give your students all the help they need in formulating good sentences, reading comprehension, vocabulary, etc. Just start fresh with those and set your standards right away. Even if it takes longer at first to complete them than you think it should, it is better to have quality work. The time you spend setting those standards at the beginning of the year will make the rest of your year so much better and will help your students toward independent work that you can live with. These study guides can act as a great supplement to your language arts program for students who need help with sentence structure, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, etc.

And remember that we are slowing down the curriculum packages for homeschoolers. If you don't feel your students are ready for the 7th grade package, don't worry about starting with the 6th grade package. That might give you time to nail the areas in which you feel they are weak before moving on to the more difficult 7th grade package. Lots of our customers are working a year behind because of the academic rigor in our packages, so you wouldn't be alone!

Regards,

Tanya

[Melisa Burke]

Tanya,

I've seen it referenced a few times now about MP slowing down the curriculum. Will the more rigorous curriculum still be available? That is actually what I like most about MP. I'm really not looking for it to get watered down to make it easier for homeschoolers.

Thanks for your reply.

Melisa Burke

[Enigma]

Melissa, I don't think the new packages will be watered down. I think they are just being slowed down with more helps for us as teachers. For me, I know I need all the help I can get especially when teaching multiple levels and as we progress upward in the plans.

I also think the new plans are aimed at helping kids {and parents} new to MP/classical education be successful and not overwhelmed. Making it easier to stay the course, so to speak.

[tanya]

Enigma is correct. We will continue to offer the curriculum as it stands now. But we have realized that it is more difficult to teach this curriculum at home. If you think about the literature books, for example: In a classroom, the students read around the room, so each student may read a couple of paragraphs. But homeschooled students have to read the entire chapter independently, so when it is a more difficult book, it can be frustrating if their reading isn't fluent yet. And our classroom teachers are teaching the same curriculum every year. They are master teachers, and they have only had to master the grade they teach. The homeschool teacher doesn't have that luxury. It is much harder to teach a curriculum that is new to you; it is like you are a first-time teacher every year. And we know that our curriculum is advanced. How many schools do you know that teach the works of Homer and Virgil in their entirety in middle school? I didn't read Homer until college. These are just a few of the reasons why it made sense for us to slow things down for those who would like a slower approach.

You have a lot of flexibility as a homeschooler, and each student is different. We are just attempting to offer another option to help us meet the needs of most students. But feel free to keep up with our original pace!

Regards,

Tanya

[Melisa Burke]

I completely understand and appreciate your decision, but I'm also glad to hear that we will have the option to stay with the more difficult program if we choose.

Melisa