3rd & 6th grade placement help please!!!

[Aquakiwi]

I was hoping to avoid having to write a huge post for placement help but I can't, I seem to be going around in circles too much. So I am very sorry this is going to be long!!!

Firstly, My son just turned 8 this month and is about to finish 3rd grade at our local school. He is very young for his grade but is one of the best students in his class according to his teacher. I thought I would place him in MP 3rd grade curriculum after reading a lot of information here. I wanted to buy the whole package but realized that there are too many changes to be made. Since we aren't from the US I wanted to replace the states and capitals set with something maybe Geography 1. I will also be substituting R&S Math and Spelling and Christian Studies. So as you can see the package has now completely changed.

Secondly, my daughter is 10 and has just finished 6th grade with a supposedly rigorous college prep online school. (She finished the whole years work with excellent grades in 6 months so maybe not so rigorous). She has also done Powerspeaks middle school Latin 1. However I am not convinced that she has grasped the Latin as well as she needs to continue successfully. So where do I place her for Latin now? I am actually thinking still First Form Latin to give her a chance of memorizing everything however will this just be boring for her and would second form be better, arghhhhh, I wish this was easier.
She is young so I thought I would start her in MP 6th grade - using literature, FMoG, classical comp fable, Greek alphabet. I would remove the American History Set and could she do Geography 1 as well? I would substitute R&S Math and spelling, what is the role of R&S English in this package? She could do Astronomy as well with my son. (I am yet to figure out whether the trees set is only for the USA)

Does this even sound slightly coherent? Can anybody make this into an amazing MP curriculum set? Arghhhhh, I wish my family and children would fit into the grade packages as is. Thank you for reading and for any help anyone can offer me!

Regards
Hayley

[tanya]

Hi, Hayley.

Geography I would be fine for your students to do together. Just let us know that you don't want the United States Review that comes along with it. You can remove these items from your package (math, spelling, and Christian studies), but you will need to deal directly with one of our CSRs to do it. You can email them at: [email protected], and they'll put together a package for you with an adjusted price.

I don't know anything about PowerSpeaks Latin, so I can't help you place your daughter. But I can tell you that in First Form, students learn all 5 noun declensions, 6 active verb tenses in the 1st-2nd conjugations, and 1st-2nd declension adjectives. If your daughter has a firm grasp on all of this grammar, you would want to begin with Second Form Latin. She should be able to recite all of this grammar fluently before moving on to SFL.

It sounds like our 6th grade package would be a good fit for your daughter. You will need to switch out the Classical Composition for the Fable Stage and the Narrative Stage combo set. She should take a semester for each of those stages, and we have lesson plans for that accelerated pace. The R&S English grammar course is to supplement the grammar we teach in Latin. You shouldn't need to spend a lot of time on it. In the classroom, we do most of the exercises orally and move on. We feel Latin takes care of the majority of English grammar work students need. If you want a more scaled-down English grammar course, you could look at our English Grammar Recitation for your older daughter to do alongside her brother. It comes in the 3rd grade package and would be enough English grammar for both of them. She would just need an extra workbook.

I'm not sure about the trees in your area of the world. Our Book of Trees course is mostly tree structure, photosynthesis, the structure of leaves, etc. We do have worksheets for tree observations, with a sample of the trees in our school yard, but you are supposed to observe your own trees and research them, so I feel it would be a fine course for you. But I also think it would be easier for you if both students do Astronomy. It's nice when you can combine subjects. And your daughter could supplement with Exploring the World of Biology, which comes with the 6th grade package.

If you want to make a list of what you would like in each package and email it to our Sales Dept. ([email protected]), they will put together an invoice for you and send it to you. Then, you can make your final decision and call in with your credit card no.

Regards,

Tanya

[Aquakiwi]

What a relief!

Tanya, thank you so much for all that information. Your response has helped a lot and I really appreciate it.
One other question though, I see on the forums lots of talk about changes to curriculum in the summer. Will there be any changes for 3rd & 6th, that I should be aware of? I would really like to order as soon as possible so we can start in June. How exciting!
Once again, thanks for all your help.

Regards
Hayley

[tanya]

Hi, Hayley.

We are going to offer a slowed-down version of 3rd grade this summer. We have found that many homeschoolers struggle with the leap from 2nd - 3rd. Depending on your 3rd grader, you may or may not want to make the switch. Either way, you can get your package now, and if you decide on the slower approach, we'll be glad to replace your curriculum guide with the slower paced one this summer when it is ready. The books will be the same. We are merely going to take 2 years to get through some of them.

I'm not anticipating changes to 6th. We could possibly switch from R&S spelling to Spelling Workout, but that is all.

Regards,

Tanya

[Melissa B]

Tanya,

When the slowed down 3rd grade becomes available will the current 3rd grade no longer be available for purchase? I was planning to purchase 2nd grade this summer. Should I purchase 2nd and 3rd together if I want to stay with the current schedules?

[tanya]

Hi, Melissa.

We will continue to offer the traditional 3rd grade package, and that is the package we will continue to use in our schools. We just want to offer an optional slower pace for those homeschoolers and schools needing it. A slower pace won't put anyone behind. There is plenty of time to get everything done, so when we started hearing that students were struggling with the rigor of 3rd grade, we saw no reason not to offer a slower approach as students adjust to such an academic curriculum. You will always be able to get the original packages.

Regards,

Tanya

[Jen (formerly) in Japan]

Tanya, maybe you should just name the new half-speed set of 3rd grade lesson plans so as to differentiate from the standard 3rd grade set and then begin to use that name when referring to the new set. That might minimize the confusion over the fact that the current 3rd grade set will continue to be in place.

3A, 3B?

[Enigma]

How about Alt. 3rd and Alt. 4th? This is what I am using in my personal spreadsheet I keep of all the MP courses by grade level.

[Jen (formerly) in Japan]

2.5, 3.5?


I'm a chemist, so I always default to numbered systems.

[tanya]

2/3, 3/4? Still trying to work this out!

Tanya

[KF2000]

I am telling my kids this:

Daughter completing second grade .....will be doing "pre-third" next year (as in pre-k?)

Daughter completing third grade....will be doing "pre-fourth" next year.

Like it? They seem happy with it.

AMDG,
Sarah