Christian Studies IV or CSI all over again?

[MarmeeLaura]

Hello,

My four daughters (ages range from 8 to 15 with reading struggles) and I are nearly finished reading the Golden Children's Bible together according to the reading plan laid out in "Introduction to Classical Studies" (even though it has taken us longer than one year).

My question is what to do for next year? Do I have my older students complete Christian Studies IV (along with most of 8M curriculum) while the younger listen in (they will be working through SC4) or should we start over with CSI? Neither of them have completed the Student Guides at any level, although I used the Teacher guides for oral questions and some map work.

Any thoughts are much appreciated!

Laura

[howiecram]

I'm sorry no one has answered this yet! I don't have any experience with the Intro to Classical Studies (but I do own it and considered using it), but I did notice that actually it was meant to be completed 3 times! If you look through the teaching notes it explains what to do year 1, year 2 and year 3, etc. That program came about before the full cores where they now separate Greek Myths/Famous Men, etc and spread the Bible over 3 years.

I will say that SC4 is pretty full (I'm about to do it for the 2nd time!). I would probably leave that alone and do the scripture verses scheduled in that level. I wonder if revisiting the GCB in the same way you did last year going a little deeper with your older kids may work?. However, what other courses are your older kids taking?

[cherylswope]

Good morning, Laura! Your question arrived at the tail end of Friday, but we're here for you now.

In addition to Christine's thoughts, I think it might depend on where you would like for your older girls to finish in Christian Studies. If you want to work through Christian Studies I, II, III, IV, you could do so with the guides over the next four years to deepen what has been taught so far. However, if you think they could tackle the Christian Studies selections for MP 9-12 and you want both older girls to do so, you could teach Intro to Classical Studies as Christine described, or you could teach 1-IV with the guides for all of the riches therein, or you could teach from Christian Studies IV, which is a condensed overview, and then move forward to the upper Christian Studies selections if time and abilities permit. All are good options and may hinge primarily on the language abilities of your oldest daughter. What would benefit her the most?

I agree with Christine about your SC 4 students. In SC 4 we schedule Scripture memory alone in Christian Studies as a multum non multa approach. We work through the salvation narrative in learn-by-heart verses in SC 4 before beginning the more labor-intensive Christian Studies I-IV in SC 5&6 through SC 11&12. I would continue that approach for your younger two as planned.

[MarmeeLaura]

Good morning, Laura! Your question arrived at the tail end of Friday, but we're here for you now.

In addition to Christine's thoughts, I think it might depend on where you would like for your older girls to finish in Christian Studies. If you want to work through Christian Studies I, II, III, IV, you could do so with the guides over the next four years to deepen what has been taught so far. However, if you think they could tackle the Christian Studies selections for MP 9-12 and you want both older girls to do so, you could teach Intro to Classical Studies as Christine described, or you could teach 1-IV with the guides for all of the riches therein, or you could teach from Christian Studies IV, which is a condensed overview, and then move forward to the upper Christian Studies selections if time and abilities permit. All are good options and may hinge primarily on the language abilities of your oldest daughter. What would benefit her the most?

I agree with Christine about your SC 4 students. In SC 4 we schedule Scripture memory alone in Christian Studies as a multum non multa approach. We work through the salvation narrative in learn-by-heart verses in SC 4 before beginning the more labor-intensive Christian Studies I-IV in SC 5&6 through SC 11&12. I would continue that approach for your younger two as planned.

Cheryl,

Thank you so much for your response; as I posted later Friday afternoon (in the beautiful month of June), I wasn't looking for a response until this week. I'm glad people are away from screens during the weekends!

Yes, I agree that much hinges on my eldest. We're at a point where my two older girls are beginning to diverge much more distinctly in ability as the younger of the two moves way ahead of her older sister. (My to-be 13 year old has verbalized that she does not want to read anything with the word "Children's" in it right now.)

But I love that we begin everyday together with a scripture study of some kind, and we haven't really done much in working on memory verses, so I planned on having all the girls memorize those in SC4 together. So, I'm leaning to incorporating CSIV readings this upcoming year, then my youngest girls can move to CSI and their older sister can follow with them, or if she's comfortable, move towards the upper level CS guides with her second sister.

My oldest isn't at all self-conscious about "level" or "grade"; she demonstrates an interesting kind of maturity that she simply wants to learn from what fits her best. She recently admitted that, while she enjoyed reading "Little Women" last fall, the literature guide was really tough. She is currently completing the literature guide for "Cricket in Times Square" independently and doing well. I plan on having her complete "The Blue Fairy Book" next, then "Homer Price." She is excited about these books and seems comfortably challenged. While the original plan was to fit her into 8M, I think the literature selections for 8M will be great read-alouds, although I do think that by next Spring, I'll try the guide for "Tom Sawyer" with her. She's perfectly happy graduating from high school at 20 or 21. That is a grace!

I planned on my older girls reading the Mills' books on the Ancient World and Greeks over the course of next year, August through May, then tackling Homer independently through the summer of 2022 as a stand-alone course that my husband (who has yet to read Homer) and I (who hasn't read it in 25 years) will read along with our oldest girls. That is the area that I don't mind keeping a little more on the challenging side. My husband loves history and has all kinds of ideas of making it much more interactive as we explore these texts together. I know they will feel immensely proud to have read these epics.

As always, thank you for your thoughtful response.

Laura

[MarmeeLaura]

I'm sorry no one has answered this yet! I don't have any experience with the Intro to Classical Studies (but I do own it and considered using it), but I did notice that actually it was meant to be completed 3 times! If you look through the teaching notes it explains what to do year 1, year 2 and year 3, etc. That program came about before the full cores where they now separate Greek Myths/Famous Men, etc and spread the Bible over 3 years.

I will say that SC4 is pretty full (I'm about to do it for the 2nd time!). I would probably leave that alone and do the scripture verses scheduled in that level. I wonder if revisiting the GCB in the same way you did last year going a little deeper with your older kids may work?. However, what other courses are your older kids taking?

Christine,

Thank you so much for your response. We are looking forward to SC4, and appreciate guidance from a veteran!

My older girls will be doing the Ancient History and Greeks books from Mills for 8M, but I'm planning on dividing them between terms as our history text, so there was room for CSIV. Perhaps we can use some of the portions of the GCB and incorporate them where it's appropriate with learning verses for SC4 so they don't "forget" about the GCB, but not have them begin the in-depth study for the youngers that will come in SC5&6.

Thank you again!

Laura

[cherylswope]

...Yes, I agree that much hinges on my eldest. We're at a point where my two older girls are beginning to diverge much more distinctly in ability as the younger of the two moves way ahead of her older sister. (My to-be 13 year old has verbalized that she does not want to read anything with the word "Children's" in it right now.)

But I love that we begin everyday together with a scripture study of some kind, and we haven't really done much in working on memory verses, so I planned on having all the girls memorize those in SC4 together. So, I'm leaning to incorporating CSIV readings this upcoming year, then my youngest girls can move to CSI and their older sister can follow with them, or if she's comfortable, move towards the upper level CS guides with her second sister.

My oldest isn't at all self-conscious about "level" or "grade"; she demonstrates an interesting kind of maturity that she simply wants to learn from what fits her best. She recently admitted that, while she enjoyed reading "Little Women" last fall, the literature guide was really tough. She is currently completing the literature guide for "Cricket in Times Square" independently and doing well. I plan on having her complete "The Blue Fairy Book" next, then "Homer Price." She is excited about these books and seems comfortably challenged. While the original plan was to fit her into 8M, I think the literature selections for 8M will be great read-alouds, although I do think that by next Spring, I'll try the guide for "Tom Sawyer" with her. She's perfectly happy graduating from high school at 20 or 21. That is a grace!

I planned on my older girls reading the Mills' books on the Ancient World and Greeks over the course of next year, August through May, then tackling Homer independently through the summer of 2022 as a stand-alone course that my husband (who has yet to read Homer) and I (who hasn't read it in 25 years) will read along with our oldest girls. That is the area that I don't mind keeping a little more on the challenging side. My husband loves history and has all kinds of ideas of making it much more interactive as we explore these texts together. I know they will feel immensely proud to have read these epics.

This sounds like a wonderful plan!