Connect the Thoughts and supplementing

[DragonFaerie]

My DD is wanting to come home again starting next year, which will be 8th grade for her.  I'm trying to make plans that will allow her to take some responsibility for her own education and control her days to some extent, and I really like the looks of Connect the Thoughts.  I like that it is completely independent and that DD can work at her own pace, scheduling out the semester and choosing what to work on each day and for how long.  I also like that the program is intended to be used continuously throughout high school.  The website says that the whole upper school program can be completed in four to five years with working about four hours per day for a typical 180-day school year.  However, it looks to me like the program needs some supplementing.  Obviously we have to add in math, for example, as they don't have that at all, and I don't like their lit program.  DD will work for four hours per day plus two hours of music and several outside elective activities (private music lessons, band, dance company) so she'll easily average 6+ hours of "school" each day.  So here's what I'm thinking about doing:

 

* CTT for history, science, creative writing, and current events

* Writing with Skill, level 1 (moving on to 2 when she's ready; this is in addition to the creative writing with CTT because DD needs the extra help, especially with academic, non-fiction writing)

* Lightning Lit 8 (and continuing on with something in high school)

* Saxon math (will have to test her for which level to start with)

* Something for geography (probably Discovering the World of Geography, gr 7-8; World Geography and You for 8th grade)

* Building Critical Thinking Skills (Critical Thinking Co.; would this even be necessary given how CTT works?)

* Music Theory (either through CTT or probably Alfred's which will not be included in the four hours but rather in the two hours of music)

 

And when she starts 9th grade, we'll add a foreign language (her choice is Gaelic).

 

So what I want to know is, does this look like a thorough, academically sound, perhaps even rigorous, program even continuing into high school?  And does it look doable in the time frame given (4 hours per day over five years) if we continue to work a little bit over the summer (I usually do “homeschool lite†over the summer, 1-2 hours a day)?

 

 

 

 

 

[CyndiLJ]

We use Connect the Thoughts for history, some science, and some current events.  I think you might find that with that much supplement, she will be a little overwhelmed. Connect the Thoughts is deep, very rich, and well done.

 

Here is what I might suggest, based upon our experience:

 

Skip trying to fit in geography.  It may sound corny, but his simplified way of teaching geography by having a student look up the places listed before each lesson every.single.time. really works.  In no time at all, our kids were quite knowledgeable and oriented in the world.  I had planned geography in depth, but realized quite quickly that it would be unnecessary.

 

Math go with Saxon, or perhaps Teaching Textbooks if she finds it too dry.

 

I also don't think you need to do the Critical Thinking Co. products, as Connect the Thoughts is amazing in this area, and Critical Thinking Co is quite expensive for what you get.  The way he builds a child's thinking skills seems simplistic at first, until you follow along for a while and see he is creating a foundation, then building on top of it.  Our kids absolutely think differently because of this specific curriculum.  We recently had a teacher who works with them say, "I don't know what you've done or how you've done it, but your kids really know how to take apart a concept.  They also know how to spot bias and opinion."

 

We wanted more Lit ourselves, but you may want to be more casual with it because CTT has a lot of lit built in, but in my opinion not enough with analyzing.  I would use a lit curriculum as a supplement, recognizing and accepting you won't finish it, but skipping through it here and there would be a perfect fit, I think.

 

I wanted to mention you might want to check out Quality Science Labs for homeschool lab kits to accompany the science.  They have great all in one kits with lab books, as CTT does a poor job with labs, but a good job in explanations.

 

You also might consider making sure to have discussions about the material covered.  I know you are pleased with it being self-directed, but the materials are PERFECT for stimulating wonderful, deep conversations.

 

 

[DragonFaerie]

We use Connect the Thoughts for history, some science, and some current events.  I think you might find that with that much supplement, she will be a little overwhelmed. Connect the Thoughts is deep, very rich, and well done.

 

Here is what I might suggest, based upon our experience:

 

Skip trying to fit in geography.  It may sound corny, but his simplified way of teaching geography by having a student look up the places listed before each lesson every.single.time. really works.  In no time at all, our kids were quite knowledgeable and oriented in the world.  I had planned geography in depth, but realized quite quickly that it would be unnecessary.

 

Math go with Saxon, or perhaps Teaching Textbooks if she finds it too dry.

 

I also don't think you need to do the Critical Thinking Co. products, as Connect the Thoughts is amazing in this area, and Critical Thinking Co is quite expensive for what you get.  The way he builds a child's thinking skills seems simplistic at first, until you follow along for a while and see he is creating a foundation, then building on top of it.  Our kids absolutely think differently because of this specific curriculum.  We recently had a teacher who works with them say, "I don't know what you've done or how you've done it, but your kids really know how to take apart a concept.  They also know how to spot bias and opinion."

 

We wanted more Lit ourselves, but you may want to be more casual with it because CTT has a lot of lit built in, but in my opinion not enough with analyzing.  I would use a lit curriculum as a supplement, recognizing and accepting you won't finish it, but skipping through it here and there would be a perfect fit, I think.

 

I wanted to mention you might want to check out Quality Science Labs for homeschool lab kits to accompany the science.  They have great all in one kits with lab books, as CTT does a poor job with labs, but a good job in explanations.

 

You also might consider making sure to have discussions about the material covered.  I know you are pleased with it being self-directed, but the materials are PERFECT for stimulating wonderful, deep conversations.

 

Thank you so much for this info!  It has made me feel much better about our plans.  I will take your advice and not add in the critical thinking stuff, and I'll forgo the geography, too (although I'll probably have her complete the physical geography workbook between now and the fall just to make sure she's covered map skills and such).  I agree with you about the literature.  I really want her to have some in depth literature study to go with the composition and creative writing.  So it sounds like between CTT, Saxon math, Lightning Lit and her music electives, we should be pretty well covered.

 

 

[CyndiLJ]

Thank you so much for this info!  It has made me feel much better about our plans.  I will take your advice and not add in the critical thinking stuff, and I'll forgo the geography, too (although I'll probably have her complete the physical geography workbook between now and the fall just to make sure she's covered map skills and such).  I agree with you about the literature.  I really want her to have some in depth literature study to go with the composition and creative writing.  So it sounds like between CTT, Saxon math, Lightning Lit and her music electives, we should be pretty well covered.

 

 

'

I think you have a strong game plan!  We have considered Lightening Lit ourselves, but I bypassed it because I wanted exposure to a little wider variety of writing than just 3-6 authors a year.  I wanted to share a great high school lit anthology that, in my opinion, is far superior than the traditional ones used in high schools.  It is Implications of Literature from:  http://www.textword.com/

 

These are amazing!  Vocab work, short writing assignments, literary analysis all rolled up into one fantastic textbook without being overkill.  We select a few items to work on from each selection, and definitely don't do everything.  The stories are really wonderful, from all the best authors.   I can't tell you how good this thing is, but  urge you to check it out.  What we do is read as much as we can from it without concern about "finishing" it for the year.  I add in 2-4 book studies with more modern literature selections (1960 forward) and between them we have covered a lot of ground.

 

Just an idea for you!

 

PS:  One more thought. If you find Saxon is just too much (it can bog kids down sometimes, though it is excellent) you might look at Teaching Textbooks.  Totally self-teaching AND self grading (woo hoo!) and written by two guys from Harvard, so you know it is pretty solid.  

[DragonFaerie]

'

I think you have a strong game plan!  We have considered Lightening Lit ourselves, but I bypassed it because I wanted exposure to a little wider variety of writing than just 3-6 authors a year.  I wanted to share a great high school lit anthology that, in my opinion, is far superior than the traditional ones used in high schools.  It is Implications of Literature from:  http://www.textword.com/

 

These are amazing!  Vocab work, short writing assignments, literary analysis all rolled up into one fantastic textbook without being overkill.  We select a few items to work on from each selection, and definitely don't do everything.  The stories are really wonderful, from all the best authors.   I can't tell you how good this thing is, but  urge you to check it out.  What we do is read as much as we can from it without concern about "finishing" it for the year.  I add in 2-4 book studies with more modern literature selections (1960 forward) and between them we have covered a lot of ground.

 

Just an idea for you!

 

PS:  One more thought. If you find Saxon is just too much (it can bog kids down sometimes, though it is excellent) you might look at Teaching Textbooks.  Totally self-teaching AND self grading (woo hoo!) and written by two guys from Harvard, so you know it is pretty solid.  

 

Thanks for the lit suggestion.  It sounds fabulous!  I will definitely check it out.  My only concern is having to add in my own novel work, but I could do it if I need to.  As far as TT, we actually have used that for several years until both kids got tired of it.  I switched DS to Saxon after Christmas, and DD was using Saxon in PS.  I'm hoping to be able to stick with it through the end at this point.  But if not, I have no problem going back to TT as I liked it. :-)

 

[DragonFaerie]

I'm not using that much CTT, but I do use it for history. I planned a WTM approach based on SWB's History as Literature lecture. So I took each lesson from CTT history and noted the main topic for each lesson, then I added in historical fiction and anything else I found that was recommended. We both enjoy discussing CTT, but I wanted to add in whole books to his plan to prepare for high school. It's worked well for us so far. 

 

I'm using Critical Thinking Book 2 with CTT history, but I just have CTT history and we started homeschooling so late for him that we didn't get any formal logic in. 

 

It's true that each lesson CTT has you look at the map. If you plan on using it all through high school, I could see it all adding up to a geography credit. I already had Map Trek and wanted to add in current cultures as well, so I made a formal geography and world culture course. 

 

DD really enjoys "social studies" including geography and learning about other cultures.  That's why I was thinking about including the geography, but I don't want her to be overwhelmed.

[kiana]

If she enjoys it, I don't think she would be overwhelmed. CTT just has them find certain places on the map, so you could think of that as supplementing or reinforcing what you had planned for geography.

 

I agree, and I also think that it'd be easy to drop if she started to find the workload overwhelming, or just have her read the book and narrate, or something.

[DragonFaerie]

We're also starting sooner and slower than I'd originally planned, too.  The GREAT news is that she decided to come back to homeschooling now (YAY!!! :hurray: ) so that means she will start all this sooner and will also have more time to finish it.  I'm starting her off next week with the three introductory "how-to" courses.  When she's finished with those, then I'll start her on the history, science, current events, and creative writing.  By then, she should have a couple of weeks of geography under her belt, so we'll see how things go.  We also lighten things up over the summer, so it may turn out that she can do the geography through the summer and then start the CTT courses in the fall.  There doesn't seem much point in getting her started in everything only to be "finished" again in a couple of months and then start up again in the fall.  I'm just going to play it by ear for now and see how things go, but I think I'll need to decide where to split things up for the summer.  Maybe I'll have her do the pre-history and the basic science now and then continue the rest in the fall or something.  Sorry for the rambling.  I'm thinking this through as I type.