Academics - Is CTG enough for 7th/8th?

[mom2boys]

CTG for 7th grade boy

Hello ladies and gent, my ds will be doing CTG this fall and I was wondering if there are any supplemental recommendations for this grade other than Apologia science, which I will add. The 7th/8th grade supplement for ECC was quite extensive, but I don't see anything like that for CTG. Am I missing something?

Also, he is not interesting in reading the Patricia St. John books, what would be a good alternative for a boy? Thank you very much!
God Bless this message board,
Tracy

MFW also recommends you pick two Progeny Press guides per year for 7th/8th graders.
http://www.mfwbooks.com/progenypress/index.htm

I just wanted to say that my boys really liked the St. John books. I don't know if he thinks they look girly, but they are not.

[cbollin]

My oldest dd is 8th grade and doing CTG....

here's what's we're doing....

jr. high does Apologia Science
jr. high language arts (including 2 progeny press books)
jr. high Saxon
foreign language with RS
help me do the science in CTG with 5th grade sister.
help me with the youngest...



then, that just leaves what to add in for history:

After we move, we hope to have her do the reports that are suggested in the CTG manual. About once a month, choose a topic from the topics that are at the chapter beginnings of Streams of Civilization and make a report.

My guess is that she's going to lean toward some geology and flood and creation stuff. She's found a real interest in that after Apologia General last year and spent a LOT of time at the creation museum a few weeks ago reading every display in the geology room.

Then, we'll find other topics in other chapter. I'm aiming for 1 good report each semester and maybe some smaller oral reports at supper once in a while or whatever just to let her talk.

For reading: we're going to make the most of book basket. There are several suggestions in various weeks that say 6th grade and higher, or use this for jr. high....

my oldest said 'yeah, even a boy should really like Mara.... daughter of the nile. It's an adventure story. a tiny bit of roll your eyes at a tiny bit of romance. barf. But the adventure was really good."

(can I quote you on that honey?)

So, you'll find extra reading at higher level in book basket.

It's been 5 years since I read the Patricia ST. John books -- but try to do those as read alouds if you can.

It is kinda hard to get good reading that is quasi related to history stuff in ancients.


this is not history related....Have you considered getting Kingdom Tales from the ECC deluxe package and doing that with your kids?

lots of action and adventure in it.

How about using some of the read alouds from other years in mfw that you know he isn't going to do? Example, if he didn't do the jr. high read alouds in ECC last year, why not do them this year? Or maybe something from year 5?

maybe that would work for ease of finding reading stuff. in the ideal, it would be peachy keen neat to have it relate to history, but, it's ok if it is character stuff too.

-crystal

[TracyLee01026]

Thank you. I forgot about the Progeny Press guides! Thanks Crystal for telling me what your daughter will be doing. That helps me a lot.
My son is just very picky about what he reads. He really isn't interested in fiction...preferring non-fiction, biographies, etc. I read a description of each of the St. John books and he sighed and said he wasn't interested. It probably doesn't help that his 10 yo sister will be reading them. However, when I read the description for Twice Freed he sounded very interested. I see it on the list for RTR, but hey it takes place in ancient Greece according to this description. So, I think I will have him read that.
I will consider Kingdom Tales and perhaps having him read the advanced missionary biographies from ECC--I had considered that. I have them, I may as well use them again.
Tracy

[Lucy]

Dear Tracy,

The St. John books as well as Twice Freed are read alouds to be done with the whole family. Although many kids at your sons age can read them they are a wonderful shared experience. I would read the St. John books with him and his sister. Although they are not real stories they are believable stories about real kids and how they come to know Christ. I found that they helped to give my own kids (and me) a better picture of the gospel and to strengthen their faith. As for Twice Freed it takes place during the time period you will study next year and is also a read aloud. These of course are only my suggestions and you of course will do what you think is best for your family. I would just hate for these to be missed and shared together as these are all such great classics and favorites of both my kids (girl and boy).

Lucy

[Julie in MN]

I obviously do not have "older students" yet, but last night I realized my daughter will cycle back through CtG when she's in 7th. Does CtG have advanced assignments scheduled like ECC? We are purchasing next week at our convention but I just can't wait that long to find out. Lol!

Hi Jessica,
Here is a thread with a post from Crystal, who did CTG with an 8th grader.
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7990

No, there isn't a separate grid like ECC. There are some recommendations for older kids, although I don't have the most current manual to know all the latest. Some of the things from the ECC 7-8th grid are really the same, though.
- For the 7-8th grade science, you can just plug it into the science box on the main CTG grid.
- For the reading, same thing.
- The main difference would be that there is no added "geography/history" box for the older kids, but you could squeeze it in or add it at the bottom, if you want to add to that subject.


Here are some things I've heard suggested or would suggest myself:
- As I recall, after the year was over, Crystal said that she ended up spending less time on history that year and more on getting used to the other subjects that take a big step up that year (science, math, English), so she really didn't add a whole lot to history in CTG. I like that idea. It's a fun year, with celebrating the feasts and reenacting the plagues and such. She'll get the whole Bible & thorough history in a couple of years in high school, but won't have time for these memorable activities.
- But if you want to step up history, too, the Streams book has chapter assignments at the end of each chapter.
- Another option I'd consider is just having her read all of Streams, but that's 'cause I am a Streams fan (The book would span 7th & then 8th, covering the parts for CTG and RTR, so not the whole book in one year.)
- There are the missionary biographies from ECC 7-8th that I'd try to use for part of her reading time in 7th and/or 8th, if she hasn't read them.
- I might try to do ECC-style current events in either 7th or 8th, using the God's World News magazine and cutting out articles for the history notebook (either putting them near countries you study, or putting them at the end of the notebook for later years of history).

HTH,
Julie

[4Truth]

You could also have her do a lot more with the Feasts. If she's your oldest and was only about 7-8 at the time you previously did CTG, you probably didn't do a *lot* with the Feasts, right? This is something you can take more time with when she's a 7th grader, esp if your dd will have started learning how to cook, manage a kitchen, and participate in meal planning. Let her take charge of some of that when you get there.

She should also be help more with the younger siblings by then.

Junior high is a great time to focus more on grammar and writing skills, math, and study skills, or other weak spots in preparation for high school. It's also a great time to focus on her character and walk with the Lord. As I recall, 13 was a really tough year with my dd on an emotional level. At that point, your relationship shifts from that of parent-child to mentor-blooming young lady whether you want it to or not. For us it seemed to happen gradually and I just realized one day that things are different now. It's a good thing, don't worry. But it can take some time away from academics as you (Mom) have to address things with your dd a little differently then than you have in the past, so just know that it's "okay" to spend that time preparing her for high school in more ways than one.

Editing to say I keep referring to "daughters" because that's what I have. I'm sure that much of it is true for sons as well, yes, Julie?

[NCJessieRN]

Thank you both for your response! VERY HELPFUL!

[Julie in MN]

Editing to say I keep referring to "daughters" because that's what I have. I'm sure that much of it is true for sons as well, yes, Julie?

Oh, yes, boys too

Ds did a sort-of "elective" that year with dad, which we loosely named "shop class." They worked on some projects, fixed some things, and read through a book series called Boyhood and Beyond (followed by Created for Work). Good stuff!

Julie

[MFW-Lucy]

There are advanced assignments that the first time around you would not have completed with a 7 or 8 year old. Also reading aloud all of the assignments from Streams to older kids is an option (just do not try to do this with younger kids, it's too much, use as a parent resource and share with them some of the information). Children at an older age will be able to understand, and make sense of some of the history more easily than at a younger age so that although some of the same information is being heard and read more connections will be made and retained than the first time through the program.

The Teacher's Manual will also suggest that you may assign short written or oral reports to be added to the notebook when completed.

The notebook will also look very different since the writing ability of an older student will have improved and his ability to summarize with more detail and accuracy will have increased. This would be similar too in the books that he will be able to read from the book basket list or as part of his independent reading each day.

I hope this helps you as you think ahead.

[mfwstudent]

I'm new to MFW and seriously considering 1850 to Modern Times for our next school year. That year plan best will fit best with where we are currently in our history cycle. However, to continue on with MFW, I would start the cycle over again with either Exploring Countries and Cultures or Creation to Greeks the following year when my middle child will be in the 7th grade. My oldest will have moved on to a high school plan by that time.

In other threads, many have mentioned that the material gets increasingly challenging each year. Does that mean that the early plans will be too easy for a child of middle-school age? I did notice that ECC has a supplement for 7th and 8th graders. However, CG has no such supplement that I saw in the catalog. Any advice?

Hi,
I wrote some of this earlier this morning on another thread. But I'm in 9th grade now and used MFW since I was in 2nd grade. I did ECC in 2nd and then again in 7th. There was plenty to do with the country summary sheets, and the big report, and the extra readings. Then last year when I was in 8th grade, we did CTG again. Anyway, this is the part I wrote earlier with how it worked for me. :D

I’m a long time student using MFW. I’m in AHL this year and this week trying to do my service project by helping other families using MFW. So my mom (screen name cbollin) saw this thread and thought maybe I could spend some time this morning. I want to share it from my perspective.
Last year I was in 8th grade and my sister was in 5th. We were doing CTG.
I read more historical fiction than she did.
I did the advanced assignments and even more readings from Streams of Civilization. I like that book.
I wrote more paragraphs in my notebooking summaries than she did.
I did extra art work assignments.
The CTG manual suggested that in jr. high to do a short report about once a month on the topics in the Streams of Civilization chapter headings. Well, I didn’t do one each month, but some of them interested me so I did more reading and short reports at supper time sharing what I learned.
Oh, then when it came time for the spring Bible feast, I helped with that and talked a lot with an elder at our church who is Jewish Christian.
I got to do a few extra field trips than my sister did. And I watched more videos on topics than she did. Mom got some streaming video thing since our library didn't have a lot of them. Lots of the movie suggestions were TMI (too much info) for my little sis.

I did all of the things that MFW talks about on page 13 of their catalog for jr. high. You can read that here
http://www.mfwbooks.com/inc/catalog/view.html#/page/13

and I was in charge of the CTG science experiments to help my younger sister. I took charge of the hands on stuff too. I did all of the advanced assignments listed. Did a lot more reading than my little sister. And of course got my own math and science too and more literature novels.

I also did Russian using Rosetta Stone

I hope something of that helps you a bit from the way it worked for us last year. I had plenty of school to do, time to learn archery (I'm lettering in that sport this year and will work hard in the garden today to earn some money for my letter jacket) and I had time to be on student leadership council at my church and take ballet too.

I like using MFW.