In 1st Step and Connect The Thoughts , there's ONLY one level of curricula per age group. 1st Step Starter is for ages 4-6. 1st Step Elementary is for ages 7-8. Connect The Thoughts Lower School is for ages 9-10. Connect The Thoughts Upper School is for ages 11-adult.

The only "overlap" recommended would happen if a student was not able to read well enough to do the curricula for their age group, in which case they might start at the next lower level, or if the student read too well for their level, at which point the student might start at the next higher level.

Wherever a student starts (excluding Connect The Thoughts Upper School), the student does as much of that level as is needed for them to solidly gain the abilities at that level in terms of both subject matter and literacy. The next level up will generally cover some of the same ideas, but will also cover new ideas, and will provide far more information and detail to established ideas, as well as elevated challenges to the student's reading and thinking.

Let me provide you a few examples.

Let's say your 8 year-old 1st Step Elementary child does Elementary curricula for about 1 year (two semesters), and then executes the Reading Test for Lower School Connect The Thoughts successfully at that time. Rather than do the second year of Elementary, what I would suggest at that time is moving your student up to Connect The Thoughts Lower School, the next level up. (The same thing would apply to the extraordinary 7 year-old who could pass that same test after a year of Elementary.) Upper School would be too hard. Staying at Elementary when ready for a move up would bore the student.

Let's say, as is the case with a friend, an Elementary student reads well enough but finds the writing exercises too challenging. It was suggested that the student do Starter, but instead of being read to, that they read aloud to the parent to develop reading skills. It's a bit of a half-way measure to get the student up to speed on thinking and running their own education, and the student will move up to Elementary, I would think and hope, quickly. This is an "unusual solution" intended to remedy a situation for a student a little betwixt and between.

The idea is to place the student initially where they can pretty easily win but are still challenged, and then move them up as their skills and perception allow and testing demonstrates, and not as the amount of material on each level dictates (except Upper School in Connect The Thoughts ).

Placement of a student is ultimately not a function of age. It is rather more about literacy, which is why sample lessons are provided on 1st Step 's site, my1ststep.com, and reading tests are found on connectthethoughts.net, on both the Lower and Upper School pages. The student should start where their literacy permits.

As a rule, I would not ask a child to skip an entire level as you'd be setting them up for likely loses. It would be a bit like skipping, say, elementary school and going straight to Jr. High (or Middle School). Most students would not survive such a maneuver well. Each level is constructed to help prepare the student for the next level up.