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Hello Everyone,

First, I want to thank everyone again for your thoughtfulness. You have helped me think through so much over the past few days. I appreciate the gentle probing and the wise answers given. It is also wonderful to have direct input from the curriculum-writer! Thank you, Carrie!

Here's my new question

I have definitely decided to begin my youngest daughter in the Bigger program (she's the "thecond" grader from a previous post.)

I have one more daughter who is under high school level. She is currently in sixth grade. She is working well at home in language arts and math. She takes science class at a local coop but she hasn't had any history at all this year. She really wants a history program.

Do you think it would work if I had her using the history extension material from Bigger? Four years ago we used Beautiful Feet primary Amer. History program but she hasn't had any American history since then.

Are the extension materials scheduled in the Bigger program? I know how to add writing assignments to any program for her, so I think I can boost the material to 6th grade level (some of the books look like they are already there!), but I want things as easy as possible for me. I want to know just what book and just what pages to have her read each day/week.

I admit that I avoided history for each of my younger girls this year. It just seemed like "one more thing" and I didn't have time for one more thing! But now that Carrie's "Bigger" program should have me covered for my 8yo, I am thinking that I might be able to handle one more thing--IF it is easy to implement!

Thanks in advance for helping me think this through too. If I do go with this, I will want to get started as soon as possible.

Callia

Hi-the Bigger extension books are quite meaty, as I found out they were too meaty for my 4th grader There is a daily reading plan for them in the back of the Bigger guide, so it's easy to use them.

Callia,

Lourdes did a great job of answering your questions! I do think it would be very easy to add the Extension Pack for your older dd. She could just listen in to your short history readings and then do her assigned reading on her own from the Extension Pack. The day 1, day 2, day 3, etc. schedule is in the Appendix, with page numbers for each day.

You may even find your older dd sitting in on other parts of "Bigger..." once she gets interested . My older son in grade 6 loves to listen in on our history readings and read-alouds, and he asks to read our science books as soon as we're done with them!

Blessings,
Carrie

Wow! This just might work for both of my younger daughters. Thank you for helping me through this too.

We actually own some of the books in the extension list--at least half of them, I think. I'll have my children do a bookshelf hunt to see how many we can come up with.

Some of the books sound so good that I might enjoy reading them too!

Again, thank you! I hope you all know how much you help ease the minds of homeschool moms.

I cannot wait to get my hands on the material and begin! Hopefully, soon I'll be one of the ones giving HOD wisdom rather than just taking it.

Callia

Yes, another question.

Are the read alouds also scheduled into the curriculum?

I told my 8yod that she would finally have her VERY OWN curriculum. Up until now, we have used curriculum that I already had and pieced things together for her. I told her I would do this curriculum exactly as written as I was tired of reinventing the wheel!

She takes this very literally and wants the exact read aloud books that she saw on the HOD site.

I was wondering if they are scheduled in like, "Day 1: Read Chapter one of ..."

Are all three read aloud types scheduled? Classic, Girl Interest, and Boy Interest?

Thank you again!

Callia

You caught me at a good time, as my kiddos just headed off with daddy to sled, and I'm left with only my 1 year old wandering around (wondering where everyone went!).

I'm so glad your dd is excited about having her own school things. My 8 year old loves having something of his own too. It makes him feel so special.

As to the read-alouds, you may choose any that you want to read-aloud with our plans, however we do list the ones you see on our website in the Appendix of the guide as excellent suggested read-alouds. The boy, girl, and classic pack come from that list.

You are welcome to read as many or as few of the read-alouds as you have time for. Each genre is scheduled for 20 days in the plans, with reminders given every 5 days of how much of that genre you have left. You need to read-aloud at least one book from each genre (i.e. at least one Biography, one Adventure, and so on). Some moms read all of the book packs aloud, some read just one, some vary it from genre to genre, so you can choose your own pace and books based on what your dd really wants.

Now in "Preparing Hearts..." the read-alouds go with the history, so they will be scheduled specifically day by day.

Hope that helps!

Blessings,
Carrie