We just finished Beyond!

[farmfamily]

Yesterday was my girls' last day in Beyond, and we've had a great year! I feel like we've finally hit our stride with homeschooling. When people used to ask me how long I planned to homeschool I would say, "We're taking it one year at a time" (private Christian school is our backup plan). But now I say, "I hope to go through high school!" My girls have told me that they hope we can homeschool through high school too! I credit HOD with making homeschooling successful & enjoyable for our family.

This year my 6 and 8 year olds were combined with Beyond. My 6 year-old did everything as written, except she did a different math. She did the emerging readers slowly, adding in some extra phonics work that she has needed. I am excited to say that now that she has made it to the Christian Liberty Nature Reader, she is finally taking off with her reading & actually picking up books to read for fun! Her writing has also improved dramatically this year. Her listening comprehension is really good for her age, I think.

My 8 year-old added cursive, dictation, math at her level (she switched to Singapore 3A halfway through the year, and so far that is going well), R&S 3, DITHOR 3, and Bigger-style vocabulary exercises to Beyond. It has been a great year of growth for her. I am so pleased with how much she has learned.

I love that my girls have memorized so many great Bible verses this year, and what a wonderful CD to go with many of them!

My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE the history! Except for one, they have also really loved all the books they have read in the ERs and DITHOR (I love them all!). They are also very enthusiastic about story time. On the last day the story time question was about their favorite part of the book. One of my daughters asked if she could also share her least favorite part. It was every day when I stopped reading!

The projects are something which my kids have loved, but which I know I never would have done without HOD. I don't recall that I skipped a single one! Many of them have helped to make what we read in history or science truly memorable for all of us. If I am trying to talk about something we learned a while back, all I have to do is say, "Remember when we did.... [some project]." Their faces will light up, "Oh yeah!"

So a huge thank you to Carrie for all that you do. Also thanks to Mike and Julie and others who help make HOD possible. Your work has been a wonderful blessing to our family.

[Carrie]

Hooray! I am so excited that you are done with Beyond. Thanks so much for taking time to share your experiences. It's amazing how many families appreciate the glimpse posts like yours provide into a year with Beyond.

I am thrilled about the advances your kiddos made and celebrating with you at the thought of high school! Thanks again!

Blessings,
Carrie

[rideswithchrist]

What R&S did you use? The Phonics or the Reader, or both?
I have a (just turning) 5YO and 7YO and Can't decide how to use this program for both of them...

[farmfamily]

Hi rideswithChrist - I only just saw your post. We use R&S only for the grammar (the books which are sold by HOD) hth