Am I doing the right thing?

[Marty D]

Ok girls, here is my issue. (well one of my many issues, but this one actually has to do with this curriculum ) For my oldest son I have been looking over the placement chart trying to figure out which program fits him best. My original thought was Beyond, then I thought Bigger, and then back to Beyond.

My ds loves science and history. In those two subjects, without a doubt, he is ready for Bigger. He has come a long way in reading in the past year. I plan to do the emerging readers with him, though he could probably move to DITHOR and be ok. I really want him to gain some more confidence and be slightly "smoother" when he reads.

He does very well in math, and honestly I am not planning on doing singapore math anyway, so that part does not have to fit.

His writing is where I am a little concerned about placing him in Bigger. He is in OT working on writing, but to be honest he is making little progress. At first it seemed to be helping, but right now he is stalled. He really struggles with writing, and because of that has a hard time with copywork. I have been using A Reason for Handwriting this year. It takes us about two weeks to get through a four day lesson.

Also, I am concerned because he has problems composing original sentences. He has lots to say, but when I ask him to write (or dictate) a sentence he just can't seem to get it.

Besides these two areas I feel he is ready for Bigger. I have gone both ways on how to handle this. First I thought it might work to put him in Bigger and just work on those areas he is weak on at a slower pace. Then I thought it might be ok just to put him in Beyond and work at a faster pace in areas he doesn't have trouble in.

I want him to be challenged but not frustrated.

So, can someone give me some guidance? I will be waiting with bated breath!!

[Tabitha]

My gut is saying to go with Beyond.

I only have LHTH, LHFHG, and BHFLG here. I don't have Beyond to look at.

My personal feeling is that if you go with Beyond, he will be able to accomplish more thus having a more successful feeling towards his abilities. You can always beef it up if you need to.

If it took twice as long to do a week in Bigger, not knowing how you would feel, I would worry about frustratings setting in.

I think it is a-okay to go with Beyond. These guides have soooooo much stuff in them that I doubt you'd get bored with Beyond, and with the variety involved in all the subjects I'm sure it will offer some challenges as well.

BTW...I did what you are doing as well, except I kept going between Bigger and Preparing. I settled on Bigger, and we are having a blast. I had some of the same concerns as you. And, I am glad I went with the "younger" one. It couldn't be more perfect.

Don't second guess yourself. If one calls out to you more than the other, you should go with that one. If your first impression was Beyond, that's prolly the one you really need.

[lil' ladies]

Hi Martha,

I am doing Bigger with my just turned 7 year old. She struggles with writing and there is quite a bit of writing in Bigger. I didn't want to do Beyond because she is ahead in other areas and I also wanted to combine my 9 year old in the same program.

So, after lots of good advice here on the boards, we are doing some of the written work verbally with her. She does the handwriting, and copy work, but most of the grammar work is done verbally. This is working well for us and I thought I'd mention it as an option for you.

My main reason for choosing Bigger was that I really wanted to combine my two daughters in one program, but if it is just your son on his own then you could really go either way.

[Ruth in FL]

I think you answered your own question:

"I want him to be challenged, but not frustrated."

It is so disheartening when you buy a curriculum and realize it is not going to work out.

There seems to be a good deal of writing in Bigger. If he struggles with writing(as most boys do!) then you should get something more his speed, like Beyond.

Even if Beyond is easy for him, what is the worst that would happen? He would fly through the book and then be ready to start Bigger??

To encourage you,my 14yo dd has dysgraphia,which is dyslexia in the handwriting department. She could not get the words from her brain to the pencil to the paper....it was just a blank!
It took a long time for her to be able to get her thoughts actually written down. She is still not the best writer, but she can sure talk your head off! I would tape some of her stories and some of her lessons so the evaluator could hear her, since I had no real writing samples to show!

Writing does come to them, some kids just take a while! Handwriting without Tears worked very well for her in both print and cursive. Practice and patience are my advice to you.
Praise him whenever he does write something.Please dont get too discouraged, especially when you hear all the glorious things that other kids are writing at his age. Keep your focus on what he CAN do, not what he cant. The writing skills will come!
He is still a little boy, give him time!
Ruth

[lovetobehome]

I would suggest Beyond. I am doing Bigger with my son, who is advanced. I really wanted to do Preparing, but it wasn't out yet and I was chomping at the bit to start! Bigger is plenty challenging, with lots of writing. I think Preparing would have been way too much for my son who writes very well and is generally working way ahead of grade level, in reading and comprehension.
Your son COULD do Bigger, but there would be a lot you would have to leave out, and a lot you would have to do for him, I think. As far as wanting him to excel in historyand science, I don't think you will find Beyond too easy in that area....I just bought the Beyond guide, and it looks so wonderful. I think if you use Beyond now, you will be able to see him enjoying more, you can use it more fully and if you want to add more, you can always add more reading books to read together. In my experience, a curriculum is far more enjoyable and deeper if you choose something that is a bit easier rather than harder. If it is harder, you burn out and he burns out, and you both end up feeling stressed rather than blessed! Always always always easier to add to it rather than to take away. WHen I take away, I end up feeling frustrated that we are behind and I enjoy the year much less. I think it is so important not to ruin our childrens God given love of learning by pushing them too hard.
For me, I had to separate *MY* desire to do Preparing from my son's placement. I am so glad I went with Bigger, it is so much richer than it all looks on the surface! You won't be missing anything at all by using Beyond first....IMO.

[Marty D]

Thanks for the suggestions. That is kind of where I was heading, but I keep second guessing. Beyond is better for me right now anyway because I have most of the books already!

Hey Ruth, my ds has been diagnosed with dysgraphia with mild dyslexia. I don't really think the dyslexia is correct, but the other I think is really what he struggles with. In math we can do a whole page of problems verbally (working it in his head) and he gets them all right, but if I have him write the answer he will get 90% of those same problems wrong because he can not get the answer in written form. He is improving some, but it is slow. We did use handwriting without tears, but maybe I started it too late because we did not do well with it. He was already used to the three lined paper, and had a hard time transitioning.

Anyway, thanks again.

[Ruth in FL]

Hi Martha,
My dd is the same way with Math.
One thing that helped her do written problems was graph paper.Everything was able to be lined up so she did not get confused. I started out with pretty wide blocks and now she can do her problems in standard size paper. It was very helpful.
Again, taking it slow is the key. She is starting 8th grade in the fall, but is behind in math. I know most kids her age are starting pre-algebra, but she cant, so why worry? I am proud of what she can do. She knows what she knows well and each day she gets better and better!

Ruth

[Carrie]

Marty,

The ladies on the board have given you excellent advice! I absolutely couldn't have said it any better!

I would suggest going with "Beyond.." too for all of the reasons they mentioned.

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

Ditto to Beyond... as well! And Marty, if your ds can already do mental math well, he's ahead of the game there! If we could choose to either have our dc be able to figure out math having to use paper and pencil, or to have our dc be able to do mental math - we'd all pick mental math every time!

I'd say have him tell you the answer, you write it down, and have him copy the answer under yours - or if that's not a good option, him just telling it to you verbally is fine too - he'll transition to paper in time. I love the graph paper idea Ruth had, and I used that when tutoring middle school math students and thought that really helped.

You could also have your ds write the answer with black dry erase marker on marker board too; or, you could write it on marker board (maybe even squared marker board, to look like graph paper), and then have your ds write in on the graph paper. Marker boards work wonderfully well for copying words or sentences as well. That's what we used to transition my ds into DITHOR Student Book Level 2/3. Anyway, I think you and your ds will really enjoy Beyond..., and Bigger... will be waiting just around the corner!

In Christ,
Julie