Should I repeat a year?

[DeniJ]

My 6 year old is using Beyond Little Hearts this year. Are the storytime readers, and/or the curriculum for Bigger Hearts going to be too much for her? I started her with little Hearts when she was just 5, since I felt she was ready to start. Now, however I am concerned that I am moving her too quickly. Is this a valid concern? I am a first time homeschooling mom, and appreciate any help and advice. Thank you!

I also have been using ABeka grade 1 Letters and Sounds as well as Language 1 for phonics and grammar instruction, and feel that it is moving her a bit too fast for what she can really take in at this stage. As a result, I have decided to slow way down and go back and review and reinforce what she already has learned up to this point. She seems to me to be a bit of a slow reader, and also an auditory learner. Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

[davisfam7]

I don't know how much more of Beyond you have left, but you could slow it down to half speed, doing one page a day while doing basics more often. Then when you start Bigger I would continue to stay at half speed, if her skills increase you could always go back to full speed but only do it 4 days instead of 5 days a week. This should spread it out over two years and put her ready to start Preparing in 4th grade. This will allow you to keep going with the progression but slow it down to fit her needs and abilities right now. I hope that made sense???

[DeniJ]

That is a huge help! Great advice, thank you!

[StephanieU]

If she isn't struggling, then Bigger should be okay. Like the other comment, half speed might be necessary due to things like writing stamina, but I don't think overall it is going to be too hard for her.

[Nealewill]

I agree with DavisFam7. Sounds like she could really benefit from being slowed down and focusing on the basics. Kids are funny though. They can be struggling, struggling, struggling and then all of the sudden take off soaring! So just because she is struggling now doesn't mean it will always be so.

I do like to use Bigger for the 3rd grade though because there is a LOT going on in there. Plus, I really like Preparing for the 4th grade. All of my kids are really young on the ages of the guides. So having them be closer to 7.5 when they start Bigger or 8.5 when they start Preparing is good for me. It makes the guides much more rich for them and they aren't struggling with any of the skills they need to move forward. I did Beyond this year for 6 yo and 7 yo. Next year, I am trying to set a schedule so that my 7 yo (soon to be will do Bigger and my 6 yo (she will be 6.5) will do Little next year while my oldest moves to CTC. It makes it very nice that my 8 yo will be able to easily do each box when we start, the 6.5 yo will be perfectly placed and even my oldest should be smooth sailing into the CTC guide (I have looked through everything and it looks AWESOME).

And I would just slow her down until you feel like she is caught up to where you expect her be. One other thing that we did - in the back of the TM for Beyond and Bigger is the Early Reader schedule. My kids read all of the alternative books also. That really helped to solidify their reading well. I only mention this because if you are worried about the reading or worried about your dd struggling, then you could read more. Also - have you looked at the Reading Lesson? It teach whole language similar to Abeka in some ways but it is way less intensive and does a great job. Just a thought.

[DeniJ]

I so appreciate your advice, ladies! Thank you for sharing your thoughts!