3rd grade boys in Bigger

[SouthernMrs]

Hi Ladies,
I'm thinking ahead to next fall when my now 2nd grader will be going into Bigger (for his 3rd grade year). This may sound silly as we just did Bigger last year, but we used it with my more mature 4th grade dd, so she was able to do a bit more writing (and independent reading), and next year my son will use it, so I feel like we'll be starting it from scratch. I'd like to get some feedback from some of you who did or are doing Bigger with 3rd grade "boys."

For the notebooking assignments in science and history, did you use something special for that? My dd was able to draw her own pics and we used drawing paper and put her pages into 3-ring binders with page protectors. Well, my youngest is still using primary writing paper. So unless he does a whole bunch of maturing between now and next fall, I'm not sure he'd be comfortable with that. It seems like I remember several of you mentioning some notebooks from Miller pads and paper, but I can't remember which ones. If anyone wouldn't mind sharing what they are using with the younger set, I'd really appreciate it!

I'm also a bit hesitant about the amount of writing in Bigger for my son. Other than this one aspect, he fits perfectly! My dd did so well with all the writing, but again she was more mature and also loves to write. How are other 3rd grade boys handling the amount of writing that this year brings?
Thanks so much for any insight!!

[moedertje]

Well, I think the beauty of HOD is, that it's flexible and you can choose what handwriting or copywork you may want to omit if your ds does not like handwriting too much and if it is a struggle for him.

My ds is in Beyond and he does not like handwriting so I adapt things for him. I may not have him to all the copy work and writing in the beginning for the Poem and R&S. Hopefully as the time goes he will get some more fine motor strength and be able to handle it by the end of the year.

You can go to Miller Pads and Paper online to get some of the journals and pick the graded paper that is most suitable for your ds. I noticed that my ds actually does better on the smaller lines so you may want to play around with it before you order. Print off some handwriting papers online of different grades and see if he might do a little better with it!!!!

Check out the post below for the different pads and portfolio ideas.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2944

Success with your ds

[netpea]

I am doing Bigger right now with an 8yo boy (3rd grade) who does not like to write. I use Startwrite for the poetry and bible verse copywork. He will do those with a minimum of fussing. I also put any scripture verses from the notebooking assignments in Startwrite.

(THANK YOU to all the wonderful ladies who have raved about Startwrite)

Sometimes I let him draw the pictures and I help him label them. I try not to turn it into a battle, but sometimes a boy has to do something they don't like.

[my3sons]

I did Bigger last year with my oldest ds who loves to write, but I'm now doing Beyond with my middle ds who is on the very young side of Beyond and had not done a lot of writing. We eased him into it. Even at the beginning, I did require him to write something if writing was required, but I kept it to a sentence at a time at first. Since the writing is rotated among different subject areas (and you know it is in Bigger too), it really helped him if I made sure the writing was not all in a row. So, we'd do something that didn't require writing like reading together and singing, and then do some writing, and back and forth.

We have gradually increased his writing (we're in about Unit 10, I think), and he's now able to do it all pretty much (unless it is a long poem). I think requiring him to write a little for each required writing assignment worked better for easing him into the writing than requiring him to do all of one assignment and then letting other assignments go. The kind of paper also made a big difference. It did not work for him to write a lot on handwriting paper. We quickly moved from that to me just using copy paper and using a ruler to make lines quite far apart. He didn't have to worry about the dashed lines and the top line that way. We made the space between the lines smaller over time, until now he is writing neatly on wide-lined notebook paper. Hope something here helps!

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Charlene,

We did Bigger last year with our 3rd grade son. I will say that of all my boys, he doesn't seem to mind written work. I would agree with the tips the ladies have given you about easing into the assignments and doing part of each one in writing, slowly upping the requirements as the year goes on. I also agree that it's best not to skip the assignments, but rather to do them in a somewhat modified form. The ladies gave great suggestions on how that might look! Most kiddos will find that there is a step up in writing requirements once they get to Bigger Hearts. This is true in the public school too, as the switch from 2nd to 3rd grade is a big one. This is because kiddos are leaving their primary years (grades K-2) and moving into the middle elementary years (grades 3-5).

Blessings,
Carrie

[Kathleen]

Charlene,

I'm another one who has a 3rd grade boy in Bigger this year. For us, the writing hasn't seemed too overwhelming because it is dispersed through the subject areas well so that we don't have a really heavy writing day.

A couple of things that we did that I don't see mentioned here are...
We skipped the copywork of poetry for quite a while (like 10 weeks or so). My ds is new to cursive this year so we're doing Cheerful Cursive this year. Once we got into the guide a ways we added copywork of 2 lines from the poem per day. (We rarely finish the poem. An idea from a mom here...I never would have considered "not finishing" as an option. ) You could skip the copywork all year though if you're doing Cheerful Cursive. It's listed as "optional".

The vocabulary cards seemed especially overwhelming to my son at first. Here's our "plan" that I shared on a week-in-review in October.
We did vocabulary on Monday which he has grown into so well. I know I saw several moms that also had the problem of this part of the guide being VERY time-consuming as they started the guide, so I'll share how we're doing it now. I have Grant find the 1st word in the book, guess what it means, look it up, I write the definition, he dictates a sentence to me. We repeat this for the 2nd word. Then for the 3rd word, I listen to him find it in the book and guess what it means, and then leave him to finish it on his own. He draws pictures for all 3. This has given him the practice of finding the words in the dictionary more quickly - without the writing being too much for him. At first I had tried going through it together and having it on a white board for him to copy, but this didn't work well for us. We like our method now!
We still follow this plan and it's going great! It seems to be just right for us. I have occasionally had him do 2 of the words independently. (This was actually when he wasn't quick in coming downstairs from our history reading...daydreaming his way down. I was sitting there waiting to help him. I was planning to follow the usual plan but because he had wasted the time I set aside for it, I couldn't skip my other jobs for the day.)

Hope this helps some!
Kathleen

[SouthernMrs]

Hi Ladies,
Thanks so much for all the helpful suggestions and the "boost" of confidence! We are currently doing Beyond with this son, and I am glad that only doing a "portion" of the writing has been mentioned positively because that is where we are this year (with the poems). I guess just the fact that I'll be re-using the Bigger curriculum that I used with a slightly older sibling just seems a bit intimidating when using it for a younger child, KWIM? I've even been prayerfully thinking of stretching Bigger over 2 years for this son, just so he can catch up with where his sister is in using the manuals.

Kathleen, I really appreciate the ideas you gave for the written vocabulary. Your suggestion sounds like something that will work for us too! I'm taking notes!
Well, I appreciate the insight that ya'll shared with me!
Thanks again!

[kiloyd]

Thanks for posting your question! My son is in 2nd grade and we are using Beyond and next year will use Bigger. He also hates writing, so I keep things short and change things up a bit.

The repsonsed to your post helped me too!
Katherine