Hello! Glad to be back!!

[ncmomof5]

Hello everyone,

I am so excited to be back on the HOD board. I started last year with HOD, but circumstances changed half way through the year. (We jumped into a Charlotte Mason co op for the second semester.)

I wasn't sure we were going to be able to do HOD this year. My older children should have placed in CTC, and we couldn't afford that plus Bigger and LHTH. So, I started 3 weeks ago using plans I wrote myself, only to see that the material was not hitting the mark. After praying and asking the Lord for wisdom, I will be starting with Bigger with my oldest 3 in the next few days.

I was afraid that it would not be enough for my almost 10 yo ds, and my 11 yo dd, but after seeing how they are still struggling with oral narrations and writing skills, I knew we had to back up and do something different. Last year was our first year implementing CM style schooling, and it is great, but my 2 oldest haven't had the experience in reading through or listening through one time (with attention) so that they retain the information. Textbook style learning does not teach students to read with attention. I want to take this year to work on that habit. I know it will help them in all areas, not just their school work.

I confess that I am concerned how this is all going to play out in the big scope of things ( with an 11 yo doing Bigger ), but I have read some of the previous posts on this, and I am just going to try to focus on what we need to do this year trusting God for His guidance to lead us in the years to come. ONE DAY AT A TIME!!! That was for me.

I look forward to being part of this wonderful forum, and it is great to see some more of you from North Carolina!!

In His love,
RuthAnn

11 dd Bigger with extensions
9 1/2 ds Bigger with extensions
8 ds Bigger
5 ds K5
20 month old - Destructo Queen

[water2wine]

Welcome back! We did bigger with an age span similar to yours and it was wonderful. I also worried about later placement but we needed the American History. It turned out to be an incredible blessing using Bigger. I think you will find it is enough for your group. It sounds like two programs really is going to be a blessing for your family. I know if you use it and embrace it God will work out the details in the future years. He has been faithful to me in this and I know He will do the same for you if you seek Him on it. For now welcome back and enjoy your year with Bigger. It is going to be a huge blessing.

[my3sons]

RuthAnn - Bigger Hearts should fit your dc well for combining. It's a powerful year. My ds really grew in his narration skills that year, so I'm especially glad to hear you are doing BHFHG since that is an excellent place to work on the goals you've mentioned. I agree a textbook approach does not usually hit these CM areas well, and you'll enjoy seeing the progress with this during BHFHG. Are you doing the extensions for your older dc? That will extend the areas of history and science for your dc, so no need to worry about that. The extensions will also give your older dc a chance to further work on their narration/comprehension skills through using the suggested rotated activities in the Appendix. Welcome back to the HOD Board, and have an awesome year with Bigger Hearts!

In Christ,
Julie

[ncmomof5]

Julie,

Thanks for your encouragement, and yes, I am planning to have the two oldest do the extensions. I am not worried that it won't be enough for them now, I am more concerned that if I follow the curriculum, my oldest won't finish HOD until she is in 11th grade. See what I mean? That's such a long way off, and I have no idea how things will change between now and then.

I was wondering if you or Carrie would comment on whether or not I could/should skip Preparing next year for the oldest 2 and move on to CTC. Would it depend on how they progressed with narration and writing? My biggest concern is that they are sufficiently challenged, not that they are in a specific grade.

Also, in another email Carrie mentions other "history spines" that could be used with Bigger. One of which is H.E. Marshall's This is Our Country. I used this for 2 days for our combined history read aloud time last week. My 8 yo ds really didn't retain much and I had to take the chapter (which I think is relatively short), and break it into chunks. I would read a chunk, take a narration, read another chunk, take another narration. Otherwise, my 11 yo dd could not remember from the beginning, and I am shooting for a good narration - not a huge amount of material covered.

My question here is, do you think that the CLP A Child's Story of America will sufficiently challenge my 10 and 11 yo's, but not make it too difficult for them to narrate? I like This is Our Country and Guerber's books, but they need to learn this skill first. I want to meet them where they are at, so that we can move on to more difficult reading and comprehension levels.

Thanks for your input. Love it here.

In His love,
RuthAnn

PS How do I attach a signature? Thanks!

[Tree House Academy]

Welcome! We are using Bigger this year with my just-turned-10 y/o son. He is using extensions and it is proving to be plenty for him. We actually are planning to skip preparing next year and go to CTC, but we have a very special situation in that we used the spine of Preparing for our History last year. I dont' want to do it again. We didn't use HOD (and I know HOD is so much richer than the way we did it), but another year with CHOW just wouldn't work. We kind of did it backwards in that we did the 1 year overview of world history, then backed up and did American History (this year with Bigger) and next year we will settle in where we left off with World History. I would not advise skipping Preparing if you have not had that year of overview yet. I am a bit concerned myself to skip since I know that Preparing will get him read for CTC. I am still torn on that part. I am sure that Carrie and Julie can help here - and prayer is always the best route to go when making a decision like this. Just last week, I was really starting to feel the strain of trying to do two programs. I spent time with God asking for His guidance and now we are back on track and doing better than ever.

[Carrie]

RuthAnn,

Welcome back! It sounds like you have a good plan in place that will meet the goals you have for your kiddos for this upcoming year. The ladies have already done a terrific job of advising you.

I agree that with the skills you've outlined above that Bigger Hearts will work well for your situation. In order to best teach the skills you mentioned, Bigger with extensions should work well without the need to add any additional readings.

What to do next after Bigger Hearts will depend on how well your kiddos progress this year in narration, dictation, copywork, writing, grammar, literature study, and upon where they fit on the placement chart best once you are closer to finishing Bigger Hearts. Preparing Hearts does a good job of preparing kiddos for the more independent work designed in CTC, however as the ladies already shared the best plan must be one that suits your family goals best overall.

As you proceed through Bigger Hearts, we'll have a much better feel for the next step that will be best for your family.

Blessings,
Carrie

[ncmomof5]

Carrie,

Thanks for the warm welcome, and for your input.

Both of my oldest do well with dictation, copywork, and grammar. It's the other three - narration, writing, and literature study that I am concerned about. My oldest and my 8 yo ds have a hard time seeing anything that is not spelled out for them in so many words. That's difficult when it comes to narration, and literature study, because there is so much that is implied in writing. I didn't realize how much until I began working with them on this.

Also, I have Write with the Best, and I am using that for my older two this year to try to help them see what good writing should look like. They dislike writing (mainly because of the whole writing, editing, rewriting process), but I want them to see that there are concrete things that they should know that will make their writing the Best. Do you think that is too much for this year, and I should wait until they start CTC?

Thanks again, everyone for your input and encouragement.

In His love,
RuthAnn

[Carrie]

RuthAnn,

I do think it's a good idea to have your older two kiddos do something extra in the area of writing. You can do that several different ways. If you happen to be using Rod and Staff for grammar, depending on what level you're using that could be enough for the extra writing instruction. If you don't happen to be using Rod and Staff, then I agree that it is a good idea to do some additonal writing instruction.

You could use Igniting Your Writing Vol. I, which is a bit lower key than Write with the Best (as its only done once weekly). Or, you could use Write with the Best, but if so I'd recommend only doing it twice weekly so as not to overdo it. In doing so, you'd get through 7 Units in Write with the Best and could finish the other two units the following year.

Just some ideas!

Blessings,
Carrie

[ncmomof5]

Carrie,

Thanks for the reassurance there. I don't want to overload them, but I do think it is time for them to put their knowledge into practice. Their grammar is pretty strong. They did Abeka video school in 4th grade, and that really gave them a good foundation in grammar. We did a little with R & S grade 5 last year, but found they had covered a lot of that already in the year prior. So we are just doing Daily Grams to keep them from forgetting what they have learned.

Right now, I have Write with the Best scheduled 3 days a week, and that seems to be good. If it gets too much as we go on in the year, I know that I can safely scale it back to 2 days a week.

Thanks for taking the time to thoughtfully answer my questions.

In His love,
RuthAnn

[Carrie]

RuthAnn,

Thanks for sharing. Your plan sounds good! I'm glad you have a plan in place that is working well for you!

Blessings,
Carrie