Bigger left side, Preparing right side...

[deltagal]

HI all,

My 10 year old will move into Preparing right side and Bigger left side in January. He will be working with his 8 yo brother who will be doing both sides of Preparing. Last night it finally dawned on me that the Bible Study and Poetry are on the right side of Preparing and the left side of Bigger then in 2011 when he moves into CTC right side, Preparing left side the Bible Study and Poetry are on the right sides of both manuals.

Currently he is doing the poetry and Bible study with his 8 yo brother on the left side of Beyond with his brother.

If you are able to follow what I'm saying here (not easy I confess) at some point it looks as if he will miss a year of the Bible Study and Poetry. I'm just pondering what to do in January 2010 - when he is doing Preparing right and Bigger left. Should he do poetry and Bible from both sides? Or should he stick with the right side of Preparing or should he join his brother with the left side of bigger? Should he just plan to "miss" the poetry lessons in Preparing or Bigger? ANd the Bible?

Just thinking through our options and looking forward to some input.

With JOy!
Florence

[threegreatkids]

I think I asked a similar question awhile back. I have my oldest doing the same combo (left side Bigger, right side preparing), and I know someone mentioned that the Bible and Poetry in Bigger correlate a bit with the history. I prayed about it, and felt a real leaning to do the Psalm study with dd. In many ways it would have made more sense to do the opposite, but I think for us this was the right choice.
Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in. I'm not giving any recommendations, just acknowledging that we came up with the same question. You'll also find that with this combination there is no storytime. I just make a note that oldest is doing Bigger Storytime and reference the unit and day.

[juliekay]

Hmmm... So, your 12 y.o. will be doing Preparing as written? Your 10 y.o. will be doing the R side of Preparing; Left side of Bigger. Your 8 y.o. will be doing Bigger as written? Do I have this right?

Hmmm.... I would move them all into Preparing, but it looks like you have a plan for the 1/2 of each guide that you are already following. So, here's my some thoughts:
Your 10 y.o. is certainly old enough to both handle and enjoy the Bible and Poetry of Preparing. Bible will ask him to do his own Bible Study 1 day per week and write more - mostly copy-work into his Common Place book. If you wish and he wishes to increase in independent work than this may be your best choice.
However, the HOD guides are so beautifully written to work along with the History that you may just want to keep him in whatever Guide you have chosen to read History from. Maybe add some more challenges to his requirements than that of what his little brother must do.
We enjoyed Bigger! We are LOVING Preparing!

[deltagal]

Hmmm... So, your 12 y.o. will be doing Preparing as written? Your 10 y.o. will be doing the R side of Preparing; Left side of Bigger. Your 8 y.o. will be doing Bigger as written? Do I have this right?

Hmmm.... I would move them all into Preparing, but it looks like you have a plan for the 1/2 of each guide that you are already following. So, here's my some thoughts:
Your 10 y.o. is certainly old enough to both handle and enjoy the Bible and Poetry of Preparing. Bible will ask him to do his own Bible Study 1 day per week and write more - mostly copy-work into his Common Place book. If you wish and he wishes to increase in independent work than this may be your best choice.
However, the HOD guides are so beautifully written to work along with the History that you may just want to keep him in whatever Guide you have chosen to read History from. Maybe add some more challenges to his requirements than that of what his little brother must do.
We enjoyed Bigger! We are LOVING Preparing!

Actuaylly the 12 yo is finishing Preparing and moving into CTC. The 8 yo all Bigger and 10 yo half Bigger, half Preparing. Are you suggesting the 10 yo do Bible and Poetry from Preparing one day a week and then do Bible and Poetry with his younger brother the remainder of the week?

[juliekay]

Thanks for clarifying! I'm sorry to have messed that up! Now that I got that all straightened out in my mind…… although I think your 10 y.o. would enjoy the Preparing Bible and Poetry I would still make it easy on your schedule and just do Bigger with him and wait to do the Preparing Bible and Poetry for when he in that guide. So the only thing you will need to change this year and next is Language Arts and Math. Since your oldest is finishing up Preparing & you know how the Common Place book works - maybe you want to consider adding a Common Place book for your 10 y.o.'s Bible time - just to make a little more independent and special for him. Have fun making those decisions! Isn't it great that it's so fun & easy to tweak HOD for each child!

[threegreatkids]

Florence,
Am I understanding correctly that your 10 y.o. has already done right side Bigger (including science)?
So you've decided to have him move on to Preparing (right) and Bigger (left) but each one includes both poetry and bible?
My understanding is that the "default" decision would be to go with these two subjects in Bigger, since they complement the history so nicely. (Please feel free to correct me, anyone, if I'm wrong here ) So if that seems like a good option to you, you could go with that. But, if you are feeling led to consider Preparing's bible/poetry (since your 10 y.o. ds would not do these otherwise) you could look over the manuals, pray, and even ask him how he feels if that is something you wish to take into consideration. It really only adds on 20 minutes or so (except on writing days maybe 30) to add these 2 subjects from Preparing. One thing that factored in for us was that I wanted to have separate bible times with each dd, and this was a lovely way to do this. Also, dd 9 REALLY wanted the writing lessons that go with Preparing's poetry. (She now says this is her favorite part of the whole week.) If these things had not been true of our particular situation, I would have gone with the Bigger option for ease and time management, as well as how they complement the history.
I'm just sharing how we decided. I kind of wish that my oldest was doing both sides of Bigger (as it would shorten our morning and keep my head less cluttered) but this is the way the Lord led, and both dds are thriving!!! It really doesn't add too much time at all.
Praying that God will guide your decision.

[deltagal]

Florence,
Am I understanding correctly that your 10 y.o. has already done right side Bigger (including science)?
So you've decided to have him move on to Preparing (right) and Bigger (left) but each one includes both poetry and bible?
My understanding is that the "default" decision would be to go with these two subjects in Bigger, since they complement the history so nicely. (Please feel free to correct me, anyone, if I'm wrong here ) So if that seems like a good option to you, you could go with that. But, if you are feeling led to consider Preparing's bible/poetry (since your 10 y.o. ds would not do these otherwise) you could look over the manuals, pray, and even ask him how he feels if that is something you wish to take into consideration. It really only adds on 20 minutes or so (except on writing days maybe 30) to add these 2 subjects from Preparing. One thing that factored in for us was that I wanted to have separate bible times with each dd, and this was a lovely way to do this. Also, dd 9 REALLY wanted the writing lessons that go with Preparing's poetry. (She now says this is her favorite part of the whole week.) If these things had not been true of our particular situation, I would have gone with the Bigger option for ease and time management, as well as how they complement the history.
I'm just sharing how we decided. I kind of wish that my oldest was doing both sides of Bigger (as it would shorten our morning and keep my head less cluttered) but this is the way the Lord led, and both dds are thriving!!! It really doesn't add too much time at all.
Praying that God will guide your decision.

Yes, your understanding is correct. And you have some good thoughts here. I think I'll his input. The only realy pull I have toward Preparing is he LOVES writing and writes beautifully and is quite artistic. I'm thnking he'll respond much like your 9 yo dd.

As I ponder all the responses I'm considering using the BIgger Bible as our family devotional/Bible time with ever one that we have every morning at Breakfast and then letting the older 2 pursue their perspective Bible lessosn on their own.

Thank you everyone.

[my3sons]

What good thoughts this thread has already! I would think the Bigger Bible study would work well as a family study since it is based on character traits, and that is always something everyone can work on. Back when my oldest did Beyond, I had my middle ds listen to the Storytime readings and do the discussions too. One time a week was always a character trait study/discussion, and we really enjoyed doing it all together. We all tried to remind each other when we needed reminding to show more of that character in our daily happenings (in a nice way ). We really enjoyed that. I think it would be a good idea to ask your ds if he would really enjoy doing the PHFHG poetry writing lessons. My hunch is he would. If so, that would add only a tad to the day and may be well worth it. I will pray for you as you decide what to do here - I don't think there are any wrong choices, just maybe some that are more right for your specific wants and needs. Hope something here helped!

In Christ,
Julie

P.S. How are you feeling? I hope you aren't having too much morning sickness and are having a good pregnancy thus far.