Am I holding DD1 back/ will she catch up?

[GinainMD]

After much prayer and window shopping I just recently bought Beyond for my two oldest girls to use for the school year 2010-2011. They will be 7 and 8 when we start but my oldest DD will turn 9 in December. So, at that point she is beyond the recommended age for BLHFHG. I know skill wise that this is the correct placement for her but am a little concerned about how that will throw her off in future grades. Will she always be working behind her actual grade level? Or, since the guides sometimes overlap ages, will she "catch up?" I don't know why I worry about grade level since NOT having to worry about grade level was one of the things that attracted my to HS, you know, letting the children learn at their own pace. Obviously, everyone who graduates from ps or a private school is not working at the same level, so I'm not sure it really matters in the grand scheme of things. I guess because "I" attended ps, I have the grade levels ingrained kwim. Anyway, is anyone else in a similar situation? Or have you been? TIA

[Samuel'sMommy]

I haven't used any of the older guides yet, so I can't really answer your question from experience. I did want to point out that all the guides from Bigger on up have an extension package to use with older students. So if you feel like she needs more, you could add those books for her but still keep your kiddos together. I think as long as she's on track for math and language arts, she'll be fine.

[Busymomma1]

Hi,
I agree with the last poster. If you want to "beef up" with the Extension Packages once you get to Bigger, that can solve your problem, as the extensions bump up the grade level by one or 2 grades. And as you said, one of the beauties of homeschooling is that we can teach the kiddos right where they are, w/o worrying about a "grade" designation! And you can let the guides be just that.... a "guide." Then, if you need to simplify or beef up, you can do so accordingly.

I have a dd 8 1/2 and ds 7 (newly 7 in April), and I combined them in Beyond this year. I sometimes worried that I was holding my dd back by using a guide that was "below" her in some areas. But really, it's easy to "beef up" with the appropriate level of DITHOR, Math and Language Arts. So the right side, basically. On the other hand, my ds was challenged by some of the work in Beyond. So it's almost like I was using a guide in-between their two skill sets and adjusting as necessary. Like for my son, I didn't require as much writing at first, but he has improved nicely this year with the copywork exercises. So you can make it work appropriately for each child. It has been generally recommended to me from other ladies to choose the guide that matches the younger and to beef up for the older, if you want to combine. It has worked well for us, and we have just LOVED Beyond this year!

Have a blessed day!