? about Bigger's hands on aspects

[Rachelle]

Hi. I'm wondering how "hands on" I will find Bigger?

My kids thrive on the hands on stuff--making things not the writing or drawing type as much. I found Little Hands and Little Hearts perfect for us from that aspect. We couldn't use Beyond for reasons not important here but I'm sure the hands on aspect of Beyond would have fit well.

I was planning to go back to HOD for Bigger. I'm wondering if Bigger won't have enough hands on for us. The sample week doesn't have much compared to the previous guides. Can someone help? What types of things will I find in a typical Bigger week?

[LynnH]

I did not do Bigger, but did you look at the photobook for Bigger. It looks from the pictures there that there are a lot of hands on activities. http://heartofdakotasphotobooks.shutterfly.com/28

[my3sons]

My very busy 8 yo ds just did Bigger Hearts, and it filled his need for hands-on work perfectly! Our ds is like a little rocket ready to launch, always on the move, and always good at working with his hands. Of my 3 sons, he is my most bodily-kinesthetic kiddo, and he thrived in BHFHG.

Some of his favorite hands-on things were the 2 science experiments each week, the art assignments, the history activities, the hands-on math lessons, the large gross motor skills rotated through daily with the Bible Study box, marching around to the music as we sang, and the DITHOR kickoff and final project for each genre. The photobook will show all these things, but you can look back through the Weekly Check-In's to see the photos I took of Riley doing these fun things last year too if you are interested. Here are a few for starters...
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viewtopic.php?f=14&t=7870

Have fun seeing all the neat hands-on work your dc will get to do with BHFHG! It was a great year.
In Christ,
Julie

[Rachelle]

If I'm not doing DITHOR would it still have enough?

[beverett]

Hello Rachelle,
We are doing BIGGER this year also with two of my boys and everything (except DITHOR) that Julie mentioned above are in the Bigger guide. If you did do DITHOR though, you would definatley want to add the Book Projects to Take Home, as it gives extra fun projects to do on top of what is in the DITHOR book. My boys are active and love it!!! So I would bet that it would still be plenty

[Kathleen]

Some of his favorite hands-on things were the 2 science experiments each week, the art assignments, the history activities, the hands-on math lessons, the large gross motor skills rotated through daily with the Bible Study box, marching around to the music as we sang, and the DITHOR kickoff and final project for each genre.

We found this to be true, too.
DITHOR doesn't daily add something hands-on. Usually it's reading and discussion and/or a page in the student book where they may be drawing or writing answers to question. It's the kick-off at the beginning of the genre and days 15-20 at the end of the genre's study that are hands-on.

The science experiments were the favorite hands-on thing for my son! But we also really liked the history projects. I remember "mining for gold" during the gold rush, long jumping like William Penn did with the Indians, "shooting" at a "candle" like...umm can't remember who. His favorite art project (that actually the little kids did, too) was the one where we blew on paint with straws to create that "bombs bursting in air" effect when we studied the star-spangled banner. We also painted with juice like Benjamin West, and did some etching in paint mixed with laundry detergent. That was sure a clean-smelling project. I liked it especially that everything scheduled in Bigger was for the student to do on their own. At that age you're still helping them read the directions and gather supplies, but they DO the project. And they're still time-conscious and supply-conscious. We haven't ever had to skip anything because I didn't have what I needed. There are almost always several options of what to use and I have one of them.

We are STILL enjoying the hands-on part of HOD! We just completed CtC and my son loves the history projects and science experiments still. He does all the reading and following directions on his own now, and I love that HOD has helped teach him that skill. He has even cooked for us.

If you like hands-on, I think that you'll really appreciate the way this is a part of HOD even as they grow to an age where more reading and writing are a part of their education.
Kathleen

[Rachelle]

Thank you all! Your replies and the links have been really helpful. I'm looking forward to Bigger again!