I am thinking of using HOD...

[LovingJesus]

Thank you ladies! I Love seeing so many in agreement about the same levels for my children. LHTH with a K writing book sounds like it would fit just where she is at, and LHFHG with emerging readers sounds like it would fit just where my ds6 is at.

The Bigger program for my 8 year old makes a lot of sense to me. He is definitely not ready for the writing of Prepared, and he has already gone through or read many of the books in Beyond & the Beyond boys package he has read all except 1. I am a little concerned about the writing in Bigger though. There wasn't much writing in MFW ADV. I have been letting him do English 2 R&S orally. He can copy out 2 - 3 sentences in one sitting on 2nd grade manuscript paper. I am just starting to dictate spelling words to him, so I don't know how he will do with that. His spelling is far behind his reading. The Writing section on the Program Placement Chart for Beyond is all the writing he has mastered. The Writing section on the placement chart for Bigger is some things he has mastered (manuscript letters, copying sentences) and some things he has not tried (composing original sentences and doing the writing of them rather than dictating) and cursive writing and simple dictation beyond spelling words. Personality wise he likes things to not be too hard and to go in nice small steps (except in math & reading & understanding of what is read to him where he hops). Does it sound like he will be OK with the writing in Bigger? I appreciate the insight that placing him with HOD is important.

I am loving what I am seeing in this program. It looks so solid both spiritually and academically. I love the fact that it looks like it really works on helping the children to learn how to write. The placement chart was so insightful to where my son is really at. HOD seems like a very good direction for our family, and I think it will help me a lot in pulling my 8 year old forward academically. This just looks like the program that I have been looking for!

doubleportion, thank you for sharing. I loved reading that you were amazed and pleased with what you found in HOD after MFW. I am looking forward to it.

[mom23]

Yes, I think you'll be fine to go ahead with Bigger. You may want to adjust the amounts of writing for him, easing him into things. I still have my dd do Rod and Staff orally. For copywork just start with a sentence or two, gradually adding more as it becomes easier for him. With some things you could have him dictate to you, as you write it down on a whiteboard or another piece of paper, and then he could copy it down from your writing. These are all suggestions I've read on this board before, and used. If you run into any difficulties along the way with something specific like that, you can always ask about it on here. The ladies are great with practical and specific suggestions to try!

[LovingJesus]

Yes, I think you'll be fine to go ahead with Bigger. You may want to adjust the amounts of writing for him, easing him into things. I still have my dd do Rod and Staff orally. For copywork just start with a sentence or two, gradually adding more as it becomes easier for him. With some things you could have him dictate to you, as you write it down on a whiteboard or another piece of paper, and then he could copy it down from your writing. These are all suggestions I've read on this board before, and used. If you run into any difficulties along the way with something specific like that, you can always ask about it on here. The ladies are great with practical and specific suggestions to try!

Thank you.

[pjdobro]

From what you've shared here, I think Bigger will be fine, but it probably will stretch your ds a bit with the writing at first. At the beginning of Bigger, the writing was a bit of a stretch for my dc as well. We lessened the writing some at the beginning to help them ease into it. Here are some things we did. We started out only doing 1 vocabulary word each weak. I helped them by drawing the light lines on their notebooking pages to guide their writing and sometimes did a little bit of the writing for them just to ease them into the notebooking. We didn't do the copywork since working on learning cursive in Cheerful Cursive and the other writing was enough for them then. We always do at least 2/3 of R&S English orally. For DITHOR, I would sometimes write out their answers on a marker board and have them copy it on their own paper. As the year progressed, they did a little more. By the end of the year they were doing all 3 vocabulary words and all of their own writing with no problems. You can always do things like these to ease your ds into the writing or even take Bigger at 1/2 speed to begin with to ease him into the program. If you feel he isn't ready to start dictation yet, that is no problem. You can just do the spelling list with activities included in Bigger. So there are many options for you as far as how to use the program and make it work for your ds. I think the placement advice given above sounds great for your dc. It sounds like you are ready to go!

[LovingJesus]

From what you've shared here, I think Bigger will be fine, but it probably will stretch your ds a bit with the writing at first. At the beginning of Bigger, the writing was a bit of a stretch for my dc as well. We lessened the writing some at the beginning to help them ease into it. Here are some things we did. We started out only doing 1 vocabulary word each weak. I helped them by drawing the light lines on their notebooking pages to guide their writing and sometimes did a little bit of the writing for them just to ease them into the notebooking. We didn't do the copywork since working on learning cursive in Cheerful Cursive and the other writing was enough for them then. We always do at least 2/3 of R&S English orally. For DITHOR, I would sometimes write out their answers on a marker board and have them copy it on their own paper. As the year progressed, they did a little more. By the end of the year they were doing all 3 vocabulary words and all of their own writing with no problems. You can always do things like these to ease your ds into the writing or even take Bigger at 1/2 speed to begin with to ease him into the program. If you feel he isn't ready to start dictation yet, that is no problem. You can just do the spelling list with activities included in Bigger. So there are many options for you as far as how to use the program and make it work for your ds. I think the placement advice given above sounds great for your dc. It sounds like you are ready to go!

Thank you! It is nice to have a plan in place going into it. I like seeing how the writing progressed across the year for your dc. Thus, bringing him up to the level of writing in the program, but doing it gradually. I don't want to overwhelm him, but I also think it would build his confidence if he built up the level of writing that you are describing. Thank you!