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Hi ladies,

Just curious about this portion of the placement chart. It says, "Mastered formation of manuscript letters; able to copy passages; can compose original sentences; ready to begin simple dictation; ready to begin cursive writing". Though this says the child should be ready to begin simple dictation I am assuming this is not a hard and fast placement rule because the Bigger guide schedules spelling lists OR dictation. What am I missing regarding simple dictation?

Does "compose original sentences" mean that, if asked, my child could write a sentence about something? To test this could I simply ask my son to write a sentence about something he sees in the room or his favorite toy?

Also, does math placement matter? If using Singapore then we're on target according to Singapore's website. He'd be using 1B and 2A. Acc. to the placement helps on Singapore's site these are the books used by the average 2nd grade math student. He is not yet a 2nd grader "on paper".

I am considering putting my 7 year old in Bigger rather than running multiple guides (or putting the two middlers in LHFHG). He's on the cusp of being ready for Bigger and I am considering testing him in it with his brother for several weeks. TECHNICALLY, he places so well in Beyond but I am not yet able to bring myself to run 3 back to back guides. So, we are prayerfully considering allowing this boy to join his older brother and see how he does.

I would definitely not do 3 back to back guides every year. It sounds like Bigger might work for your two older kids. The Singapore Math hands on Activities for 1A and 1B are scheduled in Beyond, and the activities for 2A/2B are scheduled in Bigger. So if you combine the kids into Bigger, you might want to get the Beyond manual to have the hands on activities for 1B. Once your children have gotten past 2B there are no more math activities. My kids have never been on the same page for math as they are for everything else. It does not make any difference, you just keep a tab in the page they are on for math and one on the page they are on for the rest. We do one Singapore exercise a day on average, but if they are short we do two and if they are long we might only do 1/2.

You are correct that the child can do spelling instead of dictation if they are not ready.

Hope that helps.

We do have Beyond and have been using it for ERS and the hands on math for 1A. So far, so good.

Thanks for reassuring me regarding math and spelling.

If you think he can keep up and understand the history, my guess is he'd be just fine. Emerging readers are in the Bigger manual and he can do his own level of math and use the spelling list. Bigger seems to cover a wide age range and easily adaptable for different reading and spelling levels. I would totally buddy your kids up. My girls are doing it together and really enjoying it!

I think you could combine them. You could consider beginning half-speed, or just 4 days a week instead of 5, to ease ds into it. The writing would be the only concern, and dc really do grow into that part of the guides well given some time. Riley was 7 yo when starting Bigger Hearts, and doing it half-speed for awhile helped him strengthen his writing skills very nicely. He will finish out 5 weeks of BHFHG before beginning PHFHG this school year. This placement has been just right for him, and we'll have taken about 1 1/2 years to get through BHFHG. I think as long as you adjust the pacing with your 7 yo in mind, combining should work well.

In Christ,
Julie