Still don't get half speed...

[amysue277]

I'll be precise...

1) Which guide is better to do half speed, beyond or bigger and why?

2) What do you do on the "off" days? Don't you feel like your giving half the education? do you supplement?

Anticipating having to go half speed in the future because of the age of my younger son (we are combining)

Also, for those of you that combine, does your younger always miss out on the extension books? That makes me uncomfortable, but I know there are sacrifices no matter what you choose.

Thanks,
Amy

[psreit]

You can go half speed with any guide. This fall I am planning to do Bigger 3 days a week instead of half speed. But, I am planning to do math and reading every day. I just feel it would be too much for dd to go full speed, because she is weak in reading and writing skills. I want to give her time to grow in those areas. You need to decide what the best pace is for your child. It's not the amount of work that constitutes a good education, but whether or not the child is really absorbing what he/she is learning.

I don't have dc to combine, but if you are referring to the extension books listed with each guide, those are basically for a child who is placed in a lower level guide and needs more to beef it up. You are not depriving your child if you don't use the extensions.

[lmercon]

Generally, if you do a guide half-speed, it just means you split one day's worth of activities over two days. Any guide can be done at half-speed depending on the needs of the child. I got through about 2/3 of CTC this past year with my ds because of his dyslexia. As far as extensions, I wouldn't worry about that at all. I have never used any of the extensions. The programs are full and complete without them. You won't miss anything. Extensions are just for kids at the top or beyond the suggested age range so that they can be challenged.
hth,
Laura

[raceNzanesmom]

What they said.

We'll be using Bigger at a slower speed. Right now the plan is 4 days a week. My dyslexic ds is still working his way through the emerging readers. I'd like to know he's through them and on solid ground in his reading before moving to Preparing, if possible. We've elected to make Fridays a fun day, not that HOD isn't fun. He'll do his reading (we work on that everyday) and devotion time, then we'll play board games, go on field trips, visit the library, work on keyboarding, work on some fun Iowa history, read aloud some of those great extensions, and just enjoy our time together. I provide in home child care and right now it looks like ds and I will have Friday mornings alone together. I plan to enjoy it!

You can do it however it works for your family.

[countrymom]

If the main reason you need to go 1/2 speed is to not hit the older guides too young and you are not concerned about your child having the skills needed for Beyond, I would do Bigger at 1/2 speed. I was in the same boat and started both Beyond and Bigger at 1/2 speed so we could hit Preparing at the recommended age. Bigger would have been a stretch to start at full speed. Although my ds would have been capable of doing it,I just didn't want him doing that much schoolwork at a young age and he might have become discouraged. We are now up to full speed and having a wonderful time. It is amazing how 7 months makes such a difference. As for the extensions, I am actually using the story books only (not the extra history spine or science book) with my ds and he loves it. I did that because we started 1/2 speed but he gets so frustrated when he doesn't have history everyday. It worked perfectly and now that we are full speed I am still reading the one extension book to him each day. Just a thought if you don't want to miss all of them.

[mom23]

1) Beyond or Bigger? Whichever one they "hit the wall" with. When they begin to struggle and get bogged down, I slow down. For us that has been either Bigger or Preparing. If school's taking too long they're not getting much learning done, anyway. Stop while they are reatining the information.

2)On "off days"? We don't really have off days; we do about half the subjects one day and then everything we didn't get to the next. Usually try to do some math and reading every day, though. I don't really feel they're getting half the education; I actually feel they're getting more education that way than if it's too much and they shut down for the last hour or two of school time. This way, they are engaged through the whole time, and really learning much more than if I'm forcing them beyond their ability to focus. I don't supplement, when they start to need more, we just add in more of the boxes. That way we gradually work up from half speed to full speed without them really noticing a huge jump in how long it takes .

3) Extension books? I haven't ever used the extension books...my understanding was that they were mostly there to beef things up for a child who could handle more than the guide was giving. So, in your situation with combining I think they were intended for your older child so they could be keeping up with their grade level, rather than being held behind to fall into the same grade as the younger sibling. I agree, some of the extension books look fabulous, and it's a little sad for a child to miss out on them. Do you take a summer break? I've heard of people using the extension books as summer reading material .

[Carrie]

Amy,

Another way you can allow a little one to grow up a bit is to do both Beyond and Bigger only 4 days a week. This will allow each of the guides to spill over into the next school year to be completed but will not require extra record-keeping and planning on your part. It will also make sure that you don't get too slowed down and feel like you are "stalling". Doing both guides on the 4 day a week plan would allow your little one to grow up an entire semester or more, which might just be enough.

At our house, we've discovered that it can work well to go half-speed for a few months, up to even a half a year or so if I have a little one who is not quite ready, but after that I can see my little one is ready for more. Once I feel like I need to "add" to make our days more full, I know it is time to be done with half-speed.

Blessings,
Carrie

[amysue277]

Carrie,
Thank you so much for chiming in. I had not thought of that option, but I really like it! That gives me hope if I run into a snag in the future. Blessings!

Amy

[frankesense]

Another way you can allow a little one to grow up a bit is to do both Beyond and Bigger only 4 days a week. This will allow each of the guides to spill over into the next school year to be completed but will not require extra record-keeping and planning on your part. It will also make sure that you don't get too slowed down and feel like you are "stalling". Doing both guides on the 4 day a week plan would allow your little one to grow up an entire semester or more, which might just be enough.

This is what we did ... I have combined my two children that are 20 months apart. We did Beyond and Bigger on 4 day weeks. My youngest was below the recommended age range to start Beyond but that's where she fit on the placement chart. But after reading many other posts here on the board I really wanted her to be within the recommended age range by the time we hit Preparing so I wanted to spread out the earlier guides to give her time to grow into the skills needed. It has worked out great for us and I'm really glad that I gave my DD that extra time. She is now thriving in Preparing.

Stephanie