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I'm going to use Beyond for my 2nd and 4th grader. My 4th grader is autistic with some learning issues. He simply isn't ready for Preparing. My 2nd grader will be doing Beyond and I planned to have the two of them work together, but using R&S English 3 and Math at his level.

I noticed that the readers (Stories of the Pilgrims and Stories of Colonial Days) are the 4th grade readers for CLP, so I've considered having him read these aloud to us. This will give him much needed reading practice, too.

But I think he'll enjoy more independent reading. I noticed that CLP has other 4th grade readers for the same time period but wondering if there's something else that I'm not seeing.

Currently he's working through the Emerging Readers set, grade level SS and Science PACEs, and R&S 2.

My dd did Beyond in 3rd grade, and was able to do much of it independently so I let her. I now wish I hadn't because she developed lots of bad (lazy) habits that I ddin't catch until later. She really needed to just be placed in a higher guide to start out with, and have the training to develop skills to stay on task and thoroughly read and follow directions completely, etc.

Your situation sounds a bit different-with combining you likely would be doing much of Beyond together with both kids, but I'd really recommend against having him do too much independently at this point. I think I'd look at adding in DITHR and see if I could challenge him that way, as well as some extra books he could read on his own that might correspond with the things you're studying together in Beyond. You could have him narrate those, if you wanted, or add some writing activities from them. I'm not familiar with the other options from CLP to comment on those, but maybe others have used them to help you out more .

Wait, I just noticed that he's currently doing the Emerging Readers...DITHOR would not be a good option, then! I don't know if the CLP books would be too much? You'd know him better! It might be, though, that he'd get more of the intended history out of them if you read them, and he didn't have to concentrate so much of the reading aspect of it. In light of the careful reading of your post that I should have done in the first place...I think I'd just proceed ahead as written (adding in the R&S grammar that you're already doing), and if you find him bored and really needing more you could add an independent book at that point. There are alternative books listed in the Emerging Readers list, and my son really enjoyed doing some of those for fun!

Thanks for the input. Oh there's no way he could do very much independently right now. When I mentioned having him read those books aloud, I was referring to letting him read the sections to us (I would be there), since it looks like those are the 4th grade readers from CLP.

It sounds like you have a great placement for each of your dc, and I really think that will work well! As far as the reading goes, I think having ds finish out his Emerging Reader's Set, and then go into "Drawn into the Heart of Reading 2/3" with either Level 2 Book Pack or books of your own choice, would be the best way to move him along in his reading. The history readings would be such fun for you to read to the 2 of your dc, and then your ds can focus on taking in the history more than on trying to decode/read the words. I think you'd all enjoy this so much more then, and DITHOR should help ds to continue to strengthen his reading skills steadily throughout the year. If you'd like him to be reading history-focused books that match your Beyond time period, by all means, you can choose some of those for his Drawn into the Heart of Reading books, probably for the Nonfiction, Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction, and Adventure genres - but I wouldn't use the Beyond Reading about History titles for this purpose. I'd save those for you all to savor together with you as the seasoned reader to listen to. Hope this can help, but I think you have a super year ahead of you in Beyond! It is a guide full of adventure, neat hands-on follow-ups, American heroes to love, stories to retell and remember, and so much more. I think you will enjoy it as much as our family has.

In Christ,
Julie