Help! Questionts About Beyond Before I Order

[MomtoH&H]

A few weeks ago I was struggling trying to decide whether or not to use Beyond or Bigger for my 2nd grade daughter. She places in Bigger, but she will be just turning 7 in the fall, this is our first year using HOD (and our first year homeschooling) and I think the writing in Bigger might be too much for her (she CAN do it, I just think it might be a battle). Anyway, long story short, Julie recommended using Beyond with some beef ups. I have a few questions before I place my order, so I'm hoping someone can help me. I find the website to be a little confusing, so I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

For history- I will order the Economy package since we are leaving that section as is.

Next- I will order the Basic Package with 2A & 2B for math... this includes science, devotions, and music as well, correct? I will also add on 1B for math which we will do over the summer since she scored a 76% on the placement test. Math is not her strongest subject, should I order something extra to add in some extra practice? I have read that Singapore doesn't do a lot of review, which concerns me a bit.

For LA- I am going to buy the ERS and see how that goes. We may move up to DITHOR halfway through the year since my daughter can read very simple chapter books, such as Magic Tree House.
Julie also suggested we use R&S English 2 since since dd has already covered a lot of grammar in 1st grade in public school. I am wondering- do I need the Bigger teacher's guide? I see on the sample lessons that it tells what to complete each day, so if I don't have the Bigger manual, am I going to know what to do? Or should I just buy the R&S teacher's guide?
For spelling- I am concerned that list 1 will be too easy for my dd. I don't know what the words are, and the only thing I see on the sample is to practice words like "hat." Just as an example, here are some of my dd's recent spelling words from school: mother, stunk, junk, drank, thank, almost, under, paper, behind, marker, sparkle, chainsaw, draw, across, something, anything, because, before, anymore, bright, eyesight. She does well with spelling, loves practicing her spelling words and always scores 100% on her Friday tests.
Do I need to add phonics? She knows all of her letter sounds, and although I'm embarrassed to admit it, I don't know if she has completely covered phonics since she is finishing up being in public school. Is there somewhere I can find an assessment to see if she still needs more phonics? I'm sure there are letter blends that she hasn't done yet.
I also want to add cursive writing practice since she was super excited about learning cursive when we were looking at using Bigger.

For the Deluxe Package- I would like to add this too- I want the Girls Interests BUT, I would like to be able to substitute 2 of the choices for what is offered in the Classic Titles. Is that possible to do so that I can still get the discount by ordering it as a package?

I THINK that covers everything... is there anything I am missing?

(Sorry for the length, I am just super nervous about actually placing my order!!)

[Rachel]

I'm sure you will get some great answers soon about all of your other questions, but I can try to help with one or two for now. My dd (just turned 8yrs. old) did Beyond history this year, but since she was already advanced enough, I ordered Cheerful Cursive from HOD (what is used w/Bigger) and had her do that instead of copywork. She did great with that (1 pg./day), and next year will be ready to do cursive copywork. I also used the R & S 2 language book with her, 1 lesson/day (2 pg. spread), as the Bigger guide sample online seems to recommend. I don't own the Bigger guide, but those 2 choices worked well for my dd this year. I also used the ER set with her, and added extra books if she went a little fast, as I felt that DITHOR was a bit advanced (w/ more writing) than she could handle yet this year. But that would depend on the child, of course. As far as spelling, my dd was not as advanced as yours, so I used the 2nd list in Beyond. But it seems like it would be nice if you could get your hands on a higher guide to begin dictation, unless you add in some phonics review instead and use those words for spelling.
Well, I'll leave the rest of the advice to other ladies, but I'm sure you will have a lot of fun with HOD next year!

[StillJulie]

I would order the Bigger guide now if you can afford it. The math activities are wonderful, especially if your daughter struggles with that subject. Since you'll use it next year anyway, it's a good investment.

[MelInKansas]

You would not need the Bigger guide to do the R&S, as it just has them do 2 pages/day. I don't know what the Teacher's Guide from R&S is used for, we haven't used it, but I never even look at the Bigger guide because it's been just 2 pages/day. Math on the other hand, you would want the Bigger guide if your DD was going to do 2A/2B. 1A/1B are in the Beyond guide with activities to go along with them, so if she places in 1A/1B I would consider just doing those along with Beyond to make your life easier.

The Bigger guide also has the dictation, which is what you would want to do if your DD has already mastered both spelling lists from Beyond. But you could get the Beyond guide and look and see, if that was the only thing you would need the Bigger guide for this coming year. Or if there were few enough patterns from the 2 spelling lists that she hasn't done yet, that you would be in dictation sometime in the coming school year. I started halfway through list 1 for my DD so she will be starting dictation here soon and we are halfway through Bigger. I just have to keep track of where we are at in the lists. I would recommend finding a place in the spelling lists where you think she could use more practice and start there. She may be a good natural speller but a little practice or something that will be easy isn't a bad thing. Also Carrie has added in Dolch words, sight words with similar sounds, that help children learn some of the exceptions along with the rules. That's also why I would recommend looking through the lists, maybe see if your DD can spell some of the "Dolch" words before you move on to the dictation.

You can start midway in the ERs too if you feel your DD can easily read the Frog and Toad. I will say though, even though my DD could read some of the beginning ones easily, it was nice to go through them and move on to the harder ones. It gets quite a bit harder somewhere in the middle, with names and words that require sounding out and higher comprehension level. I'm sure your DD will enjoy it though! DITHR is much more intense in terms of the understanding required and the activities and projects that go along with it, so I wouldn't rush into that either. Maybe make it easier on yourself too since this is your first year!

I maybe would have her do the copywork in Beyond AND add Cheerful Cursive one page a day. Unless you feel that is way too much handwriting for her. But if she really likes the cursive and it motivates her to do the other stuff, copywork is good preparation because there is a LOT of writing in Bigger.

The way I understand it you can substitute books from the other packages and still get the savings. I think you can either put that in the notes or give them a call. There was another post on here about it. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13448&p=96338

[MelInKansas]

As for phonics - I would say if your daughter can read a Magic Tree House book to you with very little help with sounding out words, she probably doesn't need much more formal phonics. With all the reading aloud your DD will do, with ERs and DITHR when you get to that, if she is good at picking up patterns (which if she is good at spelling she probably is good at picking up patterns) she will learn phonics from you if you feel you can help her with it. I'm not even very good, there are some rules I don't even know but if I tell my DD what the word is, after a while she knows it. And she's pretty good with patterns, meaning then she applies it to other words she reads. I have to say I'm not really clear on why c says "K" or "S" or g says "G" or "J" and things like that. And the phonics books we have gone through don't really explain it either, but it seems like they still pick it up. Only if she were a struggling reader would she maybe need more phonics instruction at this point.

[SCStxRN]

I know c says /s/ before E, I, and Y. I beleive G has similar rules, excepting single syllable words - fwiw.

[MomtoH&H]

Thank you so much for the advice ladies!! Now I need to work up the nerve to place my order. I know I want to homeschool and I know I want to use HOD, but something about placing the order makes it so much more real and scares me a little bit.

[MelInKansas]

That is a HUGE step! It's a big commitment. It's also very very exciting to get your box(es) in the mail and look at all the books and start planning for your school year. Good luck holding your child back!