Placement help

[Jessica30]

I am still debating on what to place my son (will be 7 in August). I am debating between bigger and beyond. This past year he did 4th grade reading, 2nd grade spelling, 2 Singapore, apologia science, and 'half' of mystery of history. I want him to be challenged enough but not too much that he is not enjoying. Thoughts? I looked at the samples and the placement and he could do either of them but I do not want to make it too easy or hard for him. He already does writing 'journaling' in spelling, notecards for history, and journals for science, although he does not complain and is used to the writing he is not crazy about it. Thanks for any help

[StephanieU]

Personally, I would go with beyond. This is mainly because of maturity, not skills. Carrie carefully plans the history and Bible studies to be age appropriate. If you went with Bigger, you would be at the VERY young edge of the guide, and the maturity may be an issue, especially in later guides. But also, the history books used in Beyond are labeled as 3rd-4th grade by the publisher (CLP). These are fairly meaty books, and definitely enough for a 7yo.
As for modifications to Beyond, this is what I would do personally:
1. Do Singapore 3 for math at a pace that will let you complete it in a year.
2. Do DITHOR. This is actually an option in Beyond, but it is not one that most families do. Note that the reading level do not match the DITHOR level, as Level 3 of DITHOR has books mostly in the 4.__ reading level.
3. Add Rod and Staff 2 English, doing 1 lesson a day. You can do as much orally as you want.
4. If desired, add some journaling for Science and maybe History. For my daughter, she draws a picture after each science day, and then she narrates to me (and I write that down). You could have your son do some of the writing. If your son starts not liking this, then you can stop. But, my daughter is loving her journal, going back and rereading all of the science we have done so far).
5. If necessary, use more advanced word lists instead of the ones in the guide for spelling. I would stick with the schedule in the guide for how to do the spelling, but those plans would work for any spelling lists (keep it to about 10 words a week).

[Nealewill]

I would probably call HOD directly to ask their thoughts. They may ask you more direct question to help better.

My girls have always been on the youngest age (okay - well my youngest is 6 doing Little but we did Beyond last year, next year she will do Bigger) range and my son will be in the middle. If your son is 7 when you start and he has all the necessary skills, I might consider putting him Bigger. The only challenge will be if he is ready to do the work load in Preparing at 8. Preparing is a step up from Bigger but it is very independent. So he will be reading all of the Science on his own and then reading independent history things on his own. If you think in 1 year, he would be able to do this volume of work, I would probably go with Bigger this year for him.

Can he write sentences on his own without your help? If he can write a few sentence on his own without your help, I would definitely go with Bigger. Beyond has minimal independent writing, it is mainly copywork. In addition, since he is young, if you find you need to go a little slower because he is taking longer, then you could always take a more than a year to do the guide.

I also would consider adding in DITHOR once you get moving in the guide. But I might consider waiting a few months to add in the DITHOR workbook and activities so that he has some time to adjust to the new curriculum and get into a grove. And with DITHOR, you could do either the level 2 or level 3 books. You would want to make your decision on which book pack to choose based on his reading level. Also the Level 3 books have smaller print and the books are longer. My son is reading the level 2 books without doing the DITHOR program at the moment. He is flying through some of them and others are challenging. He reads at a 3rd/4th grade level. But for books, he needs book with less pages and larger print and lots of pictures through out. The level 2 books don't always have lots of pictures but they seem to be a good fit.

[MelInKansas]

If he places strongly in Bigger Hearts one of the things that may be a bit overwhelming to him would be a longer school day, as well as more expectation of him in analysis and understanding of higher level materials (history and science). Bigger and Preparing are the most intensive and definitely start on a long-ish school day. If you felt Bigger Hearts was the place for him to be challenge-wise (which seems like from your description that may be the case) then I might suggest doing it 1/2 speed for the first 1/2 of the year. This gives you and him plenty of time to get into it and used to it, him time to get built up in the skills he needs to complete it, etc etc. Then move to full speed or 4 days a week. It may take you 1.5 years to complete this way but that would be fine.

I second what Nealewill said, start the guide first and add DITHOR in a few weeks.

[my3sons]

The ladies have brought up some good things to ponder! In a past thread, Carrie had this to say in regard to Beyond and Bigger...

As far as choosing between "Beyond.." and "Bigger..." goes, the amount of writing varies quite a bit between Beyond and Bigger. Bigger requires more writing in the areas of a once a week history notebooking assignment, a once a week science experiment sheet and a once a week science notebooking entry, along with once a week copywork of a Bible verse, 1-3 vocabulary cards each week, cursive handwriting practice daily, and daily grammar instruction with written practice. It also provides a choice of spelling or dictation passages. If your little one sounds like that would be fine for her, she belongs in Bigger. If not, then Beyond would be best. Beyond has much less writing doing copywork daily from the poetry, using a gentle once a week introduction to grammar, and writing daily for very short spelling lessons.

The school day will be longer with BHFHG by about 30 - 45 minutes or so. BHFHG does have the math schedule for 3A/3B, and Beyond doesn't. DITHOR 2/3 can be done with either for reading. R & S English 2 can easily be added to Beyond, doing a lesson a day. Dictation is only in BHFHG, but Beyond has 2 spelling lists, the second being harder than the first. The history/science/Bible in either would be great. Depending on your thoughts from reading the writing skills and the length of the school day, as well as what each guide includes for LA/math, you will probably see one of the guides fit your ds better. From what you've shared, I'd lean toward Bigger Hearts, OR, Beyond with DITHOR 2/3, R & S English 2, spelling list 2 or Bigger's Dictation Level 2, and Singapore Math 3A/3B. I'd get the BHFHG guide for these beef-ups if it were me. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Jessica30]

Thank you ladies, IFFFF I went with beyond for him and adding in all those extra things (besides reading...I will be sticking with bob jones for reading) what will happen next year when we do bigger? Will I just have to keep adding extras in from the next step up and so on? I am not worried on the length of time as he already does about 4 hours at least right now..i just want him to really enjoy the subjects, not be overwhelmed, have fun, but learn a lot at a good pace. How is the spelling? Right now he is wrapping up 2nd grade bob jones and really likes it.

[MelInKansas]

In another year or two you would not need another teacher's guide in order to add and beef-up because you would just use whatever level of math he is at, reading and grammar he is ready for, the dictation (which is what HOD uses for spelling) is in the guide at various levels because the age range of who can use the older guides is much wider. It seems they expect there to be various levels in the different subjects so they provide those options for you. Also there is so much in the guide itself, there is much less need to add anything on. The first 4 years (from LHFHG to Preparing) just move up so much into again a longer school day and more work. I know each guide moves up in skills and time and independence but they don't seem like as big of jumps to me.

[my3sons]

Nealewill asked a good question about whether he can write several sentences on his own. I am wondering that as well - if he can, Bigger Hearts is probably the better choice. Another option would be to choose Bigger Hearts, but to start half-speed. If he can write several sentences on his own, I'm leaning toward that as a great placement. You can ease into Bigger Hearts, using it as is half-speed, and go full-speed when ds is ready (which could be anywhere from 2 weeks into it to 6 months into it ).

In Christ,
Julie