Beef up Beyond or have and easy year???

[Holmesclan8]

My 8yo 2nd grader is doing the Beyond guide. He is in the older age range of the guide, because I wanted him to do Beyond in 2nd, Bigger in 3rd.. ect... He is enjoying the history and science so much, but I am afraid he is not doing enough writing.. Or is he?

Here is how we are doing Beyond:
As written except for the Language Arts box.
He is about half way through Rod and Staff English 2 and I usually have him write out some of the answers, but we do a lot orally as well. It is easy for him.
Pentime Handwriting 2
He copies a stanza or more of the poem a day.
He has tested out of all the spelling words on both list 1 and 2 and we have begun dictation from the Bigger guide. Again, it is easy for him:)
As for reading, he read through the emerging readers within 2 months and working through the DITHOR readers for level 2. He usually asks if he can just finish a book and devours a book in a day. I do not do DITHOR yet, as I really want to wait until he gets to Preparing to start that.

I also have him complete notebooking pages on Friday's that correspond with the history, and he does write up experiment sheets.

Everything comes so easy for this child that I feel like I need to beef Beyond up even more. HOWEVER, I DO like that he is having a fun easy year. I have all the guide from Little Hearts to CTC, so I know what is coming in the future for him. I don't want to go too fast, but still want to challenge him.

I mentioned to him that maybe we need to stop Beyond and move to Bigger and he said NO WAY!! He loves the books in Beyond and wants to finish them! So should I just RELAX and enjoy everything being easy for him? His handwriting could use some work, but he is a boy!! LOL

I guess I am more needing to hear that I am doing enough and I don't need to add on to it:))) Oh, and he listens in on his sister's CTC and can't wait to get there... he can give detailed narrations on everything. He is just one of those kids where academics come easy to him. Oh how I wish all my kiddo's were like that;) LOL

[LynnH]

It sounds like he is enjoying Beyond so I would just let him enjoy Beyond. If he isn't acting out because he is bored then I wouldn't change it. He is young and will have plenty of time to be pushed academically. You don't want to push him to the point he gets burnt out or stops enjoying school. If he wants to pursue other interests or do more reading, let him do that outside of school time. I think he is doing more than enough writing for a second grade boy.

[Jennymommy]

My middle boy is this way, and as a 7th grader is finishing his Rev to Rev work almost independently in about 3-4 hours. We have let him have as many library books as he wants so he can continue to feed his curiosity. We discuss philosophy points that are different from our own beliefs and help him to gather information from many sources. He also visits the Answers in Genesis website to read kid appropriate articles on subjects he is interested in. I am most concerned with letting him fill his mind with useful facts and understanding them in light of the sovereignty of God. Sometimes I will have him write an essay or critique of what he has read....

[luv2homeschool]

It sounds like he is enjoying Beyond, so I think you should stick with what you're doing. Your plan looks great. It is very common for us hs'ing moms to ask "is it enough?" The workload increases every year, so enjoy the time you have with him now!

[StephanieU]

It does sound like he is enjoying it. If you think he might enjoy more writing, make it fun! Let him do some creative writing. My daughter loves to make books, and we use a variety of methods to get the words in the books. Some times she narrates to me. Some times she types them and then we edit them together. Some times I write the words on paper and she copies them into her book (only if there is a tiny bit of writing per page normally, as she can't write small enough for her stories). Or find some sort of pen pal for him - maybe a relative that lives in another city/state. Or just have him do some sort of journal about the world around him. Basically keep it fun and something he would enjoy. If he starts complaining about any added writing, drop it and try again later.

[MomtoJGJE]

Even if it's easy it doesn't mean he isn't learning. A lot of times the most learning happens when you aren't struggling to learn it, if that makes sense. I know my oldest tends to have trouble grasping math concepts. She has the least amount of trouble remembering the things she picked up on easily. I would not stress about it at all and just let it be fun and easy.

[Nealewill]

I always feel like by the middle of the year that my kids are soaring easily through the guides and I must admit, I love it!!!!! I am not sure how far into the guide you are but this is completely normal! With my oldest dd, at the beginning of the year she was having to take it slow. Now she is finishing CTC in 4 hours max a day with out me having to push her to get her stuff done. She is only on until 17 now but I love that she is working so quickly and independently. My middle child is another kids that is getting his work done quickly. He writes SO much now compared to how much he wrote in the beginning of the year and he does so with no complaint. That seems to be trend in my house with every guide - each one of my kids starts off slow but then grows into their guide and it is smooth sailing after that.