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Carrie, our Alyssa will be 11 tomorrow. She works independently.... but LOVES for me to read to her. LOVES one on one.

She is the one I want to order Bigger for with the extension package.....

right now she is doing ....
math
E. Grammar/ some nature journalling and regular writing stuff
A Child's Geography ~ by Ann Voskamp (twice a wk and we read this together)
I ordered Grandpa's box and she is LOVING that...
Apologia Science~ by Fulbright
The Light in the Glory

She really is diligent and retains a lot. She starts on her own in the mornings. She tries to get to a stopping point so she can listen as we read Reddy Fox. She will ask "have you already read the boys History... I like listening to it.... have you listened to your song yet?"

so just kinda fustrated not knowing what to do or if I am ok right now........

blessings,
Teena mom to 1/2 doz. & DIL

Teena,

Were you thinking to do Bigger with her so that she could study American history, or were you thinking that you wanted it to be something she could do mainly on her own? The reason I ask is because she definitely could do Bigger with Extensions but she could also do Preparing with extensions. I'm just trying to sort through the best fit.

From your list below, I do think you've picked some great books to do with her, yet to me her schedule feels light overall (when I look at your list). She's probably needing a bit more cohesiveness with her history study and really should have a formal literature study of some kind coming up (like DITHR).

You could easily keep the grammar and math and science you're doing, even with doing Bigger or Preparing. If she's loving Grandpa's Box, that is what used in Preparing. You could either continue with that as scheduled and use Preparing, or put it aside while doing Bigger with her and save it to use with Preparing the following year.

If you did do Bigger or Preparing, you would most likely not need the Light and the Glory (unless you wanted to add it to your study of Bigger). You could also keep "A Child's Geography", but if you add one of our programs, I'd probably shift to doing it only once a week.

If you can give me more information on your thinking between Bigger and Preparing, I could help you more!

If your life is very busy right now, or you have health concerns or other time-consuming issues within your family, you could keep going with your 11 year old's schedule as is, making sure to add in literature study. But then next year, you'd want to look at adding a fuller program for her.

Blessings,
Carrie

ok..... I was thinking Bigger b/c I do not want to over load her or I. So I thought I would start in bigger w/ extension and then to preparing next year. I do like the American History stuff.... and she hasn't had the older American History stuff....

hmmmmmmmmm ..... I did forget to add that we are working on Time Travelers~ American Revolution by Amy Pak.

I just feel like I am doing a hodge podge and ????

ONE of the main reasons I went with HOD for my two boys was I love how it is all laid out, planned out and it all correlates together. I am an older mom (almost 47 I think menopausal ) and I do have some time consuming issues at times (but then again we all do... Iguess). You would think after 18 yrs of hs-ing I would have it all down pat. LOL

She is 5th grade. Although with her age she could be 6th but she is not ready for that. Today she joined us in LHFHG ... begged to listen and do with us. We did the little coloring sheet where you color it all different colors and then go over it in black. SHE LOVED IT. She wants to hear Reddy Fox.... and all......

IF I order Bigger or Preparing is this what I need....

Economy Pk
Economy Pk w/ Science add-on
then I choose either emerging or DITHOR (which I would choose DITHOR)
deluxe pk
AND the
extension pk

??? is that right??? or am I totally confused

thanks for your time and encouragement

Teena,

You only need to order the Economy Package once. Then, you'd add on the Science Adder, the Extension Package, and one of the Deluxe Packages (or you can use read-alouds from your library to match the list in the Appendix of Bigger if you cannot afford to get a Deluxe Package). If you are doing "Bigger..." and finances are tight, you could also wait to do "Drawn into the Heart of Reading" until next year, as you'd be covering literature study with your storytime part of the plans in "Bigger...". Then, you could add Drawn into the Heart the following year when you get to Preparing.

If you plan to keep the Time Travelers and A Child's Geography or the Light and the Glory or the Apologia science, I'd do a 4 day plan with Bigger and then do those extras on the 5th day of each week. I wouldn't add all of those extras into your regular daily schedule of doing "Bigger..." or you will lose the benefit of the "Bigger..." guide and will have too lengthy of a school day.

If you do Bigger on a 4 day plan, you'll go into the following school year by 9 weeks to finish the "Bigger" guide and then would start Preparing. Just one way for you to keep the things you love without causing you or your sweetie to have a long day.

I do think Bigger would help give you an overall plan that you can work with to feel like you're cohesively covering the various subject areas. It will also help your daughter build some needed skills in bite-sized increments for later.

P.S. In the plan I mentioned above, you'd be keeping your grammar and your math as is and doing those intstead of what's in "Bigger...". You would stop Grandpa's Box though and save it for next year with Preparing. You'd keep your A Child's Geography one time a week on your 5th day, keep your Time Travelers once a week on the 5th day, keep your Apologia Science once a week on the 5th day, and decide whether or not you needed the Light and the Glory which could also be once a week on the 5th day. This is providing you go with a 4 day plan for Bigger.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thanks so much Carrie. I will probably NOT do Light & the Glory. She LOVES the apologia.... so we could probably work that in.... like once a week (like you mentioned).

I told her today if we go with Bigger she has to stop Grandpa's box and she squealed and said "mama, I LOVE IT... he tells the best stories, in a way I have never heard before! AND he is a great grandpa...." Carrie, my dad (her Papa) died a year ago. I said "well, you will get OTHER books you will love too!"

later she said "mom, you know each time you give me a new book I think to myself... UGH this is going to be so boring but by the 2nd chapter I do not want to stop reading!"



I have been looking at my library and they do carry a lot of the classic and girls interest books.... that helps. I did think I would wait till next year to start the DITHOR.....

I told dh tonight that I wanted to put Alyssa on the same curriculum that the boys were on.... He said "Teena, you have been hs-ing for 18 yrs... WHERE are all the books you have already used????" I tried to explain that our older three were/are more text-booky..... and I am raising these three with a more Charolette Mason type approach.

He said "whatever you think will work...... "