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Hi, this may be long so bear with me. i have a dd who just turned 8 and is in 2nd grade. I have a ds who is 6 1/2 and is in K ( also dd who is 8 months ). so we started out using all abeka. it was the only curr. i had ever heard anything about. this year I wanted to take it easier and make school more enjoyable for us all, with the new baby and such. i ordered the economy pack of beyond, and planned on doing with both my dc. as i looked through it , it doesnt seem that far off of abeka scope and sequence wise, just goes at it a lot gentler. we would still do our same math with abeka, but i also bought math mammoth for 2nd grade, because abekas spiral approach to math seems at times to be overwhelming for my dd. she doesnt totally master any one concept before moving on to 5 new concepts. all the abeka fans ive talked to just said to slow it way down and do a lot of review over concepts she has issues with, but who wants to spend hours every day working on math? i think this will overwhelm her even more, plus we will then be way behind.

so, my main question is this. is beyond meaty enough. will they retain enough with this curr. plus our own math , ds phonics, and our own science and reading materials for this year? I couldnt afford the other stuff from HOD because i had already purchased the whole abeka curr for K and 2nd this year.

keep in mind that we have been doing tons of workbook stuff, so this is a huge leap for me, and im scared that without all the workbook practice we will lack, but i know in my heart that this is only one way to learn and that my dc would enjoy school so much more if we did it the beyond way, so what do you think?

Heather

Well, I think it is meaty enough. We used Beyond for my daughter in 2nd grade, and we truly enjoyed it. My ds (4th grade at the time) even liked to listen in to the stories for history and story time. HOD does use a different approach to 'school' but it is worth the change in my opinion. We tried some textbooks before finding HOD, and though my son did well with the work, he did not enjoy it. We have had much more success with both my older kids since we've made the switch...and Mom is learning so much along with them. I know that Carrie (the author) does keep her guides close to state standards so it should cover enough for your state. The literature is wonderful, we enjoy the Bible studies and poetry, and the Math and Language Arts portions have been great, too. I say give it a try 'as is' for a month or two...then if you feel you need more you could always try adding something to it . I think you'll find you really love it just as it is. I believe you would be fine, and the kids will retain plenty, if you continue to use your own math, science, phonics, and reading materials along with Beyond...

BTW, it's normal to feel the way you do....it can be scary to try something new, because we want to be sure that we're helping our children learn, and learn well. You've made a great start just by recognizing your family needs something different!

Hi Heather! Welcome to the HOD board. We used Beyond... for my oldest ds, and now we'll be using it again with my second ds soon. Beyond... was a breath of fresh air for me. I felt my ds could remember the readings well because they were wonderful books, and the sessions were kept short enough that he could retain the information better. The timeline, geography, and history activities were some of his favorite things to do. Anytime he does something like that as a follow-up to what we read, it seems to help him really get a feel for what history/science was and is like in real life. As Charlotte Mason said, it gave him "hooks" or "pegs" on which to hang more information.

I felt really good about getting science experiments done. I don't do well with getting experiments done on my own (as countless kits, boxes, sets - that I have bought and not used much of over the years - act as proof of ). The science tie-in to history was a natural connection and seemed to help my son envision that setting - and real happenings within it - so much more. The introduction to grammar in Beyond... was just the right amount in my opinion. It helped my ds get ready for the more rigorous grammar in Bigger..., and it didn't scare him away!

The hands-on math activities written to go with Singapore were short, helpful, and easy to do - plus they were just downright fun as many involved snacks, and well... we ALL love snacks! I totally agree with you that there is no need to spending hours on math. In fact, I'll go a step further and say that I believe extensive time spent on math leads to careless errors that can eventually turn into poor habits over time.

One last thing, the classic poetry was like a slow burn for us. My ds started off not sure about it, now he is older and in his 3rd. year of classical poetry in HOD, and he ADORES it. Learning to love and appreciate poetry was a new thing for me too, and I'm so glad we've done it. I highly recommend the copywork suggested for the poetry - that along with the spelling activities in Beyond... did more to help my ds's spelling than anything else.

So, I think you will enjoy it! Have fun with it, and rest assured that it is meaty enough - you will be glad you made this decision! As InHisTiming put so well, you may want to just do Beyond... to begin with for a month or so, and then add in more if you still want to. Be sure to check out the weekly-check-in to see what others are doing, and share what you've done too. It's a neat way to get excited about other HOD guides to come, and to let others get excited to do what you're doing eventually. I'm so glad you are here!

In Christ,
Julie

thanks for the encouragement! im really glad to have this board to visit with some new friends
have any of you guys ever done standardized testing to see how they r doing compared to others? im not overly concerned with this but it is offered here for only $20 by a private christian school and i go to church with the principal who is very hs friendly, and he said i could take it home and give the test myself, then he would turn it in and give me the results when they come back. i thought about doing this for my 2nd grader at the end of the school year just for curiosities sake. what do you think?

Hi Heather! Welcome to the board!

I started with Little Hands to Heaven for my 3 yo last year...and found all of HOD's other wonderful programs last winter/spring. We come from doing Saxon for math and phonics and Abeka readers for science/history/health for 2nd grade. My mother-in-law used Abeka with her 4 kids and a whoppin 26 yrs of homeschooling...so I've become pretty familiar with it in the 9 yrs I've been married and lived just down the road from her. She liked Abeka because she was familiar with it (having taught in a Christian school prior to getting married) and never really looked for anything else - except in math. It wasn't working and they switched to Saxon. (She probably thought I was nuts when I was researching and bouncing ideas off her... )

SO, knowing what the textbook style from Abeka is like...I'd say that my ds is learning so much more this year with Bigger! He LOVES the fun learning that we're doing! It's so much more memorable. The short Charlotte Mason-style lessons/readings are wonderful and is really coming along in his ability to narrate. Narrating vs. Q&A or tests is really proving to help him connect with the material and remember it so much better. He seems to be connecting the things that we've read about to everyday life all the time. I also notice him using words that weren't a part of his vocabulary 9 weeks ago when we started. I really think that's from narrating, too. He likes to use phrases from the reading exactly...and is picking up word meanings so well from context and the more formal vocabulary lessons in history and Drawn Into the Heart of Reading. I can understand your fear of not having a test to give and correct...but honestly if you give it a shot I think you'll be able to clearly see that the narration and activities in HOD guides are doing FAR more to help your kids learn.

My mother-in-law also thinks what we're doing is GREAT! She loves to see what the kids are doing...and is planning on coming to spend a day doing school with us when harvest is done.

Hopefully that was a little helpful...I'm getting tired and probably shouldn't be typing.
Kathleen

Heather,

I just wanted to pop-in and welcome you. We're glad to have you here! Thankfully, the ladies on the board have already answered your questions. The moms on the board are SO helpful and encouraging!

We look forward to getting to know you better!

Blessings,
Carrie

mamaof3peas wrote:thanks for the encouragement! im really glad to have this board to visit with some new friends
have any of you guys ever done standardized testing to see how they r doing compared to others? im not overly concerned with this but it is offered here for only $20 by a private christian school and i go to church with the principal who is very hs friendly, and he said i could take it home and give the test myself, then he would turn it in and give me the results when they come back. i thought about doing this for my 2nd grader at the end of the school year just for curiosities sake. what do you think?

Heather - here's a past thread that may be beneficial to your question here:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1685&p=13242&hilit= ... est#p13242

In Christ,
Julie

Hi Heather!
I can't answer your questions as my little guy is just doing LHTH right now, but I wanted to welcome you to the boards! You will love HOD!

thank you all for the advice and thanks my3sons for the past thread. i read the whole thing, and it was very enlightening. i think i will do Hod this year, and the only question left for me is, i know my 2nd grader will be perfect with beyond, but my k wont be ready for some of it. should i just include him in what he has the attention span for in this and next year, and then when he is in 2nd do beyond from the beginning, so he gets the full effect? like this year he probably would only do some of the out loud reading with us and map stuff, bible, and science experiments, and next year with bigger the same, but his 2nd grade year, we could go ahead and start beyond over with him at least doing all the stuff he didnt do like spelling, grammer, copywork, etc. Do you think that would be ok? i dont want to make it any harder than it needs to be, but i dont want him to be overloaded. hes only in K and i think he should focus on math and phonics the next 2 years and the rest is just gravy!

Heather

Heather,

Yes, most likely you will combine your 6 and 8 year olds for the left side of the Beyond plans (and the Storytime box from the right side of the Beyond plans). Then, they would each have their own phonics/reading, spelling/dictation, handwriting, grammar, and math as you listed in your first post. Beyond does contain 2 levels of spelling passages, suggestions for copywork from the poetry each week, a light grammar introduction every 5th day, and 2 levels of math scheduled. So, you can use any of those options that fit your kiddos instead of what you were using if you choose to do so.

Then, when you move on to Bigger Hearts next year, your kiddos would both do the left side of the Bigger Hearts plans (and the Storytime box and probably the science box from the right side of the plans together). Again, they would each have their own levels of language arts and math (either from the Bigger Hearts guide as scheduled or with things of your own you are using to cover those areas).

If your 6 year old still needs the language arts and math portions from Beyond, you could use those the following year as you do Bigger. Many moms group their kiddos together for the the history, science, etc. part of the plans and then use part of our other guides to get the exact fit they need for language arts and math.

It's hard to tell right now exactly what you'll do next year, as kiddos grow and change SO much in the areas of language arts and math. But, you get the general idea of how it can be customized to suit your family quite easily.

Blessings,
Carrie