Beyond Question

[Mom2Monkeys]

I have an advanced 7yo/2nd grader doing Beyond and DITHOR 2/3. The amount of writing involved and the fun stuff is just perfect for her. I also wanted her to fall right into the new guides at the right grade level, so Beyond was just right. If it weren't for her having physical issues with writing, I may have taken her up to Bigger. We're not doing the 1A/B math, but have started midway through 2A. What else could I do to beef it up a bit for her without adding a big time commitment. One of the things I love is the free time we have left to add in Latin, lots of reading, and still plenty of time to do LHTH with my boys and play.

Maybe it dosen't really need any beefing up...it just seems to go so smoothly and its over so quickly! It might also be the fact that she's already done R&S English 2 and so its hard to feel we're doing enough with the grammar (and I know its good to take a break from the heavy grammar and have a less rigorous year). Oh, what to do, what to do....lol. I am having a hard time with it being so easy to do!! That's a good thing and here I am trying to change it. Shame on me...lol.

What are your thoughts??

[MamaMary]

Hi There,

I am so glad to hear how perfectly Beyond is fitting your family. You are doing an AMAZING job!!!! I do understand your question. Everything seems to flow so smoothly, so nicely, it almost seems a shame for it to stop. However, I don't think I would add anymore permanents into your day. You are getting quite a bit accomplished everyday and I have found that leaving some downtime in my children's day helps to give them time to soak in all that we are reading and doing. It also gives you some play on those days when you have doctor appointments, grocery shopping, field trips, co-op's, support group meetings, etc..., The one thing you could add would be to read a loud more if you have the time and desire. (you don't need to, but if you want to)

I am a big believer that less is more. Less have-to's mean getting to do more want to's

[mamaof3peas]

hi, we are starting to do beyond next week with my dd 2nd and ds k, and i know how you feel. after using abeka and having tons of wksheets, i just have a hard time with seeing how easy it seems to be and wondering if im doing enough. its tempting to throw in extras, but from what ive read we should "keep it simple" and enjoy this year as is. what lesson are you on?

heather

[Mom2Monkeys]

We are almost done with unit 2. I've already done 2 weeks of one curriculum, then 7 of another...then after realizing that one didn't work for us either, I found HOD. We LOVE it!! My dd is so advanced and I'm just so used to doing so much with her to really challenge her. HOD is using a whole different set of skills that seem more applicable to a real education but its so hard to get comfy with it. I know she's retaining more and enjoying it so much more. She won't let me know she enjoys it though and she moans everytime I say time for school...we've got attitude issues that I should be working on instead of trying to add more academics. <nervous laugh> HOD is the best thing EVER IMHO!!
I think we could have done Bigger with her...she's already done R&S Eng. 2 and she's in Singapore 2A/B...I think I just wanted something simpler (than what we were doing) and less time consuming that didn't require much writing for her just yet. And I got what I wanted!! Yet, here I am asking what to add...we'll just keep on with some extra library books and maybe move on ahead to preparing next year w/R&S 3 and Singapore 3...maybe even take 2 years to do it... Or if she finishes early, let her go on to Bigger. Homeschooling is meant to be flexible and enjoyable, so why not?!

[Carrie]

Mom2Monkeys,

The ladies on the board are doing a great job of pondering through this with you! I agree that it is a good idea to give your daughter's writing skills time to mature prior to jumping into Bigger or Preparing Hearts. When switching from other curriculums, the HOD approach with its CM flavor can feel quite different. But, over time, you'll notice the meat of the program showing in many areas.

Our programs are kept purposefully short in the younger years to give your kiddos time to focus on the 3 R's. In addition, kiddos are able to have their afternoons free for what CM called "masterly inactivity" on the parent's part. ). This means that kiddos have free time to pursue their own interests in the afternoons.

To give you an example of what this looked like at our house this past week... my 6 year old used his free time to color and create kites of his various stuffed animals. His clown fish kite was my favorite. My 9 year old recorded Tales from the Ark for my 6 year, complete with sound effects and various voices. My boys have also done this with WInd in the Willows and Tales from Dust River Gulch.

My 12 year old has been latch hooking and has also been outside daily practicing target shooting with his bow and arrow in our yard. My 2 year old has just walked around gathering things! All of the boys have worked together to build an entire geotrax set-up which covers the entire living room. The design of it is amazing, and they pick up and drop off to army men who are set up nearby. The 2 year old has been stepping gingerly around this! My husband and I also have been treated to a magic show, which my middle sons have been practicing this week.

Now, on any one given week, my boys activities will look totally different, but my boys have learned how to occupy their own time with things that interest each of them. If they don't have their free-time they are sad. If we do errands, they'll often say, "Mom, when will be home? I was planning on working on or doing.... this afternoon."

So, I'd encourage you to enjoy Beyond, enjoy your free-time, and allow your kiddo to cultivate that masterly inactivity. You'll be amazed at what children who have long periods of time to think can come up with!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Mom2Monkeys]

Carrie, your house sounds so interesting and fun!!

All of you ladies are right. I am grateful to have this forum to ask your advice! I (and certainly my dd) thank you very much. I sat with her today and discussed our likes and dislikes of the different curriculums we've used. Beyond is the only one for which we have no dislikes...well, if you don't count the fact she doesn't like the copywork part of poetry. She doesn't like ANY copywork. LOL. We had a wonderful discussion about our new schooling and I am amazed at her favorite parts of it and what she is learning from it. I'm also amazed at the questions and comments she had about it. Like, "What is the purpose of reading the poetry?", "I like the fun letter tile spelling better (All About Spelling) but the index card spelling (HOD) helps me learn to spell better. So, I think we should do both", "Why do we do copywork? What am I learning from it?"....and the list goes on. To see her ability to think, reason, and see out logic like this...well, I'm just so happy to be her mom AND her teacher.


Tomorrow starts another wonderful day in Beyond!

[Carrie]

Mom2Monkeys,

You are too kind with your assessment of our house! While our household activities are NOT very amazing, I did want to give you an idea of how kiddos who have been given large chunks of free-time can actually occupy their time well with things of their own choosing. It is a learned habit, and it doesn't happen overnight, but I agree with CM that it is a habit worth having!

Many adults aren't sure how to occupy their free time, and instead schedule their life so full that they and their children have no free-time left. That was the case for me during my middle school and high school years (although my years prior to that were filled with days with plenty of free-time). Incidentally, I no longer do any of the activities I spent hundreds and thousands of hours fine-tuning during my middle/high school years like playing volleyball and basketball, acting in plays and musicals, playing clarinet and saxophone, singing solos and in groups etc. Yet, when I look back at the things I used to occupy my free-time as a child, I wish I'd kept up with more of them! These were things like sketching and painting, sewing, crocheting, tatting, macreme, writing stories, singing with my family, gardening, cooking/baking, and canning. So, I'd encourage you to give your little sweetie time to develop the habit of using her free time well. You may be surprised that what she comes up with on her own may be better than anything you would have planned for her.

Blessings,
Carrie