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I am using Bigger with my 12 year old and she is doing LLATL, Apples Spelling, Jump In writing and MUS along with it. Oh, plus Apologia General Science.
Should we be doing Preparing instead?
I have read in your sigantures with your older child doing Preparing and am feeling a little self-conscious about it.

Thanks

Is your dd doing well with Bigger plus the things you've added? If you think that Preparing would better suit her needs, then considering a switch is certainly appropriate. But if she is having a successful year, then I would encourage you not to feel self-conscious at all. Every child, and every family, is different. One of the beautiful things about homeschool is that we can tailor our children's educations to their individual needs, abilities, and interests. I'm a big fan of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

I am using Bigger with my 11 year old and it is working well. She is a pretty advanced reader. I wanted to give you a thread and a few thoughts. Here is the thread if you are wondering how to beef up Bigger for an older child (see Carrie's comments) viewtopic.php?f=6&t=640&hilit=poor+richard And now for the thoughts. When I was deciding what to do with my daughter I looked at if I thought she had enough American History. For us it was an easy answer because she spent 1-3rd in ps and she definitely needed more. So we are very happy with our decision. I am doing Bigger reading the extension pack aloud for the sake of my dd who will be 11 this month (another daughter) and has special needs. It is working well. If I did not have this additional hurdle for us I would have my other kids read the extension pack and either add some of those books or go just with those books and have her read those as her extension and the others the HOD extension (although knowing my dd and reading she would probably do both).

Then comes the question, where will we go next? This is where after a while I started to struggle. It happened after I heard about the Ancients program and how great that sounded plus looking at where it would have all my kids fall if we went there next. So I have a little plan that I ran past Carrie. I am going to do a Preparing light program over the Summer, reading only CHOW, Grandpa's Box and just finish the parts of Hero Tales we have not done because we have done most of it already and have it on hand. I may also do the Psalms in the Bible because I don't see how we will pass that up but that was not Carries recommendation, I just think it would make great Bible reading for the summer. I will maybe use some of the books next year to throw into their DITHR for Ancients or not it depends on where I think we are in the end and what the Ancients packages look like as far as if we have read a lot of the books or not. If we fall over to the next year a bit with reading I am fine with that but I think it is very doable for us during the summer and still feel very rested and ready to go on to Ancients next year. Plus it takes care of the constant bugging I get during the summer to do some school. I always end up reading or doing something with them anyway.

This may not seem like a good plan for your family but I am just putting it out there to just show you there is more than one way to skin a cat and HOD has just tons of flexibility. This is just what seems like it is working very well for us. I have the Preparing and the materials I plan on using and it is looking very doable to me and like it will achieve what I want which is the overview to give them their ground for where we are headed overall. Plus I get to use the Preparing dictation now and see the independent work to get a feel for where they need to be for Ancients. I will tell you though that I am by nature a tweaker and I am not a stickler for finishing a HOD guide on time. To me I feel like we will come out even in the end one way or another and as long as we are on track with Math and LA we are fine. I do think we will come out perfect with this plan but I am not the type that worries about taking longer with something if we need to for the most part although I do have some obsessions mixed in there as well.

Anyway I hope this does not confuse you more and actually adds something. If it seems off or stressful to you then that is your cue it is the crazy fit for my family but not yours and just disregard it for your family. Just putting it out there in case it gives you any ideas. Hope it helps!

I don't have any answers here, but just a question that builds on the initial question. If one was using Bigger for an older child, would the Science methodology recommended need to be adapted in any way?

With Joy!
Florence

deltagal wrote:I don't have any answers here, but just a question that builds on the initial question. If one was using Bigger for an older child, would the Science methodology recommended need to be adapted in any way?

You might want to see the extension pack science which is what you would use if following HOD http://www.heartofdakota.com/BHFHG-extension.php We really like it. It is not science as I would normally expected it but I love the way it connects to the History. If you wanted something different it is easy enough to use anything you want. But this book is written for 5th to Jr High. It's age appropriate for a 12 year old.

I am not sure if this answers your question or not but hope it helps.

Hi Marsha,

It was very important to me to have all the children doing the same core for history/science/bible. My 12 year old is doing "Beyond Little Hearts" for those basic subjects and helps me teach to my younger boys. When he helps me teach it re-enforces what he is learning. We use ACE for his math and language arts and HOD for everything else.

I am another one using Bigger with a 13, 10, and 8 year old. The 10 and 13 use the extension pack, and the 8 is an emerging reader.
I customize their math and somewhat customize their LA for their abilities.
For me, we combined because:
1. 13 yr old is not a strong book student, and I knew he would flourish with Bigger. he needed something that was challenging, yet gave him the self confidence to see that he WAS smart, and he COULD learn!
2. the 8 year old was not a reader at the time we started, and I wanted to encourage him with the exciting adventures in the history and science of Bigger. He is now reading extremely well (in my nsho! )
3. I wanted to combine as much as possible. I am a WOHM and I need to have everyone done by a certain time frame.
4. the 13 and the 10 are my oil and water boys-I knew that they would "encourage" (I'm trying to look on the positive side-"battle" would be a more appropriate term! ) each other with some "positive peer pressure" in completing their work. I wanted to combine them so they were "forced" to cooperate and get along to share books, stories, narrations, etc. I don't think they'll ever be bosom buddies, but they will always be brothers and need to learn how to relate to each other in a respectful way and love each other as brothers.

I use the spelling lists as written for the 8, I pick words from the reading books for 10 and 13. We use the Queen language arts books and they each have the appropriate level. Same with math-we use CLE and they each have their own level. I am considering adding picture study and some Shakespeare into the older two's day, but right now that's just a consideration. It depends on how crazy I want to make myself!

Marsha,

With what you've listed in your post above, your older daughter is well-covered in all subject areas. School doesn't have to be heavy to be well-done! Seriously though, you are fine with Bigger with the things you've added on.

Blessings,
Carrie