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Well I talked to my DH about taking the kids out of school and he was all for it!!! His only thought was to wait until the end of the quater, which is Jan, 16th. So about three more weeks of school for them they get two weeks off for christmas break. So I have a little bit of time to get prepared. My thought is using Beyond with my 9 DS (who is LD) and also with my soon to be 7 DD. The only thing that may be different is the math part. I have a Lauage arts progrom for them already called "The works" Anyone use it? So what are your thoughts about combining those two. Right now they are in 2nd and 1st grade in school. Will this work?

Sheila mom to five great kids, one angel and one on the way!

Hi Sheila! I'm so happy for you!!! This must be very exciting for you and your dc. Have you had a chance to check out the placement chart? If so, could you possibly give any details about your dc's reading, math, and writing that come to mind? From what you've shared so far, I'd say Beyond... would work. But, it's always good to spend time thinking through placement with the chart in mind. Accurate placement is so worth the time since it will impact your whole year. We've always found the chart to be right for placing our dc. Here's a link to the chart:

http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

So glad you are here!
In Christ,
Julie

Sheila,

I'm so happy for you and your family! To advise you better, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the areas my3sons mentioned too.

Blessings,
Carrie

Okay my ds is not reading yet he is 9 and is starting to sound out words, but not reading very well yet and can not spell well either. My dd is at about the same place as my ds. Math my ds is doing just fine gets it very well I actually got the Singapore math for Bigger for him. My DD would be doing singapore for LHFHG program. That is what I had planned on doing this fall and they both seem to still be right around the levels that the math is made for. Should I get the reading program that is suggested with HOD , there are a few, which one would be best for a kid with learning disabilities and then follow the pages in the Beyond book? Is this confusing you? I had another program for Language arts, but find it confusing. What are you thoughts here? Okay bear with me I may be repeating myself here sorry ladies! My dc would do fine with all the parts of beyond except the math and reading. They are not reading yet and the math I am sure I have under control not worried about that. I am just wondering how to do the Language arts part?

Sheila

Sheila,

Just wanted to say welcome back! I know Julie and Carrie will help you find the best fit. It does not get any better than having them help you. Just wanted to say welcome! I am so happy for you!

No advice, but just wanted to say YEA! I'm excited for you guys!

Okay ladies here I am again. I know I am repeating myself so much but I just looked at the reading lessons and really think I should start both kids with either Reading Made Easy or Reading Lessons. I know they are older and probably should of started by now but my ds has a LD and can not read yet and my ds is starting, but still needs a lot of help. Anyways which one whould be better? I looked at both online and they both seem good. So I am asking anyone out there with expereince in these and kids with LD. I was going to use another program "The Works" but found it to be to much for right now. It was not cheap, but I think I am going to wait a year on it before we start it. I would really like the kids to be reading before I start that program it goes more in depth with grammar, language etc. But the way it teaches reading it just to confusing for me so how can I teach them? LOL Anyways any advice would be nice.

Sheila mom to five great kids, one in heaven and one on the way!

Thanks for sharing more about your dc - that helps so much! It sounds like Beyond will be a good fit for the 2 of them, with the choices you've mentioned. It sounds like you've figured out the math, so looking at the phonics - here are a few things that may be helpful when comparing the two.

The Reading Lesson has 20 short lessons with lots of nice white space on a page and black letters, which makes reading easier for dc. The 20 lessons can be easily spread out if you hit a bump in the road, since a typical school year has around 36 weeks in it, that is a nice advantage. It also has an optional accompanying computer CD, which reinforces the lesson.

Reading Made Easy has more instruction notes just for your information as a teacher, and it also has more scripted things you say to your child. You make some index cards, and there is some moving around of the cards during the lesson. It uses a visual coding system to help dc recognize sounds. It ends with more difficult reading passages than The Reading Lesson.

Some people do The Reading Lesson first, and then if they want another year of phonics do Reading Made Easy. Both of these guides are well-loved by MANY homeschool moms (I can attest to this by the huge number of "testimonies" we hear about in the HOD booth at conventions - which is always wonderful to hear! )

I know more people will chime in here, but I think either one is an excellent choice. Hopefully something here will help!

In Christ,
Julie

I'm so glad you and your husband are in agreement. United we stand! I know you'll figure out the best fit with all the helpful advice available here. Enjoy the holidays knowing they will soon be back home with you!

Well after looking over both programs for HOD the phonics one. I have choosen The Reading Lessons. I think it is a good place to start and when finished we will see where the kids are at and go from there if more phonics is needed or not. I guess the only thing that bothers me is that I feel like I am starting them late. I wish I would of started with this in the first place and not put them in school. But oh well in a few weeks they will be home again with me. I miss my sweet angels (most of the time) LOL!! Thank you all so much for your advice. I am sure I will have more questions as the year goes on.

Sheila mom to five great kids, one angel and one on the way.

Sheila,

I think your decision to use The Reading Lesson is a good one. It is open and go and can easily be reinforced by using the accompanying CD. You can go at the pace that suits both of your kiddos, however, I would schedule separate times to instruct your two kiddos using The Reading Lesson guide so that you can tailor it to their individual needs (and they don't compare their progress to each other)!

Once they are doing some simple short vowel word reading then you can begin the spelling lists and grammar lessons in the back of the Beyond guide. These are scheduled for you within the Language Arts box of the Beyond plan. If they are already able to read short vowel words, I'd begin with the spelling and grammar lessons as scheduled.

Also, for both of your kiddos, you may either do the copywork suggested in Beyond keeping it to a line or so of poetry of day to keep them successful. If copying a line of poetry is overwhelming for them, I'd use a handwriting workbook instead like those we carry in the Little Hearts for His Glory section of the website. If your 6 year old is still learning to write letters, you'd want A Reason for Writing 'K'. If they're able to write words, you'd want "A Reason for Writing 'A' or the copywork scheduled in Beyond.

It will also be very important to do the scheduled read-alouds for the Storytime box of Beyond in order to get the literature study lessons that are woven into that box of the plans. Along with the scheduled poetry and oral narration practice and the things I mentioned above, you will have covered your language arts.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thanks so much Carrie! I was wondering about the language arts part. I am getting really excited now!

Sheila mom to five great kids, one angel and one on the way!

Congratulations Sheila!

What a wonderful Christmas present for you, your children and your family!!!

Sheila,

I just wanted to pop in and say congratulations on your being able to homeschool again! It's such a blessing that we are able to do that. I also wanted to let you know that I have a 9.5 year old son who is not reading well at all. He can read some cvc words at this point but that's it. He hasn't been diagnosed with an LD but I highly suspect some auditory and possible sight issues. I am having his sight tested after the 1st of the year. So I do know where you are and are coming from. I want to encourage you to try to not feel bad about starting "late". Late is honestly relative in homeschooling. One reason we homeschool is so that we can educate our children at the place that they are right now and not expect them to perform to certain levels that have only been set by a public school system that needs to move kids through the system on a time table. All children are different and progress at different levels also. Just keep plugging along and your son will flourish I'm sure of it. I'm sure of it because you as his mother have his best interest at heart and he will sense that. Kids who have a tougher time learning certain things need to know that the person teaching them has their best interest in mind. God has given that ability to you

I chose Bigger for my son because I knew he was capable of doing the work (I still wonder every once in a while if I should drop back to Beyond). He's doing well with Bigger but we don't do spelling and only do R&S English 2 orally. We are heavily focusing on him learning to read right now. We also are not doing the emergent readers schedule or DITHOR yet. He's not capable of doing that level of work yet with regards to reading. I bought the emergent readers set thinking he could do it with help but I could see very clearly that he wasn't ready for them yet and sent them back and got some of the extension books to read aloud to him instead We had to start with Singapore 1A though in math so I have the Beyond manual for the lesson plans in that. He's flying through 1A and we do 2 or 3 lessons a day sometimes. So I plan to move right into 2A after finishing 1B using the Bigger manual for those lessons. He will eventually catch up. I've learned not to worry about it too much.

You know your kids better than anyone else so I know you will do a fabulous job teaching them! Blessings to you as you embark on this journey again.