Looking Ahead Questions

[mansmom]

Hello ladies...I love all your heartfelt, wonderful advice...so I'm starting here with my question (many more coming I'm afraid!!)

I started HOD this fall after failing at so many other things...we LOVE it...we have never looked back and it was, without question, the best decision we made. At the time of the switch, money and my 18 month old destructo man, were major factors in putting both my girls (6 and 8 then) into Beyond together with the 8 year old doing Grammar/dictation from Bigger. Now I was all set to go ahead and move them together unto Bigger...until I read that post where they are discussing their second born taking ownership in his/her education...this depicts my second to a "T"....she happily waits for darling older sister to do and say everything...and the oldest gladly fills her role there....I'm just wondering now...would I be better to move my oldest into Preparing...that is, without question, where she fits on the placement chart and have dd7 then do Bigger so they don't have to do it together as much...would that be insane to do in my life...the two year old will, i'm sure, still be destroying things at a rapid pace!!! Is it not suggested to skip a year bc they build on each other (this is how it appears and what I've read)? or is it possible to have my older daughter to more "independantly" so they wouldn't be so together when answering questions...I'm just trying to picture how this is going to work in the long run...did I make a bad decision when I put them together last fall...it seemed like the only option at the time?? Any thoughts ladies????

Thank you!

[8arrows]

I would keep them together, but I have several children, so....Could you do the reading together and then do questions separately? It would add a little time to your day, but not much. My 6 and 8 year old are in Beyond also.

[mansmom]

I do really want them together for ease of my day!!! YIKES!

I'm wondering out loud here...but maybe I could have the older do more "written" in the way of narration back on the history/story portion and have the younger dd continue doing it orally with me. Which seems it would seperate them a bit...they would have different expectations...I think that's maybe what I'm looking for? My older daughter is great at narrating and LOVES to do it...I think I could transition her pretty easy to doing it more written....at least worth a try....

[Kathleen]

I would think you could come up with an easy way to split the narration time. I think I read in a Charlotte Mason book that she used to have different colored sticks in a pocket and would pull one out after reading to determine who was narrating that time. You could do this, and maybe sometimes draw the stick to see who starts...and then you cut in when you want the other to finish.

There are so many good things about your kids getting to be in the same guide - for you and them. But there are also benefits to being seperate for some things like you said. If I was going to seperate for something, I think it would be the Bible discussion. But as I'm thinking that, I know that the ideas one child would share could be a real benefit to the other. Kinda like one of the reasons I enjoy going to Bible study with other ladies. Some of the things they're thinking I would never have thought of on my own.

I'm sure this is a case where lots of prayer on your part will lead you to the right decision. (And you've got 2 great options in front of you!)
Kathleen

[Mom2Monkeys]

As was pointed out to me when I had a similar question about moving to written narration...oral narration is an important skill to learn. So be sure not to have the older move on to written just in order to provide some separation. She needs to develop that skill as well. I might on occasion let them discuss what they learned together, then have them take turns narrating back to you. Maybe that would spark some interest for the younger as well as give her a chance to learn from the older a bit, still allowing both to develop the skill. I also like the drawing sticks idea or maybe since there's just two, you could flip a coin to see who starts the narration. To help a child understand narration a little better, there's something called a narration cube. You roll it like a die, and it tells you what to tell about the story (setting, heart lesson, main characters, events, etc.) and helps kids develop a sense of what narration is about. When I was using it with my dd, it made a big difference for her.

here's the link for the cube: http://www.pennygardner.com/narrationcube.html
here's another post about narration that you might find some good info in to help your younger: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2199&start=0&st=0&s ... ation+cube

[water2wine]

I do Bigger with four kids on a wide range of levels. We sometimes run it into the problem where we are getting answers form just one. So what I do is just let them know ahead that I will be calling on them individually for narration. I sometimes even have one start it and the other finish it. It works well just to take turns but I never let them know whose turn it will be. I think if they are on target for what they are learning keeping them together is easier. Having them both answer is just a skill they can learn if you work on it. I think it is well worth the effort and it gets easier as you go. And sometimes we have to relearn the skill again when they get rusty after a break. You'll get it. You got some great advice! I am one that is big on keeping them together because I think it teaches them a lot of people skills that will help later in life, especially the tough stuff to work through. Our narration skills got rusty after the break so we are really focusing on that too.

[Carrie]

Joy,

I agree with the wise advice you've gotten from the ladies so far. Your kiddos fit well within the target age range for Beyond and will continue to fit well within the age ranges of the guides as you go, so I'd definitely combine them if at all possible. Once you begin Bigger Hearts, your older child will have the Extension Pack readings to "up" the level for her, so you'll start to get some separation there.

The narration tips the ladies have given you are also very good. I agree that oral narration is such an important skill to hone, so don't move away from it too quickly. It's a skill that is used all throughout life... when retelling a phone conversation, a movie, a book, a speaker you heard on the radio, etc. Many adults have no idea how to narrate well, and consequently they are very hard to listen to or to follow.

I think you're on the right path, and there will always be some first-born and second-born traits that are there no matter what you do. It is just the birthing order!

With my own kiddos, we have quite an age spread between them, making it more evident that we'll need to separate them. My oldest is 13, my next son is 9, my next one is 6, and my last one is 2. So, you can easily see by their age-range that they do not fit neatly into combining within HOD guides. For now, it's worked well for us to keep them separate. Your age-range and situation are definitely different from mine! So, feel good about your plan and your successful year. You're on the right track!

Blessings,
Carrie

[inHistiming]

I have wondered about this too....but it seems my younger child likes to narrate more than my older child. In any case, what I have done is call on the person I want to narrate. It turns out that right now in story time we are reading 2 chapters a day, so I will have one of them narrate the first chapter and the other narrate the 2nd chapter. It's worked out pretty well. In Bible, I will also call the name of the person...so ask the question directly to that person, then if it wasn't answered correctly (or even if it was) I may ask the other child his/her thoughts. I do this with just about any subject that has questions. They are getting better with narration...I still often have to prompt them with the Bible answers, because they tend to veer in other directions...not answering the question "what did the verse say God gives us when we obey?", etc. I have to remind them what the question actually was, but overall it is working well. HTH

[mansmom]

Thanks Ladies....you rock!

That's great advice....I will certainly look into the cube or colored sticks....they are more than willing to do our discussions together...I just always worry about my second daughter...if I handed her a pile of workbooks and told her what pages to do...she would gladly go do them and complete everything without complaint...I KNOW that HOD is helping her grow in so many treasured ways....and I needed reminded that our discussions together are farther reaching then sometimes I think about....thanks Ladies!!