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I need a little reassurance that I am doing fine to be doing BEYOND. My kids are right in the age range listed for the book (ages 6 & but it seems to me many people are using BEYOND with younger children? As long as I am giving my daughter her LA, Math and using the extensions in upcoming years, we should be fine right? I guess it may also be that when I looked at the placement chart, my daughter could definitely be in Preparing right now, but I would really like to keep the two together for our secondary studies. Maybe it's just that I need to adjust my thinking since I'm so used to gearing the work toward the oldest? BEYOND is perfect for my son, so as long as I'm adding what's needed for my daughter, I should be fine, right? If anyone thinks I should approach this differently and be doing something differently, please speak up! Thanks!

Whoops. That wasn't supposed to be a smiley face...I have no idea how that happened. Anyway, the kids we are talking about are girl 8, boy 6.

I think it is just fine. My son is 8 and is doing Bigger which seems to be a stretch for him, but we did Beyond last year. My daughter is 6 and is doing Little Hearts which is just perfect for her. She will do Beyond at 7 and Bigger at 8.
You should be able to tell from your kids whether they are in the right level, if it seems too easy or too hard, I would reconsider, otherwise, it should be fine...

It is so hard to homeschool and NOT look at what other people are doing, and start to second guess yourself. BUT I want to encourage you to not dwell on others, but look at your children's needs and your famiy's needs. IF your in the right place then, Praise the Lord! It sounds like you already know where you need to tweak, IF you need to tweak. You might look at the samples for the Basics in Bigger to either consider having your daughter do the right side - only -or to give you ideas on what, if anything, you might want to "enhance."

On a personal note, I have a 7 year old in Beyond and a 9 year old doing the left side with him. It works quite well. I'm not looking for more work for them, and neither are they. And I have an 11 year old in Preparing and I'm considering downscaling his work....

THanks ladies! This is helpful and reassuring. I am happy with the fit and think our plan is the right amount of work for everyone.

Sounds like you have a good plan going...my dd was 8 when we used Beyond...we're using Bigger nowthat she's 9...and adding my 11 yo ds in with the extensions. It's going great.

In regards to the ...when you try to place parentheses around something, and you use the # 8...for some reason you have to make sure there is a space or it creates the 'cool' icon you see on the right under smiles. So do it like this..(dd 8 ). HTH