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I've found over the past four years with my crew that if I just slowed down and gave things some time, it was so much easier to teach them (like math facts). I have a 7.5 yr old who is not reading as well as I would like. She isn't ready for the emerging reader books yet. She can do the Nora Gaydos level 2 pretty well and she is nowhere near done with the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching REading.

We just bought Beyond and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to try her on the spelling, or if I should wait to get this reading down alot better. Any advice from more seasoned homeschoolers who've been there and done that?

Thank you,
Alison in KY

Hi Allison,

I agree very much with your philosophy and have practiced the same. However, IMHO in Beyond Carrie's method seems more focused on exposure to spelling than mastery. Originally I was working with the mastery approach, but now I view it as an "exercise" each day of looking at and talking about words, how they sound and how they look. My son is now having fun and learning! But you have to do the work every day as Carrie suggests. Do the exercises as planned in the manual and see how your daughter does. If you don't have any success post back. I think you might be surprised!

Hi,

We sound like we are in the same boat!! I have a 7 year old and we switched everything around for her this year including her phonics program and moved to HOD(mid year). We too are using Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading (we switched to this after 6 weeks of school)--we like it, but she is not reading the emerging readers set , BUT we are doing the spelling in Beyond. So far the spelling has been on short vowel words with a couple of 'rule-breaker' words each unit so far(we are not very far through Beyond as I am doing it half speed). I have been pleasantly surprised at how well she is doing with the spelling. Carrie's method is simple, but oh so effective. (and my daughter likes doing it). Anyway--I would give the spelling a try and if it seems too much for your daughter, do half the list. I hope this helps!

May you have a blessed day!
Jess

Another problem I'm having is settling in on what from the right side of the Beyond book I'll actually do. I'm using beyond but I already have my spelling (AAS), math (Math U SEE), grammar and writing (GWG and WWE), although I'm only using the LA's parts with my oldest. I have skipped around with alot of curriculums so far and for instance I have never stuck with one spelling plan for very long. But then I see that there is alot on the right side that I'm not using that I could be using. In the end, I just don't know the best approach to use. I do know that I will not quit Math U see anytime soon. So, just one of my many choices is trying the Beyond method or using the AAS level 1 with my daughter. I just can't make up my mind which path to go, and alot of the problem is that there is just to many good choices. I also love WWE, but I see that I get the same approach in Beyond. Anyway, I'll just have to take my big girl pill and make a descision...but maybe someone here can help me decide some things

For my own ease, I've decided to switch completely over to the HOD plans... math, spelling, reading, writing, all of it. I will try that all b/c it's simplest. If I find that something isn't working, then I can always re-evaluate, but I will start with following all the plans as written. One of my goals/needs is to make things as easy as possible for me, and I think this will help that!

My dd, 6, has struggled with learning to read. Just within the past week she has really shown an interest but is still in the crawling phase of reading. We are on Unit 22 in Beyond though, and her spelling is great. She has completed each week of spelling with either all correct or missing 1 to 2 at the most (and generally those were simple mistakes that she corrected easily). I would not lump the two together. Don''t discount spelling because reading isn't up to par. It will all come together at some point and the lightbulb will come on as well!

Good luck!
Judy

Alison in KY wrote:Another problem I'm having is settling in on what from the right side of the Beyond book I'll actually do. I'm using beyond but I already have my spelling (AAS), math (Math U SEE), grammar and writing (GWG and WWE), although I'm only using the LA's parts with my oldest. I have skipped around with alot of curriculums so far and for instance I have never stuck with one spelling plan for very long. But then I see that there is alot on the right side that I'm not using that I could be using. In the end, I just don't know the best approach to use. I do know that I will not quit Math U see anytime soon. So, just one of my many choices is trying the Beyond method or using the AAS level 1 with my daughter. I just can't make up my mind which path to go, and alot of the problem is that there is just to many good choices. I also love WWE, but I see that I get the same approach in Beyond. Anyway, I'll just have to take my big girl pill and make a descision...but maybe someone here can help me decide some things

I'm glad you posted this. I, too, have many of the resources metioned. However, I'm now strictly using Carrie's recommended resources for everything. I was finding too much duplication by using the other materials. The HOD package fits together nicley and avoids duplication. Your school day is more streamlined and effective. I actually pulled several resources I had this week to finally sell, because I'm very pleased with the HOD package. If you feel your little one is not tiring using the resources you are using and you feel on track then keep on keeping on, but if it is feeling a bit overwhelming and you feel that your constantly having to "adjust" your plans for your little one then I would recommend just going with Carrie's recommendations. She truly has a nice balance in the various disciplines.

Hi Allison! I agree wholeheartedly with every post I have read thus far. I think it would be a good idea to do Beyond as is, only subbing in your MUS for the Math Exploration box. Give it 4-8 weeks, so you can really get in a rhythm with it and see the fruit of the work level building in Beyond. Then, later, if you feel you'd like to sub in something different, you can always do so. But, I really do think you'll find the methods in Beyond are seemingly simple, but meatier than you think and extremely effective. (We have also been very happy with the spelling/copywork methods - also, there is a beginning grammar lesson on Day 5's plans each week which we enjoy.) Following the spelling - the dictation, copywork, daily grammar, and notebooking in Bigger take it up a notch - and in PHFHG, written narration and creative writing are also added and continue to increase the skill level. All of what is done on the right side of Beyond prepares dc for this increase in difficulty.

In Christ,
Julie