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We are finishing up Little Hearts (1st grade) and Preparing (4th grade) this spring. I would really like to combine my kids next year. Can I use Bigger with the extension package for all of them, or would that be too big of a step backwards for the 4th graders?

Thanks!

Has your oldest covered American History before? I haven't seen the Preparing manual yet, but I know there are different levels of dictation in there. My thoughts are that you might be able to successfully combine if you bumped up the language arts and math to your oldest's level.

You could continue in dictation where you left off in Preparing unless you finished all the levels. You could continue on to the next level of Singapore Math and R&S English. I'm not sure what else you would need. My kids aren't up to Preparing yet, so I'm not sure what your oldest has already been doing.

You should hear from some of the other women on here soon. This board is great for bouncing ideas off each other...

I am doing that too. Not combining though. My dd8 will be 9 next year & she will be doing Bigger. We are currently doing PHFHG too. I asked Carrie if she thought is was doable. She generally doesn't recommend going backwards but since my dd is in the age range & needs American History she thought it would be fine. My thoughts are to beef up the basics & it could work for you.

HTH!

What about your 1st grader? Is he/she ready to jump to Bigger? The guides increase in difficultly gradually, so this could be a little overwhelming for your youngest. This could leave you slowing down for your youngest while working to beef up the plans for your olders. I would recommend looking at the placement charts and sample week plans very closely before making this decision. Also, if you combined for Bigger, what would you do the next year?

Thank you for your feedback. My son is 7, to be 8 soon, and I think he'll do fine in Bigger. He was a late bloomer, but has really come along this year. As for the olders, they did Amer. history in 2nd grade, but following the program, they won't do it again until 7th grade. I'm thinking that's a long time. Plus, living in Boston, there's so many cool field trips I'm anxious to do with them now that they're older. I hesitate to break from the "program" but I'd love to do Amer. history now rather than later.