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Hi! I really want to try HOD this next year, and am trying to make it work for us, and figure out exactly what I need to order. My husband has said he definately wants our kids to do American History this next year. So, that puts us in Bigger. According to the placement charts, my oldest (10) fits best into Hearts for Him, and my youngest (8) fits into Preparing, but Bigger would probably be fine, too? So, would I just do all of Bigger with my youngest, and then get the Hearts for Him manual for the oldest for the grammar, etc. If I do that, would he be doing a separate Science and Poetry, or would I combine those? Would I really need a separate manual, or can I just go along in the english and math at his level, and do everything else out of Bigger? And do I possibly need to get the Preparing manual for my youngest, since he seems to fit best in that level? Or would that just be crazy to be doing Bigger, and the right side out of two separate manuals? This is making me wonder if this program will work for us???

I was also curious to hear about the Igniting Your Writing. My greatest concerns for him in writing are not his grammar, but his expressing himself. His writing is so dull and basic, and I want to be able to teach him to add some life to it. I do not feel confident in teaching writing at all, so I was really looking for a good writing program for him that would help teach him how to liven up his writing. How much does R & S do this, or is it just mostly grammar and structure in writing? And if not R & S, is that where Igniting Your Writing would be helpful?

Dear friend,
Because you have not yet used HOD yet, I highly suggest that you start with Bigger for both of your children and add the extension package for your older son. This will allow you to stay in American History. I am currently using Bigger with a 7, 11 & 12 year old and it is NOT too much. NOW, we do our own Math - Teaching Textbooks and we use Language Lessons by S. Queen (as suggested in DITHR). My older two very much enjoy the chosen science and history and the fact that it is their "independent" study. My older 2 have NEVER complained about the material we read together as a family as being too young. My 7 year old has been struggling to "keep up" and quite frankly - just wasn't until I made the decision to go with Bigger mid-year from another great curriculum. My mistake was that I was gearing our "together study" toward the older ones and lost my 7 year old. With the extension package HOD has made this curriculum one that reaches all of my children, but has also caused my older ones to become self motivated to work on their own. In fact, we very much look forward to Preparing - with extensions - next year with an 8, 11 1/2 & 12 1/2 year old! Hope this has helped.

Thank you, Julie. Yes that is so helpful for me to hear of others using Bigger successfully with older kids.

I have spent too much time on the computer researching , but have looked into Igniting Your Writing more, and I also looked at the Language Lessons by S. Queen. Then I saw that Carrie schedules Write With the Best: Vol. 1 in Hearts for Him, so I looked at it also. They all look great! These are right along the lines of what I was looking for. Now I just have some decisions to make. Write with the Best looks so good, but I may just wait a couple years until we are in Hearts for Him to use it. Or I could purchase the Hearts for Him manual and use the Language Arts and math from it for my oldest, and then I would need to get it (I'm assuming it's scheduled in with the LA) . Otherwise I think I will try using Igniting Your Writing. It looks fun. I think I am also going to go ahead and try R&S English. It looks like I might need to order the 2nd (scheduled in Bigger) for my 3rd grader, and the 4th for my 5th grader. Does that sound about right? And does anybody know if I do need to order the Preparing or Hearts for Him manual for the schedule of R&S 4th level, or would we be fine moving along at our own schedule? And if I am using the 4th R&S for my oldest, I'm still wondering whether it would be best to use the poetry out of Bigger, or go with one of the other manuals? I'm still just a bit confused on all of this. Thank you so much for any help!

Stephannie

Stephanie,

Juliakay did such a great job of helping answer your questions. I agree that it would be wise to do a trip through American history at this point with your kiddos so that will place you within Bigger Hearts. Your kiddos fit well within the age ranges for Bigger Hearts (which is 7-9 with extensions for 10-11). You will need to order the Extension Package for your older student.

You will want to do the poetry out of Bigger Hearts as it connects to the history study. You'll also want the read-alouds for storytime out of Bigger Hearts, as it will give you a mini-literature study which is wonderful for fine-tuning literature study skills. You'll also want to add Drawn into the Heart of Reading for your kiddos, if they are reading fairly well.

For the Rod and Staff English 2, you would just follow the schedule in Bigger Hearts. I agree that is a good place to begin in Rod and Staff for your third grader. My own third grader did English 2 last year, and it does a good job of laying down an excellent foundation in grammar. The writing lessons in Rod and Staff 2 don't come until the end of the year, however this is also good timing as third grader need plenty of exposure to copywork, poetry, and narrating before doing much writing.

It does sound like Rod and Staff English 4 will be a good place for your 11 year old to begin. I'm thinking you could just order the Preparing Hearts guide in addition to Bigger Hearts to have the English 4 schedule and 2 more sets of dictation passages (beyond those included in Bigger Hearts) for your 11 year old. If you won't be using our dictation for spelling, then you could get by without adding the Preparing Hearts manual either, as long as you just did a lesson a day in English 4. You wouldn't need the CTC manual at all.

I would most likely look at using either Igniting Your Writing 1 or Write with the Best with your 11 year old. Igniting Your Writing 1 is a bit more light-hearted, helping add flair to kiddos writing. It is also a once a week program written to the student (with Teacher's Notes in the back), so I'd most likely start there and save Write with the Best for later. Paired with Rod and Staff English 4, you'll have good writing coverage for your 11 year old.

We pray you'll have a wonderful year!

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie,

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! You answered all of my questions. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule! I wish I could go to one of the conventions you will be at, and be able to have you answer all of my questions in person, but this is the next best thing!
I am so excited to have a plan! I am looking forward to next year! I think this will be a lot of fun, and am feeling much better about having a 5th grader in Bigger after seeing so many other posts of Bigger being used with older kids, and after having you recommend this.

Thank you again, and God Bless,
Stephannie

Stephannie,
I just wanted to chime in and say I think your plan sounds wonderful! I think you will find that combining for Bigger Hearts will keep your dc together in a way that works well, and the extensions will be enough to stretch it for your older ones. I love HOD's concept of stretching for the olders, while yet keeping the youngers together with the olders for all that makes sense. I'm very excited for you to get your Bigger Hearts manual and HOD books. I think that reading the introduction and paging through the guide will put any remaining stressors you may be having to rest. The guide is amazing - no planning necessary, deep learning that is planned in a way simple enough to pick up and teach from. Bigger Hearts has been one of our favorite years - it is just such a growth year, and the history is rich - full with American heroes to appreciate. You'll be glad you've decided on Bigger Hearts! Be sure you share your box day with us.

In Christ,
Julie