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I got my curriculum a while back, and am so excited to start. Counting down the days 'till they are out of ps. Yay! I have been looking through, and trying to get myself ready, and have a few questions. One of my problems is that while I do want my kids to work towards more independence, I don't want to miss out on any of the learning with them. Especially when it comes to great literature. We will be doing Bigger, and my oldest son, 10, is very capable of reading all of the extension pack on his own, but I've noticed how some families that don't need the extension use it anyhow as a read-aloud. I would love to do that so that my 8 yr old can join in, (and so that I can hear the stories, also). I guess my question is if I did use it as a read-aloud, would I be keeping my oldest from enough independent work? (He would still have his own reading in DITHOR) And also, if I do have him read it independently, what is the follow-up. Are there any assignments or activities that go along with it, or would it just be me asking him about what he read, or how do I know he's getting it? (I guess I haven't looked that far into the manual.)
I know I have more questions. I'll have to ask later.
Thank you so much for any input.

Stephannie

Hi Stephannie! I'm so excited for you to begin, and it sounds like you are getting all of your ducks in a row. I can't remember which guide you are going to be using? Each of the extension packs has content that is meant for the more mature reader, so you'd have to weigh whether the titles would be appropriate for your 8 yo to hear. I looked at the PHFHG extension last year to possibly read out loud to my 8 yo or have him read the titles independently in his free time, and I decided not to do that. PHFHG is a very history rich program without the extensions, the extension books are at a mid-fifth to upper-seventh grade reading level, and toward the middle to the end of the extension pack, there are quite a few pages being read each day - which would be perfect for an older child reading them independently, but not so perfect for mom reading them all out loud. However, I have 3 very different aged dc with very different needs, and I'm not at the point where I enjoy reading extra books out loud for long periods of time. If you would enjoy that, and you feel the books are appropriate in content for your 8 yo, then it would probably be fine. I would think the CTC extension package would not be appropriate to be read out loud to a younger child due to the mature content of the time period being studied, if that is the guide you might be using. Bigger Hearts would probably be fine.

In the Appendix of the guides, right before the Extension Package Schedule, you'll see the rotation of response activities the older dc should do for the extension pack. It is important to have your older child do these, as they are also what extend the learning. They are usually things like oral narrations, several paragraphs long summaries, draw a picture with a summary, etc. - and they are somewhat different depending on which guide you are using.

The reading of the extensions independently is one of the ways the program is beefed up for your older child, but you could decide if you think it's alright to read them yourself instead. I think if I were you, I'd start out not reading them out loud and do the plans for about a month to see if you'd enjoy adding that to your plate, as well as seeing if you thought your older ds needed the benefit of extending the history by him doing the reading independently. Then, you could always start reading it out loud to your 2 kiddos at that point if you still wanted to - I have a feeling once you'd begin doing the reading yourself, you wouldn't be able to go back and make it independent as easily if you wanted to. Those are just my thoughts though - you will truly know best!

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you so much, Julie, for helping me think through this. I will be using Bigger, so I'm sure the content would be fine for my 8 yr. old. I like your advice, though, of starting out with my 10 yr. old reading them independently, and then adding it as a read-aloud later if I find I have the time. I do need to keep things as simple as possible. I always tend to want to add way more than I'm capable of, and overwhelm myself. I may just have to sneak in time to read them on my own so I don't miss out. I hate for my 8 yr. old to miss out on them, also, but we can add them in if we decide it will work into our schedule fine, or he may possibly be inspired to try reading some of them on his own. Or I could pick a couple of the favorites to read to him, or as a read-aloud for both. There are options, but for now I will just plan on starting out the way it's intended.

I did look back and find the response activites for the extensions after I sent my question. I guess I had just skimmed past that. Those will be helpful.

Thank you, again, for your help. I am so excited to start (although I know I'm going to have attitude issues to work through with my 8 yr old in the beginning Hopefully I'll come up with some creative ways to work on it this summer--any advice from anyone would be greatly appreciated). I'm sure I'll be back with more ?s.

Stephannie

learning_is_fun wrote:I always tend to want to add way more than I'm capable of, and overwhelm myself. I may just have to sneak in time to read them on my own so I don't miss out. I hate for my 8 yr. old to miss out on them, also, but we can add them in if we decide it will work into our schedule fine, or he may possibly be inspired to try reading some of them on his own.

Stephanie,

I'm with you here! Believe me, I had a hard time deciding not to read the extension books because they just look great! I can tell you though that I've done Bigger this year with my 8 yo (just turned 9) "as is", and it has been wonderful! I know that the books in the extension pack are great, but our learning has been full and enjoyable without them. (And honestly there have been days where it would have stressed us out to add them in.) I'm going to look for some of the titles for good reading as we go along though.

So, they'll give your 10 yo just what he needs, and you and the 8 yo can let them pass for now. (Unless you have the time to add them in, of course. ) You can read them in the evenings when your kids go to bed. I know that there have been a few days when Grant hasn't read his DITHOR out loud for me, and I have to sneak time to "catch up". And, I missed the end of By The Great Horn Spoon when I was gone one day, and just had to read it as son as I got home.

You're in for a great year!
Kathleen

Kathleen,

Thank you for the encouragement. I am glad that I asked, and that you ladies responded, or I probably would have started out the year trying to do way too much! In fact, I was trying to figure out a schedule, and add several other extras in, but you've got me thinking that I need to start as simple as possible, and see how it goes. Then, once we get the hang of it, if I feel I can fit more in, I can add it gradually a little at a time. I guess I have been very nervous about using Bigger with a 10 yo that actually placed best into CTC (but my husband wanted us doing American History this year, and I wanted to keep them together--they would have placed together best in Preparing), so I feel like I need to add a bunch of stuff. I so want to keep it simple, though, and enjoy, and be able to focus on discipline and attitude issues that are definately more important than academics at this point. So, thank you again. I so appreciate your input.

Stephannie