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My ds will turn 7 in the fall and I am planning to do Bigger at half speed all the way to have him age wise in the middle of the guides rather than at the bottom. We are doing Beyond at full speed and are in lesson 30, and if I had known at the beginning of this year about doing the guides at 1/2 speed, I would have done the first half that way and the first half of Bigger that way.
He is doing very well with Beyond, but in looking at Bigger and Preparing I think he would benefit from maturing a bit more to catch up with the skills in Preparing.
I was thinking of taking 2 weeks to do 1 unit and only doing school 4 days a week of school and save Fridays for field trips etc.
If anyone has done Bigger at half speed all the way or has any input I would appreciate it very much.
Thank you.

no advice but waiting for other replies

moedertje wrote:My ds will turn 7 in the fall and I am planning to do Bigger at half speed all the way to have him age wise in the middle of the guides rather than at the bottom. We are doing Beyond at full speed and are in lesson 30, and if I had known at the beginning of this year about doing the guides at 1/2 speed, I would have done the first half that way and the first half of Bigger that way.
He is doing very well with Beyond, but in looking at Bigger and Preparing I think he would benefit from maturing a bit more to catch up with the skills in Preparing.
I was thinking of taking 2 weeks to do 1 unit and only doing school 4 days a week of school and save Fridays for field trips etc.
If anyone has done Bigger at half speed all the way or has any input I would appreciate it very much.
Thank you.

I've done LHFHG and Beyond both at half-speed for different amounts of time. It worked great! I could tell my ds needed to mature into the guides a bit, and he was a bit below the target age ranges. This gave him the time to do so. I could tell when he was ready to go full-speed, and at that point we did. He was ready (and wanting) more school at that point, so we just changed to full-speed at that point.

I'd say start half-speed, and keep that up as long as it's going well - that may be 2 years, and if so GREAT! I would do the reading each day though (either the Emerging Reader's Set or DITHOR), since reading daily at this early reading stage is important. If you feel your ds is ready for more overall at any point in the 2 years though, by all means, at that point switch to full-speed. It's easy to do this, so you can always have that idea in your back pocket. Here's a link to a post I wrote about my plans for helping my ds be more mature when he begins BHFHG:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3790&p=28065

HOD is sooooo flexible, so you can customize the pacing to be what fits you and your dc's needs best. The plan I shared at the above link was not my plan a year ago, but I now can see this would fit him perfectly. It's good to cast a glance ahead, but focusing on the needs here and now for decisions is the best place to begin, and then you can alter pacing as needed if you have to. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Julie,

I was wondering if I should start DITHOR at full speed even thou I was doing Bigger at 1/2 speed, since he will be done with the Emergent Reader by the time we start Bigger. This was my next question in line, how did you know? He truly loves to read and he even takes books with him in the car to read.
As for doing Bigger at 1/2 spee I will keep in mind to keep an eye on him to make sure I don't "hold him back" when he is ready to move to full speed, because I can always start Preparing at half speed as well.
I read your plan as well and I think last year would have actually been best to have slowed down, if only I had known. He did do wonderful, but I could see that Bigger could become overwhelming easily.

I am so excited with the upcoming guides and what we will learn. Thank you to you and Carrie again and again for you prayers, hard work, wise words and dedication!

moedertje wrote:Julie,

I was wondering if I should start DITHOR at full speed even thou I was doing Bigger at 1/2 speed, since he will be done with the Emergent Reader by the time we start Bigger. This was my next question in line, how did you know? He truly loves to read and he even takes books with him in the car to read.
As for doing Bigger at 1/2 spee I will keep in mind to keep an eye on him to make sure I don't "hold him back" when he is ready to move to full speed, because I can always start Preparing at half speed as well.
I read your plan as well and I think last year would have actually been best to have slowed down, if only I had known. He did do wonderful, but I could see that Bigger could become overwhelming easily.

I am so excited with the upcoming guides and what we will learn. Thank you to you and Carrie again and again for you prayers, hard work, wise words and dedication!

Thanks, moedertje! I love a good plan coming together - it sounds like you are all set! I think your plan is just right - I only shared mine to show how you can make it work any way that you want it to, working it out so you can start and finish at times you'd enjoy. I think you'll find Bigger Hearts to be a very meaty program, and I know you will love it!

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you again. No doubt that I will love it. I have fallen in love with the HOD way of teaching and it is to God that I give the glory that I ran into this curriculum.

Sorry this is a little late,but here goes. Thank you all for your posts about doing Bigger at half-speed it has really given me something to ponder. Where we live we are required to do SATs at the end of the school year. Would going half speed through the guide still prepare our ds enough to do well on these tests. Also, there was one mention of doing the guide at half speed but doing math each day, could someone explain this a little more. This has gotten me started thinking about some of the resistance ds had shown this past year with Beyond if perhaps he just needs to mature a bit more and if half speed would help with some of these issues as well. He is just now 7yo and gets frustrated easily if he is not able to do things as well as he likes the very first time. Your input would be a big help. Thanks.

faroutback

faroutback,

I would think that going half-speed might really help you and your son out with his schooling. If it were me, I'd do reading and math daily, and cut the rest in half. So for Bigger, I'd do the left page (plus reading and math) one day. Then I'd do the right page which is LA, storytime, and science (plus reading and math) the next day. You'll have to have an extra tab to mark your place in math...but that should be it. The reading box just reminds you to do it...no specific plans.

Does that make sense?
Kathleen

Kathleen,

Thanks for your help. I think I understand what you mean. So by the end of the school year we will complete the math and reading. We were going to use DITHOR for the reading program this fall. So instead of doing Drawn three days a week, we would be doing it each day or could we just add readers on the alternate days? Thanks again.

faroutback wrote:Kathleen,

Thanks for your help. I think I understand what you mean. So by the end of the school year we will complete the math and reading. We were going to use DITHOR for the reading program this fall. So instead of doing Drawn three days a week, we would be doing it each day or could we just add readers on the alternate days? Thanks again.

I completely agree with all Kathleen's previous advice! I would not worry in the slightest about ds getting enough academics with Bigger Hearts half-speed. He is on the young end of the target age ranges, and going half-speed would be a good plan for him. You can always choose to go full-speed 6 months into the year of so if you want, but you could very easily do Bigger Hearts half-speed taking 2 years to go through it, doing the things Kathleen mentioned daily, and meet academic standards for that age very well!

As far as DITHOR, I think I would do it each day at that level. This will be a systematic way of starting him out with it, and the daily instruction will give him a great foundation for excellent reading comprehension. Since he is doing the rest half-speed, doing DITHOR daily will keep him reading each day, very important for the stage right after the Emerging Reader's stage. The second year you are doing the second half of Bigger Hearts, you could back off to 3 days a week, or continue with 5 days a week - whatever you prefer at that point. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

DITHOR would actually work just great if you use it 3 times per week, too. If you were still using phonics or the Emerging Readers, I think you'd for sure want to go daily, but it's your choice since you'll be in DITHOR. I know that in Preparing on up, Carrie schedules it to be used 3 times per week. Last year while we were using Bigger, we did DITHOR every day and it worked great that way, too. So scheduling that will be totally up to you.

Now I'm thinking here as I type this, that maybe if you're going half speed with the Bigger guide doing it daily would be a good fit for you. You'll be able to stetch the Bigger guide out and give your little guy time to grow into it by going half speed with most of the plans, and using math and DITHOR daily will still give him enough work daily to challenge him. I think daily math and DITHOR would be what I would choose if I were you.

Let us know if you have any more questions.
Kathleen

thanks everyone for your advice it sounds good. I think we will try Bigger at half-speed and stick with the math every day and Drawn each day as well. Ds reads quite well but does not like to write he has shown some signs of struggling with the mechanics of forming his letters in manuscript and we are trying cursive now and I am watching to see if this flows more smoothly for him or if he experiences the same frustrations. But I digress, thank you all again.

faroutback