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I read in one of the posts that Bigger has extensions to help beef it up for older kids. Is that true?

Yes there is an extension pack that is scheduled in the back for extending to 4th and 5th grade students. Lokk here at the bottom http://www.heartofdakota.com/bigger-hearts-packages.php However you may have been reading about suggestions for even older kids Carrie suggests some other books on this thread viewtopic.php?f=6&t=640&hilit=poor+richard I just used Bigger with these suggestions for my 6th grader and it worked great! HTH

Okay, so that beefs up the science and history. How did you handle beefing up the language arts, writing, spelling, math, etc. Okay, math is easy - we use our math program at the level for the child. What about the other subjects?

Well I do not actually use R&S for LA. I use CLE and CQLA. In fact I do not use Singapore for my older kids either (use it for my younger kids). We use CLE for math. You can use any LA or math that you wish and still have the program. Really changing LA and Math is the easy part. It is having the unity of linking Bible to History, Science and the program that is hard to pull off on your own. Another option is to buy the Preparing or CTC manual and use that just for LA and Math only if you would like to use HOD for LA and Math on your child's level that works really well and it is easy to do. I do a bit of that myself. But I run HOD by the book as written for my younger kids and tweak LA and Math for my older kids and have found both flow well and are very easy to pull off. I hope that gives you some ideas.

CLE? CQLA? I haven't heard of these before. No matter. You gave me more than enough ideas and reiterated WHY I chose HOD. I am making this too complicated and it doesn't need to be.

You got the point. It's not that complicated really it is just finding the best fit for your children and then going with it. You can adjust the LA level to fit your child. The programs are a blessing to use. Sometimes it is a little hard looking at it to know that it will all work for your family but it is so flexible you will find that it really does. You'll love it.

CLE is Christian Light Education. CQLA is Christian Quality Language Arts. You can google them to get the websites. I use R&S at grade level. My son will be 11 doing Bigger this year.