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Hi all! I haven't been back on the board for some time now but this is always the time of year that I begin my planning for our next schoolyear. We've been very happy with HOD and really want to stick with it but I'm curious from those who have gone thru all the manuals if doing Bigger next year won't seem repititious having just studied the Colonial days for a long time in Bigger??

We've done LHFHG and now Beyond and I just wanted to hear your thoughts on this!

Thanks!!

Oops I meant after doing Beyond not Bigger.

Tiffanieh,
You will be covering American History but it will not be repetitious at all.
When you study Christopher Columbus, John Smith, Pocahontas, William Penn, Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, George Washington, etc. you will do so in a more personal way. Add to that the Notebooking, Science that correlates with history and character study in Proverbs, and you really have a package that is totally different from Beyond.
You won't be dissapointed!
Dorla

My kids and I actually liked when we remembered something about a character in Bigger...that we had learned about in Beyond...it was a nice connection that we enjoyed. I don't think you will feel it's repetitious at all.

We just finished Beyond and started Bigger this week. My ds was so excited to recognize Columbus and loved learning more about him in a new way. Years back, when we did Beyond and then Bigger with my oldest ds, I found the same to be true for him. They are done in very different ways, and Bigger adds many new ways of responding to what was read - i.e. notebooking, etc. So, I'm sure you'll enjoy Beyond as much as you did Bigger! The reading level and assignments step up a notch (as they well should for that age), so just give some time for dc to learn these new skills, and you'll have smooth sailing.

In Christ,
Julie

tiffanieh,

This is a good question! The ladies have already done a great job of answering it, so I'll just pop-in to mention that Beyond covers early American history only and Bigger Hearts covers American history up through the Vietnam War. Beyond is done more in broad strokes through stories of colonization by pilgrims and settlers from other countries, fighting for their rights and their country as patriots, and the formation of a new nation and the problems that came with that. Bigger Hearts takes a biographical approach instead, focusing on the people that made America great. The history is learned in the background as you read about these people.

The two years of Beyond and Bigger are meant to complement one another and provide kiddos with a deeper understanding of American history through a layered approach. You won't revisit American history again until after doing Preparing Hearts, CTC, and RTR. So, you'll want to make sure you don't skip this all important study.

Blessings,
Carrie