Difference in Beyond and Bigger?

[ninipelley]

I have been piecing together my own curriculum for the past 2 years and ran across HOD at a convention. Fell in LOVE with the program as it uses alot of my philosophy and books we have read or have as well. It's a natural fit. Here's the question...
I have a son who will be in K- was going to use Little with him.
My daughter will be in 2nd grade, advanced and I would like to go with Bigger for her. We did History for Little Pilgrims with supplements this yr and Our Father's World Science. We'll be in Singapore 2A, she can read and write very well, and I'd like her to get all the HOD programs in by the end of 8th grade.
So here:
It looks like the diff. between Beyond and Bigger is maybe just more in depth history? Seems so cover chronologically the appr. same period of early Amer. History.
Do you think it would be fine to skip Beyond and study Bigger more in depth?
And how do you think the K would fit in?

[lmercon]

I am using Bigger with my 2nd grader this year. We used Beyond last year. Both are fabulous American history programs. Bigger has more of a biographical approach to similar time periods. We are covering some things more in depth this year that we glazed over last year. Other things are only mentioned briefly in Bigger that were more developed in Beyond. For example, a lot of time was devoted to the Pilgrims' experience in Beyond, while the Revolutionary War was just touched upon. In Bigger, less time is given to the pilgrims, but more time is given to the wars. Also, Bigger covers a larger time period. The history readings are at a higher listening comprehension level in Bigger. There are notebooking assignments in history and science in Bigger that require much more time and skill.

I would suggest that you refer to the placement chart on the HOD site to help with your decision. I don't think you will go wrong with either program. These programs stretch nicely to meet the needs of the child. If things are going easily, you can always add in some of those nice "extras" that we all wish we could get to!

Anyway, I hope this helped a little. You will LOVE HOD! This board provides a lot of help and advice and insight. I'm glad you are with us.
Laura

[amysconfections]

The big difference is the amount of work in Bigger and beyond. Bigger is a big step. I feel that it is a better fit for 3rd grade, but that's your choice. You definately need to look at the placement chart. There is Vocabulary assignments, science notebooking, history notebooking, R&S English(daily). Just lots more writing in general. If your dd is ready for the amount of writing then that's fine. We really enjoyed Beyond history readings.

[ninipelley]

So do you think maybe combing the K/2nd 'er into Beyond with seperate Math/LA? The K is ready to sit for stories. I am reading our 3rd Novel to him and he loves hearing the books...
thank you

[MomtoJGJE]

My K'er would not be ready to sit for the amount of time Beyond takes, but if you feel your K'er could do that you could combine them! Another idea, that would probably work for my K'er (I have one going to be in 2nd next year and one in K next year, but this is not how I've combined) would be to do Beyond as is for the 2nd grader and use LHFHG right side for your K'er (so that would be storytime, fine motor skills, reading, and math)

If I were just starting my 2nd grader on Beyond that's likely what I would do... however we are about 10 weeks away from being done with Beyond, so I've combined my middle two in the lower levels.

[Mom2Monkeys]

You're getting great advice! I just wanted to chime in that I have an advanced/gifted 3rd grader doing Bigger this year and will continue some into 4th grade. It's PLENTY for her! She's getting so much out of it. Being a little older on the age range has helped my daughter get so much more out of each program! I've truly learned that most of the time, even when our children are very bright or advanced, less is often more. They are still just little kids! School is still fun at this age, and should be!

I do know that some moms are using LHFHG with 2nd graders as well. You could beef it up with using the right side of Beyond or Bigger with her and add in the extra book choices in the appendix for extending the topics for her. This would benefit your K'er greatly! I have a 6yo ds that will be doing LHFHG in 1st and he'll be almost 7 when we start. He's a smarty pants too

If you hit Bigger in 3rd, you'd finish the last of the history rotation in 8th grade. Carrie has plans for a 9th grade course as well. Perhaps even more (we can dream! )

[ninipelley]

okay- you are all so helpful.
I will be doing Beyond next year for my 2nd grader I have decided.
Is it so hard to do 2 programs at once?
Or can the K do everything in Beyond with ds but his own math/language arts? He LOVES hearing stories, has sat still to hear about 2 or 3 chapters at a time from "The Boxcar Children", "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and "The Littles".

[lmercon]

I think a k-er could handle much of Beyond with his own math and LA, but I would encourage you to think down the road. I think it would be very difficult for a first grader to do Bigger the following year. It is a great program, and I fear that you would have to tweak it so much and water it down to his level, that he would really not get much out of it. Each program requires more out of the student, so you would be facing that same situation every year. It's hard to have to water down programs if they are too advanced for the learner. He won't get as much out of each of the programs, which would be a shame. That's just my 2 cents. Others may offer different advice. By the way, you can certainly do two different programs, but I would start out easy. Maybe start one child first and add the younger in a few weeks later. Or you could start out both dc, but only go at half-pace for a while until you get into a groove. HOD is a wonderful, easy-to-implement program.
hth,
Laura

[sharonb]

It IS quite doable to run two programs at once, but if you do Beyond and Little Hearts, then you will always be repeating guides without a break. I don't know if that is a concern for you or not. I like having a year off before repeating books with my younger children! For this reason, i would lean towards using Little Hearts and Bigger, but be prepared to take Bigger a little slower at first if you feel the need.

A lot of families do combine their children for the "left side" of the plans. You could probably do that with Beyond, but then you'd want your K'er to use "right side" plans from Little Hearts. But like someone else said, think about whether you think your K'er would be ready for the listening in Bigger the following year. You could stretch the left side of Beyond out to two years to give your younger more time. In that case you'd want to keep the 3R's going at normal pace. Anyway, there are several options for you, but you know your children best!

[Mom2Monkeys]

If you did Beyond at full pace and Little Hearts at half pace (for K and 1st, but math/phonics/handwriting daily meaning you'd do the K level the first year and the 1st grade level the 2nd year). Then you would have a year between guides instead of always doing each one two years in a row. That would also have your K child doing Bigger in 3rd grade- and I feel like Bigger is just right as is for 3rd/4th grade.

[lmercon]

If you did Beyond at full pace and Little Hearts at half pace (for K and 1st, but math/phonics/handwriting daily meaning you'd do the K level the first year and the 1st grade level the 2nd year). Then you would have a year between guides instead of always doing each one two years in a row. That would also have your K child doing Bigger in 3rd grade- and I feel like Bigger is just right as is for 3rd/4th grade.
If you did Beyond at full pace and Little Hearts at half pace (for K and 1st, but math/phonics/handwriting daily meaning you'd do the K level the first year and the 1st grade level the 2nd year). Then you would have a year between guides instead of always doing each one two years in a row. That would also have your K child doing Bigger in 3rd grade- and I feel like Bigger is just right as is for 3rd/4th grade.

That's a great idea!

[busybee4]

I am chiming in late here...haven't been on here in a while.

I also used Beyond for my K/2nd dds this year. My dd K turned 6 in Nov. so I don't know where she would match up with your dc as far as age is concerned.

I have to tell you that this was a perfect fit for the both of them!!! They have loved it all and ask me to read the history to them everyday!!

I would say that if you decide to go with Beyond for both to definitely keep them on their own levels for the 3R's but mesh them for everything else! This is so doable with Beyond! You could even take it at half speed at the beginning of the year (taking 2 weeks to do a unit instead of 1) until you get a good feel as to how they are both doing. So you would do one side of the page on day and the other side the next day etc. (That was how it was explained to me but I liked doing both pages say M,W,F of one week and then only having to do them on T, Th of the following week. But you could do either).

That was the advice given to me on here and it was great advice!! We worked at half speed until December because I saw that they were both ready to pick up the pace and easily handle it!

HTH!!

[ninipelley]

awesome advice ....
I see that it's something that CAN easily be tweaked as you go.
Carrie is a genius!!!