A few more questions about Beyond

[HollyS]

I have quite a few more questions before ordering. I posted earlier, and I'm pretty sure Beyond will be a good fit for my older two (DD will be 8 this summer and DS will be 6 next fall). On the placement chart, DS is pretty much in Beyond and DD is between Beyond and Bigger. Here are my ?s:

1. Can DS begin the emergent readers books anytime during the year? He's not quite ready now, but I think he might be later next year.

2. I have a different cover on my Am. Pioneers and Patriots book...It has a map of New England on it. The copyright is 1995. Is this okay or do I need a newer edition?

3. DD is going to be in 3rd grade. Looking at the books, the Level 2 books of DITHOR seem to be a good fit. She's about 10 lessons into Singapore 2A, but this subject is a struggle for her and some lessons take a few days. She's also about to finish ETC book 3 and this is pretty easy for her. However, she is not a very strong writer and dreads any kind of writing assignment. I know part of this is my fault since we haven't been doing much writing or copywork. I'm not sure if I should use the right-side page of Beyond or Bigger for her since she seems to be right in the middle. I'm afraid Bigger will be torture for her (and me) with all the writing, but I don't want her to be bored either.

4. I'm also looking at LHTH for my third DD who's 3.5. Can we do this at half-speed? I'm not sure I'll have 30 minutes to spend on school with her. Also, we have tons of Children's Bibles and devotionals for toddlers. Can I substitute for these, or will the program not flow as well?

I only have about $250 to spend, so I'm trying to get the most for what I have. I also hate buying curriculum that sits on my shelf, so I want to hold off on anything we don't need right now.

[mamayi]

Hi and welcome to HOD! I think I can answer your first question.
We are using Beyond this year for my ds7 and dd5. My dd started out using The Reading Lesson and she finished it up in January. She just moved straight into the Emerging Reader's books with out a hitch. (I didn't have her do the Early Reader's Bible though as we had all read that together when my ds started in the ER's in the fall.) It's pretty easy to start the ER's anytime. The schedule for them are in the back of the guide. For my own ease of use I type up and print off the pages to read each day and the comprehension questions and then use that paper as a book mark.
And as for the writing, the copywork has been just right for us. My ds was a VERY reluctant writer as well. We started out the year with only doing one or two sentences (which had to be done to the best of his ability). He is now doing about four sentences per day on average and even writing some things on his own! That's the great thing about the Beyond guide - it's been very easy to adjust to the skills of both my 5 year old and 7 year old. (I must also mention that we are going less than "full speed" so that we'll finish late next fall so that my dd can be a little older before we do Bigger.)
I think that Beyond will be a great blessing to your family's homeschooling journey.

Andrea

[GinainMD]

HollyS, I have decided on Beyond for my two eldest dds for this upcoming year also. They will be newly 7 and 8 when we begin. We also began LHTH with our 3 yr old in March. If you can squeeze it in, go for it. My 3 yr. old has thrived on this 30 minutes a day with Mommy and I have really enjoyed the time focused on her. Sometimes, even though I'm with my children all day every day, I feel like one or another child occasionally "gets lost in the shuffle" kwim. We are going half speed. One week we do 2 days and the next week we do 3 days. This has worked out beautifully for us. On the off days I just try to review or read books etc. so that she still has some one on one time each day. Well, I look forward to hearing about your HOD journey as we go on ours. Gina

[jenntracy]

1) yes. my son started doing emerging readers in January i think. I am going to have him continue over the summer. WE are doing Beyond in the fall. he is currently 6.5yrs.

4) IF you could possibly squeeze in the 30 minutes with LHTH, i think you would find it would benefit all. It has really worked well when i did my daughter's lesson FIRST. she had my attention and i wasn't trying to do it when she was tired later on.then later i wasn't feeling guilty, either, if we had to skip it.

We used The Beginner's Bible and our own Bible for LHTH b/c it was what we have and we love the Beginner's Bible and then it was great when we had it already for Emerging Readers too.

I don't think it would be a problem with using a different devotional. We had actually used Small Talks about God from lesson plans in an older LHTH guide b/c i found the book used and it does go nicely. we also have used the ABC verses book, which goes along with the "letter" of the unit but it doesn't necessarily fit the topic of the lesson that day.
So.... "I" think you could make it work if on tight budget.

Have fun!

JEnn D.

[amysconfections]

2. Not sure, but I 'm sure you could just improvise with it.
3. I would not do Bigger if she has a problem with writing. Let her do Beyond and then move into Bigger next year. You can add in R&S English book 2 and it will add plenty of copy work. I would take it slow through it though because it's very advanced.
4. I would just do LHTH on the days that you can rather than doing half a lesson. Yes, you can subsititute your own children's bible and devotional. You'll just have to look ahead to figure out what you should read.

[Busymomma1]

I can answer to your 3rd question. I also used Beyond this year for my 8 y/o and 6 y/o. It was about right for my ds age 6. Writing was/is a challenge to him, but he's grown so much this year. I started at 1st just having him write the spelling words. Then after a couple of months, we worked in 1 line of the poetry copywork, then 2 lines. So he has progressed. You can certainly make adjustments as needed. And for my dd 8, I'd consider her a very quick learner and she is a very advanced reader. Even so, she was in NO WAY bored at all! She has loved the program!!!!!! Sure, it appears simple on the surface, but there is much to absorb.
I've often internally questioned whether it's best to match the curriculum to the older and adjust to the younger, or match the younger and advance it for the older. Most often, the advice I've rec'd from ladies here has been to go with the easier and bump things up for the older. So that's what I've done, and it's worked well. That way, the younger doesn't miss important skills.

Oh, as for LHTH, I also have a 4 y/o ds. I JUST started doing LHTH a couple of weeks ago, and often thought it would be too much to do. But it is VERY EASY to implement. I talked with Julie at the Cincinnati Convention, and she told me each box usually takes no more than 5 minutes. She's right! Sometimes, even less! BUT... my ds is happy to have his own program, I believe. And my dd often does the reading and rhyme with him anyway! Very, very doable. I'm also teaching him to read with The Reading Lesson, and had been before LHTH. But, that was really the only thing consistently geared to him. The funny things is, my older two often want to join the little guy in his crafts and such! ha!

Hope that helps!

[Busymomma1]

Oh, and yes, I'm sure you could sub other Bibles, or just read passages that are listed in the guide from your Bible...

[Carrie]

HollyS,

The ladies are doing a terrific job of answering your questions! I'll just pop-in and respond too to make sure we covered everything that you asked. Your son can easily begin the Emerging Reader's Set at any time, as the schedule for that set is found in the Appendix of Beyond. That way you can begin the schedule when your son is ready without messing up the flow of the daily plans.

The American Pioneers and Patriots book is actually one that has been revised quite a bit. It has added content and a different format than the previous version, so you would save yourself much heartache trying to match content that isn't there in your old version by purchasing the new hardback version instead.

If your daughter is going to be in third grade, we would recommend adding the following portions from Bigger Heart's right side of the guide: Rod and Staff English 2, Cheerful Cursive or Italic B, continuing on with her current level of math, possibly the dictation passages within Bigger Hearts (if she is beyond the List 2 in the Appendix of Beyond), and DITHR Level 2/3. Depending on which areas she needs, you could possibly get by without the Bigger Hearts guide.

For Little Hands to Heaven, you can use any of the 3 options we include in the LHTH guide for Bible. These include choosing from A Child's First Bible, The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, or reading from the actual Bible (as we give the Scripture reference). We typically don't recommend using your own Bible to match as the plans match these 3 options exactly, and other Bibles may not match as well.

Hope that helps!

Blessings,
Carrie

[HollyS]

Thanks for all the help! Now I just have to sit back and wait for my orders to come in! I went slightly over-budget, but I did get some school supplies from Rainbow Resource, so I didn't do too bad. I got dry-erase boards, erasers, and markers for my older 3 and some index cards and rings to hold them...I think they will be perfect for spelling words and Bible memory!

I can't wait to look everything over!