Bigger for 2nd grade and 1st grade...

[LeAnna]

I have a similar question about using Bigger for 2nd grade, except that I will be using it with a 1st grader too, and starting to have some doubts about the pace I should take with it.

Here is the situation... Because of a number of things, we will finish Beyond in December of this fall. My children will be in 1st and 2nd grade then-- just turned 8 and 7. I would really like to keep the girls together, but am not sure how to do this, so that my younger would not be too overwhelmed. I also would like to go into Preparing not having to worry about this too. Any advice?

I am wondering what the best plan of action would be. If I took it at 4 days a week, would that work? I would be starting it in Jan. of my oldest 2nd grade year and my youngers 1st, so that would put me into three quarters the way into their 3rd and 2nd grade year? I don't know if I like that for Preparing. What should I do?

They do their own math, and I had planned to finish the last half of Beyond with them this fall, using the 2nd Spelling Word list. But, then when Beyond is done, and I move to Bigger, I would finish with the Beyond words with my younger and go onto Dictation with my older. I had also planned to take 2 years with Rod and Staff 2, with my older... and not start it at all with my younger. Does this make sense? I feel like I'm going in circles!
What would you do? I guess my ultimate idea is to have them together, but move at at a pace that both can together, keeping English, Spelling, and Math seperate. And, when we move onto Preparing, I don't really want to have a 3rd grader and a 2nd grader struggling. Know what I mean?
If anyone has a good plan of action, I'm all ears!!

Thanks so much!
LeAnna

[Mommamo]

Can you do it half speed for a while and let your youger one have time to catch up? I know we slowed down Beyond because I was afraid of my dd getting to Bigger too early. Even then, I plan to do a lot of the writing for her, at least at first. If you did it half speed for the rest of next school year, after you finish up Beyond, then you could do it full speed 4 days a week for the next school year and then your kiddos will be 3rd and 2nd grade, and 4th and 3rd when they start Preparing, which would be perfect. I'm not sure if that will make any sense to anyone but myself...

[Mom2Monkeys]

I would do half-pace, 4 days per week. So, half the boxes (time-wise) one day, other half the other day...or right side one day, left side the other day. That would keep you moving forward but allow a good amt of time for the younger to mature and be more ready for Preparing when you get to it. You could do this plan until you are ready to bump it up a bit. You could add in the 5th day for a bit, then you could add in a full day or two until you are full speed so that you can pace it to finish right when you want. Wish I had more ideas for you!

[LeAnna]

Mommamo,

Are you saying take Bigger 4 days a week? What if I finished Beyond at full pace-5 days a week( finishing this fall in December) then moved onto Bigger at half pace the first few weeks, and then moved into 4 days a week.(starting in January and moving through). That would put me at half way through 3rd grade with my older, and half of 2nd grade with my older. Will that put me at 4th and 3rd for Preparing? I can't wrap my mind around this. That would be my ideal age to start Preparing.

LeAnna

[Mommamo]

Okay, I'm going to try again. Let's say you finish up Beyond how you're doing it. If I'm reading right, you'll finish in December and they'll be 2nd and 1st grade. Then start Bigger in January going half speed, either 4 days per week, or 5 days per week. If you do 5 days per week, you'll get through about Unit 10, I think, doing it that way. You'll then still have 24 units to finish the next school year, which would be 3rd and 2nd. Okay, so for 2nd and 3rd grade you could do Bigger at full speed, 4 days/week. If I did the math right, that should give you 30 weeks of school. You could then supplement for the other 4 weeks or whatever you need to do for your state. Mine doesn't have any number of day requirements really (Texas) so I'd be good to go! And then for 3rd and 4th grade you'd be set to start Preparing. So it'd look like this:

1st and 2nd: finish Beyond until December, start Bigger half speed in January, finish about 10 units going half speed
2nd and 3rd: Bigger full speed, 4 days per week, It will take about 30 weeks
3rd and 4th: Preparing

[crlacey]

Could you start using Beyond only 4 days a week and using day 5 (if you need to for reporting or just drop day 5 if not needed) for other interests such as music, science, learn about an animal or lapbook day (possibly using free lapbooks from homeschoolshare.com)? That would keep you from moving into Bigger too soon. Then you could start Bigger at half pace maybe doing history one day and science the next since your younger child will still be very young for Bigger. Eventually you could do full days of Bigger 4 days a week to help spread things out.

[LeAnna]

Yes, that might work. That way, I would still be moving through, but my younger wouldn't suffer. Thanks!

LeAnna

[my3sons]

Usually if dc are doing well with Beyond, they'll do fine with Bigger Hearts. My middle ds just did half-speed Bigger Hearts for the end of his first grade year and did well. Next year, he'll go full-speed with it for his second grade year and finish it out. I think it's a good idea to do the pacing that seems to work for now. So, you could finish out Beyond as you are doing it. Then, you could start Bigger Hearts half-speed and continue that for as long as that pacing seems to work well, albeit for the entire 2 years or less. Likewise, you can do the same for PHFHG - start half-speed, and go full-speed when they're ready. Are you wanting to work around a longer summer break, and to finish before taking summer break? That can make a difference in pacing you are wanting as well. I was trying by the time my middle ds reached the upper guides to have him finish a guide a year. I don't mind the break in the middle for younger guides, but I'm not as keen on it for the olders.

In Christ,
Julie

[LeAnna]

I would like to take the summers off and be done with one book, however, since we started Beyond in the middle of the year this year, our pacing will definitely be different for all the other books, right? It's not a huge deal for me to do that, but I'm like you, especially with the olders, it would bug me.
Maybe I will just do that... take Beyond the same as I was for the remainder of next fall; then move to Bigger going half pace until we can move faster, and see from there how things go. I guess I'm just worried that as we move up the books will get harder and my younger will be pushed harder along, to catch up with sis, and I don't want that to happen. I would rather keep both girls at the same pace in each manual, and just keep the English and math seperate. Julie, do you think it would be okay to take Bigger for at least a year and a half? That would put me right in the middle of the age bracket of Preparing for both.

LeAnna

[my3sons]

...Julie, do you think it would be okay to take Bigger for at least a year and a half? That would put me right in the middle of the age bracket of Preparing for both.

LeAnna

Yes, I do think that would be just fine to do Bigger Hearts for a year and a half! We actually will have done about that very thing with our middle ds. We did the first 6 units of Bigger Hearts half-speed over 12 weeks, and will finish out 4 days a week full-speed next school year. This is completely due to God, but I couldn't believe it when I counted the days my oldest ds needed to finish RTR and they matched exactly the days my middle ds has left to finish Bigger Hearts next year (since PHFHG is a 4 day plan, and BHFHG is a 5 day plan, this worked) . So, doing portions of LHFHG, Beyond, and Bigger Hearts half-speed with my middle ds has allowed me to help it all come together this year for him so he is a little older when doing the older guides, while still being on the same schedule after this year to finish a guide within a year like my oldest does. I'm doing the same with my littlest guy. Taking his lead and going half-speed when needed, but eventually when he gets to about Bigger Hearts, I'll get him on a schedule to finish a guide a year. So, if I were you, I'd choose a pacing with your younger of the two in mind, and follow that lead, possibly working to have them be a little older and on track to finish a guide a year about by PHFHG. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[LeAnna]

That does help! Thanks! I knew that I would like to have them on the upper end of the age bracket by about Preparing, and finish a book a year, if at all possible, I just didn't know how to get there. Now, I need to go calculate this out a bit and see exactly where we will be, but I think that will put me at finishing Bigger with my kiddos, at 2nd and 3rd grade. Then in the fall, we can start Preparing at 3rd and 4th grade, or 9 1/2 and 10 1/2. I think that will work out perfectly!!!

LeAnna