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I have decided to place my rising 1st grader in Beyond, and I'm very happy with that choice. I'm having a little trouble figuring out the pace to go with it. She fits squarely in the skill level for Beyond and is an Emerging Reader. I haven't required any writing/dictation/copy work other than a word here or there yet. Her handwriting needs work and this is where my question comes in. Since I haven't done Beyond, I don't know how it's going to prepare her for the writing, notebooking, compose original sentences, and cursive writing involved in Bigger. It seems like a fairly big jump from Beyond to Bigger. Is this a normal skill progression from 1st to 2nd grade? Should I do Beyond for more than a year, or if she's doing well at full pace, she will just go into Bigger prepared for the work? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to pace Beyond correctly for her. Bigger seems so grown up.

Thanks!

Bigger... is a good bit different from Beyond...However, each guide is created to prepare the child with the skills he/she needs to move on to the next guide. So, no matter if you go full-speed or slow it down to half-pace, your dd should be able to handle Bigger...when the time comes. We loved both guides, by the way...even my oldest son would want to listen to the readings for Beyond... and he did great with Bigger... plus extensions. We personally used Beyond...for 2nd grade, because I didn't even know about Little Hearts... then. However, for my youngest son we will be using Beyond.. at half-pace, partly b/c he is going to be using it beginning in 1st grade but also b/c a toddler and then a newborn in the fall is going to require that I slow down a bit. You could do either and it would be fine. If the placement chart shows that your dd fits right into Beyond...and you have the time, then I say forge ahead full-speed and you should have a great year. You'll learn a ton, as well as your daughter! Besides, you can always slow down to half-pace later if need be for any reason. HTH

That's exactly what I needed to hear! Thank you. I was truly hoping one guide was enough of a preparation for the next. I've put together my own combination for two years now, wondering whether or not I was doing the right thing. I need to just sit back and enjoy the learning along with them since all the preparation is done for me.

Blessings to you!

I was concerned with this very thing! We are finishing up Beyond now and getting ready to start Bigger in a couple of months with my dd who is on the young side of the age ranges. We have struggled through copywork this year in Beyond. She just doesn't like to be told what to write and it has taken some experimentation to figure out what she will write. We have muddled through that, and are pretty much on the other side of it. Because of this struggle, I made the trip from Houston to Arlington for the Book Fair earlier this month so I could meet Carrie and Julie and ask them about this very thing. Carrie gave me some wonderful advice and I am so encouraged from meeting her. She said that as we begin, I may have to write some of the "writing" portion for her, and gradually fade out the amount I write and increase the amount she writes. I do think that will work for my dd. As far as the dictation goes, if you do spelling list 1 in Beyond, you will do the spelling lists in Bigger. If you do spelling list 2, then you will do dictation. Since I used Beyond for 1st, I did list one, so we will be moving along with spelling instead of dictation. The dictation will follow in the next guide. I believe she gave further explaination, but I didn't write it down, so I don't remember it exactly. For the cursive part, my dd is really wanting to learn to write cursive, so I am going to give that a shot. She doesn't have the best handwriting, but she does a pretty good job and is trying to "connect" her letters like I do, so I am planning to move that direction. I guess if she doesn't have the letter formation down, you could do another year of handwriting. We did A Reason for Handwriting Book A with Beyond this year just for her to have more practice, but I don't think we need to continue that.

HTH...

Hi fellow Cindi from Texas! (I was raised in Houston ~ now living in Central Texas)

I am going to be doing spelling list 1 definitely. I am glad to hear we can just continue with spelling in Bigger. You had a great idea to go to Arlington to talk with them in person. I think after this year with Beyond I will have more of an understanding of where the program is going. I will be heading up to Arlington next year myself.

Thank you for the encouragement!

We did Beyond for first grade this year with spelling list 2. DD was not ready for all the copywork until just recently (right about the time she turned 7) but I got A Reason For handwriting A and had her do that plus her spelling words and the occasional other sentence/verse... she also has to copy sentences or verses if she backtalks, so that's helping some too...

We are going to start Bigger half speed until she gets the hang of all the writing, so probably about 4 or 5 units half speed.

Thank you, Lora Beth.

I really appreciate all the encouragement. This board is amazing!

We also did "A Reason for Handwriting A" along with the copywork in Beyond to cement those skills for my ds. We were going to do Beyond half-speed because he was just 6 yo when we started it, but after a few weeks or so, it was clear he was ready for it all. So, we did Beyond full-speed and started Bigger half-speed. I have loved this pacing for my ds! We enjoyed Beyond so much, and we loved beginning Bigger half-speed. I decided to do Bigger half-speed long enough before our summer break so that after our break he can do it full-speed just 4 days a week and finish the same time older brother finishes RTR, and little brother finished LHTH. Should be perfect timing! Beyond really does prepare dc for Bigger Hearts. I'd just start Beyond and know you can do Bigger half-speed if you want to later.

In Christ,
Julie