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gotpeace91 wrote:5,000 Year Old Puzzle~Unit 5 Day 1
The Trojan Horse~Unit 9 Day 3
OSS Cactus Desert~Unit 4 Day 4
Tirzah~Unit 5 Day 4

Here's to get you started. Will come back and ponder over the rest of your post.

gotpeace91 wrote:Do you think she would be able to read the books from the Science package and the Independent History box independently without too much difficulty? If so, it sounds like she is ready for Preparing. She will really enjoy the gentle writing lessons in Poetry. As far as Grammar goes, if it were me, I would figure out how often to do Grammar so that she finishes 3 at the end of Preparing. Then you can be on schedule in CTC with 4 which is scheduled so that half of it is done that year. Of course if you want a more aggressive approach, you could do it every day and you might end up half way through 4 by the end of Preparing and then you could do the last half of 4 in CTC and follow the schedule for 5 in RTR. I'm not sure about how you would want to split it in half. I've always done right side/left side when I wanted to go half speed. Your first idea sounds pretty good.

my3sons wrote:Hi Tamara! Sorry we've been in an RTR flurry here! I think you have several options here. Dd could finish out Bigger Hearts using these ideas to make it quite independent for dd and doing it full-speed 4 days a week:
Carrie explains how to up independence in Bigger Hearts:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6502&p=47428
That's actually exactly what I've been doing! I read that thread several weeks ago and implemented it with great success.

Then, you could just go right into PHFHG with dd 4 days a week full-speed after that. The advantage of this plan is dd will get to practice the skills in Bigger independently first before trying to do them independently in PHFHG when they are in their "next level more difficult" phase. I think she could be more independent this way in the long run.

The second option would be to start PHFHG half-speed, going full-speed with the things you want to. You already have some good ideas for how to go about that with her that are good. I think I linked this for you on another thread, but in case my memory is failing (which really could be the case ), here's a link that may help:
Half-speed PHFHG, with daily 3 R’s schedule by Carrie:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5431
Your memory isn't failing. Not to worry! You did link me to that and I've been pondering over it ever since. Thank you for finding that for me!

I would print out PHFHG's first week and really look it over carefully, comparing it to Bigger Hearts. I think many moms want to get to PHFHG because it seems more independent than Bigger Hearts, and it is 4 days a week. However, the things that dc are to be independent for in PHFHG are harder than the things that are not taught independently in Bigger Hearts, IMO. For example, it's more difficult for dc to follow the directions in the PHFHG history project box than to follow the directions for the BHFHG notebooking box. I hope that makes sense! What I'm trying to say is a child who is a good reader/writer doing Bigger Hearts things independently that are intended to be taught may have any easier time doing those things independently than doing the things that are intended to be done independently in PHFHG independently. Oh boy, I hope that made some sense. It did make sense! I find she is learning to follow the directions pretty well since we started making so much indepdnent. Her only hang up is the fact that in BHFHG, the directions are written to me so it says "Tell the student", or "Ask the student", etc.. For some reason that bugs her. If it just says, "Do this." she does better. When I looked at the PHFHG sample pages, it seems the independent boxes are written to her, so perhaps she'd do better with that. I have a bunch of family arriving for our dc's "fair" in about 40 minutes, so I hope I'm not confusing you more than helping, but I wanted to get back to you. Also, I think the science and history readings in Bigger Hearts will be much easier to do independently, than the history/science in PHFHG. We're in OSS:Woods. Do the science readings get more difficult throughout the year, b/c this is absolutely not a problem for her at all. She is also doing wonderfully well with the history readings. She can easily read them in a couple minutes and come tell us all about it. Same with the extension books-- I'm not using the 6.0 and up books much, but she's doing just fine with the others so far. Anyway, I think you'll be able to tell if you pour over the PHFHG first week. If the goal is for her to move toward great independence, I think option 1 would give you that by having dd take over history/science readings, and even Storytime if need be (but you'd do the 5 minute follow-up). This is what she's been doing, and doing very well. She breezes through it effortlessly when she actually focuses (which can be difficult in summer when we're not consistently doing school and with 3 little brothers!). My concern is that it may be too easy. I"m worried she's having trouble staying focused b/c she finds it too easy. I asked her how she's enjoying BHFHG and she says she loves it. When I asked her why she said b/c John Audubon was awesome and the rest is fun and so easy, "other than that bothersome math and grammar." (yes, her words. hehe) So, perhaps PHFHG is the challenge she needs. She certainly does not apply herself. She's very bright, but has become very lazy in her schooling-- maybe b/c she needs more challenge. Plus we've done about 3 years of American History so far. Perhaps there's a bit of boredom in that aspect even though she enjoys the history books. (I find it fascinating! I'm learning more than I ever did in school!) Just a few thoughts - but you will know best, hon'! No! I don't know! I don't know what to do at all. I really don't!

In Christ,
Julie