Beyond Little Hearts for my 9 year old? Is this doable?

[Heart_Mom]

Hello!

I'm new here and thinking of using Beyond for my son who just turned 9 on Saturday, and my daughter who is 6. My son had some visual processing issues which are pretty much resolved now, but he's really working at a 2nd grade level for Math and Language Arts. (He's just starting to read easy chapter books on his own now.) I know it would be a little "light" for his age for History and Science, but I still think he will greatly enjoy it and learn much. I would be using different math and language arts: ones that would be targeted just for what he needs, but I think he would do well with the history, science, Bible, and poetry lessons.

I did look at the samples online of Beyond, but I honestly don't think that he's ready for the writing required for notebooking in the Science.

Any thoughts or suggestions for me?

Has anyone else out there used this program for children my son's age?

Thank you so very much!!!

In Christ Alone,
Heart_Mom
P.S. I'm also thinking of using Little Hands for my 4 year old daughter (with my 1 year old listening in for fun )!

[Bramble]

hi! There are others who have used or are using Beyond w/ a 9 yo. I am one of them! My oldest was 9 in July. We've just started beyond w/ him and his almost 7 yr. old brother, and it is working fine. I am beefing up the math and LA, but you already have that covered.

I read in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3247&p=24196
this suggestion from Carrie on beefing up Beyond science for a 9 yr. old....
"The one area other area within Beyond that you will need to beef up for your older son would be the science. You can easily do this by adding additional science readings for him to do on his own on any topics that are of interest to him. Or, you could have him read several biographies about scientists if you prefer. The last option would be to add a science encyclopedia that he can use to look up additional information about the topics you're studying with Beyond for science. You may also wish for him to do a drawing of his experiment and then write a few sentences about it to keep as a science "lab sheet" in a science notebook."

[Heart_Mom]

Oops! In my "P.S." I meant to say I'm thinking of Little Hands for my 4 year old!

[Heart_Mom]

Thanks so much for your answer, Brambie! It's good to know someone else is using Beyond for a 9 year old.

I looked at the post you linked to, and here's some more info about my 9 year old:

He can easily read books like Amelia Bedelia and Frog and Toad. The more challenging books he's read on is own include Twenty and Ten, an abridged version of Moby Dick, and Squanto, Friend of Pilgrims (this one was hard for him, but he got through it). He can copy sentences, but we've really not gotten into copying paragraphs yet. He certainly listens to chapter books with no pictures eagerly. His struggles are really in writing, but things are getting better. I want to challenge him, but not exasperate him, with the amount of writing I require. He's doing Rod and Staff Spelling for Grade 2 right now, and I'm not sure if he should stick with that or use the spelling list in Beyond. We've got his Math covered with another program that's working well, so we won't be using the Math portion of Beyond. I love how this program is designed so that I can plug in a different math without causing a problem!

In my first post, I meant to say that I looked at Bigger Hearts, and some of the notebooking exercises for Science looked like they would be a little hard for him at this point, but I think next year they will be fine.

My six year old is reading books like Frog and Toad, etc. with ease and reads all the time for fun. She can also copy sentences easily, but hasn't begun paragraphs yet.

So if anyone has any other advice for me, other than adding in the extra science books for him, please let me know! And if anyone has specific recommendations for Science books that would be good for me to add for him, that would be greatly appreciated!

In Christ Alone,
Heart_Mom

[John'smom]

For extra Science what about Christian Liberty Nature Readers? Carrie has the first one scheduled in the Emerging Readers set, but you could get the next ones in the series. Just an idea.

[Heart_Mom]

For extra Science what about Christian Liberty Nature Readers? Carrie has the first one scheduled in the Emerging Readers set, but you could get the next ones in the series. Just an idea.

Thanks for the idea! I actually recently purchased two of those, so that might be a good way to round out Science for him.

[HollyS]

I'm using Beyond with my 8yo. I figure when we get to Bigger next year, we can add some of the extensions in. I did buy the Bigger guide for the 3R's portion.

For science, I decided to wait so I can keep her with my DS. I plan on adding in some nature studies this year to give her a little extra science. I picked up some picture books on birds and butterflies to use. I'm planning to set up a bird feeder soon (and plant some butterfly-friendly flowers next spring)...Very CM!