Time for Bigger Hearts

[tkrasnake]

First of all, I want to say that we are really enjoying HOD this year. I am using the left hand page from Bigger for both my girls. Then the right hand side of Bigger with my 3rd grader and the right hand side of Beyond with my 1st grader. However, I am somewhat discouraged that it is taking us five hours from start to finish! The girls are not complaining and love every minute of it. However, it is really wearing me out. I was hoping for 3.5 to 4 hours this year. Does anyone else have experience with teaching two about this age? Should I expect our time to get somewhat shorter as we get the routine down?

Blessings,
Teresa

[MomtoJGJE]

Take this with a grain of salt because I've not done Bigger.... but I cannot imagine it taking that long. I cannot fathom it taking us that long next year when we are doing Bigger and LHFHG (with 2 combined).... From what I can tell, the left side of Bigger should take you about an hour and a half, give or take.... It will definitely get shorter as everyone gets the routine down.

I'll help you brainstorm....

Do you do school from start to finish? Are there breaks? Are you doing what is in the guides or are you adding on to it? Are you doing two story times? That would cut down a bit of your time (15-20 minutes), if you just combine them, since you are using Beyond and Bigger....

Are you doing one child's right side and then the other child's right side? Or are you doing them at the same time and just helping one while the other is working independently?

In Beyond this past year, the right hand side took us maybe 45 minutes on a rough math day. I would think Bigger would be roughly an hour (based on what it looks like on the sample pages...)

[Carrie]

Oh, Teresa! I'm not sure what's happening, but Bigger takes 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours to do including math, DITHR, dictation, everything! Adding part of the right side of Beyond will add a bit of time, but it shouldn't add much more than 45 min. total.

Here are the time allotments that it took us when we did Bigger:
Cursive = 5-7 minutes

Drawn into the Heart of Reading 20-30 min. total (including reading time - we only read one chapter a session)

Math = 20 minutes

Reading About History Box (8-10 min.), Bible Study Box (5- 10 min.), and Bottom left corner box of "Learning Through History" (15 min.) done in one sitting totaling 35 min. (Note: Art days take a little longer.)

Dictation (5 min.), Poetry (5-10 min.), Rod and Staff English (10-15 min.), and Storytime (15 min.- We read aloud only one chapter a day. Some moms do more!) done in one sitting totaling 35 min.

Hymns at lunch (5-10 min.)

Science (after lunch - 15-35 min.- depending on whether there's an experiment or a notebooking entry or just oral narration)

I need to be up front in saying that I am a no-nonsense, check-it-off type teacher and don't stray far from the planned lessons, so these times can vary widely depending on whether or not you enjoy going off on bunny trails with your lessons.

Here are the time allotments for Beyond: You'll look at the right side time allotments only.

Reading About History Box: 10 min.
Poetry and Rhymes: 5-10 min.
Bible Study and Music: 10 min.
Rotating Bottom Left Box (Artistic Expression, History Activity/Timeline, Geography, Science twice weekly): 15-20 min.

Language Arts Box: 15 min. (spelling/grammar)
Reading: 15 min. if doing the Emerging Readers and 20-25 min. if doing DITHR 2/3
Math: 15-20 min.
Storytime: 15-20 min.

Are you using our grammar, reading, math and spelling? This can make a difference and add time if you happen to be using a time-consuming program in any of those areas. I'd set your timer and note your start and end times for each subject for one day and compare them to our time allotments to see what is taking up your time. Also, if you have a schedule you'd like to post, we could look for ways to save time there too.

Blessings,
Carrie

[my4sugars]

Last year I used Bigger with my ds for 3rd grade and Beyond half-speed with my dds for 1st grade. When we started the year, it took us awhile to find our rhythm with Bigger. It took us longer to get our subjects completed, but as time went by, it was not taking us more than 3 hours to do school for all 3 kiddos. Just give yourself some time to find your sea legs, if you will, and before you know it, time will fall off your daily school time.

[moedertje]

I have found that when I first start a new guide that it takes a bit longer to do, until we get into the swing of things after a few weeks. Hang in there and keep on with it and you will notice the times being equal to what Carrie has in her post.
Success!

[tkrasnake]

Thanks so much! I know beyond a doubt much of our problem is the read alouds. My girls contantly beg for more, so we end up reading 2 or 3 times what is scheduled for the day. Also, if there is any kind of art in the assignment, it takes them FOREVER! My older daughter is an amazing little artist, but she likes to make everything so detailed. Since we read so much for our read alouds, I am considering alternating the days with them. One day do the 3rd grade read aloud and the next day do the 1st grade read aloud. That may help if I can keep the tears from flowing. Carrie, thanks so much for the detailed schedule. I will pay attention today to how we are spending our time and post. Although we are spending a lot of time in our little school room, the girls are absolutely thrilled with school! Thank you Carrie for all of your hard work and dedication to this wonderful program!

Blessings,
Teresa

[tkrasnake]

Thanks so much! I know beyond a doubt much of our problem is the read alouds. My girls contantly beg for more, so we end up reading 2 or 3 times what is scheduled for the day. Also, if there is any kind of art in the assignment, it takes them FOREVER! My older daughter is an amazing little artist, but she likes to make everything so detailed. Since we read so much for our read alouds, I am considering alternating the days with them. One day do the 3rd grade read aloud and the next day do the 1st grade read aloud. That may help if I can keep the tears from flowing. Carrie, thanks so much for the detailed schedule. I will pay attention today to how we are spending our time and post. Although we are spending a lot of time in our little school room, the girls are absolutely thrilled with school! Thank you Carrie for all of your hard work and dedication to this wonderful program!

Blessings,
Teresa

[water2wine]

Looks like you have some wonderful suggestions. I agree it appears some time is lost somewhere in your day. A good thing to do is to write down the real time it is taking you to do each box and compare it to the time that Carrie has given you per box. You will see immediately where the time is going and it could be several places. Hang in there. It's always good to know there is something that can be fixed. We have loved, loved, loved both Beyond and Bigger and look forward to doing Bigger again this year.

[lovedtodeath]

Ah, I have had read aloud time take up most of our school day before. I make my daughter read it herself if she wants more than what is scheduled.
I was thinking that moving the read aloud to a different time might help? Also maybe you could move art time to the last thing for the day.

[my3sons]

I was going to suggest the same thing lovedtodeath did for the art activity. I'd move it to the end, so your teaching time is done, but your dc can take longer to do their art, delving into their free time if they so desire. I have a nephew that has to do this, as he is an incredible little artist, and takes great joy in drawing out the HOD projects - sometimes all afternoon (just ask Carrie about this sweetie!). For the read-alouds, I always like to leave them begging for more, and I also like the plot and character development that they learn by drawing a book out longer through shorter reading sessions (as CM was a proponent of). You may want to try keeping the reading sessions shorter during school time and adding a bedtime reading of something else that you read as long as you want. Or, you may want to put your reading during lunch, as that has a natural end (we moms too do need to eat at some point ). One last idea is to set the time for 10 to 15 minutes for your read aloud, and however far you get, you get. Then the timer's the "bad guy/bearer of bad news", not the mama.

Printing the suggested time allotments, and jotting the times each thing is really taking you next to them is a super way to see where time can be lessened. I agree with all the pp's that when a routine is established, time falls off the day the further you go (but not if you stretch out things or add more to it ). For our family, I am not ashamed to say that we need to be done with school by lunch for me to be a happy homeschooling mama, and for my dc to be happy homeschooling dc. We homeschool "hard" for the first 4 hours of the day, and we love what we do during time. But then the rest of the day is ours. Not every family is that way, but if you are wanting to finish earlier, you truly can - it just takes some careful planning and a determination not to let the time get away. Easier said than done though, I know, as temptations arise all around us. Just think of it this way, when it's the afternoon and you are still doing school getting stressed wishing you were done, and your dc are getting tired and losing patience and focus, it would have made everyone happier in the long run to skip the extra reading and be done earlier. I've had to learn this with how much I am choosing to read, and also how much I am choosing to discuss (as I can really draw out discussions if I don't watch myself - and time gets away from me then). HTH!

In Christ,
Julie