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That is what it is taking me to school both of my kids! I'm using LHFHG and BHFHG. We do reading at night-maybe 10-15 minutes for DD on her own and 2-3 minutes (if that) for our read-aloud (1 chapter a night).

Dictation and Spelling for Bigger are way below DD's level-even in the last Unit. We are doing vocab.

Do y'all think this is OK?

It sounds like it is going really smoothly for you! Yeah!

For us, it took about 1 hour when we were doing LHFHG. We were doing Singapore 1 and the Beyond spelling and grammar with that. Now it is taking us about 2 hours most days to do BHFHG including the storytime and dictation. That doesn't include DITHOR. We have just started adding in DITHOR and it adds 15 minutes to 1/2 hour to our day depending on the activity. It takes a bit more of my time since I listen to two different readers. So DITHOR takes more like 45 minutes of my time on the longer activity days by the time I listen to two readers and we complete the activity. Are you using DITHOR? Are you doing all of the writing and drawing in Bigger? Things like that are what slows us down on our slower days. For instance yesterday took us longer because our notebooking activity was drawing a map and labeling. The day that we painted also took us a bit longer. These are things that tends to take quite a bit of time around here. I have been trying to limit our time on these tasks though so we can finish in a timely manner. When it is possible and I feel like my dc might be dawdling a bit too much, I will call time and have them finish it after "school" is done for the day. So, I don't think your time sounds very much different than the time that it has been taking us around here. I think if you are doing all the boxes and everyone is having fun and learning, that is awesome!

Are you doing an additional vocabulary study besides the usual one in Bigger? We are doing dictation, but that only takes about 5 minutes or so each day. I wonder if you would want to consider a more advanced dictation list?

pjdobro wrote: Are you using DITHOR? Yes. Are you doing all of the writing and drawing in Bigger? Yes
Are you doing an additional vocabulary study besides the usual one in Bigger? We do the one that uses words from History. I know DITHOR says there is one in the appendix, but all I see is character traits. I wonder if you would want to consider a more advanced dictation list? I would love to! Even the English is stuff she already learned in 2nd grade.

We did the Columbus map yesterday in her notebook. DD did not do close to her best. I've noticed she has been sloppy with her writing, drawing etc. I know she wouldn't have done this last year, or this year in ps. I'm not sure how to buckle down on this.

Sounds like things are going well as far as time goes. When my daughter does sloppy work, I require her to do it over. Then the next time, she remembers trying to get done quick just earns her more work! Putting forth her best effort is what I require, and she knows it. She does her best more often than not, now

I've never done the programs you are doing (this is our first year and we're doing Beyond-upped a little). I took a peek in the catalog where they give the time estimates and it says that Bigger takes 3 to 3 1/2 hrs to complete.

What English are you doing? R & S 2 ?

It sounds fine to me! We are doing LHFHG, and BLHFHG. We spend about 3-4rs a day, but we are doing somethings on top of what is in the guide(Latin, Spelling, Art, Music, grammar, extra science, and things I'm reviewing). If I was just doing the guides it would take us about 2-3hrs, but I would thing Bigger would take longer.

We do 2-2.5 hours a day with Beyond, but we really get into the History readings and many times my ds will ask to draw something from the reading or do the experiments multiple times, etc. We so enjoy our time with Beyond!

wow, you must have some speedy workers and no distractions.

Marcee wrote:That is what it is taking me to school both of my kids! I'm using LHFHG and BHFHG. We do reading at night-maybe 10-15 minutes for DD on her own and 2-3 minutes (if that) for our read-aloud (1 chapter a night).

Dictation and Spelling for Bigger are way below DD's level-even in the last Unit. We are doing vocab.

Do y'all think this is OK?

Well, it's pretty unusual! I'll say that! LHFHG took us about 1 hour 15 minutes, and Bigger Hearts around 3 to 3 1/2 hours. As far as the time increments, here are the suggested times for Bigger Hearts:

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.)
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.)
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 realize you've probably seen these, but I'd be curious what is taking less time for her here? Is she doing all of this, along with all of the follow-up discussions and activities in the boxes of plans with you? If she is, and she is getting through it all in 2 to 2 1/2 hours (especially 2 hours), I'd guess her work / answers are not the best they could be, especially as you've shared that you've seen some of that already. In trying to think through this with you, I've got a bunch of questions I'd love for you to answer to help figure out where time is missing! What levels is she doing of DITHOR, R & S English, and math? That can make a big difference. Oh, and what DITHOR book is she reading and about how many pages a day? Did she get into the DITHOR kickoff, and does her DITHOR Student Notebook show strong reading comprehension through good written answers? How about her answers to the discussion comprehension questions, story element study, and the Godly character trait study? Is she doing all of R & S English orally, or is she writing some of it? How about math - did she take the Singapore placement test - if not, could it be she's not in the proper level?

As far as her history and science notebooking assignments, is she taking her time and making them the best she can - would you say her drawings, labels, and written work turn out to be a portfolio-worthy notebooking entry most of the time? I really had to help my oldest ds with this, as he was in the mindset just to turn out the work quickly - he really thought finishing things quickly was the single best way to show me he was doing his best in school (plus he has had to be coaxed into being creative) . Is she doing all 3 vocabulary cards? That alone takes 30+ minutes if done carefully and well. We only are doing 1 right now, and that's enough for my 7 1/2 yo because he works hard on it the whole time.

How are her oral narrations? Are they lengthening more and more each time? This is a lifelong skill that dc learn to give longer and longer narrations as they have better comprehension. This is an area dc can always improve upon! How do her science lab sheets turn out? Does she write out each part and draw a detailed picture for the procedure? This done properly takes a good fair amount of time to do. She will need some spelling/dictation program for the year. What numbers of dictation passages has she tried and did she have 100% success rate with no help? If she has only tried a couple, or she just looked at the passages and thought they were easy, I'd be willing to bet if you did it with her like the CM method suggests, she'd have a harder time with it than one would first think (I have seen that in our dc - dictation is much harder than it looks). One last question - what unit/day are you on in Bigger Hearts? Maybe she just needs time to grow into doing the work more completely and carefully? I know my oldest could really turn out the work, but once the quality of his work was where it should be for Bigger Hearts, it took 3 hours usually. If she's doing everything in the guide, I guess the question is if you are alright with the amount of time it's taking her, and with the quality of work she is doing? If so, it's probably o.k.

In Christ,
Julie

We are doing the vocabulary study as written in the guide as well. I see there are vocabulary activities in the back of DITHOR. We haven't done any of these yet, but I imagine we will as the year progresses. Did you feel like even the end of the dictation list in Bigger is way too easy for your dd? I think Preparing has 3 levels of dictation in the appendix. I don't have this guide yet so I'm not for sure, but I think it has level 2, 3, and 4. If you were able to get that guide, you could find a better place to start dictation for your dd. So far, I'm really liking the dictation. Even though the words are fairly easy, just being able to listen and write the sentence out correctly takes a good deal of concentration especially for my ds. It's been really good especially for him to make sure he does his work very carefully. I like that it has them both paying careful attention not only to spelling, but capitalization and punctuation. My dc have the tendency to be careless oftentimes with their writing and the dictation is making them be careful. I'm hopeful that it will carry over into the other areas of writing as well. I would really encourage you to find dictation that you think would work for your dd and give it a try. We're finding it really worthwhile here. That still will only add about 10 minutes to your day.

Are you using R&S2 for English? If it is too much of a review for her, you might consider moving up to R&S3. That is what we are doing. Today we started diagramming. I didn't do diagramming in ps until 7th grade. Though it isn't scheduled in Bigger, we are just following 1 lesson per day just like R&S2. Next year when we're in Preparing, R&S4, will be scheduled for us.

I try to get my dc to do their best on assignments especially the notebook assignments. I felt awful for my ds when we did the tide chart for science. He really had problems with it and I had to have him finish it after class, in his free time. When I looked at it later, it just wasn't very good. I debated about it, but I decided that it had to better. So the next day, he had to re-do it. I tried to give him pointers about what wasn't good about the one he had already done and what he needed to do to improve it. I was really pleased that he wasn't upset by my critique and suggestions and worked happily on it the next morning. His second one was much better. I waffle back and forth between how much I require of my dc. I want them to learn to do a good job, but it doesn't have to be perfect. That is such a fine line. By having them re-do their work during their free time, I'm hopeful they will learn to be careful and do a good job the first time.

As I read your post again, I noticed that it is only taking you a couple of minutes for your read aloud. I'm guessing that is the storytime, right? Are you doing the activities that go with the storytime? Between reading the story and doing the activities, that block usually takes us about 15 minutes.

I thought about this more after I posted earlier too and I realized that if I just had my dd in Bigger, we would be finishing even quicker. So I can see with an eager learner that is fairly quick with her writing, that one could be done with everything in less than 2 hours. We do have to wait on my ds especially for writing activities. With two dc too, we end up in some interesting discussions that take a little more time. I have been following a schedule this year and that has helped us stay on track. I used Julie's times that she gave for each block of Bigger and based my schedule off of that. It's been working really well. We have been moving through it more quickly than the times she gave most of the time. If we do start falling behind on an activity, I'll either adjust our schedule to accommodate that or if I feel my dc are dawdling and it is something they can do on their own later, we'll move on and I'll have them finish it during their free time (homework). Anyway, I say all of this to say that I don't think your times are that far off. It sounds like your dc are quick with their work and you are great at staying on task. Those are wonderful things!!! If you feel you want to increase the difficulty or add some additional things, it sounds like you could definitely do that. Right now though I think it is great that you and your girls are enjoying learning. That's a huge blessing!

Yesterday I posted about how DD was doing some sloppy work. We talked this morning about how some of her work would have not been up to her teachers standards last year in 2nd grade. She explained that she is SO bored because a lot of the work is stuff she learned in 2nd grade. Her math, English and independent readers are just too easy and she is getting bored. She told me I wasn't like her old teacher Mr.Schmiel (wonderful man) and that daddy would teach different. She wants someone who puts their foot down and has high expectations (here I am trying to go easy so it's not like 2 years ago when we tried to H'school-LOL!) She is just like her dad, if she isn't being challenged she just doesn't see the point-it's BORING! She is not content to do the easy stuff. So we are going to skip ahead in reading, math and English. Dictation and spelling are already out because as I mentioned before, she learned it all last year. I am letting her finish the rest of Amelia Earhart today even though we are only on Day 8.

I'm at a loss of sorts. I don't want to double up and do 2 units a day because I don't believe she needs more work. I believe she needs to be more educationally and mentally challenged.

Any ideas? Should I purchase a level up?

Marcee,

Before anyone jumps in to help you here any further, I am going to respectfully ask you to respond to the questions that the posters in the thread above asked of you when trying to figure out how to help you. This will help all of us advise you better.

I have merged this new thread that you posted with your previous thread above so that those who are trying to help you can see what came before and their advice is not lost.

If you are unsure which questions specifically to answer, I'd especially like to know if you are doing Drawn into the Heart of Reading and all of its assigned activities daily? If so, then it takes much longer than 15 min. that you mentioned above to have her read aloud the chapter to you (using the tips for good reading aloud in the Appendix) and to do the follow-up lesson well in Drawn into the Heart of Reading. It typically takes us 30 minutes to have a well-done session.

Next, I am wanting to know if you are doing Rod and Staff daily as recommended, and if so which level? Perhaps you need Level 3 instead?

Then, I am wanting to know if you are doing Singapore math along with all of its assigned hands-on activities each day? Singapore math is so much more than completing the workbook pages. Did you give the Singapore placement test when placing your child? If not, I would give it now to make sure she is correctly placed. Be sure not to give her help or guidance as she works though, just see what she can do on her own with the test.

Are you completing the Storytime read-alouds with their follow-up activities? If so, I don't see how that can be taking you the 2-3 min. or less that you listed spending on this activity at night in your previous thread. Simply reading aloud the book itself would take far longer than 2-3 minutes!

As far as dictation goes, has your daughter done studied dictation in school before? This is usually a new skill. Is she studying the passage, then having you dictate it to her one phrase at a time and writing it perfectly with all spelling, capitalization, and end punctutation correct on the first try? I'm thinking that you can't have tried it very long as I thought you were just beginning? How many days has she done dictation and how many passages has she done correctly? My own son rarely missed a passage, but there is much value in doing dictation anyway for the purpose of correct capitalization, punctuation, and usage. It is harder than it looks to reproduce it perfectly without looking.

Is she doing the cursive as scheduled each day?

What unit are you in of Bigger Hearts?

Are you dong all of the boxes in the guide every day?

There are several other questions in the thread above that I'd also like you to answer, as that will help as advise you better. So, if you can take time to read through the previous posters' questions and answer them first that will help.

Blessings,
Carrie

my3sons wrote:

Marcee wrote:That is what it is taking me to school both of my kids! I'm using LHFHG and BHFHG. We do reading at night-maybe 10-15 minutes for DD on her own and 2-3 minutes (if that) for our read-aloud (1 chapter a night).

Dictation and Spelling for Bigger are way below DD's level-even in the last Unit. We are doing vocab.

Do y'all think this is OK?

What levels is she doing of DITHOR, R & S English, and math? She is in DITHOR 2/3, R&S 2 and Singapore Singapore 2A/2B.
what DITHOR book is she reading and about how many pages a day? Currently she is reading Amelia Earhart at a chapter a day (total # of pages divided by number of days to read).
Does her DITHOR Student Notebook show strong reading comprehension through good written answers? I would say yes.
Did she get into the DITHOR kickoff We did not do the kickoff. Our box came at 2pm on the 7th and she wanted to jump in. Because of the awful experience with H'schooling before, I wanted to keep her excited and just go with it.
How about her answers to the discussion comprehension questions- She answers them easily and correctly.
story element study, and the Godly character trait study? I just follow the guide and what worksheet pages she needs to do.
Is she doing all of R & S English orally, or is she writing some of it? We read what it says to read and write what it says to write.
How about math - did she take the Singapore placement test - if not, could it be she's not in the proper level? I went with 2 because she didn't cover multiplication or division last year. My guess is that I'm going to have to skip ahead in 2A.

As far as her history and science notebooking assignments, is she taking her time and making them the best she can - would you say her drawings, labels, and written work turn out to be a portfolio-worthy notebooking entry most of the time? We had a talk about this today. She does need to take more time doing a neater job with her notebooking. However, that would add maybe another 15 mins.
Is she doing all 3 vocabulary cards? We are only doing one card from the geography suggestion


How are her oral narrations? These could probably use improvement. But I'm not sure how long they need to be. With two science pages how long should she be talking? She tells me what she remembers from the reading-that doesn't take much time.
Are they lengthening more and more each time? Not yet. We are only on Unit 2, day 2.
How do her science lab sheets turn out? Well, besides the quick drawing part we need to work on.
Does she write out each part and draw a detailed picture for the procedure? Yes, for the ones we have done. We haven't done them all because we haven't had the supplies.
What numbers of dictation passages has she tried and did she have 100% success rate with no help? Even the very last dictation is extremely easy. She was doing much harder work last year.
One last question - what unit/day are you on in Bigger Hearts? We are in Unit 2, day 2 as of today.

If she's doing everything in the guide, I guess the question is if you are alright with the amount of time it's taking her, and with the quality of work she is doing? If so, it's probably o.k.

Marcee,

This is a great start in pondering through what is best for your daughter! We want what is best for her too. To get a clearer picture of her day, I am going to ask that you answer any of the questions I specifically mentioned as well.

Then, we can truly brainstorm how best to customize HOD to meet your daughter's needs.

Blessings,
Carrie

[quote="pjdobro"] I see there are vocabulary activities in the back of DITHOR. We haven't done any of these yet, but I imagine we will as the year progresses. Did you feel like even the end of the dictation list in Bigger is way too easy for your dd? Yes, she can do the last one with out any problem I think Preparing has 3 levels of dictation in the appendix. If you were able to get that guide, you could find a better place to start dictation for your dd. My only frustration with this is that I would also need to buy the Beyond guide to get the math activities for my son in 1a/1b. Which means I would have to spend an extra $100 total. I would really encourage you to find dictation that you think would work for your dd and give it a try. Any suggestions as how I should go about this?


Are you using R&S2 for English? If it is too much of a review for her, you might consider moving up to R&S3. Yes, she is doing 2.

As I read your post again, I noticed that it is only taking you a couple of minutes for your read aloud. I'm guessing that is the storytime, right? Are you doing the activities that go with the storytime? Between reading the story and doing the activities, that block usually takes us about 15 minutes. We do storytime at night, but wait until the next day to do the questions. With questions like, "what can you learn about the character from the quote? and "How does this make you feel"? Really don't add much to the 2 minutes