Sharing of Books in Bigger

[tnahid]

Well, this year, both of my boys have been doing Beyond together. Next year (and in subsequent years) will they have books that they will be reading independently that they will need to share? They are 2 and a half years apart (7 and just turned 10), and next year they will go to Bigger. I am going to have my oldest do the extensions pkg. next year. My question is:

1. When they are sharing a curriculum, they will be doing the same assignments, so that means they will be reading the same books. Right? This might be a little tricky. Does anyone else do this with their children?

2. So, does this mean that my oldest son will always have extensions to do in every subsequent manual?

3. Do other have 2 of their children in the same manual, and how has it gone moving them up the older they get? I guess it seems that my oldest should be further along, but actually, my youngest seems older than he is...and my oldest seems younger than he is! So, in maturity, they are really not that far apart. Does this make sense? Do any of you have children like this? One more mature for his age, and one less mature for his age?

Just some questions...

Also, I just don't feel I have given my oldest son enough science this year. Next year he will definitely use the extensions. Will this give him an adequate amount? I am really not good at doing science experiments with them. I must admit How can we get more science in there for him?

P.S. My oldest is on 3rd grade math and R&S 3, plus the DITHOR, so he is higher up in those levels than my younger son. But actually, my younger one is basically on the same reading level , one level lower is LA, and 1 level lower in math (he's a whiz at math, takes after daddy, not mommy

Thanks for answering...anyone who can decipher and figure out what I am saying...I would appreciate it!

[MomtoJGJE]

I'll give it a shot, even though mine aren't combined right now.

I think once my DD2 gets into DITHOR that I'm going to have them doing different genres, because they'll be in the same general reading level at that point. That way they won't have to share books, AND they will have their own individual things to do.

As far as general work in the guide, I can't really think of anything right now (we are just in Bigger) that would be an issue with them sharing books. They'd have their own math and cursive workbooks I'm assuming. They'd be doing the same books in the guide, but you'd be reading the books. Your oldest would have the extensions, but I'm not sure what that entails because we aren't using them right now. So the only thing they'd share that they'd need to go back and forth with would be dictation and any other assignments like mapping or notebooking, but you could have them do those at separate times if they don't share the book between them nicely.

As far as science... we got some pretty cool science experiment boxes for Christmas. If I weren't doing them with all 4 of my kids (the youngest two are 4 and not quite 2) the older ones could do them by themselves. So maybe you could get a couple of experiment kits for your oldest and have it assigned that he's to do one experiment per week and make a report on it to tell you? I think I got ours off of amazon just searching for science experiment kits and reading reviews to see what would be good for the ages of my kids. We also had an excellent Space Exploration kit by Thames & Kosmos that is really fun, and would be an excellent fit for a 10yo IMO.

[blessedmomof4]

About science, in Bigger Hearts you have science daily, two days of hands-on activities/experiments and writing a simple lab report following the scientific method, two days of you reading aloud and oral narration by the kids, and one notebooking day. The Extensions adds a reading from the books Exploring Planet Earth and near the end of the year Thomas Alva Edison (Landmark) once a week to extend science (the rest of the Extension books are history extensions). Extension readings are done independently by the child, and are to be followed up by oral or written narration (2 times a week each), or drawing a picture with a caption(once a week). If your older child is science-hungry, extra science kits would probably be fun, but not mandatory
About Extensions in future guides, your older child may not always need them, as there is quite a progression in skills from Bigger to Preparing, and from Preparing to CTC, and so on. Preparing's target age range is 8-10 as written, and CTC is 9-11 as written, so your older son may or may not need Extensions in these guides as he will just be one age above the target range, depending on how quickly he grows into his skills. My daughter is turning 12 this year, and I know CTC as written will be quite enough for her. You will have to wait and cross that bridge when you get to it.
One would guess that the older child would be far ahead in everything, though that is not always true. My girls are close in age, only 20 months apart, and the 13 yar old is a math whiz but struggles with reading, while the 11 year old finds math difficult but can and will read anything you put in front of her. I would dare say Tamara can read more books in a month than Keri would in 3 months, and Keri would do pages of math every day for fun, while Tamara would rather do none

[mom2samlibby]

My two children are doing Bigger this year and sharing books hasn't been too big of a problem. There have been days though when they have argued over who gets to look at it first, but for the most part it is working out well.

I added in Apology Zoology 1 (we just started it this week) because my oldest has wanted/needed more science. I felt it was a good addition since Zoology 3 is part of the CTC program. We will do Zoology 2 next year with Preparing.

Amy

[acts29stl]

My 2 dc are doing Bigger this year as well. Sharing books has not been an issue at all. Most of Bigger is still teacher directed (not the extensions though) so I do the reading for history, science and the english lesson.

For english, I just have them share the student book and when it is time for written work I assign one to do the odd #s and one the even. We do a lot of the english orally though.

For dictation, I make 2 copies of the dictation pages, cut them into the individual lessons, and tape them to an index card. That way each child has their own dictation card.

The pp had an excellent suggestion for DITHOR about having each child do a different genre so they wouldn't have to share a book. I hadn't thought of that but will give it a try!

There is quite a bit of science in Bigger and since it's schelduled it's easy to get done. The experiments don't take much time and use common household items. The dc have enjoyed them and it has not been a hassle for me to get them done either (I have little ones running around too!). The scientific method is introduced and a lab sheet written up once a week. Friday is an oral science experiment but you could always have your older one write that out as a lab sheet if you felt he needed more. But I think there's enough there where you wouldn't need to add anymore, especially if you don't think you'll get around to it

For oral narrations, I alternate who will narrate and have explained that whoever is not narrating needs to be courteous and engaged while listening to their siblings. With longer readings, I split the narration up into 2 parts, with one narrating first and the other last.

My dc are just 15months apart and I have combined them since LHTH and have had no problems arise so far!