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This year was our first year HSing. And we loved it ( well my husband and I). However, our children seemed to be a little bored and our ds (7-turned seemed to really struggle with all of the writing. We are using Bigger. I am sure that it being our first year, was a major factor as far as the "fun" aspect goes. This year, we are planning on moving up to preparing. I know it will be a great fit for our ds. Not sure if it will be to "simple" for our dd ( 9). I do not want to add the extension packs, because it just seems like more reading, and I know that for her, that would not be interesting. She is a hands on, crafty, artistic child, so I am planning on adding an art cirriculum for her. My question is, I see that families use these programs for two or more years in a row. I wold like to better understand how that is done. It just seems like you would be repeating so much. I may just be misunderstanding it all, but I would love some feedback.

Thanks!

I think families are repeating guides when they have younger dc coming up behind.

I'm no HOD expert, but it seems as though if you're ds is struggling with the writing in Bigger then Preparing may be a big leap, and it's scheduled for 8 & up. Just a thought and maybe I misunderstood your post as well.

Perhaps you could do Preparing at half pace with your ds of 7, if he was struggling with the amount of writing in Bigger. We did Bigger starting at 7 as well, but spread it over 2 years to get my son acquainted with all the writing and to have him mature before getting to the next guides.
It is not really recommend to do the same program 2 years in a row with the same child.
However doing a program at 1/2 pace does wonders for the ones who are on the younger side of a guide. The requirements only get more as the guides go up.
So what you would do is take 2 weeks to do 1 unit and this would help your younger son to grow into the amount of writing he will continue to do in subsequent guides and get him toward the middle age range of the guides.

I don't know if you purposely combined the 2 children and someone else with older children might reply to you as to how to help your 9 yr old at this point. I have one friend who ended up separating her 2 sons, by having the younger go at half pace and the older at full pace while they were in Bigger.
It brought much peace to both as one was working too hard and going half pace with the older would have been too easy.

I pray the Lord will show you what to do for your family and please keep asking questions as more Mom's will chime in to help you out.
Succes

I think the idea of doing Preparing 1/2 pace with your ds 7 is great. I am doing the same with my ds 8. It is working beautifully. We take 2 weeks to do one unit. We do grammar, math and reading everyday, as he doesn't need me to slow it down. One of the majoyr reasons I am doing this is the amount of writing in Preparing. He would have melt downs everyday don't want that.

As far as your older dd 9 is considered I am wondering if half pace would work for her as well? Or would you go full pace with her? If you decide to go full pace with her and 1/2 pace with him let me know. I spilt my kids up after a long time combining. (see previous posters comment) It has been the best for my kids and me too!

Hope this helps! If not ask more questions, the ladies on this board are very helpful.

thood1 wrote:This year was our first year HSing. And we loved it ( well my husband and I). However, our children seemed to be a little bored and our ds (7-turned seemed to really struggle with all of the writing. We are using Bigger. I am sure that it being our first year, was a major factor as far as the "fun" aspect goes. This year, we are planning on moving up to preparing. I know it will be a great fit for our ds. Not sure if it will be to "simple" for our dd ( 9). I do not want to add the extension packs, because it just seems like more reading, and I know that for her, that would not be interesting. She is a hands on, crafty, artistic child, so I am planning on adding an art cirriculum for her. My question is, I see that families use these programs for two or more years in a row. I wold like to better understand how that is done. It just seems like you would be repeating so much. I may just be misunderstanding it all, but I would love some feedback.

Thanks!

For your just turned 8 year old, perhaps you could go half speed with him, but let your daughter go full speed? What part of the writing was he struggling with-the physical aspect or being able to compose his thoughts on paper? Are you using Rod and Staff English, and if so, what level? DId you use with him the spelling or the studied dictation? Did he use a cursive program? This may help pinpoint how to help him succeed. As Preparing is quite a step up from Bigger, I don't think it will be too simple at all for your daughter. My daughter used it from ages 10 to 11 and it was plenty, though she is a highly advanced reader. I agree with you that your daughter probably won't need the extensions, as they are intended for 5th and 6th graders (ages 11 to 12) and are not only difficult but also require additional maturity. As for the crafty aspect of her personality, I wanted to let you know there is a 3-day hands-on art project that is related to the history readings scheduled every week in Preparing. Also, if you use DITHOR and get the book projects book, there is a hands-on project at the end of every genre studied.

Wow! Thanks so much for all the help. Yes, our son who is 8, just has a hard time writing so much. If he slows down and has a small task in front of him, he can write ver nicely. We did use Rod and Staff ( second grade) and they are really liking that, but he would prefer to do it orally, if we let him. It is as though his hands can't go as fast as his brain. We have used the spelling list included for him ( i was afraid the dictation would overwhelm him) . The handwriting program we used is Handwriting without tears- which I cannot say enough wonderful things about. His handwriting has improved so much. I am not really sure how to describe the issue he has with writing- maybe he is too lazy to do it, maybe it is hard for him to focus that long, maybe his mind works faster than his hands and so he gets frustrated.

I do like the idea of going at half pace......I will have to talk to my hubby about it. He teaches half time and I teach half time. But it something that I am thinking may help a lot. The other thing is, I have just been doing a modified version of things when it comes to writing etc.....I do stuff with him orally instead.

I am so excited for the 3 day art project.... I think she will LOVE that, not sure how ds will feel about it. I think I will look into the book projects book too.

We had decided to do them at the same level because they were so close in age ( 2nd and 3rd grade). DS is advanced in math, DD is strong in her writing etc....they were about the same across the board. The other thing I am struggling with is Math. We ( the teachers) and the kids find it so boring and they are done in a second with it. We used the 2a and 2b. I think Singapore might be the right math for my daughter, but I am not sure it is right for my son. He is just so fast with math and it just clicks with him and he thrives on mathematical challenges. So, I have been checking to see if there is somthing else that might work for him.

This summer, I am having my DD do the R&S 3rd grade English to get caught up to her appropriate level, but am thinking of letting DS wait for the school year. That way next year he can be in 3rd grade english and she can be in 4th grade English. I am finding that separating them and allowing them to do things apart works better for us. Otherwise, everything is a competition as to who gets t done first and who does it "better" Kind of silly if you ask me.

I really appreciate all your help so much!

Tawnya

Tawnya,
Thanks for sharing more details! Your son sounds like a typical boy-I used HWOT with my son too, as he seemed "allergic" to pencils
Carrie gives the recommendation that with Rod and Staff, you should do most of it orally, and just assign one portion written. This is one easy way to alleviate the written load for both your kids. Grammar is not just a written discipline, but oral as well, and doing a lot of it orally works just as well if not better Singapore Math gets a lot more challenging very quickly, so you may want to just give 3A/3B a try with your son before switching over to something else. I know my son got the short end of the stick when I switched him around in math in the early years. If he is going to be a 3rd grader and using 3A/3B, he is already ahead, as Singapore is about a grade higher than American programs. Did you do the hands on activities with Singapore 2A/2B? My girls loved those years ago. For 3A on up, your children will also have the added challenge of using the textbooks along with the workbooks for math, as there are no more hands-on activities written in HOD guides for the higher levels.
There also isn't any rush to get your daughter higher in Rod and Staff, as the goal in HOD is to finish Rod and Staff 6 by the end of 8th grade, which is why 4 and 5 are scheduled at half speed in CtC and RtR. Rod and Staff also begins to get highly advanced from grade 4 on up.
To alleviate the "competition", you could just have them do math amd grammar at different times, if you are not doing this already.
In Preparing, yuor children will be doing written narrations for hsitory, but it is done in such a step-by-step progression, that if you follow the guide exactly, both your children should grow into the skill very well.
Try half speed to start, then speed up later if they need more.
HTH!

Tawyna,

I just wanted to encourage you that writing has come slowly here too especially for my ds. The way you describe your ds writing sounds very much like my son's 6 months or so ago. I'm not for sure exactly what has helped, but we have just plugged along doing little bits at a time. I think dictation has probably helped since he has to take time to go back and proofread his work. I think part of it is that the brain is going faster with the ideas than the hands can form the letters. I think for my ds, it was still taking so much thought for him to remember how to properly form the letters that either the idea or the writing had to give and most of the time, it was the writing. I have seen a huge jump in those skills this year. I think some of it is just age, maturity, and continuing to do the work, little by little. I think moving into cursive might have helped him some too. Though he hasn't liked to write before, now he likes to write in cursive. I don't know if he feels like it is easier or that it is more advanced so he like to be able to do it. As it turns out his cursive is much better than his manuscript though his manuscript has improved too. I just wanted to encourage you to hang in there with your ds. It might just take more time. My ds is almost 9 now and this has been a big year of growth for him. So hopefully this will be the huge year of growth for your ds too!

Thanks you once again, you all are so helpful. I appreciate your comments and thoughts so much. That is what we have done. We have just modified some of the written work to oral work- and that helps. I noticed, that when he wakes up happier, he does better with his writing. If he is a little grumpy, it triggers the writing fall out! LOL. I did find that when he feels grumpy or restless, I have him stand up when he is writing. Science notebooking has been a whole different issue. I guess that I just wanted to be sure that I was not going too easy on him, by allowing him to do things orally. And I think I am going to give Singapore 3a and 3b a try. I am excited to see the teacher manual on that. He will be in the 3rd grade, but math is for sure one of his strong points- the 2a and 2b have been pretty simple for him. It just comes natural for him. I am so glad to have gotten on the board to express my thoughts. Your encouragement, questions and comments have been wonderful!

Tawnya