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Or is it more about just following directions? I just went through the last page of dictation with my daughter, who completed it with no problems. The books that come with Bigger don't look to be too simple for her, but the Math and Spelling and Dictation seem to be. With the placement chart, she's in between Bigger and Preparing, mainly because our cursive overview from last year wasn't quite complete, and was more introductory; I don't think she's quite ready to copy sentences in cursive. (I'm not too concerned about the Math, because we use a different curriculum.)

All the History and Science looks to be wonderful. I'm just worried that I bought the wrong program. (Oh no!) Is there somewhere I can see the poetry and dictation for Preparing? I've read that there's a huge leap in between Bigger and Preparing, so I want to make sure I have the right thing. She starts fourth grade next year, and when I looked in the catalog, it said I would need extensions for fourth, which makes me nervous. I'm second-guessing myself.

Daph, this thread had examples of the various levels of dictation: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1221

It's so easy to second guess ourselves, isn't it? I will say that there is more than meets the eye to Bigger so don't second guess yourself too soon. On the other hand, Preparing is a wonderful program, and we're looking forward to starting it here this fall with my 4th graders. Don't start making comparisons though because we've been doing the guides for 3 years now, and my dc are familiar with a lot of the CM skills used. If the cursive is the only thing holding your dd back from Preparing though, I don't think that would be too big a deal. A bigger consideration would be things like how well does she listen to the read alouds and retain the information. Can she narrate back a longer passage? Is she ready to begin doing written narrations? Can she follow directions to do the notebooking and science experiments independently? Is she ready to do more involved research and vocabulary work? Is she ready for quite a bit more writing each day? Here is a great thread about the writing in Preparing versus Bigger: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3602 I would look at those things carefully and perhaps look at the first weeks of Bigger and Preparing again. Just starting out with the CM and HOD way of doing things, I don't think you want to overwhelm your daughter or yourself. It's different (better IMHO) than textbook learning. So if you're coming from that way of learning (forgive me I don't remember ) starting a bit on the easier side is a good way to get your feet wet and get familiar with the new way of learning. Oh and don't worry about the extensions unless you really feel that your daughter needs them. Bigger really is a full program as written with the extensions.

Ok. Thank you! I'll take a deep breath now. We have done nothing CM, except use a few "living" books for Science. She hasn't done any narration or notebooking. I just have this awesome talent for choosing all the wrong things for school. (We've switched curricula every single year.) Thanks, Patty.