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How many people are using Beyond for a 1st grader? If you are, then how is Bigger for a 2nd grader? I am on the fence about doing Beyond for 1st or 2nd grade.

My dd will be using Beyond this coming year for her 1st grade. My ds is using it for 2nd, so it will be new to me. I have been thinking about how to slow dd down a bit because her birthday is OCT. 31st, and at the current rate would be done with the HOD guides when she's 16.

Hi,
You'll notice that the guides have age ranges rather than grade levels. I have been glad that my ds has been in the middle towards upper age range for the guides. I'm planning to have my dd follow that same route. My ds has gotten so much more out of the programs than he would have if we had done them all a year earlier. That said, we used Beyond for his first grade year, but he was an old first grader with a summer birthday. He was 7 when we did Beyond. It was a perfect fit. I would go by the placement charts that Carrie provides. They are excellent guides as to where to place your child. If in doubt, my suggestion is to have your child in the middle to upper age range. I'm really glad I did not use Beyond with my ds as a 6 yo. As we have progressed through the levels, I have become more convinced of my decision to place them as I did.
Just my 2 cents,
Laura

Thats very helpful advice! My dd will be a young 1st grader as her birthday is in June. Therefore, she will be 6 for all of 1st grade. We started LHFHG this year for K, and while it was a great fit in some ways, there were some things she wasn't ready for. So, we went half speed and now we are almost halfway through the guide. So, would it be a good plan to continue the guide for 1st grade and try to stretch it out over the whole year with the first grade options? Would I be able to stretch it out and make it last for her whole first grade year? What else could I add in if we finish early?

I would continue LHFHG as you are doing it and then just pick up Beyond when you finish. We did Beyond with DD1 for first grade and she did great. Her birthday was in April, and we started in July, so she was a young 1st grader as well. If we had done LHFHG with her she would have done even better, but I wouldn't have tried to stretch it out to last the whole first grade year.

My second dd is doing LHFHG now, she started when she turned 6 and will begin Beyond in September when she's a few months away from 7. She's doing great with it.

I used Beyond for my 7 year old this year. He turned 7 in August when we started and it has been a great fit for him, as well as for my then 9 year old (with upped LA and Math). I have really enjoyed Beyond so much this year. My 7 year old is very "academically-oriented" child, so we are in Singapore 2 level already. He is in Emergent Readers and has thrived. He loves to read. Both of my sons love Beyond.

In the Fall, we will be doing Beyond for 1st grade with my dd who will be 7 in October.

lmercon wrote: I would go by the placement charts that Carrie provides. They are excellent guides as to where to place your child. If in doubt, my suggestion is to have your child in the middle to upper age range. I'm really glad I did not use Beyond with my ds as a 6 yo. As we have progressed through the levels, I have become more convinced of my decision to place them as I did.

I fully agree with this. I believe that for most dc it is better to have them at the middle upper age range of the guides, from Bigger and up. Up to Beyond it may work just fine to have them all at the younger end, but when you get to Bigger and the other guides, you will want to place at middle to end range to ensure that they get the most out of their learning experience.
My ds finished LHFHG and turned 6 right when we started with Beyond and he did wonderful through the whole guide. Getting to Bigger was different. He was not quite mature enough to do Bigger at age 7. We stretched it over 2 years and I am so amazed at his level of understanding and his ability to deliver the amount of writing required in Bigger. I am only imagining if I were to start Bigger this year how he would have thrived (hindsight is 20/20 and it's a first born thing)
At the time I did Beyond I was unaware of going at 1/2 pace. I am grateful for finding out about it when we hit Bigger and am fully anticipating going at 1/2 pace in Preparing at least for a while to get him closer to the end age range.
I noticed your older one is a girl and it might be different with all the writing requirements, but the level of questions during Bible, science, poetry are a big jump as well, that require a higher level of thinking skills and maturity overall.

So, if I may I would recommend to do Beyond at 1/2 pace for a while or 4 times a week (last option adds 9 weeks to your year). Than I would consider doing Bigger at 1/2 pace to reach that level of maturity and independence needed for the guides to come.

With all this said, you are the parents and able to see your daughters abilities the best on a day to day basis, so earnestly seek the Lord and follow His leading.
Success

MomtoJGJE wrote:I would continue LHFHG as you are doing it and then just pick up Beyond when you finish.

This is what I would do too. You don't have to start the new guide at the beginning of a traditional school year. Start Beyond when Little Hearts is finished and she's ready to move on.

WOW!!! This thread has my a little worried. My dd turned six last year in July, and we started Beyond at the very first of Sept. She has done totally fine with Beyond. I guess I assumed that she would be fine for Bigger. I am currently reading through the Bigger guide and yes it is a big step up from Beyond. I would say it's my impression from most other threads here is that if a child has been through a guide and is using all aspects, then they are prepared for the next guide. Maybe I'm wrong though. My dd will be 7 this July and my plan is to have her start Bigger in August.

Edwena, I think your dd will be fine. I think you are correct that if they can completely do the previous guide, then they are usually fine to progress to the next guide. There is a big step up in the amount of writing in particular in Bigger and it is a longer day. The wonderful thing is if you start out and it seems a bit too much, you have the flexibility to slow it down to half-speed and take your time through the guide.

We are planning to use Beyond for first grade next year for my ds who will turn 6 in August... but, I'm not sure we will start with Beyond from the beginning of the traditional school year. We will probably still be finishing up LHFHG.

We have been taking our time this year going through LHFHG for kinder... and I'm glad we've been going at a slower pace (average 3-4 days a week making room for field trips, playgroups, nature walks, BSF, etc.) through the guide. Ds has really grown into the history and storytime read-alouds and has started making connections that he didn't make at the beginning of the year. Even though we are already using the Beyond guide for math activities, emerging readers and spelling (all at ds's own pace in different "weeks" of the guide), I think we will continue to use the LHFHG plans for everything else until we finish the guide. Then we'll move on to Beyond at a pace that makes sense for us. That's the beauty of homeschooling, right? We can slow down or speed up as fits our family.

We plan to do school year round, with breaks throughout the year instead of having a longer break in the summer.

My first grade daughter turned 7 in Dec. and is doing Beyond right now. She hasn't had trouble completing any of it. It may take her a little longer with copywork or some writing, as she's only 7, but she gets it done well. She'll be starting Bigger next Aug. at half speed. I decided to do this with her, because then she will have time to mature in her skills, won't get to the older guides too soon, and will be set to start the high school guides in 9th grade. Bigger looks to be a pretty full program and doing it half speed will still be quite a bit of work for each day. And by doing it at half speed, I'll insure that she has a good foundation of the skills developed in Bigger.

Just thought I'd share what we're doing for our little first grader!