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I am so excited to have finally settled on HOD for next year. I have loved it from afar for a long time, and finally feel I have a handle on how to make it work for us. I think I have my plan worked out, but wanted to run it by someone else to be sure I am not missing anything.

My oldest is 8 and is finishing up R&S English 2, R&S spelling 2 and Abeka math 2. She is a pretty advanced reader and has a good handle on cursive. My next dd will be 6 in June. She is finishing up Abeka K phonics, handwriting and math. My plan is to put them both in Beyond. My 6 year old would do everything as laid out there. My 8 year old would do R&S 3 English and spelling, and I'm thinking Singapore 2A to start with. I plan to put her in DITHOR as well.

I'm also considering having them both do additional handwriting programs since I think we missed a little in the way of instruction.

Am I missing anything? One question: would I need lesson plans (maybe from Bigger) for Singapore 2A, or just work our way through it? and what about a schedule for R&S 3? I am considering just going through it full speed in order to keep the year full enough for her. (I know HOD recommends half speed). Or would it be worth it to me to just get the Bigger guide to follow for LA and math for my 8 year old? OK, that was supposed to be one question.

I'll take any suggestions! I'm happy to be here!

I used the Bigger guide this year with my 8 year old. The Bigger guide schedules R & S English 2. It doesn't schedule R & S 3 at all. Since I chose to use R & S English 3 with my son while using the Bigger guide, I scheduled the book 1 lesson per day 4 days a week, and we will be done with the book by the end of the last unit of HOD. Beyond is a fantastic guide! I really loved using it with my son!! I am getting ready to take my 2nd son through it next school year. It should be a lot of fun for you to use it with both of your girls! I wouldn't think that you would need the Bigger guide for anything this year, but I am not thinking clearly on how it schedules the math. I had my son in Singapore 3A and 3B while we've been in the Bigger guide, so I've not paid much attention to how 2A and 2B is scheduled.

Singapore is fantastic, by the way! I am utterly amazed at the results I am getting with that curriculum!

I wonder with all the advance classes you have already done if Beyond will be a little too easy for your 8 yr old? I am not sure because this was our first year with Beyond...for our 8 yr old...and I see alot of parents use it for 1 st grade....we used it for 2nd grade....and I have strugged with it not being quit *strong* enough...for her...I do wish we would have added in R and S 2 with our language arts and since we started in January...we have just added it in...I think the math we did was good for her which was just the beginning 1 A and 1 B although we have worked ahead I feel Beyond is such a great program...and my daughter did not have the advanced learning already....so it fit pretty good although I did struggle with it being not enough...academically...Having said that...I am glad we didnt do Bigger only because of her situation..I do not think she would have been ready...but I think a child coming from a solid academic background....and going in the 2nd grade might not find it challenging enough...but that is just where we are at the mid point of this year! I am sure there is far more experienced families with much more knowledge on this than I have! Beth in Idaho

If you use Beyond for your 8yo with Singapore Math 2A & 2B, I would recommend that you buy the Bigger guide for the 2A & 2B hands-on lessons scheduled throughout. Carrie has done a great job creating lessons that are FUN!

My ds used Beyond this year for his core curriculum but was in Singapore 2A & 2B. I bought the Bigger guide to use the math plans for 2A & 2B. I'm glad I did, it made math "easy" for me this year and FUN for him! And, we already have the guide for next year's curriculum.

I think your plan to start with Beyond sounds great. That is what I did for my boys, and it has been the best decision for them. My 7 year old is doing R&S 2. I just do 1 lesson a day with him. My oldest is doing R&S 3, 1 lesson per day, plus an R&S worksheet if there is one to go with the lesson. My LA's are both off track from the guide, but we just go at our own pace with it.

My 7 year old is in Singapore 2A and we follow the plan in the Appendix section of Beyond for that schedule. Not having the Bigger guide, we have missed out on hands on things, but he is doing very well with me just going over the textbook part with him each day, and he does the workbook all on his own after that. It is working for us. I just really didn't want to be in 2 guides at once this year, doing one side of one and another side of the other. Too much confusion for my brain! But, I am sure it works well if you decide to. The main thing is to know yourself and know how you think as a mother and how you "operate" as a teacher. If we have trouble implementing things, it spells heartache for everyone involved. Trust me!

Plus, financially, I just felt it best to wait until the following year to purchase Bigger. Next year, we will be in Bigger for both with extensions for my oldest who is 10. I plan to use DITHOR for both of them, 2/3 for younger (he will be and 4/5 for older (10). Since we are going to try to do the year round schooling thing, who knows where our LA levels will be by then! But we will just keep trucking along with it! Even with the variations in our scheduling, I love having HOD as my core curriculum. We pretty much do the left side as is, but our right side is topsy turvy. We get off on Storytimes sometimes, but mainly we stay on track with that too. So, it is good to have a plan, just know that it is important to stay flexible and ready to tweak here and there as needed for your own home and temperament.

I think it's definitely suggested that you get the Bigger guide for the hands-on lessons. R & S English 2 is sheduled in Bigger not 3 as the pp said. English 3 is scheduled in Preparing not half speed, but at 4 days/week. HTH.

Thank you all! Very helpful. oops about the 1/2 speed R&S 3. I had that wrong....was remembering something else.

Keri,

I'd give another thumbs-up for the Bigger guide's math plans for Singapore 2A & B. HOD reccommends that you either use the Singapore textbooks along with the workbooks (which will be scheduled in Beyond), OR use Carrie's hands-on plans in the Bigger guide along with the workbooks. So, you either need to pay $20 for the Singapore textbooks for that level (which you will not need again) or you can put that $20 towards the Bigger guide which you will need the following year anyway. Kind of like a $20 off coupon for Bigger. More than it making financial sense though...we really enjoyed the hands-on math at this level. Singapore is a program that does an excellent job of helping kids really understand how and why math works. Hands-on is a BIG part of this at the beginning. For the next level, 3A, you will move your child to visualizing what's going on with math by using the pictorial examples in the textbook. We switched to Singapore at level 2A with my oldest, and I am so glad that we did the hands-on that year. It was fun! But there was also great learning going on. You won't need a guide ahead for math after Bigger either as 3 different math levels are scheduled in the appendix of the guides to follow.

With R&S, HOD does schedule one of their books to be done half-speed during the guides CTC and RTR in order to balance the other LA skills that are taught in those guides. You can just go half speed with whichever R&S you're on at that point by doing one lesson each of the 2 days per week that it's scheduled. I'm sure that's what you were thinking of with half-speed R&S.

Kathleen

KeriJ,

I just wanted to welcome you to the board! We're glad to have you here. If you desire to combine your kiddos, then I agree that Beyond will be the best fit for the pair. It sounds like you have a plan in place to continue on with the 3R's and math that you have, and that would be wise in order to raise the levels of those subjects to continue the path you have begun in those areas.

I think your plan to put your older child in DITHR is a good one too, as it will add a higher more in-depth level to your 8 year old's literature study. We pray you will enjoy it as much as we have with our own boys. We have seen such good growth in their moral discernment and higher level thinking through DITHR.

If you have other questions, ask away! We love to help. We look forward to sharing the HOD journey with you this upcoming year.

Blessings,
Carrie

KeriJ - Hello and welcome to the board! We are glad you are here! I really like your plan for your both of your dd's. They are close enough in age to be combined in Beyond, and you have really done a great job of figuring out how to make the LA and math for your older dd customized to fit her just right. It will be very easy to do R & S English 3 a lesson a day. For math, I too would get the Bigger Hearts manual for the awesome hands-on lessons. My dc really benefitted from those, and then by the time they got to 3A, they has many skills so solidly in place mentally. They have no need to go back to hands-on anymore then. This is the beauty of doing Singapore along with HOD's hands-on lessons. I bet your oldest dd will love DITHOR - it's such a neat way to teach reading! I guess now all that's left to do is to start! Be sure to share your box day with us here on the board - we love to celebrate with you!

In Christ,
Julie