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I am going to be doing Bigger with my twins in the fall. They would be going into 2nd grade if they were in traditional school. It seems like a lot of people do Bigger for 1st grade but my son needs more help and I wanted to keep them together. Anyway, should I try to add the R&S 2 this year or just wait until Beyond, even though they will be in 3rd grade then? I hope this makes sense!

Hi there! I am wondering if you meant most people do "Beyond Little Hearts" for first grade? Doing "Bigger Hearts" for first grade is not common, as it is meant to be done with ages 7-9 yo. R & S English 2 is part of "Bigger Hearts". Have you had a chance to check out the placement chart? That is really helpful - I've liked using it for our dc. Here is a link to that:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

I'm sorry...you are right...I meant Beyond. Can you pretend I said Beyond in the above question? Sorry again...it's been a tough week!

Have they had any grammer instruction yet? The LA in Beyond is gentle and a good start. If your ds needs a gentler start, then that might be a good option. R&S 2 is pretty gentle overall and they might do ok in it now, but from what I understand (as I'm not there yet myself), it starts moving quite quickly in R&S 3. Just some food for thought.

See...I completely pretended you said "Beyond" in your first post.

I can pretend too! I think you can definitely do Beyond with your twins. As far as whether to add R & S English 2, have they had an introduction to the grammar skills in Beyond? Here are the grammar skills taught in Beyond...

A brief scope and sequence of the grammar, mechanics, and usage
concepts is listed by unit below (Number ‘1’ corresponds to unit 1,
number ‘2’ corresponds to unit 2, etc.):
1 - sentences and fragments
2 - run-on sentences
3 - sentences: subjects and predicates
4 - sentences: statements
5 - sentences: questions
6 - sentences: questions and statements
7 - sentences: commands
8 - sentences: commands
9 - sentences: exclamations
10 - sentences: exclamations and statements
11 - sentences: statements, questions, commands, exclamations
12 - nouns
13 - proper nouns: first names
14 - proper nouns: full names
15 - initials of full names
16 - capitalizing ‘I’
17 - proper nouns: names of days of the week
18 - proper nouns: names of days of the week
19 - proper nouns: names of months
20 - proper nouns: names of months
21 - writing dates
22 - common and proper nouns: places
23 - proper nouns: addresses of places
24 - common nouns: things
25 - plural nouns: adding -s and -es
26 - commas in a series
27 - action verbs
28 - verbs: using ‘is’ and ‘are’
29 - verbs: using ‘was’ and ‘were’
30 - verbs: using ‘has’ and ‘have’
31 - contractions
32 - alphabetical order
33 - alphabetical order
34 - friendly letters

If they have not had an introduction to the above skills, then I would do Beyond's grammar. If they have been introduced to the above skills, you can do R & S English 2, a lesson a day. I think you will enjoy Beyond so much! It is a wonderful guide to start HOD with! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you both so much!!