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I just received a wonderful box of Bigger Hearts curriculum, but I'm afraid that even going half-speed, the lovely language of the Eggleston books will be lost on my processing-challenged little boy for at least another year. I'm considering dropping down a guide, however, I think the science activities and reading in Beyond might be too "Young" for him. Can anyone weigh in please on what sorts of things are done in Beyond, and whether they'd be appropriate for a smart little guy who is just turning 8, loves hands-on and science, but has trouble processing complex language and abstract ideas?
Thank you!

Hi Aimee...

We are doing Beyond this year...for our turned 8 yr old daughter in Feb....We took her out of p.s. after a month in the 2nd grade...and started this program in Jan....At first I thought it was too young for her...in some of the subjects...not reading...because she has struggled in that...it has ended up being a perfect fit for her! You can start your son in the DITHOR if you think he is past the emerging readers....My daughter was not ready for that...so started in Emerging Readers....and wow...she is beginning to really take off in reading....noticing a huge difference... I have just added R&S 2 to her Language Arts...To start with it was fine but as she has really taken off I feel she is more than ready for this...Math for my daughter has been a bit of a struggle...but the 1A and 2A was a little too early at the beginning of the year so we have worked thru it quicker...now in the middle of 2A...she is starting to get to some things she is newly learning so a bit more challenging ...so that is good....You mentioned Science....too me...it seems a bit too young in Beyond for my daughter...she has enjoyed the projects..we had two yesterday that did not work...so that was disappointing...but...all in all...Beyond has been a perfect fit for her...I think the thing I love about all the different programs...is...if Bigger is too challenging right now for your son...you feel...you can beef up the areas to challenge further in Beyond....and he will stil be learning and ENJOYING school! I had thought of doing Bigger this year with my daughter and am so glad we waited....her foundation is so much stronger now.,..and I love that for her! So overall our 8 yr old...has done very well in Beyond and with the flexibility of adding in a bit more advanced things in the area you need it....it seems to have worked very well.......Beth in Idaho

My friend is doing Beyond this year with her 7 and 10yo. She was new to HOD and didn't want to try to juggle two guides if she could help it. She just added some books of topic for her 10yo to extend it and used appropriate grade English and math. She is moving them into Bigger next year with extensions for the older child. Her 10yo is very capable academically and enjoyed the activities even if they seem on paper to be a bit easy. It was such a change from what they had been doing for school method-wise that she flourished with the Charlotte Mason style learning. I would highly recommend doing Beyond with your child, especially with the processing issues he has. I have found it is easier to add some great living books to enrich or extend a topic the child is interested in than to frustrate a child if they can't fully understand the material. Hope that helps!

Thanks for your replies. Actually, skimming through the post about bloggers, I found several HOD bloggers using Beyond, and gosh it looked like fun! Although some of the activities sound "young" for my littlest, the hands-on learning would be terrific for him. Two things I do worry about are that everything is so teacher intensive, that I wouldn't be able to give my fair time to my older guys, who would be doing their own guide. Right now, littlest is doing Serle's Primary Language Lessons, copywork, Cheerful Cursive, Explode the Code, and then Ambleside Online readings with me, among other things. While he needs my hands-on for math and our reading time, he can be mostly independent with the other work...secondly, I'm not sure Beyond contains enough of that sort of thing (LA)for him. He is so all-over-the-place in his skills that he might be hard to place in one program...
Blessings,

Hi Aimee! Since you have the materials, maybe you could just do a half-speed trial run and see if you think that it would be a fit? He may surprise you in his listening to the Eggleston books. They are done in bite-sized readings, so they are really read in manageable chunks. Plus, all of the "Learning Through History" left side of the guide's boxes link with the history, so dc sort of double-dip in the history theme and get it again in different ways throughout the day. It may be worth a try to see how it goes! Just an idea though.

In Christ,
Julie

I just finished Beyond with my ds he will be 8 in July. He loved all of the read alouds, and storytime books. He also enjoyed all of the hands on projects even ones that seemed simple. My ds even wants to join in on my dd's LHFHG projects.

Aimee,
You mentioned older kids in other guides. Are they HOD guides? The upper level guides (CTC, RTR, Rev2Rev) are very independent. You may be surprised at how much the older kids will be able to do on their own.

Steph, I am strongly considering putting my kiddos - who will be 11-years-old (two of them) and 14 in the fall - in CTC. I REALLY love doing history together though, and while I know independence is a strong goal of HOD, I don't know that I'm ready to give up that time together, or the fantastic discussions we have. One of my middle guys also needs help processing, so we work a little more closely after reading to make sure he "gets" it. Even though a lot is independent, don't they need your help editing and discussing writing projects, etc? I don't really know how that's set up, but I'm imagining there's still discussion and planning time together to some degree?
I appreciate you helping me think this through!

I've been using Beyond with my 8yo this year. The science is a bit light for 3rd. Carrie suggested using Bigger for science, but I was worried about adding too much for me and wanted to keep my older two together as much as possible. I also like how our science and history are connected.

My DD has had a wonderful year and really enjoyed her science...Carrie's science projects are so easy and fun! We do add some extra science books for free reading. There are a few ways you could beef up the science while still using Beyond.

Aimee,

The ladies are doing a great job of thinking through options with you. I'll just pop-in to share that you can be as involved as you desire in your older student's guides, but the independence is there for those who desire it and for the students who need it. I will share that I was not sure that I wanted to give the history and science readings over to my boys, but I have found that they retain and enjoy their readings much more when reading them to themselves. They also take more ownership of the material and are able to be more self-starting, rather than relying on me to do their subjects with them. I shared a bit about that in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8940&p=65734

Anyway, these are just my thoughts as you ponder!

Blessings,
Carrie