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Okay, so today was our first day of Beyond. My dd was very enthusiastic about beginning. She was excited about having a guide similar to little sister's guide (dd3 has already been doing LHTH).

I am SO happy about the left side activities. They were short, interesting, and thought-provoking. All my kids loved the large taped map on the floor. Dd played with that for a long time. We had a tornado warning this evening and had to stay in the basement, and when I got to the Bible verse this evening with dd, she was immediately able to apply the verse to our experience.

The right side? Well, I need some help with that.

If you've read "Understood Betsy," remember that scene when Betsy entered the new school, and the teacher put her in a different grade for each subject? Well, that's my kid. Here's what happened today.

Spelling -- WAY too easy. Got some eye-rolling from dd. Honestly, after nearly 3 levels of All About Spelling, I'm guessing she can probably spell 95% of the words in the spelling lists without even studying them first.

Grammar -- This was great. I'm adding in R&S 2 and letting her give the answers orally.

Copywork -- I'm afraid this is too much of a stretch for dd. She's not used to doing more than one short sentence at a time. Poetry is especially difficult copywork for her because she still writes rather large letters and it's too hard to fit a line of poetry on a line of paper. Handwriting is her most difficult area in school. How can I make this more appropriate for her? She can write neatly, by the way. It's just really hard work.

Reading/Storytime -- I'm not quite sure what to do here. I had purchased DITHOR to use with her because she passed the emerging reader stage about two years ago. However, I didn't even attempt that today, and I realize it will probably be too much work for her. So scratch that. I picked "Helen Keller" by Margaret Davidson for our biography read-aloud. What if I follow the Storytime box as is, only I have dd do the reading aloud? I have a ton of books that I want to read to her outside of school time, so mom read-aloud time will still be happening. But this way she would be getting reading practice with books that are more on her level, without the intensity of DITHOR.

I hope my questions make sense. Thanks in advance for any help!

are you doing a handwriting program?

I guess if her only issue is the writing/copying portion, I would scale back and start slowly to build that skill and maybe do a handwriting program? I think once she get's use to the copywork her handwriting should improve over time from all the practice.

OR

You could go back a guide?

I have not done any of the guides yet so If I am totally off I apologize.

Ok so here are my thoughts:
Spelling: replace with something more challenging, or go ahead and Buy the Bigger guide, and use the first level of Dictation.
Copywork: Start small and build. It is ok if she doesn't copy the whole poem at first.
DITHOR: DITHOR level 2/3 is really not that time consuming or intense. My ds is doing level 2/3 with the level 2 readers, and he is enjoying it. He is not a strong speller, so I usually have him tell me his answers and then I write them down for him to copy.
Storytime: Is one of our favorite parts of the day. I suppose you could have her read these aloud, or take turns with you reading.

I agree with twoxcell and you could even just do some of the DITHOR workbook orally to start with if writing is a concern. It sounds like your daughter is definitely ready for DITHOR with minor adjustments.

My younger son also needed some copywork modification when we did Beyond. I started off just having him copy one line of the poem every day, then on the last day, he got to illustrate it, even though it was only 4 lines. By the end of the year, he was up to 6-12 lines, depending on his week and the poem. I have the most precious notebook full of his favorite lines from the poems and his illustrations of them. It's a great keepsake, even if the poems aren't complete.

Okay, I'm definitely buying the Bigger guide. We need it for math anyway, and after looking at the thread with sample dictation on it, I know dd can handle that IF I'm not too picky on her handwriting. She's done dictation before, writing in big all-caps on the whiteboard, which is less difficult physically.

Copywork -- *smacks self* Of COURSE, she doesn't have to do one stanza a day for a keepsake notebook just starting out! I love the idea of picking one line each day and working up to longer passages. Thanks for the suggestion!

DITHOR -- I'll try it. I think the time requirement is what really scared me off. We almost never have a 20-minute block of time to work together on something, and if we did, she and I would both rather practice piano. I still I'd have her read "Helen Keller" for DITHOR then.

Other questions later, gotta run.

You've already received good advice! My ds needed to start his poetry copywork doing one line a day. He needed some reinforcement of letter formation and also needed to build up his fine motor skills, so I had him do a page a day of "A Reason for Handwriting A". He also needed to grow into DITHOR. He was able to read the Level 2 books well, but needed time to grow into the writing part of it. We spread a genre out, doing the reading over 2 days, which made for nice short readings, and doing the DITHOR TG plans and Student Book every other day. He said the answers, and I wrote them to begin with. Then, I wrote half in the Student Book, and the other half on a markerboard, and he copied the portion from the markerboard in the Student Book. Last, he just was able to write it himself. R & S English 2 sounds like a good fit, as does the math from Bigger Hearts. I would say that your dd should not start dictation, as she is writing in all capital letters, and is therefore not ready for it. If dc miss even one capital letter, punctuation mark, or spelling of a word in dictation, they are to repeat the passage the next day. Dc need to be writing in sentences with mostly proper capitalization, mostly proper punctuation, and with most of their spelling correct within short sentences to begin dictation. I would do Spelling List 2 with your dd this year, as it will prepare her well for dictation. Spelling is not just a pretest/post-test of words in HOD. It has LA plans that are written to help dc learn skills to begin dictation the following year. Here are a few threads that address this...

CM Style Spelling in HOD (why do it, describes spelling plans too):
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5645&p=41357#p41357

Spelling retention – why not to pretest – why to do the spelling even if dc are good spellers by Carrie:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7415&p=54282#p54282

It sounds like your dd is going to do so well with Beyond Little Hearts! HOORAY! Blessedly HOD makes adjusting LA/math quite easy, so the "Understood Betsy's" of this world (which most dc - and adults for that matter are) can school in a way that meets all of their needs skill-wise, and moves them along. Enjoy Beyond - it is such a wonderful guide! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

So glad that you're enjoying your jump into Beyond! We are here, too. We're 8 weeks in now, and ready to break for summer. My little gal LOVES it, and so do I!!

Julie, I loved reading that thread where Carrie explains not taking a pre-test attitude towards the spelling! It's definitely a different way to think about spelling than I had before. Allison is a natural speller, too. We're nearing the end of list 1 now, and she has only missed 2 or 3 words - but having a 5th grader, I can see how this is preparing her for what's ahead. She loves spelling! It's quick, easy, and painless. Garret always sits and watches us, too, telling me that he's SURE he's ready for spelling, too. He wants to help her check the words by spelling them out loud after she writes the word. But (I learned from you wise ladies)...that would defeat the POINT of her LOOKING at the word to check it and using her eyes and brain as a little camera. So, they're free to do spelling on their own for fun that way, but for school, she has to do it by looking.

Kathleen