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Has any done both? Would that be to much reading? We will be doing Prepare and I am purchasing the extension pack for DD. I was wondering if their were any advantages to doing both the deluxe and Extension packs?

I'm looking at that program for next year and wondered the same thing. Can't wait to see what others have to say about it.

Hi Karen!

Welcome to homeschooling and HOD!!!

We did the self-study package this past year and my DS really enjoyed it! We didn't start Preparing until October b/c I slowed Bigger down for him, so we are about halfway through it. I am thinking about adding in extensions for him for his 4th grade year mostly b/c he is such an avid and good reader. I am a little uncertain about it and don't want to unnecessarily overload him though. Still pondering it. All that to say, this coming year will be our third year with HOD and my DS will be 9.5 when we begin again in the fall. If your DD has just turned 9/4th grade I would say to not do the extensions since it is your first year homeschooling and that might be too much for her starting out. If she is 10/10.5 and 5th grade you may want to consider it. Since we haven't ever done extensions, though, you may want to wait to hear what others that have say!

I DO wholeheartedly recommend the self-study package...my DS has loved it! HTH a little bit!

3sweeties wrote:Hi Karen!

Welcome to homeschooling and HOD!!!

We did the self-study package this past year and my DS really enjoyed it! We didn't start Preparing until October b/c I slowed Bigger down for him, so we are about halfway through it. I am thinking about adding in extensions for him for his 4th grade year mostly b/c he is such an avid and good reader. I am a little uncertain about it and don't want to unnecessarily overload him though. Still pondering it. All that to say, this coming year will be our third year with HOD and my DS will be 9.5 when we begin again in the fall. If your DD has just turned 9/4th grade I would say to not do the extensions since it is your first year homeschooling and that might be too much for her starting out. If she is 10/10.5 and 5th grade you may want to consider it. Since we haven't ever done extensions, though, you may want to wait to hear what others that have say!

I DO wholeheartedly recommend the self-study package...my DS has loved it! HTH a little bit!

She will be 10 in August [late birthday] and she is finishing up 4th grade in public school and LOVES to read. This will be her "gap" year tho b/c I want her to graduate highschool when she is 18 so in that sense we are "repeating" the 4th grade but still using 5th grade work where she excels. I LOVE tailoring her education to her skill set and needs! We will also be doing DITHOR 4/5 readers. I like you do not want to overwhelm her BUT I also want her challenged in the reading to help increase her reading level. It will be interesting to see what others have done. I am purchasing tomorrow and I am really excited!

Maybe I am wrong, but the extention is added in to the whole rest of the program. The deluxe is so key, especially preparing on up because it teaches independence. Bu, I just wantesvto chime in to say that you do not choose between the deluxe and the extentions. You would buy both, if your student needs the extra work.

We have recently started Preparing with my 10 yr old son and have found the self study/independent history readings to be very important to the program-- they are written in to the lesson plans (but apparently are still optional). We are doing some of the extentions as well--the schedule for the extensions is found in the teacher's manual appendix-- we own about 3/4 of the exensions books and so are just doing the ones we own. The extensions are to use for ages 11-12... my son is basically doing them just for fun and I don't require any narrations or additional assignments after he reads, he really enjoys history so he likes the added information.

Mercy wrote:Maybe I am wrong, but the extention is added in to the whole rest of the program. The deluxe is so key, especially preparing on up because it teaches independence. Bu, I just wantesvto chime in to say that you do not choose between the deluxe and the extentions. You would buy both, if your student needs the extra work.

according to the website it says:

SELF-STUDY DELUXE HISTORY PACKAGE: FOR THE NEWLY INDEPENDENT READER
Adding this package to the Economy Package provides daily independent reading assignments for your 3rd and 4th grade students in the area of history. Books correspond with the time period to enhance your child's study of history. The reading material is meant to be easy and short enough for the students to complete on their own. If you have a very advanced reader, you may want to use the Extension Package instead.

Based on the above bold statement I chose the Extension Package not the deluxe for the newly independent reader. What I was hoping to find out was if also adding in the deluxe for the newly independent reader [b/c I think she would enjoy reading them as well] would that be adding too much since we are also doing DITHOR 4/5 in addition to the Extension package. I thought for self study you either picked the newly independent reader OR the Extension package for older students not BOTH if you needed the higher level.


Now I am confused.

Oh...I am confused too...

Which guide are you looking at?

Mercy wrote:Oh...I am confused too...

Which guide are you looking at?

Preparing Hearts for His Glory. I know she would enjoy the emerging independent readers but they would be "light" reads for her. I dont want to bog her down with a ton of reading if it will not benefit her or overwhelm her. Especially since she will be doing DITHOR 4/5.

Hi Karen!

The biggest difference in the self-study package and the extensions is that the self-study package is much more than just extra reading. It incorporates copywork, drawings with Draw and Write through History, more practice in oral narration, etc., in addition to the reading and all are totally done independently by the student. My DS is also a very advanced reader and it has definitely challenged him, but allowed him to also grow immensely in the skills above. All that to say, you don't "have" to do the self-study package if you feel like your child won't benefit from it -- that is why it is optional. The extensions package primarily provides extra reading for the older student along with oral narrations, written narrations, and notebook entries with drawings and paragraph summaries per each unit. I don't know if that helps , but that is what I have understood to be the biggest differences between the two...does that help at all?

3sweeties wrote:Hi Karen!

The biggest difference in the self-study package and the extensions is that the self-study package is much more than just extra reading. It incorporates copywork, drawings with Draw and Write through History, more practice in oral narration, etc., in addition to the reading and all are totally done independently by the student. My DS is also a very advanced reader and it has definitely challenged him, but allowed him to also grow immensely in the skills above. All that to say, you don't "have" to do the self-study package if you feel like your child won't benefit from it -- that is why it is optional. The extensions package primarily provides extra reading for the older student along with oral narrations, written narrations, and notebook entries with drawings and paragraph summaries per each unit. I don't know if that helps , but that is what I have understood to be the biggest differences between the two...does that help at all?

Yep, that's the difference we discovered when we used Preparing. One is designed for 3rd and 4th graders and is scheduled in the guide right there in the plans. It has books to read with assignments, a CD to listen to the reading of history, an art book to work from. While it is an "independent" study, it requires less independence on the child's part because the assignment each day is written for them right there in the box.

The other is for 5th and 6th graders and is scheduled in the back. That one is harder reading and the assignments aren't exactly "scheduled." The paragraph before the daily reading assignments are broken up says basically that it's suggested that the kids do oral narration once per unit, written narration twice, and an illustration and summary paragraph once per unit. You could set up your own schedule with this one (you know--day 1 oral narration, days 2 and 3 written narration, day 4 illustration with summary) or you could let them pick which assignment to do each week, as long as all the assignments are covered.

How old is your kiddo? 9? I wouldn't do both full tilt. When we did Preparing for my oldest son's 5th grade year, we actually picked and chose and did some of the books from each package. That worked out well for us, as I was able to skip over the ones in the deluxe package that might have been too easy for him, but still do the ones from that package that looked like "fun" without overloading him. I think if you try to do both extensions as written, it's not only going to be lots of reading for your kiddo (reading from 2 of his own history books each day, plus reading his own science book and doing the DITHOR book or whatever your reading program is), but it would also be quite a bit of writing.

I probably would do the younger package with a 9 year old, even if they could actually read the older package, just because of the skills worked on in the deluxe package are a stepping stone to the older skills. Does that make sense? Just my thoughts. Hope that helped somehow!

My ds is finishing up Preparing. He is a severe dyslexic, but we still used the Independent History portion this year. It is wonderful! I tape-recorded the books ahead of time so that it still had the independent "feel" to it. I would suggest this over the extension package if you are deciding between the two. The indep. history was a wonderful supplement to the program. He LOVED the Draw and Write through History.
hth,
Laura

I did not know you are suposed to pick just one and not do both...

If I had a choice I would definately pick the deluxe pack! It is written in the guide already, its main goal is to build independence, and the books are really good.

I think maybe I wasn't clear. LOL. She will be doing it. I ordered our books on Friday. When I ordered based on the summary of each I ordered the extension package for independent reading not the emerging independent readers to do the skills. I was thinking to add in the deluxe package to enhance the history portion with extra reading...not do the other skills asked in the schedule that she will be doing with the extensions.

So I guess I will be going back and ordering the deluxe books and then giving her the extension books to read to enhance the history but not do copy, narration etc with the extension books.

That sounds like a good plan to me, Karen! Hope you didn't get too confused.

Also, wondering what you are referring to by "emerging independent readers"? Is that the Deluxe package? Just making sure I'm not confused about what you mean!