heartofdakota.com

I really like the idea of buying Bigger for my 10yo, but I'm curious ahead of time what it looks like to incorporate the extensions. Are they scheduled, or just listed? Do they add to the length of the day? Are they all additional, or sometimes substituted for the younger materials? I won't have a younger student doing Bigger, just the 10yo, but so far it looks like my best choice for a sensitive child to cover the time period we want to cover. I'm sure the hands-on activities will be a big hit. So, what does it look like to do the curriculum with extensions? Is there a sample anywhere?

Love_to_Read,

I just moved your thread over to the Main Board where more people will see it.

Thanks,

Mike

Love_to_Read wrote:I really like the idea of buying Bigger for my 10yo, but I'm curious ahead of time what it looks like to incorporate the extensions. Are they scheduled, or just listed? Do they add to the length of the day? Are they all additional, or sometimes substituted for the younger materials? I won't have a younger student doing Bigger, just the 10yo, but so far it looks like my best choice for a sensitive child to cover the time period we want to cover. I'm sure the hands-on activities will be a big hit. So, what does it look like to do the curriculum with extensions? Is there a sample anywhere?

The Bigger Extensions are to be used in addition to the younger materials, not to replace them. There is a daily schedule in the appendix of Bigger, along with instructions for follow-up assignments. The student is to read the Extension books independently according to the daily schedule, then follow up with an oral narration (suggested twice each week), a written narration (suggested twice each week), or a notebooking page consisting of a drawing with a caption (once a week).
They will add a little to the length of each day, about a half hour to 40 minutes, depending on how quickly or slowly your child reads.
Alternatively, you could put him in Preparing. You could get everything except the extensions for Preparing, and he could do the guide as written. He would also be learning to be independent for the next guide. Although it is a sweep of history from Creation to modern times, Carrie has done a great job in the guide of pointing out readings you might want to omit if your child is sensitive. There are also lots of wonderful hands-on activities. My sensitive daughter had a great year with Preparing at age 10.

Love_to_Read wrote:I really like the idea of buying Bigger for my 10yo, but I'm curious ahead of time what it looks like to incorporate the extensions. Are they scheduled, or just listed? Do they add to the length of the day? Are they all additional, or sometimes substituted for the younger materials? I won't have a younger student doing Bigger, just the 10yo, but so far it looks like my best choice for a sensitive child to cover the time period we want to cover. I'm sure the hands-on activities will be a big hit. So, what does it look like to do the curriculum with extensions? Is there a sample anywhere?

The extensions are scheduled by Unit, Day in the Appendix and match the core of the program quite well. They are additional and not substituted for the daily materials. There are optional follow-up activities suggested too (i.e. oral narration, notebooking, etc.) that the students may rotate through. We have done Bigger Hearts twice and enjoyed it so much. We bought the extensions later, as they were too much for my ds when we did Bigger Hearts, and I didn't want him to miss them. I think you'll enjoy them too!

In Christ,
Julie