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I have a few questions about Preparing and Bigger. We are new to homeschooling. My son attended a private school from K through 2nd grade. He is 8 and will be entering third grade this upcoming school year. He will be turning nine in October. I have two boys (one entering Kindergarden), but I will only be homeschooling my third grader for now. I plan to add in my younger son in a year or two.
My eight year old has used ABeka for all subjects and has done very well with this curriculum. Abeka is considered one grade level above (that is why I did not go with Bigger). He knows how to write in cursive. He knows his basic grammar, and he reads chapter books independently. He covered important people in American History. Science was your basic second grade material. His spelling was 20 words a week. He maintained an A in all subjects throughout the school year. I am just trying to give you a picture of where he is at academically. He does groan, though, when he has to read but he gets it done.
He has never used narration/dictation. Do you feel Preparing would be the appropriate level for him. I did already order Preparing. I had a very hard time figuring out which one to use (bigger or preparing). My concern was the narration/dictation. He has done a lot of copy work with Abeka. I just am not that familiar with dictation. I guess I am looking for reassurance ! I apologize for my "all over the place" lengthy e mail. Any comments or advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you so much.

Blessings,

Renee

Renee,

Welcome to the HOD Board! We're glad to have you here! I'll move your post over to the Main Board where more moms will see it. All new posts begin on the Main Board.

I'm in my busy writing season right now, so it's possible someone else will get a chance to answer you before I do. The ladies on the board are so good at encouraging and helping one another. We pray you will find the fit you're seeking.

Blessings,
Carrie

Hi Renee!

Your intro to HOD sounds exactly like mine! My oldest came from a small Christian school for K and 1. We homeschooled in 2, and used Abeka and Saxon. He did very well academically and everything comes quite easily to him. I was torn between starting him in Bigger or Preparing, too. We went with Bigger - and it was PERFECT!!

It will be a big switch to move from the typical textbook style learning to the Charlotte Mason (CM) approach in HOD. My son and I both absolutely LOVED it, but everything you're doing will require so much more thought. You will not be filling out worksheets and other "seatwork" with one-right-answer type questions. You son will be narrating and sharing what he has just listened to you read and how that connects with what he already knows. He'll be creating notebooking pages about what he's learning. The activities and experiments were big time favorites here! I'm pretty sure that every single day of our first HOD year, Grant told me how glad he was that we were doing this new school. He loved what he was learning and he was so glad that it wasn't "just" reading and writing!

So, from my experience, I'd say that Bigger will be the right fit. I know that it made for a seamless transition for us to a different style of learning. Bigger will not seem like an "easy" year coming from Abeka either - I can guarantee that. It is so full of things to learn. My bright little guy's mind was most definitely inspired! Since you already have Preparing on the way, you may want to go with that - equally as wonderful of a program. I really think that for us, it would have taken some faltering as we got started though. I know that HOD would gladly let you return Preparing and get Bigger instead if you'd like to. They're great about helping us get the right fit as we get started.
Kathleen

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. I appreciate your helpful advice. I think I may return Preparing and go with Bigger. I didn't have peace about Preparing. Thank you again.

Renee

Hi Renee!

Welcome to homeschooling and HOD!!!

I agree with Kathleen...I think Bigger seems like it would be a better fit for your DS, especially if you and he will be new to the CM approach. We did Bigger our first year with HOD and it was perfect!!! It covers American heros/biographical figures in a way that is so unique and fun--my DS really enjoyed it and learned so much! We are doing Preparing now and it is definitely a step up from Bigger as far as notebooking, oral/written narration, etc.

I know you will both enjoy your year with HOD!!!

Thank you so much for welcoming me to the board! I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I feel this will be the best choice for us, as well. Thank you for confirming that for me!

Renee