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Hello my boys are 16 months apart(8yrs old and 7 in three weeks). They have been home schooled from the beginning but this past year seemed to have been blah! blah! So says my 8yr old! I have looked at HOD before but decided to go a different route and here I am again 1.5 yrs later. After looking at the placement chart I'm not sure where my sons will place. Beyond or Bigger? I would like to keep them together if at all possible. My 8yr old started off as a very reluctant reader but is starting to gain confidence and speed. My soon to be 7yr old is a very good reader probably reading at a 5th grade level. Hopefully someone can help me with the following questions.
1.My boys really love Story of the World now I'm wondering if we can continue to use the books along with the audio?
2.We also use All About Spelling would this conflict or take away from the curriculum if I decided not use HOD spelling?
3. How much writing is in a days work in the Bigger guide? We also use Writing with Ease.
4. What is the Grammar like in Bigger and Beyond? It's hard to tell from the sample.
5. We school4 days a week with co-op on our 5th day how can this be handled to ensure I complete the curriculum?

I'll answer what I can. If you look at the placement chart here:

http://heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

it will help you better place your boys.

1. The history in HOD is pretty rich already. We have used SOTW, and I'm not sure how it would fit into either Beyond or Bigger. Bigger is biography based history, so that might work without being confusing if you just really wanted to do it. I don't think it's necessary, though.

2. Nope, adding spelling doesn't conflict at all. My kids are terrible spellers, and we have added spelling to every guide we've used so far.

3. Hmm. We are only on week 3 of Bigger, so I'm not sure I can answer this one accurately. I think I'll let somebody else chime in on this one.

4. The grammar in Bigger is Rod and Staff. They have samples on their website. In Beyond, grammar is done the 5th day of each unit. Instructions are given in the guide. They introduce things like nouns, capitalization, verbs, punctuation, contractions, ABC order, writing a friendly letter, types of sentences, proper nouns, etc.

5. Different people handle this one different ways. Beyond doesn't take long. When we had co-op, we just took our "regular" work with us, and each child did it when they weren't in a class. Some people double up on a box or two a day so that they are fitting all 5 days in to 4. And some folks just take longer to complete the guide, and then they just move on into the next guide wherever they are in their school year.

Hope something here helps.

Hi! Here's a thread about writing in HOD. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8731 Carrie's response describes the amount and types of writing in the different guides. I haven't done BIgger yet, but I have the guide, and I've looked into WWE, and I think you'd be duplicating a lot to do both. There's a big increase in writing from Beyond to Bigger.

We school 4 days a week, and just continue where we left off each Monday, so day 1 of each unit rarely falls on a Monday. I works well for us, it just takes an extra 9 weeks to get through a 34-unit guide. HTH

calledtobehome wrote:Hello my boys are 16 months apart(8yrs old and 7 in three weeks). They have been home schooled from the beginning but this past year seemed to have been blah! blah! So says my 8yr old! I

Good morning, calledtobehome! HOD is pretty exciting - get ready for some fun days headed your way! When you are trying to choose between Beyond and Bigger, it is first a good idea to use the placement chart. Next, it is a good idea to consider the amount of writing and the level of skills required to be successful.

calledtobehome wrote:After looking at the placement chart I'm not sure where my sons will place. Beyond or Bigger? I would like to keep them together if at all possible.

Here is a copy of a portion of Kathleen's post about the writing skills needed to do Bigger Hearts...
Bible - Once per week copy the memory verse
History - Timeline entries once per week (name, dates, and small picture)
Once per week notebooking page that may be a map drawing, list of facts about a person or event, pictures to go with it...
1-3 Vocabulary cards per week (definition, sentence using word, and illustration on the back)
Science - Once per week notebooking page including Bible verse and a labeled drawing
Once per week experiment page (Parent writes question on it, child records a guess, draws the procedure, and writes a conclusion)
Dictation - Study and write short passage 3 times a week (2 sentences)
DITHOR - 2 (?) student pages per week (The teacher guide actually reccommends writing these for your child if writing is an issue starting out.)
Cheerful Cursive - if you're opting to do that (The lessons are very short! I have my child write the words once, even though it says twice on some of the pages, as long as it's GOOD writing.)
R&S2 - Usually about 5 sentences a day (on a white board)
Poetry - OPTIONAL to copy from the poem of the week. We started out without it, and have added in copying 2 lines 4 days a week.

These are spread throughout the week in the plans so that there's not too much on any one day. Cursive and R&S are daily, but the "big" ones are split up.
Day 2 - Science notebooking
Day 3 - vocabulary and science experiment page
Day 4 - Bible verse
Day 5 - History timeline entry and notebooking

Here is a copy of Carrie's comments about Beyond/Bigger's writing...
As far as choosing between "Beyond.." and "Bigger..." goes, the amount of writing varies quite a bit between Beyond and Bigger. Bigger requires more writing in the areas of a once a week history notebooking assignment, a once a week science experiment sheet and a once a week science notebooking entry, along with once a week copywork of a Bible verse, 1-3 vocabulary cards each week, cursive handwriting practice daily, and daily grammar instruction with written practice. It also provides a choice of spelling or dictation passages. If your little one sounds like that would be fine for her, she belongs in Bigger. If not, then Beyond would be best.

Beyond has much less writing doing copywork daily from the poetry, using a gentle once a week introduction to grammar, and writing daily for very short spelling lessons.

You would also want to look at the emerging reader set to see if your little honey should do all or at least the last half of that set. The schedule for that set is included in both Beyond and Bigger, so you'd have it either way. I would for sure have her to the last half of the set. Here's the link to it: Then, I would move her onto DITHR.
http://www.heartofdakota.com/emerging-reader.php

In Christ,
Julie