heartofdakota.com

Hi,
I have used LHFHG and parts of Beyond with my DS . This year I started him in Bigger but he was NOT happy with the amount of writing. I ended up stopping the program after 2 weeks and switching to some unit studies and another program. I really like HOD and I would like to attempt Bigger next year (DD will be doing LHFHG). Has anyone adapted any of the program for a child who does not enjoy writing? Any ideas would be welcome.
DS will be 8.5 years when we start it.
Thanks.
PS We are in Australia so our school year started in January.

I had this question last fall when I had the same issue with my son. Let me see if I can find the link and I'll post it.

My dd didn't like to write and wasn't very good at it. I started out only having her doing her cursive and one vocab word, the Bible verse, math (occasionally I would have her tell me the answers and I would write it) we did all of English orally. So basically she was doing cursive daily -- oh I only had her copy the words once and the letters three times -- math daily, vocab once a week, Bible verse once a week and the notebooking when it called for it. Oh, and dictation.

Then after 10 units or so I started having her do two vocab words, all her math and the other stuff. Along with copying some of the poems. She does not like to start something and not finish, so I only had her copy the poems that I thought she could easily finish in a week.

Now we are roughly 20units in.... she's starting to do all three vocab words (when all three are in our dictionary), copy the poetry each week and I'm going to start having her do some of the English written.

For DITHOR, if there was a ton of writing I would have her tell me the answers and I would write it down just like she said it. Now she's on a break from DITHOR, but she'll be doing all the writing when we start back in August.

Now, she still doesn't LIKE doing all the writing, but she is capable of it now. And my DD2 is 6, so there are many times a day I have to explain to both of them that it really isn't about what they LIKE doing, it's about what they HAVE to do. I explain that I make it easier sometimes, but that's just me being "nice" and that I really am not helping them much at all by doing it. But regardless, they have to do the work I tell them to do. It's part of being a kid and being in school.

Here's one post....

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7229&hilit=+bhfhg

Thanks. All very helpful suggestions.

Bigger Hearts does expect dc to be able to handle more writing. I am wondering if ds could just do Beyond Little Hearts, since he hasn't done much of it, and it seems to fit his writing level better? We enjoyed Beyond very much, and I bet your ds would too. This would give him one more year to grow in his writing skills, and he'd be that much more ready for Bigger Hearts the next year. I always think if much tweaking is needing to be done because dc just aren't quite ready for the skill requirements of a guide, it's just much better all around to go back a guide and find a better fit. It makes the whole year more manageable, more enjoyable, and less of a struggle. Just an idea!

In Christ,
Julie

joyfuljourney,

The ladies have given you terrific suggestions for easing into the writing in Bigger. I agree that since your son didn't get a chance to finish Beyond, it is possible that he may still fit in Beyond better and need the rest of that? One way to be sure is to check out the placement chart and really see where he fits best on the first page only of the chart. Link: http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

If he truly does fit best in Bigger Hearts, then the easing in strategies will work well. If he is in over his head though in other areas beside the written portion though, then it won't be a good fit all the way around. So, it's a great idea to take a moment and see where he fits best overall.

If you did do part of Beyond before, you could just pick it back up where you mainly left off and go forward if he fits best there. Anyway, just something worth pondering.

Blessings,
Carrie

I know how frustrating that is b/c I had that problem with both of my older children. I started them in Bigger a couple of years ago and it was sooo painful for me b/c they came to dread the day with all of the writing. After a few weeks we moved to Beyond and they LOVED it and then we did Bigger this past year (my daughter is still finishing up) and they loved it. Both of my kids thought it was quite ridiculous that they had complained so much about the amount of handwriting involved in Bigger because it just wasn't a big deal to them anymore (there were some times when my 8.5 year got frustrated b/c her 10 year old brother was faster then she was but that is a different story).

I found my original post about this if you're interested in reading it
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4996