heartofdakota.com

HI- I know that this is where i can get some good advice-i am just having second thoughts about where i placed my twin 9 year old boys. Last year we did a few weeks of bigger and a few weeks of preparing. I am determined to make HOD work for us this year. When we used bigger last year, they were not very happy with the history and i think they called some of the activities babyish. We then tried preparing and that went o.k. but i was doing a lot of adjusting and they didnt do the independent history and some of the writing. Writing is something they do not like to do. I bought a used preparing to use this year but now i am wondering if that is the best choice. According to placement chart they do place in preparing except for the DITHOR and writing. They did a bit of grammar 3 and are beyond singapore 2- they finished that last year- and would love more involved science than bigger has. They also have done basic cursive work but need LOTS of practice! But if i do preparing, i don't think they would be able to add in DITHOR and may complain about the amount of writing. i want to challenge them and dont want themm to think their work is babyish??. And i want them to enjoy their work. Does anyone have any advice? I also have two other older children, one in HOD and a new high school student so my time is preciouos, if that makes any difference. thanks in advance for ANY thoughts!!!
pam

Preparing is a meaty program and does require more writing than Bigger. I would place them in the program that you have to tweak the least amount. The reason I say that is that if they are poorly placed in Preparing then they will have difficulty in CTC because the writing and reading levels are much more challenging in CTC and this continues on up in the guides. They really are designed to build on skills and continue to push the dc to the next level with each guide. I did not do Bigger, but I have read the Eggleston books on my own. They are an acquired taste and I think take more than a few weeks to get used to. My understanding though is that listening to the Eggleston books prepares the dc for the higher level of comprehension and listening skills that is in the older guides. I was wondering why you think you couldn't add in DITHOR with Preparing. You can really adjust that program as needed. You can do the 2/3 book pack and student book even if you are doing Preparing. If it is because the amount of work would overwhelm them then I would say Bigger would also be a better fit.

In reading your post, I'm wondering did you use some of Bigger or Beyond before? I can't think of anything in Bigger that would seem babyish (it's really a meaty program) and the science in Bigger is very similar to the science in Preparing. It follows the same sort of format and even uses several of the One Small Square books which makes it possible for dc to competently do the science in Preparing independently after doing the science in Bigger. The writing is one of the big challenges as you move up in the guides and I would hesitate to go into a higher guide if the writing isn't something they can grow into. You might be able to do Preparing half-pace until they adjust to the writing workload. You definitely want to strive to have them doing the work that is required of the program fully by the end of the guide so they are ready to move ahead to the next guide. From reading on this board, just completing Bigger, and looking through Preparing, I can see how the workload increases from year to year and prepares the dc to be more independent. If they aren't able to handle the skills from one guide (even the writing) then the next guide is going to be a stretch for them. Here is a thread that talks about the writing differences between Preparing and Bigger: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3602 I would look that over and see what you think. If you think your dc would be able to slowly grow into the writing in Preparing then I would try it again starting at half-speed if necessary. If you don't see them being able to handle that amount of writing even in the next year, then I think I would drop back to Bigger and give it another try.

The biggest question for me is, do they just not LIKE the writing or are they not capable of it. If they just don' t like it, I think, since they are 9, that I'd tell them if they want a higher level program that isn't so "babyish" then they need to do all of it without complaining... and that includes the amount of writing it entails. If they want less writing then they need a lower level program. If they are willing to do all the writing, even growing into it slowly, but doing all of it during the last portion of the program, then they could do Preparing.... but if they aren't willing to even do all the writing in Bigger, then they don't need to move on to Preparing.

We are finishing up Bigger now. My DD LOVES to write, but she is absolutely DONE by the end of the day in Bigger. Luckily we have about 10 more units for her to build her endurance before we move on to Preparing. From what I see looking at it online there is a big jump from Bigger to Preparing. And she's already pretty independent with Bigger. She's just this week begun to use the TM to see what to do next instead of a list I write down.

If she wasn't WILLING to do all the writing.... if she did more than a token "but I don't WANT to do it"... then I would be slowing down and waiting a while for her to mature to go into Preparing. So if they aren't JUST complaining and really cannot do it, then I'd put them in Bigger, play the "I'm the MOM and Teacher" trump card, tell them they wouldn't have a choice if they were in regular school and tell them we could move on when they show you they are capable of the work involved.

The ladies are doing a good job of chatting this through with you. I was thinking maybe this post may be helpful, as it describes the differences in writing skills needed to do each of the guides...

Amount of writing in Bigger vs. PHFHG:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3602

If writing is a concern at all, I would really lean toward doing BHFHG. Believe me, it is not uncommon for writing to be a concern for boys! You probably know that already, but it really is quite true. Boys just need more encouragement, more perseverance, and more monitoring when it comes to writing. Given the choice, most boys would not choose to write very much. However, given time, they can really develop these skills and enjoy it more. Bigger Hearts helped my sons with this. It will have you partner alongside them and help teach them those foundational writing skills they need in each subject area for them to be successful with independence in the subsequent guides. With only doing a few weeks of each of the guides, your dc probably didn't get a real feel for the meatiness of the guide, especially if they weren't doing all of the writing assigned within the various boxes. We loved doing BHFHG with both of our sons. I have 5 weeks left of Bigger Hearts to finish next year, and then we'll begin PHFHG. I think BHFHG is a pretty key year. It helped me teach each of our sons many important skills they are needing to rely on for all the guides to come, and many of those skills involved writing. I think you would enjoy coming alongside your twins and really giving them those teaching helps in the guide they need to launch into the next phase of their learning. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie