Bigger - Should I do it again...

[CindyK]

In the past I combined my son and daughter into LHFHG and Beyond. This year I wanted to separate them so I put my son age 9 (young 4th grader) into Bigger with extensions. He is doing well. I started my 7 year old (young 2nd grader) doing something else with emphasis on the 3 Rs for her. (I wanted to separate them before they got to the higher guides and could tell they would do better on their own instead of being combined) Well, my 2nd grader insisted on listening to the read alouds (which was fine with me) but she also is listening in on the history and science as well. I've started realizing she is "doing" Bigger without all the vocab., history or science sheets.

My intention had been to put her into Bigger next year either half or full speed but she seems to comprehend as much as my son from the readings and now I'm having 2nd thoughts on putting her into Bigger "again" next year. I mentioned it to her this week and she groaned at me reading the same books over again next year. Here are my thoughts as of "today". I'm wondering if I should have her start the vocab, history sheets, science exp. & notebooking, timeline, etc. now....we are on unit 15 this week. That way she gets started on all of that...maybe starting with only one or two vocab. words and seeing if we can work up. She already does activities and such with us. When I look at the placement chart she now fits into Bigger. She fit more into Beyond in the beginning of our school year. The more I "talk" about this the more I like this idea as opposed to doing the year over again with her.

If I did this, then my dilemma would be what to do for 3rd grade. I'm not sure she would be ready for Preparing...okay...now I'm talking myself out of this. I keep going round and round. If she was in Preparing next year she would have to go 1/2 speed while my son when full speed. I'm not sure how that would work or look either.

Any suggestions or experiences with this type of thing? I thought I was solving it this year by separating them...ha! Thanks for any input!

[8arrows]

I like combining; it is my sanity-saver. I would follow your plan and start her on the vocabulary, etc. now and bump up as you finish out the year. I bet by the time you start Preparing, you may be surprised what your little scholar is capable of.

[CindyK]

Thanks Melissa, I think that's what I'm doing. I'm planning to have her binder ready for next week and we'll see where she is by the time we start Preparing. I know what you mean about combining being a sanity saver. It's been wonderful having them combined these last few years. If I do end up needing to slow her down next year, I'm thinking it won't be so bad since my son is becoming more independant. Thanks for listening!

I'm wondering if anyone else has had one child go full speed in Preparing (or another guide) and a younger child going half-speed in that same guide. I would love to hear how that worked or looked for anyone that may have done this.

[farmfamily]

My 2 kids in Bigger are about the same ages as yours. At the beginning of this school year Bigger was a little bit of a stretch for my 7 year old. She did everything, but the writing was a lot for her, and she disliked R&S. By now (unit 19) she fits perfectly in Bigger and does the R&S easily. However 2 vocab words is all she can manage well at this point. I plan on keeping my two together as long as possible, even if I have to go half speed in Preparing with them both for up to 10 units (I would keep their math & LA full speed). At a later point when they are both even more independent, I figure it will be easy for me to separate them if I wish by having my older one skip a few units at the end of a guide and move to a higher guide while my younger one does those units and then goes half speed in the next guide. I love combining my girls. They enjoy being together and it is a time saver for me. Also my older one, who is a dawdler, works faster when she has her sister alongside her doing the same thing. I expect I won't have to do much, if any, of Preparing half-speed since my younger one is doing so well now in Bigger. Yours may not have to do much either. Just my 2c.

[farmfamily]

Does your 9 year-old do all the follow-ups with the extensions? Written narrations and everything? Just curious as I haven't been doing that with my dd.

[CindyK]

Does your 9 year-old do all the follow-ups with the extensions? Written narrations and everything? Just curious as I haven't been doing that with my dd.

Since we seem to have plenty on our plate this year, I haven't had him do any of the follow-ups for the extensions. I started out not knowing if he really needed to do the extensions but he has taken to them fine and there are times he will mention things he has read about.

Good to hear about how it is going with your 7 year old! It's funny how it took a new assessment of a new semester to show me that she was ready for Bigger. I'm excited to get her started! We'll see where she is next year. I think I will start her off in Preparing when we are finished with Bigger but I may go at a slower pace for her....decisions, decisions!

[my3sons]

It sounds like you have a plan forming - good! I am not sure if this would help, but maybe you could go half-speed now, training dd to do all of Bigger Heart's plans well and easing her into it, while viewing this as a mid-winter slow-down break for ds (and for mom)? I do want to emphasize that merely listening to books read aloud is a far cry from doing all that is taught in Bigger Hearts. We've gone through Bigger Hearts twice now, and I view that guide as my most pivotal teaching year for teaching foundational skills built upon in each subsequent guide. So technically, dd has not really done Bigger Hearts yet, and unless she does soon, I'm afraid she won't be ready for PHFHG. I can see the beauty of combining the two, but I'd personally look at the last half of Bigger Hearts as important time to truly get dd up to speed on the many skills taught in BHFHG, so she's not floundering through PHFHG with its increased level of skills. I think you'll know better once you start her on doing Bigger Hearts with all of its skills. If it seems like it's going to take finishing it out half-speed for dd to get up to speed on all of it, you could always add extensions for ds for just the last half of it. You could also plan to take 3 years to complete Bigger Hearts and PHFHG, going full-speed with ds's LA and math and adding extensions, if that seems to be more doable. I do think combining could work well here! These are just suggestions so dd can grow into truly learning all she needs to within each guide. If she is unable to grow into Bigger Hearts with success, then doing Beyond Little Hearts with her would be a good second option. I hope something here helps!

In Christ,
Julie

[CindyK]

Thanks for your insight Julie! I have started her out full speed doing everything. It's early yet but other than it taking her longer to finish than her brother, she is doing really well. She is doing very nice notebooking work that rivals her brother's work. I think she is certainly ready for this(wish I had realized this sooner), but my biggest concern is PHFHG next year. I am reluctant to go half speed right now because I really don't want to slow my son down. I feel he is placed just right and he does extensions already. I'm also not sure how feasible it is to keep him going full speed and slow her to half speed. However, I'm wondering if maybe it would work better to go full speed with PHFHG next year for my son while she goes half speed since he would be even more independent next year and doing more of his own reading. That way she could grow into the guide more as she improves her reading skills. Like I said...it is early yet so maybe I'll see it differently in a week. I certainly want her to get up to speed with her skills in Bigger while at the same time not overwhelming her. I truly appreciate everyones input! You are a great group of ladies! It's great to have people to bounce ideas off of who knows what you're talking about.

[my3sons]

A lot of growth tends to happen in the last third of a guide for each of our dc. Maybe by the end of BHFHG, dd will be ready for PHFHG full-speed. If she is keeping up with everything in BHFHG full-speed quite well already, there is a good chance that she'll be ready and things will be fine. How is her reading? How about her writing? If she is growing in these areas and ready for those upped skills in PHFHG, then she will certainly be just fine. I bet you'll know better at the end of BHFHG.

In Christ,
Julie

[CindyK]

Her writing is coming along fine. She is learning cursive this year but is printing her copywork at this point. She is a little slow in her reading and that is why I have the concerns that I do. She is doing the emerging readers now. I held her off to do easier reading for a while before putting her in the emerging readers. My son was a little slower with the reading also but then ramped up fast and loves to read and is doing the extensions. So I think you are right...I will probably know by the end of BHFHG which way to go. Thanks so much for your help!