Placement Help: Combing kids in Beyond or Bigger

[raeofsonshine]

Hello All! I am new to homeschooling and strongly considering HOD for the fall. My DD (6) will be going into 1st grade and my DS (8) will be going into 3rd grade. I've read through plenty of threads, but am still not sure which program(s) will be the best fit for our family. According to the placement charts it looks like my DD places in Beyond and my DS in Bigger. My DD (6) seems to be advanced for her age, as much of K was review for her. She is an emerging reader (can read Beginner's Bible well, needs help with some bigger/unfamiliar words), and has had some phonics but has not completed a full phonics instruction. She enjoys school and is asking to be challenged! My DD (8) completed phonics and can read chapter books on his own , but still has trouble encoding/decoding, so i am considering a phonics program for both in the fall. Both DC have nice handwriting for their ages, and my DS did a year of cursive last year, but neither enjoy copywork. My DS (8) seems to be right at grade level. Both DC love science and history, and it looks like it will be fairly easy to have them doing different math levels, as they place differently. So, I am wondering if I should keep them separate or combine them, and if I combine them given their age and ability should I combine in Beyond or Bigger? Would love some suggestions!!! I am so happy to have found such a well rounded and Christ centered curriculum!

[Mombeck]

I'm just finishing up with Beyond with my 3rd grader. Since your 6 year old sounds like she is a little ahead for her grade, I think you could easily combine your two children. Beyond will also be gentle enough to give your 3rd grader time to make strides in handwriting and reading. Beyond and Bigger are both teacher intensive and it is usually recommended that you either combine or have your students a guide apart. Beyond has enough interest to keep a 3rd grader engaged. You might consider starting your 3rd grader with Rod and Staff 2. That would bring the grammar more up to grade level than going with the gentle grammar in the guide. You could continue cursive handwriting with your son. Take a look at the first week with the sample online and see if you could picture the 2 children using Beyond.

[MelInKansas]

It sounds like from what you have described you could combine easily in Beyond. Usually they recommend you combine in the lower guide and then add on for the older one. This way the younger one won't get left behind in their skills, especially moving forward as the guides go up significantly in skills each year.

Reading, grammar, and math are easily customizable within the guide. Spelling is also included in the guide, though if you need Dictation you would need the Bigger guide for that. There are two spelling lists, so you could do one list with each child. For the copywork you would want to maybe adjust it, make your younger one do less than the older if it is really hard for her. I assume that she can already write her letters? Not too many kids "like" copywork but talk to your older son about the fact that he needs to do his best and work on attitude. Also they do copywork and add a picture they draw to it at the end of the week, and maybe he would like to display these things nicely in a notebook (this is what we have done with our kids' copywork and other assignments they complete throughout the year).

The history, storytime, science, hands-on activities will appeal and be fun learning for both of your children. Also Beyond would be a fun and easy introduction into homeschooling and I bet they will enjoy doing many things together.

Reading - HOD suggests basic phonics lessons that take most kids through 2nd grade reading level, and then just read, read, read. If you feel DITHOR and chapter books are too much for your 8YO right now maybe you could do the end of Emerging Readers to ease into it and firm up his reading skills. With you sitting next to him helping him decode and learn how to better decode he will probably pick it up quickly. Emerging Readers has supplemental books included also, so you could start him wherever he might be ready to start in ER (maybe the Christian Liberty Nature Reader, that one has some challenging words in it but is an interesting read), and use the supplemental titles so you don't get through it too quickly.

[raeofsonshine]

Wow, thank you both for the great advice! It sounds like I can really customize Beyond to fit both kids needs and add things in for my older child. I was actually leaning towards Bigger before reading these comments, but now I think I am going to go with Beyond. I like the advice about starting my DS somewhere in the emerging reader set to help with his reading skills. I am glad my DC aren't the only ones who dislike copywork , and I appreciate the advice about encouraging excellence and a good attitude. I am so thankful for the many more opportunities I will have to to encourage these traits as a new homeschooling family. Blessings to all!

[MelInKansas]

My oldest really hated copywork and still does not like writing assignments. I think that I made a wrong move when we started Beyond in thinking that she needed to copy the whole poem each week. Some kids can do that right off the bat but many can't. Or even if they are capable, it is very hard work for them and the point is not to drive them to tears over the amount, the point is to do as much as they can do very well in a 5-10 minute period, especially at first. Push them to increase the amount and build their writing "chops" so to speak, but focus more on how well it is done and how nice it looks versus how much they are doing. When you do too much the focus becomes getting through it, not doing it well. I also read another thread on here where Julie showed her son's handwriting through the year, and really to prepare for Bigger you also need to progress from 3-lined large writing down to smaller writing on a single line. I wasn't really aware of this and so I didn't do that with my DD and Bigger was a big step for her. I had to slow Bigger down to let her grow into the writing skills she needed. I just want to let you learn from my mistakes.

I approached it differently with my 2nd born, and she is also a very different child and being careful and writing neatly is more important to her. She likes having the copywork done at the end of the week and we praise her a lot and admire how nice it is. I started having her do one line each day, then up to 2, and now she does the whole poem, however much that happens to be divided by the 4 days she has to do it in. We are 2/3 of the way through Beyond.

Blessings to you! I think combining in Beyond and adding on will be a great way to start.

[queenireneof3]

My daughter (6) and son (8) will be combined in Beyond next year. (she will be 1st grade, he will be 3rd). We did LHFHG this year together and it was great. I just adjusted his math, reading, and writing up a level. I think you would have a great time combining them. It will be less work than two guides at once, it will hopefully build their friendship since they are doing many things together. I was worried about my older son that he would be too "behind" his grade level by combining them, but he has done really well and the curriculum is rich enough for both. My younger daughter is learning how to narrate by listening to her older brother. The "three R's" are adjustable to each child's level, so they will always be able to do the level that is right for them in those areas.

[queenireneof3]

Combining them in Beyond is what I meant!

[raeofsonshine]

Thanks again ladies for the encouragement and advice! So nice to hear from other moms who have successfully combined their kids at similar ages. I like the idea of focusing on the quality of their copywork and adding it in increments. Anyone have suggestions for how to add dictation for my older DS? Is there a way to do that without having to purchase the Bigger guide as well?

[MelInKansas]

Nope, if you want to use HOD dictation then the Bigger and Preparing guide have level 2 in them. If you do buy just the guide to use for one part of it and then later want to buy the package from HOD they will still give you the package discount.

[Nealewill]

Or, realistically if you wanted to just wait a year, that would be fine too. That is one neat thing with dictation is that you can start it whenever. So your older child wouldn't start dictation until 4th grade and that would probably be totally fine. I think 3rd grade is when my dd started to "get" it finally. I would just review the word lists again. And then your child will do great in level 2 dictation the following year.