We are loving the Extension pack in Bigger as a read aloud!

[water2wine]

I was a little hesitant to add that to our plate but I decided to just give it a shot and see if it worked for us that way. I just didn't want any of my kids to miss out on any part of the program. I'm so glad we are doing it. We had such a deep conversation about what is real faith in God that produces action and how do we know God calls us to things and how do we hear God's voice. What were the ways that Columbus knew this and why was he persistent and confident in terms of his faith. I was even able to link it to our reading in the Bible today we did before we started "school" on Abram and Lot and compared the faith there. So bottom line it is really a chance to bring things full circle and make sure they get the spiritual message I am not sure mine would get if I just had them read it, even the oldest.

The shocker of the day for me was when I was having my kids narrate Pedro's Journal (just trying to get some practice in because this is sort of a new skill other than in Bible study for us). My little girl that is almost six raised her hand. I was thinking she was going to say something funny because she is just kind of sitting in on big kid school, so I kind of called on her like we were in a "real" school. She says, "Yes. I would like to narrate the story that you just read." and then she did. I was kind of shocked. Blew the big kids out of the water!

Anyway just had to share. We are loving this!

[netpea]

That's awesome. It's like pulling teeth to get my 7yo to narrate...

[water2wine]

Oh I have some of those too! That's what was so funny about it. They were all kind of struggling and she just cares about doing what they get to do. It was funny. But I can see my two littlest, since they have never been in public school and will be raised on HOD, are going to be completely different kids. I feel like with the others I am trying to give back something that is lost. Hopefully in a couple of years I will not feel that.

[inHistiming]

There is an amazing difference in the children who have never attend PS and those who have. Our youngest never went to pre-school or anything. He spent a few months in a daycare setting while I worked. But he is so excited about learning, and he picks up so much. My oldest is not using HOD this year, so he is studying Egypt, Greece, etc. in history. The little one, even though he's not doing school with us but is just in the room playing, has learned how to identiy mummies, pyramids, Egyptians, and the Pharaoh. He is able to pick these things out of a book and name them correctly-I am blown away. (I may be a bit biased! ) Maybe he's just that smart, but I think it has to do with the homeschool lifestyle. He doesn't know that school is "supposed" to be boring. He comes running anytime we have an activity he can do. We are learning about hand washing in health, and he is right there with us cutting and pasting to organize the steps for washing your hands. He absolutely loves it! He's only 4.5, so I don't make him do much, but he's often asking to be included. My other 2, who attended private school and a public school(oldest, pre-k thru 2nd; middle, pre-k thru K), still have issues with doing their work sometimes. I know, I know, that's normal in any school-home or institutional! I just mean the JOY my younger one has is sometimes not evident in the other two, and I wonder if it's because they were 'DE-JOYED' in an institution? Well, no matter the cause, I am so excited and thankful that my little JOY boy loves it! Can't wait to order LHFHG and BHFHG for next year....

[water2wine]

There is an amazing difference in the children who have never attend PS and those who have.

I see it too and I agree. They have not learned that it is boring to do school. Everything is school to them. Unfortunately I had to have my kids in public school and get frustrated to get mad enough to pull all four of them out and once to realize that. I don't think if I had not had that experience I would have had the resolve to stick to it when we made bad curriculum choices. In fact I found the very first thing we tried to use the other day. It was a preschool program designed for a private school to use. A lady at a Christian book store sold it to me for about $200 if I remember right and said it would be the best thing for me. It is set up with learning centers...do I need to go on. I actually did it and had my own little preschool/Kindergarten with four kids ages 3-5 and one with special needs. So they ended up in public school. What a blessing it would have been to have found HOD back then. I really thought what I had was what homeschool was all about. I'm a little better educated now.

[Tansy]

That's awesome. It's like pulling teeth to get my 7yo to narrate...

netpea I feel your pain...

[Melanie]

W2W....I was wondering how I was going to get to use the extension package with my kids! So you are just adding them is as read-alouds? Are you following the schedule in the back? I just don't want to miss those books! I'm so glad there are so many of you doing this now, so those of us coming up behind will have all these great ideas!

[my3sons]

Just give narrating some time ladies - it is so worth it! My son had trouble too at first, and he's really good at narrating now (probably better than me!). My almost 5 yo spontaneously narrated today too - I too thought he was just interrupting, and he actually did a pretty good job of narrating.

[water2wine]

W2W....I was wondering how I was going to get to use the extension package with my kids! So you are just adding them is as read-alouds? Are you following the schedule in the back? I just don't want to miss those books! I'm so glad there are so many of you doing this now, so those of us coming up behind will have all these great ideas!

Yes I am just coming in and reading them aloud on schedule. It is essentially another "box" in our day. I have one that is ten but has special needs so I hated that she was not going to get the information. So until she can read on her own I read for her. She does the emerging reading schedule to give you an idea. My oldest is a book worm. She has begged to read Genevieve Foster's Washington's World and a few other books. So she will be reading those as soon as they correlate. My little kids in LHFG listen in too sometimes. Carrie has it listed as an optional way to do the program so I am just picking all the options.

On the topic of narration. Just agreeing what is said. I think it will just take some time sometimes. I have seen a great improvement in my son in the last couple of days. And actually my best narrator is my child with special needs. It is a survival skill for her since she can't read on grade level.

[blessedmomof4]

Wow-I'd love to add more read-alouds, but each of my kids has an extracurricular activity 1 to 3 days a week (so basically our afternoons are quite busy 6 days a week), and, frankly-I don't feel like it But, even without the extra books, they get a lot.
My 8 year old is a born talker, and narrates our regular read-alouds very well. My 9 year old is another story-she's always had a hard time putting her thoughts into words quickly, so I sometimes have to make her younger sister keep quiet so she has time to formulate her thoughts