Poetry in Beyond/placement and combining question:) HELP!

[3babiesmommy]

Hi Everyone,

We started Beyond today and so far...wonderful!! I do have one question though. I assumed from the directions to copy part of a poem each day for a week, you would be copying the whole poem by the end of the week. Then when I looked at the poems in the back, some of them are LONG! Do you have your kiddos copy the whole thing each week?? My second grader could do that, but she is also doing WWE, so I don't want to bury her. My Kindergartner could copy a couple of lines, but certainly not the whole thing.

This also brings up a placement question. I was planning on combining my 2 oldest, 5 and 7, in Beyond. There is no way the little one can do all that copywork:) Now, I know of course I can lessen it, and I can do that. But then I start wondering if she should have her own program that is more age appropriate. UGH! If it helps to give me , she is the middle child, and tends to whine a fair amount during school. Some of that, of course, is a behavioral issue, and we are working on that. But I wonder if she is the type of kid who can thrive in a situation where she in on the bottom (actually under) the age level appropriate for the program, or would she do better in a program that fits just her. While I definitely see the merits in her own program, that would mean we wouldn't be combining anymore, and they do really like that. I would love to hear any advice or tales of how your homeschool does it:)

Thanks all!!

Coleen

[my3sons]

My ds was 5 1/2 when he began Beyond, and the first few weeks, I just photocopied the poem for him to decorate a bit each day. Then, I had him copy a line a day on a blank paper, where I made the lines far apart. This was easier than writing on HW paper. Next, he worked up to a few lines a day, and now, he's copying most of the poem by the end of the week (all of the poem if it is short). I just write the rest of it for him if he doesn't finish it. At first, he wasn't sure he could do it, but now that he's worked up to doing almost all of it, he's really proud of himself - and I a too! If you wanted to combine them and looked at the placement chart thinking Beyond was best overall, I think you should give it at least a month because your dc will really grow into it. If at that time, you are thinking your 5 yo needs LHFHG instead, you could always make the switch then. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Tansy]

My DD hates copy work and her handwriting can be beautiful.. but when given a very long poem to copy it was overwhelming to her and she would dawdle and it would be illegible... SO I used a 4 line rule, copy the 4 lines a day. I would copy the poem into her poetry notebook, and then she would copy it on the next page. If she didn't finish no big deal. I would rather have 20 lines done beautifully than the whole thing done poorly.

If the Poetry is to long for your youngest you could always have her copy out her bible verse instead of the poem.

I think it is fine for you to keep your kiddos together. You can easily modify the program down to your 5 year olds lvl. Plus kids will surprise you, quite often they rise to the level of your expectations as long as you keep those expectations with in reason

[Carrie]

Colleen,

I agree with my3son's and Tansy's advice! In the Introduction to Beyond we actually tell you that you'll need to adjust the copywork to meet your kiddo's needs. You'll feel so much better if you read that part in the Introduction, as you'll be able to see what our original intention for copywork was when we wrote the guide.

You'll want to give combining your kiddos a fair shot to see if it may actually work well for them and give your 5 year old a chance to rise to the challenge. I agree that you can easily slide your 5 year old into LHFGH if needed, after a month or two of trying it the combining way.

Blessings,
Carrie