Anyone doing bigger with a 2nd grader?

[4froggies]

Just looking to hear from those of you who are using Bigger with their 2nd grader. Are you going half-speed or full-speed? How is your second grader doing with the amount of writing? (we are finishing LHFHG and dd is placing mostly on Bigger for next year, but I'm not so sure skipping Beyond would be the best idea) Anyways, I'd love to hear your experiences. Thanks!

Beth

[3sweeties]

Hi Beth,

We are nearing the end of Bigger with my 2nd grader, who was started it at 7.5 yo last fall and just turned 8 in March. I have actually done it half-speed with him, doing a 4 day week instead of a 5 day and that has gone really well. The amount of required writing and listening/comprehension/narration in Bigger is a big jump from even Beyond...I can imagine that it would be a huge adjustment from LHFHG. My DS is what I would consider an advanced reader with excellent handwriting skills, but at the beginning of the year the amount of writing was way too much for him and I had to go to 4 days a week to avoid burning him out. He could probably handle Bigger a full 5 days now if I wanted him to, but we are just going to take it about 4 weeks into his 3rd grade year and then start Preparing.

He has absolutely enjoyed Bigger, but if I had not slowed it down I think it would have been a bit much for him. I was really worried about pushing him too hard and fast just b/c he is an advanced learner/reader. I consider Bigger to be more of a 3rd grade level program, but that is just my opinion.

I am actually looking forward to doing Beyond with my second DS for 1st grade in a few years -- there are some wonderful books in it and I didn't do it with DS1 this year since this was our first year with HOD. Beyond really teaches you and them how to narrate effectively along with other skills that I wish DS1 could have mastered before starting Bigger. I will definitely slow down Bigger when get there with DS2 -- maybe even slower than I did it with DS1.

Depending on when your DD turns 7 and what areas she is placing in Bigger, I think it would be much easier to beef up Beyond for her where she needs it rather than scale back Bigger so much that you risk missing the richness and fullness of the program. HTH!

[Dorla]

Hi Beth!
We are doing Bigger. My son is 7 - we completed Beyond last year for 1st grade, so Bigger will be our 2nd/3rd grade curriculum.
I would highly recommend that you don't skip Beyond. It is such a great program. Everything about it is REALLY good.
Bigger was challenging at the beginning. There is a big jump from Beyond to Bigger - and yes, there is a lot of writing. However that is something that you can modify very easily.
The read alouds for History, Science and story time require longer attention spans and understanding and Beyond prepares them for this quite nicely - and even though both programs cover American History, Bigger is not repetitive in any way.
Some weeks we go half-speed and other weeks we go full speed! It just depends what life brings. I also want him to be closer to turning 9 when we start Preparing.
Good luck deciding!
Dorla

[pamh]

Beth,

I'm so glad you posted this question because I, too, thought about skipping Beyond (went thru it a bit but mainly schooled with Abeka this year) next year but I think those who responded put me at peace for following thru Beyond first. Thanks for posting this question!!!

Pam

[kvmck]

I just wanted to add our experience as well... we started last year with Bigger with my then 7 yr old and 8 year old (who are now 8 and 9). After about 5 weeks we switched to Beyond and I am so glad we did. The handwriting was too much for both of my children--my older could have done it, but I found I was doing more modifying than I wanted to especially with my 7 year old. My kids were so concerned about the handwriting that they weren't concentrating as well on the other parts of the day. Plus I got to thinking after reading some of the boards here that neither one of my children would probably be ready for preparing this year.
I have supplemented Beyond with additional history readings for my oldest (but only b/c he is a huge history buff ). My 7 year old was quite bored with Bigger's history--just not ready for that level yet but she has absolutely loved the readings in Beyond. She is really remembering the history in story form and they are both disappointed at the "small" amount of history reading we do each day b/c they can hardly wait to hear what happens next. We have also been doing some additional science reading and learning about the states to go along with Beyond. I've started DITHOR with my oldest and my now 8 year old will be starting in a few months. I have had them go through the emerging readers even though they can read "higher level" books and I have let my oldest read through them faster than scheduled.
We have loved Beyond and I think it was a great way for us to get immersed into HOD. I think for us, because Beyond isn't as intense as Bigger, it has given us time to get into a schedule and get more used to having a fixed schedule then we have had in the past. We are actually going to be starting Bigger in a few weeks and will most likely do it half speed for the summer which will help my kids get used to the increased work load slowly but surely.

[lmercon]

I wouldn't skip Beyond. Bigger builds so nicely from Beyond. Bigger was quite a big step from Beyond, so I can't imagine going from LHFHG to Bigger. You can always bump up the skills areas if you need to do that.
Just my 2 cents,
Laura

[MomtoJGJE]

We will be doing Bigger with a 2nd grader. But I wouldn't say for you to jump from LHFHG to Bigger... I would definitely go from Beyond to bigger... Beyond is a big jump from LHFHG and from what I've heard Bigger is a HUGE jump from Beyond. We will be starting Bigger sometime in the fall (not sure when we'll finish Beyond yet, and I'm going to take about 6 week or so and teach DD1 how to cook from recipes using the stove) and I'm pretty sure I'll do it half speed for a while just to get into it. She'll be right about 7.5 when we start Bigger.

DD2 and DD3 are together and I'm imagining they'll be getting to Bigger when they are roughly 8 and 6, but that's going to be after doing LHTH, LHFHG, and Beyond, and depending on how slowly we do everything they might even be 9 and 7.

[mskogen]

I am doing Bigger with my second grader. I would recommend NOT skipping Beyond. Bigger is a BIG jump from Beyond! I should have gone slower with ds #2 in the beginning of Bigger but wanted to combine him with his older brother. Well know I have seperated the two. I am doing the last part of Bigger with ds #2, the second grader, at half pace. I plan to do the 1st half of Preparing at half pace too. I have found it is nicer to be in the middle age range of the guides for my children.

You know your child best, but with what you shared I would do Beyond next! Ask the Lord for guidance and you can't go wrong.

Beyond is a great year of school.

[Jen in Va]

I agree with the others' advice to not skip Beyond. We started Beyond at the beginning of his 1st grade year. He's progressed wonderfully this year, but I still don't think he would be ready for full blown Bigger in August when we start our school year. We'll pick it up at half speed in December. My son is a late fall baby, so to compensate for that, I'm taking a 1.5 years to do both Beyond and Bigger--he will finish Bigger at what will be the end of his 3rd grade year. We progress normally with math and Language Arts, which I supplement with other things 2 days a week. I'm not only looking at his readiness for Bigger, but also down the road to the other levels. I want him at the high end of the age group for each book. According to my plan, he will be doing RTR in 6th grade and will finish it when he is 12.

[4froggies]

Thanks to everyone who has responded! That is what I was thinking-just moving on to Beyond. The only reason I am considering Bigger is because she fits it on the placement chart for the most part. She is an independent reader, has mastered formation of capital and lowercase letters, can copy 2 or 3 shortish sentences ( don't know whether this would be considered a "passage", though ) and is definately with Bigger as far as math. (Academically, she placed Beyond for 1st grade this past year , but I also felt she needed more of an introduction to history, and chose LHGHG, which has been great! Also, I was including her younger brother with LHFHG and younger brother will now have his own HOD in the fall )

My other consideration is science. We will be doing RTR with my other dd for 6th grade in the fall, and we have already done Apologia Astronomy, so I was thinking I could combine them in Bigger's science for that portion of the year. We are big science lovers in this family , so I want to make sure that Beyond's science will not be too easy for my 2nd grader. The science lessons in LHFHG have been great, especially for my son, but more of a review for my dd.

If I decide to do Beyond, I suppose I could do Rod and Staff English 2 with her this year (since this is where she is skill-wise) , then English 3 with Bigger, then English 4 the next year and I would be on track with HOD.

Any other thoughts? Thanks again- I love this board

[lmercon]

As far as your dd goes, you can do any level of math and English that you wish. They are completely separate from the rest of the program. Beyond provides activities for Singapore 1A and B and also a schedule in the appendix for 2A and B. The grammar in Beyond is very light/gentle. I think it was spelling 4 days of the week and then a day of grammar. You could always buy the Bigger manual and use it just for the math and grammar schedules. Then use the rest of the manual for the following year.
Laura

[moedertje]

I think it is a great idea to add some of the skills from Bigger to your daughters program. If she did ABeka 1st grade with her and she did good with spelling you can probably do the 2nd spelling list or even consider doing dictation out of Bigger with her. My son did list 1 last year with Beyond and we did list 2 during our break (we had a few months off from the guide from November to January, since we don't take a summer break). He did awesome and did most spelling 2 lists without studying the words.
So this year as we are doing Bigger we are doing dictation and he is doing excellent. But I agree with the other ladies not to skip Beyond there are so many other skills that the kiddo's learn to prepare them for Bigger, like the other ladies suggested to "beef" it up for your dc.
Success and the Lord will guide you as to what is best for your family as you seek Him about this matter.

[jensmom]

I agree with all of the previous posts. I am doing Bigger with my 7yr old for 2nd grade. We did Beyond for 1st grade so it was the logical choice for 2nd grade. While we LOVE Bigger, I do wish that I had started with LHFHG for 1st so that we would be doing Bigger for 3rd grade. I am seriously considering an alternate plan for 3rd grade in order to hold Preparing for the 4th grade. I feel that she needs another year in order to fully benefit from the next programs.

HTH,
Judy

[Tree House Academy]

Thanks to everyone who has responded! That is what I was thinking-just moving on to Beyond. The only reason I am considering Bigger is because she fits it on the placement chart for the most part. She is an independent reader, has mastered formation of capital and lowercase letters, can copy 2 or 3 shortish sentences ( don't know whether this would be considered a "passage", though ) and is definately with Bigger as far as math. (Academically, she placed Beyond for 1st grade this past year , but I also felt she needed more of an introduction to history, and chose LHGHG, which has been great! Also, I was including her younger brother with LHFHG and younger brother will now have his own HOD in the fall )

My other consideration is science. We will be doing RTR with my other dd for 6th grade in the fall, and we have already done Apologia Astronomy, so I was thinking I could combine them in Bigger's science for that portion of the year. We are big science lovers in this family , so I want to make sure that Beyond's science will not be too easy for my 2nd grader. The science lessons in LHFHG have been great, especially for my son, but more of a review for my dd.

If I decide to do Beyond, I suppose I could do Rod and Staff English 2 with her this year (since this is where she is skill-wise) , then English 3 with Bigger, then English 4 the next year and I would be on track with HOD.

Any other thoughts? Thanks again- I love this board

We will be doing R&S English 2 with Beyond this coming year. We started with Beyond this past year and had to drop back due to listening skills, etc. I am SO GLAD we did. He is now moving into Beyond with the exact skills he needs. Although he is reading at a 4th grade level, writing paragraphs on his own, and writing in cursive nicely, he still places better in Beyond this year.

For Science, we are adding in Elemental Science - not because Beyond's science is not enough, but because we want to teach the sciences in rotation, one at a time. We will be doing Beyond Science as well. He enjoys it so much, he actually BEGS to do both. LOL My point is that you can always add on...but if you get your child into something too tough, it is hard to "take away" without missing a lot!!

[4froggies]

Thanks so much for everyone's help! I think it confirms my leaning toward Beyond. Like someone said, it will be much easier to "beef up" Beyond if needed than to start with Bigger and have it be too much for her. DITHOR will be something new and more of a challenge to her in the fall, and I can adjust the amount of copywork throughout the year, depending on where her writing skills are. I may or may not use Rod and Staff English 2, but that is an option if I feel the need. That's one of the things I love about HOD- it's flexibility!

Thanks again! We are having so much fun right now with LHFHG- Beyond is going to be so much fun I think as well!