More questions...Little Hearts or Beyond?

[MamaPajama]

After reading the different between Beyond and Bigger, I'm a bit concerned about putting my soon-to-be 1st grader into Beyond after hearing several people say that Bigger is more at the 3rd grade level. I reviewed the placement chart and it does seem like my son would be ready for Beyond. He's beginning to read (though I wouldn't call him an emerging reader just yet), his handwriting is good, and he's already done in MFWK most of the things I've seen listed in Little Hearts. The only thing we didn't do this year really is history. I'd really hate for him to repeat most of the subject matter just to slow him down, but at the same time I'd hate to do Beyond this coming year and then have Bigger be too overwhelming for him in 2nd grade. Help?

[MomtoJGJE]

you could do beyond half speed with him if you truly think he's ready for it... then he'd be older going into Bigger.... DD1 will be beginning Bigger at 7.5 and I think it is going to work out well... however she is not ready for it right now and she will be 7 tomorrow.

[4froggies]

We did MFW K last year and then Little Hearts this year for 1st. Academically, she placed at Beyond also, but I felt like she needed an overview of history and what it is before we got into American History. I feel that Little Hearts was a great fit for her. We just did separate math and phonics/reading at her level. As I look at what to do next year, I do think Bigger would be too much for her, at least at full speed. We're going to stick with Beyond for 2nd. Just my 2 cents! You know your child best!

[MamaPajama]

you could do beyond half speed with him if you truly think he's ready for it... then he'd be older going into Bigger.... DD1 will be beginning Bigger at 7.5 and I think it is going to work out well... however she is not ready for it right now and she will be 7 tomorrow.

This makes me feel more comfortable pursuing things the way I had planned. DS' birthday is in February, so he would be an older 6 year old going into Beyond, and an older 7 year old going into Bigger. I reviewed the Little Hearts materials again this morning, and I just really feel like he will find a lot of it repetative. The history sounds neat, but I just don't feel like that's a good reason to hold him back. My gut is telling me to go with Beyond, but I guess I need to pray about it and see what God leads me to do. If Bigger is overwhelming for him at 7 1/2, then maybe we'll go with half-time with that one. I'd still gladly welcome more responses!

We did MFW K last year and then Little Hearts this year for 1st. Academically, she placed at Beyond also, but I felt like she needed an overview of history and what it is before we got into American History. I feel that Little Hearts was a great fit for her. We just did separate math and phonics/reading at her level. As I look at what to do next year, I do think Bigger would be too much for her, at least at full speed. We're going to stick with Beyond for 2nd. Just my 2 cents! You know your child best!

I see your point here too. Maybe I can get some of the history materials from Little Hearts to read with him over the summer in preparation. Would that work at all?

[4froggies]

Khara, how is his ability to listen to longer chapter books without any pictures? That is one difference between Little Hearts and Beyond. My oldest would have been just fine listening to the history and storytime books at 6, but with my 2nd dd (the one who is doing Little Hearts), the Burgess Books have been a great read-aloud to transition into the longer chapter books such as scheduled in Beyond. That might be one thing to take into consideration...

[MamaPajama]

Khara, how is his ability to listen to longer chapter books without any pictures? That is one difference between Little Hearts and Beyond. My oldest would have been just fine listening to the history and storytime books at 6, but with my 2nd dd (the one who is doing Little Hearts), the Burgess Books have been a great read-aloud to transition into the longer chapter books such as scheduled in Beyond. That might be one thing to take into consideration...

He does a nice job of sitting and listening as long as he's not distracted by his sisters. We have read Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie and are currently reading Charlotte's Web. All of them have pictures, but they are few and most of the time he doesn't look at the pages, he just listens and asks questions.

Also, I have a question about History Stories for Children. I have a book already with the same title, but the cover looks different than what is pictured on the HOD site. Mine is written by Dr. John Wayland and is published by Christian Liberty Press. Is this the same book?

[4froggies]

Yes, that is the same book. So that will give you an idea of what the history reading would be for the second half of Little Hearts.

If he is already used to listening and understanding chapter books like Charlotte's Web, then Beyond might be a good fit for him, especially since he will be an older 6 when you start. You could do half speed at any point that you feel the need to slow down, either in Beyond or Bigger.

My 4 year old also has a Feb. birthday. At this point, I plan on doing Little Hearts with him at 5 1/2 and Beyond when he is 6 1/2, so I will be interested to hear how Beyond works for you if that is what you decide!

Another thing to take into consideration might be what you will do with your 4 year old next year. If you plan on doing Little Hearts that year at age 5, then you might not want to do two years back to back of Little Hearts. Just a thought... Not trying to talk you out of Little Hearts, though, as it has been such a great 1st grade experience for us!

[MamaPajama]

Yes, that is the same book. So that will give you an idea of what the history reading would be for the second half of Little Hearts.

If he is already used to listening and understanding chapter books like Charlotte's Web, then Beyond might be a good fit for him, especially since he will be an older 6 when you start. You could do half speed at any point that you feel the need to slow down, either in Beyond or Bigger.

My 4 year old also has a Feb. birthday. At this point, I plan on doing Little Hearts with him at 5 1/2 and Beyond when he is 6 1/2, so I will be interested to hear how Beyond works for you if that is what you decide!

Another thing to take into consideration might be what you will do with your 4 year old next year. If you plan on doing Little Hearts that year at age 5, then you might not want to do two years back to back of Little Hearts. Just a thought... Not trying to talk you out of Little Hearts, though, as it has been such a great 1st grade experience for us!

My daughter is in the same boat as my son. Her birthday is in January, so I'm going to do Little Hands with her this year, Little Hearts for K, Beyond for 1st, etc. Or at least that's the plan. I might hold back a bit with the younger two since my little one has a June birthday and the baby will likely have a September birthday. I guess we'll see how it goes with the older two.

Has anyone tried to do the schedule as follows?:
1st grade : First 2/3 of Beyond
2nd grade: Last 1/3 of Beyond, First 1/3 of Bigger
3rd grade: Last 2/3 of Bigger
Just a thought. If one did it this way, or half time, what do you fill up the rest of your time with? In our state DS will be compulsory age for this next year and we are supposed to fulfill 180 school days.

[Mom4Him]

Hi Khara! It sounds like Beyond would be a great fit for your son! I think he will really enjoy it. (If you do choose LHFHG- I know you will enjoy that too- otherwise you can look forward to it for your other kiddos. ) At any time you can slow down the guides to meet your child(rens) needs! So, if going full-speed through Beyond is just right for your son this year- that is what I would do. Then, when you hit Bigger for 2nd grade, you can decide at that point if it would benefit him/you to go half-speed or full-speed.
Blessings in your decision,
Jessica

[Mom4Him]

Sorry-Khara. We must have been typing at the same time. I think the new plan you have thought up sounds great too. Maybe you could do the guides half-speed for just a few weeks & then go full-speed for the rest of the time, but 4-days-a-week. (Does this make sense?)
Jessica

[jenntracy]

"This makes me feel more comfortable pursuing things the way I had planned. DS' birthday is in February, so he would be an older 6 year old going into Beyond, and an older 7 year old going into Bigger. I reviewed the Little Hearts materials again this morning, and I just really feel like he will find a lot of it repetative. The history sounds neat, but I just don't feel like that's a good reason to hold him back. My gut is telling me to go with Beyond, but I guess I need to pray about it and see what God leads me to do. If Bigger is overwhelming for him at 7 1/2, then maybe we'll go with half-time with that one. I'd still gladly welcome more responses!"

I didn't read all the responses, but i saw when you wrote this it was exactly what i was thinking.
My son will be doing Beyond as 1st grader in fall. His b-day is October and he will turn 7 shortly after. But my daughter will be 6.5 in the fall of 2011 (b-day March) when she starts Beyond. I think she will be fine then. She is rearin' to go with Kindergarten already in LHFHG but i am making her wait til at least August.
I want my kids to be challenged without making it too hard.
Pray and see what God tells your gut.

Jenn D

[Jen in Va]

Has anyone tried to do the schedule as follows?:
1st grade : First 2/3 of Beyond
2nd grade: Last 1/3 of Beyond, First 1/3 of Bigger
3rd grade: Last 2/3 of Bigger
Just a thought. If one did it this way, or half time, what do you fill up the rest of your time with? In our state DS will be compulsory age for this next year and we are supposed to fulfill 180 school days.

This is exactly what we are doing. Ds has a late October birthday, and we started Beyond in August of '09--he a was 6 at the time. We do three days of Beyond a week. The other two days I continue with math (I hit math big time. In addition to SM, I am supplementing with an online program I found out about on another board. It's free, and is very puzzle-ly. Lots of brain stretchers. He's always loved puzzles, so I use this to limber up his brain cells before 'math'. The bonus is that it approaches math in a different way. I pick and choose a few activities each day. He sees these activities as play--score! An example of one activity: Fred and Linda had three balls--green, white, red. Show all the ways Fred and Linda could share the balls.), add in copywork, phonics (he's reading great--will finish the emerging readers by May), etc. We will wrap up Unit 24 of Beyond the first week of May, and he will also finish Singapore 1 around that time. I have purchased some Singapore supplement books, plus some other math books to use over the summer and will have him do some copywork/narration, and read, read, read. In the fall of 2010 we will pick up with the last bit of Beyond, with the plan to start Bigger in January 2011 and get through the 1st ten or so units before breaking for the summer. He'll do SM 2a/2b for the 2010-11 school year. More review over the summer, then finish Bigger in the 2011-12 school year while doing SM 3a/3b at the same time. This has him finishing the HOD guides now planned (with the exception of the geography one) at the end of 8th grade--perfect! Then he will do the geography one for his freshmen year of high school.

[MamaPajama]

This is exactly what we are doing. Ds has a late October birthday, and we started Beyond in August of '09--he a was 6 at the time. We do three days of Beyond a week. The other two days I continue with math (I hit math big time. In addition to SM, I am supplementing with an online program I found out about on another board. It's free, and is very puzzle-ly. Lots of brain stretchers. He's always loved puzzles, so I use this to limber up his brain cells before 'math'. The bonus is that it approaches math in a different way. I pick and choose a few activities each day. He sees these activities as play--score! An example of one activity: Fred and Linda had three balls--green, white, red. Show all the ways Fred and Linda could share the balls.), add in copywork, phonics (he's reading great--will finish the emerging readers by May), etc. We will wrap up Unit 24 of Beyond the first week of May, and he will also finish Singapore 1 around that time. I have purchased some Singapore supplement books, plus some other math books to use over the summer and will have him do some copywork/narration, and read, read, read. In the fall of 2010 we will pick up with the last bit of Beyond, with the plan to start Bigger in January 2011 and get through the 1st ten or so units before breaking for the summer. He'll do SM 2a/2b for the 2010-11 school year. More review over the summer, then finish Bigger in the 2011-12 school year while doing SM 3a/3b at the same time. This has him finishing the HOD guides now planned (with the exception of the geography one) at the end of 8th grade--perfect! Then he will do the geography one for his freshmen year of high school.

That's one reason I'm tempted to do it this way, because if we do stick with HOD he could get the Geography credit for high school. I think I'm going to start Beyond full time this next year and see how it goes. If he has any trouble, we'll slow it down. Thanks for giving examples of your routine!