Beyond questions

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MamaPajama
Posts: 197
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:22 pm

Beyond questions

Post by MamaPajama » Tue May 18, 2010 10:49 am

(Please bear with my scattered thoughts as I write this.) My son needs routine and structure in his day. Even though he has been evaluted and given the all-clear, my husband and I suspect that he may have a very mild case of ADHD and/or Asperger's. We were going to take several weeks off of school for the summer, but it's quickly becoming apparent that this just won't work. Without any sort of structure in his day, he gets upset easily and has a hard time controlling his emotions.

I thought about maybe starting Beyond now. He's in the middle of Phonics Pathways right now and definitely not ready for the emerging readers yet, which is where I'd hoped he would be by the time we started the guide. Even though it's not suggested for Beyond, but rather Little Hearts, I picked up the Master Thinking Skills for Grade 1 last night and thought maybe we'd do one of those sheets every few days. I know I want him to practice reading every day, and handwriting at least 4 days per week throughout the summer, which we've already been doing. I'd like for him to also do math at least once or twice per week, even if it's just reviewing what he's already learned (Math-U-See Alpha, currently on lesson 10. We were doing math every day during our actual school year). I thought maybe on the days that we don't do math, we could start integrating some of the things from the Beyond guide into our days, very casually at first and then build our way up, completing each unit every two or three weeks or so until we move into full time in the fall, after we take a few weeks off when the baby is born.

For those of you with experience, do you think this would work? Or is it better to start at a set time and keep it going at the same rate consistently? And is it okay to pick up the emerging readers at any time in the guide, or is it really better to start those at the beginning? Oops! Thought of another question... If we did do it this way, how would you keep track of the days? We are required by law to complete 180 days of school for 1st grade. Do you think I should just consider each unit 5 days even if we stretch it out over more, or should we count each actual day? (In the long run it probably doesn't matter because it's not required for us to report to anyone, but I will keep records just in case anyone ever decides to check.)

jenntracy
Posts: 428
Joined: Fri May 01, 2009 11:18 am
Location: Florida

Re: Beyond questions

Post by jenntracy » Tue May 18, 2010 3:08 pm

i don't know if this helps, but we started emerger readers in the middle of our LHFHG guide. we will continue thru summer and some of fall and just start Dithor 2 after that whereever we are in the Beyond guide for 1st grade.

If you wanted to keep track of actual days donna young printables has some cool little charts to mark of days.

Jenn D
Mom to 4 Blessings
DS 14.5 yrs World Geography
DD 13 yrs MTMM
DD 10 yrs CTC
DS 7 yrs Bigger

my3sons
Posts: 10702
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Beyond questions

Post by my3sons » Tue May 18, 2010 7:54 pm

Hi Khara - once you have Beyond in hand it's tough to wait to start, isn't it? :D Now that you have it and can see exactly what is taught and how it is taught, I am wondering if you feel he is ready to start it now, or if he would have greater success starting it later? If he is ready now, I think I'd try to establish a routine way of doing Beyond, since you'd mentioned that helps his day to go well (and we've found this to be true with our sons too) :wink: . We've found the half-speed way of doing a guide to be an easy way to establish a routine and not mess up the cohesiveness of the guide. You could just do the left side of the plans one day and the right the next. They both take about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes or so. You'd still want to do daily phonics. You could still do daily math and handwriting if you wanted too. We did this with Bigger Hearts just the last part of the school year and loved it! Here is the rotation we used and the routine we followed:
Image Image

I think if half-speed is too much, you may want to just wait until the fall as the connections will probably be hard to make. If we had more than a day in between the history readings, for example, I don't know how well my ds would be able to remember where we left off. However, these are just a few thoughts I had, and you will certainly know best what you'd like to do here. I hope something here helps. I know for sure you will enjoy Beyond, whenever you end up doing it! :D

In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

MamaPajama
Posts: 197
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:22 pm

Re: Beyond questions

Post by MamaPajama » Tue May 18, 2010 8:11 pm

Well, after looking through the guide some more tonight, I think you are right, Julie. I think it's too much for him to start right now, and honestly I'm not ready to jump into even half-time yet. I think what I'll do instead is just keep focusing on phonics and handwriting and throw in some math review/games/wrap-ups, history stories, read-alouds (which we always do anyway) and the Thinking Skills book. Actually he did five pages out of that book today. He really enjoyed it! I wish it was larger!

I need to think of some good rainy day activities too. As long as he gets plenty of time to run around outside, he does pretty well. It's just these rainy, cold days when he doesn't get enough exercise that things go downhill. I think I just need to be more creative with our time....which is sometimes difficult at 5 1/2 months pregnant because I only have a few hour window of energy every day. :P

my3sons
Posts: 10702
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Beyond questions

Post by my3sons » Tue May 18, 2010 8:28 pm

Oh, I so understand the pregnancy concerns - I was on bedrest most of my pregnancies, which gets interesting the more dc we have. :D I also completely get your ds's need to be physically active. All 3 of my dc are that way, and the day can go south if they don't get enough movement in it. One thing I thought I'd mention that helped our dc on inclement weather days was to get some kids exercise videos. They have a bunch at Collage Video. We pull them out when the boys need to M-O-V-E, but the weather prevents them from being outside. I have gone to sending them outside to run around even in less than desirable weather for at least 15 minutes a day too (unless it's truly dangerous to their safety, i.e. lightning). Even that 15 minutes does wonders.

Here are a few links that may be helpful on this topic too:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6110&p=44734
A link on the need we have for routine with our sons too...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5207&p=38172

I have prayed for you for a healthy pregnancy, and I think you have some good ideas for moving forward this summer without it being too formal. Blessings!

In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

MamaPajama
Posts: 197
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:22 pm

Re: Beyond questions

Post by MamaPajama » Wed May 19, 2010 7:21 pm

So Julie, going back a bit, you recommended maybe doing the left side one day, and the right the next. Time wise this would be great for my son's attention span, and also his baby sister's since I have to keep her occupied during that time as well (and she refuses to nap). He will only be in 1st grade this coming year, and I keep reading more and more that Bigger is really more for 3rd grade. I definitely don't want to push him into full time with Beyond if he would only struggle as a 2nd grader in Bigger.

Here's my dilemma, though. I see in the back that spelling list 1 is geared toward 1st grade and list 2 for 2nd grade. If we're going to do Beyond over two years, I would want to do spelling every day, not every other, so that the second year we could work on list 2. I would want to do the same for reading, math and story time. What I'm basically saying is that I can feasibly see doing the left side every other day, but not the right. Does that make sense?

If we took plenty of breaks during the day we could probably make it work to fit in 2 1/2 hours. But then I'm still left with the dilemma of putting him in Bigger at the 2nd grade level. Help?

jenntracy
Posts: 428
Joined: Fri May 01, 2009 11:18 am
Location: Florida

Re: Beyond questions

Post by jenntracy » Wed May 19, 2010 8:03 pm

If you wanted to do all of Beyond this coming school year for 1st then maybe the next year for 2nd grade you could slow down Bigger if you found it to be too much for your son. I haven't really looked into how you could slow it down but i am sure it is possible.

I know i am doing all of Beyond for my son next year for 1st. He is ready for it. His b-day is in october so he will turn 7 then. and he's already half way thru Emerger Readers. so for my son at that level, i personally wouldn't want to slow it down for him. if for some reason it gets tough in Bigger for 2nd grade I would slow it down for him then.

I also don't have a baby on the way. Just thought i would suggest another possibility if you were wanting to plug away at all of Beyond next year.

Praying for a peaceful decision.

Jenn D
Mom to 4 Blessings
DS 14.5 yrs World Geography
DD 13 yrs MTMM
DD 10 yrs CTC
DS 7 yrs Bigger

krismoose
Posts: 300
Joined: Tue May 19, 2009 12:56 am
Location: Arizona

Re: Beyond questions

Post by krismoose » Wed May 19, 2010 8:21 pm

I've been considering how to slow down Beyond as well, and have also seen that the right side basically needs to be done every day. I was thinking of splitting up the left side, doing the Reading about History and the associated activity on one day, and then poetry, bible study and music on the next day. Storytime would probably happen every day, so the following year we'd just pick new books for each genre, do the next spelling list, and whatever math level we're at by then. Sounds doable on paper, anyhow :lol:
Kristen
Loved LHTH & LHFHG :)
DS8 (2nd) WWE1, HOD dictation, Sequential Spelling, SM 2B, VP OT/AE & SOTW1 history, Song School Latin, Getting Started With Spanish
DD6 (K) Saxon Math 1, VP Phonics Museum K
DD3 cutting, gluing, more cutting :D

MamaPajama
Posts: 197
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:22 pm

Re: Beyond questions

Post by MamaPajama » Wed May 19, 2010 8:29 pm

Thanks. I think I just mainly need reassurance that doing Beyond for 1st isn't outlandish. I think I can handle it, new baby and all, since he is my oldest and the primary focus of our little school. Life with the toddler is a whole different story, though! :lol: Coming up with ideas to keep her busy and happy for even 15 minute bursts (minus the TV, that is) has proven difficult, but we'll figure it out. Like I said, we may just have to take lots of breaks.

While I'm on that track, I'm also going to have to learn to say no to outside activities during the school day. This past year was easy because it was "just" Kindergarten, and not at all a problem to switch around our day to fit in other fun things. I love the idea of being done with school by lunch time, or only doing school in the afternoon, but I have to remember to do what works best for our family and not let attractive outings get in the way of buckling down and doing what we have to do. If we have to stretch the school day into little bursts throughout the day, then so be it. We're really homebodies anyway, and my kids love to play in their own backyard. Again, I just have a hard time saying no when someone calls and wants to do something. Sorry...just thinking in type.

Thanks so much for responding!
Last edited by MamaPajama on Wed May 19, 2010 8:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

MamaPajama
Posts: 197
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:22 pm

Re: Beyond questions

Post by MamaPajama » Wed May 19, 2010 8:30 pm

krismoose wrote:I've been considering how to slow down Beyond as well, and have also seen that the right side basically needs to be done every day. I was thinking of splitting up the left side, doing the Reading about History and the associated activity on one day, and then poetry, bible study and music on the next day. Storytime would probably happen every day, so the following year we'd just pick new books for each genre, do the next spelling list, and whatever math level we're at by then. Sounds doable on paper, anyhow :lol:
That's exactly where my line of thought has been too, but while it looks good on paper, I wonder how confusing it would really be. :lol:

my3sons
Posts: 10702
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Beyond questions

Post by my3sons » Thu May 20, 2010 10:20 am

MamaPajama wrote:So Julie, going back a bit, you recommended maybe doing the left side one day, and the right the next. Time wise this would be great for my son's attention span, and also his baby sister's since I have to keep her occupied during that time as well (and she refuses to nap). He will only be in 1st grade this coming year, and I keep reading more and more that Bigger is really more for 3rd grade. I definitely don't want to push him into full time with Beyond if he would only struggle as a 2nd grader in Bigger.

Here's my dilemma, though. I see in the back that spelling list 1 is geared toward 1st grade and list 2 for 2nd grade. If we're going to do Beyond over two years, I would want to do spelling every day, not every other, so that the second year we could work on list 2. I would want to do the same for reading, math and story time. What I'm basically saying is that I can feasibly see doing the left side every other day, but not the right. Does that make sense?

If we took plenty of breaks during the day we could probably make it work to fit in 2 1/2 hours. But then I'm still left with the dilemma of putting him in Bigger at the 2nd grade level. Help?
We did Bigger Hearts for 2nd grade with my older ds, and will also be doing it with our middle ds for 2nd grade (we started it half-speed at the end of his first grade year). It has been a good fit for them. However, I know it is also a very good fit for third grade, and I do think it's sometimes nice to get into the middle of the target age range in the older guides. So, I think it just depends on the child. :D

I would say to start Beyond half-speed and then just take cues from your little guy about whether he's ready/wanting full-speed at any point. If he is, I'd just go full-speed then, and when you finish start Bigger Hearts half-speed. That worked wonderfully well for us. :D We did half-speed spelling. We did full-speed for the ERS, and when we started DITHOR later we started it half-speed. For math, we did it half-speed, but on the off day we did math flashcards instead. For storytime, we did something a little different there. We read a little from the book every day, but we did the Storytime lessons half-speed, every other day. I really liked this because it kept us moving forward without pushing us too quickly, and it kept us working within the same guide. If you wanted to do daily spelling, then you'd just have to do dictation when you got to Bigger Hearts, so that would work too. Those are just a few things to consider! HTH! :D

In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

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