Bigger and up extensions...

[MomtoJGJE]

How do the extensions work? Is it only for if you are working with combining two students and need to beef it up a bit for the older one?

I know it's a couple of years off, but Grace will start Beyond when she's about 7, and we will go half speed for a while. I was wondering since she'll be older than 8 starting Bigger (Remember, I have an older child.... she be halfway through Bigger when she turns 8 so that's also why I'm thinking about this for DD2 and probably DD3 way down the road) should I plan on adding in some of the extensions? She's already reading well... I'm planning on starting DITHOR with her when she starts Beyond or soon thereafter (depending on when she finishes the ERs) so roughly 7.

I guess I'm asking if the extensions are solely for older kids (like 10 and up) who need the bulk for their age/grade? Or is it also for extra for kids at the upper end of the age range who would do well with the extra work?

[GinainMD]

I'm really interested in the answer to this because we will be doing Bigger next school year with a just turned 8 year old and a 9 year old. I had already decided to order the extensions for my 9 year old and I have been trying to decide whether to include my 8 year old in this as well.

[Mom2Monkeys]

We have added them for a child at the upper part of the age range, but we did not do the suggested assignments to go along with the reading. My DD also just likes to read so it was fun for her. I didn't get books. Knew would be well above her reading level though. You could also choose to read them aloud, and even in the description for the Bigger extensions I think that is noted for families that love to read aloud. I would be cautious about adding them in CTC though, as the content could be too much for a child not in the extension age range. So much violence in the ancient times...so you'd need to perhaps just add the storytime pack you did NOT choose for reading aloud with the guide.

[my3sons]

The BHFHG extensions are intended for 10 and 11 yo dc to do independently, and they extend the areas of history and science. They are not intended for younger dc, though that does not mean they cannot be used for younger dc if you feel they are appropriate. I honestly would not add in the extensions for dc under 10 yo until I had taught at least a month of BHFHG. It is a full program, and it is more important for dc to truly be giving the core of it their all than it is to be adding additional reading and assignments. After a month, if dc are doing ALL that the guide is asking them to do very successfully (i.e 3 vocabulary cards, all of the poetry copywork, solid oral narrations, doing well with grammar, completing notebooking with attention to detail, making their timeline well, etc., and I felt like adding more would be a positive thing, I would then consider it, but probably would only add the reading not the follow-up assignments, and only if I had a 9 yo near turning 10 yo. This is because the skills learned in the core of Bigger Hearts are far more important than adding additional reading. A child that did half as well as he could have with the core of Bigger Hearts and read the extensions would be far less prepared for PHFHG than a child who gave his all to the core of BHFHG and did not do the extensions. Also, looking down the road, the extensions become too mature in content for younger "ears" and should be set aside for when they reach the extension age. Though my dc could have read the extensions when they were doing the core guide, I did not have them do so. Now, two years later, I am letting Wyatt read the past extensions, but he is now in the suggested age range for the extensions. What a good question - as we often assume "more is better", sometimes not. Sometimes "more" sabotages the "core", and that can cause trouble down the road. HTH as you consider what you want to do!

In Christ,
Julie

[MomtoJGJE]

Thanks for the ideas and exactly what was intended with the extensions!

My thought was that, obviously only if needed, but that with Grace and Julianna, who will be hitting Bigger at the upper end of the age range, when we reach the halfway point of Bigger to add in the extensions.

I know they are still little and I love to keep it that way but both of them are absolutely flying through their work each day. So is Jayden for that matter, but I feel she's placed perfectly in Bigger. I could add in more vocab for her and even get her to memorize the poem each week for more challenge for her.

But seriously, Grace can do two days of LHFHG completely in less than an hour. We don't do that generally, but the times we have it's been no issue. And Julianna finishes LHTH along with fine motor skills workbooks in less than half an hour. And they remember it!! So by the time they are 9, if it keeps going, it's good to know different ways of meeting the challenge with them!

And Evie absolutely scares me she was watching Grace do school yesterday, and in the Thinking Skills book there's a page to find the hidden 'T' and 'E'.... I asked Grace "where's the E?" She obviously knew I meant the hidden one, but Evie looked at me like I'd lost my mind and pointed to the 'E' in the directions and said "eyeght dere!!" She isn't even 2 yet.... we haven't even showed her letters yet.