my3sons wrote:Heart_mom - I think there is much to celebrate here! Your ds had some vision therapy concerns, and you managed to get to the bottom of that and get him the help he needed. He is doing well reading, and is moving along in cursive writing, grammar and math. As Larissa pointed out, just by steadily moving forward with these at full-speed, you can keep moving him along at a fair clip. He sounds like he has many talents for using his hands well, and using words well with a large vocabulary. He is doing well with Bigger Hearts and its extensions. It sounds to me like it would be worthwhile to complete Bigger Hearts with extensions. However, I wanted to share this comparison of the writing in BHFHG and PHFHG to get your thoughts on this...
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First I want to thank you for responding to my post, Julie! You have been such an encouragement to me

(By the way, I've used your idea of numbering activities for my 5 year old for some alone play time, and it has worked beautifully!)
It was encouraging to read what you wrote in the above paragraph ... he really has come a long way!
my3sons wrote:Right now, your ds is making steady progress and growing more and more in many important skills each day. When you read the above writing requirements for PHFHG, does it seem like he would benefit from finishing the writing requirements in BHFHG prior to moving into PHFHG? If so, I'd probably do that. Or, does it seem he is fully ready for PHFHG? If so, I'd probably do that.
I read the link about writing requirements, and I have a couple of thoughts:
1. When I read about (and look through, since I bought Preparing) what's required, I think, "He
could do this, but it would be a stretch for him." He can copy passages, but he does find it to be somewhat challenging to attend to spelling, punctuation, and capitalization with good accuracy.
2. I haven't been having him copy the poem each week. Is this something I really need to do? (He is doing all the other writing in Bigger, including written narrations 2X weekly for Extensions, and he has dictation with his spelling program. He is doing all of the writing each day for Grammar as he nears the end of R&S 2. If I bump to Preparing, I'll move to making most of Grammar oral.) I'm a little reluctant to require the poetry copywork, because he really disliked copying the poems in Beyond last year and I think he saw the poems as a source of work rather than enjoyment. I know it would give him more copying practice though... Do you have any thoughts about this for me?
3. Cursive is coming along, but it's still hard for him to copy from printed text (as opposed to a cursive model). Staying in Bigger would help him to have more time to practice his cursive skills before having to move on to copywork in cursive. So in that regard, finishing the writing assignments in Bigger could be a boon to him. I guess I can't say for sure that he's fully ready for writing in Preparing, but I guess I'm hoping that it would stretch him!
my3sons wrote:If your ds is not already doing so, he can definitely read his own Science books in BHFHG, as well as begin to move toward doing that box more independently. This box becomes independent in PHFHG. He can also read his own "Reading about History" books, if he is ready to do so. Then, you can do your follow-up teaching with him of the skills within that box of plans. I'd keep reading Storytime to him though.
He has been doing Bigger's Science independently for the past few weeks, and that's going very well. I do sometimes have him read the History on his own if I'm short on time that day, so I could have him take that over. He retains very well from what he reads on his own. I do Storytime with all the children together, so I certainly keep reading that!
my3sons wrote:As far as your above questions, if you do start PHFHG in January because you feel he is ready for the writing requirements, then...
1. As he'd be 10 yo, doing just the Independent History and not the extensions should be enough.
2. If you wait to do PHFHG until 5th grade, you would want him to do the Independent History readings, as many excellent skills that need to be taught accompany these, and you would weigh whether he needed to do the extensions or not. If he is 12 yo, I'd do the extensions. If he is 11 yo, he could go either way. It would be better for a student to give his all to the core of the program and not do extensions, than to be unable to give his best to the core of the program and do the extensions. The core of the program is what teaches skills incrementally, so unless dc have those skills intact and are just needed extensions, it is important to use the core to teach those skills. I hope that makes sense!
3. I'd probably have him read the "Reading about History", but I'd still read the "Storytime". Or, I'd set the timer for 10 minutes, read the Storytime for 10 minutes, and if any Storytime reading is left, let him finish it on his own before doing the follow-up with him.
4. This goes back to the increased writing in PHFHG. If you are still truly torn in this decision, it sounds like you own PHFHG already, so you could always take a 1 week break from BHFHG/ext. and try out the first unit of PHFHG just to see how it goes. You could explain to your ds that you are just trying to weigh your options, and that either is a good fit, so he would understand that you may choose to do BHFHG/ext. with him after the week is done, or you may choose to do PHFHG with him. I just wouldn't want him to feel like he somehow failed a test by not moving into PHFHG after the week then, if that would be what you'd find would be best.
My son will be 11 for all of 5th grade, so that's helpful to know that he could go either way with the extensions, even if we wait to start Preparing until the fall. Maybe I'll start out without extensions, and just add them in when he gets into the groove of doing Preparing. Either way, will certainly do the Independent History Study.
I like your idea of trying out a week of Preparing with him! I don't think he'd feel like he'd failed a test if we go back to Bigger. If the writing is a little too much for him, he'll be happy to stick with Bigger for a while!
Trying Preparing out for a week may be the only way to know if the increased writing is something he can rise to meet the challenge of, or it if will just be too much.
my3sons wrote:With Riley, I did half-speed Bigger Hearts for quite a few months. Then we had summer break, and I tried to do full-speed BHFHG. He was not ready for it, and I ended up going back to half-speed for awhile. This worked just fine. I made sure not to make a big deal of it as he truly just needed to learn time management skills, better attention skills, and increased writing skills. I just share this so you know, all of this pondering you are doing will bring you to the right answer. I will pray for you in this decision, but you are asking all the right questions, and I think all of these responses these wonderful ladies have given will help you choose what's best for you and your ds. I hope something here can help you with this decision!
In Christ,
Julie
I guess my last question is this: At some point should I just plan to finish out Bigger to the end? (Or just move on to Preparing, if that's the case.) At this point, I feel like I'm constantly re-evaluating if he's ready to move up and, honestly, it's not very peaceful because I'm always second-guessing myself. If we decide to NOT bump to Preparing in January, maybe I should plan to finish Bigger unless he makes a sudden leap forward in skills?
Thank you so much for your kind help, Julie!
It's my heart's desire to glorify God and to do what's best for my son, and sometimes I find it difficult to decide the best way to proceed!