Possibly Beefing up Bigger....

[Lynnw]

I am considering moving my oldest ds from RTR to Bigger with his brother for the sake of togetherness that I think we need. My oldest turns 12 in October and I consider him 6th grade. Our past pattern in homeschooling has been to do some fairly challenging reading and letting our writing skills lag a bit. I think he'll enjoy the notebooking in Bigger. He'll have no problem with some additional written narrations (still need to figure out pacing/volume for that - I need to re-read the extension suggestions in Bigger and Preparing which I also have!), and I have a writing program I can use since we will stop IEW's Middle AGes Writing in the RTR guide.... his own math, his own LA, his own Lit.

Finally to a couple of questions.... if I want to save Exploring Planet Earth for RTR, are there any other ideas for beefing up science? Also, I'm quoting below Carrie's previous advice here on reading suggestions for those who are a year or two beyond the extension reading list.... but I'm trying to come up with a longer list of books. I also find myself tempted to pull in some books related to world history at the time, but don't want to accidentally use something that might make it's way into the next guide (Explorers and Inventors!). I know it's way too early for a sneak peak into that guide, but if anyone can help me extend this list of suggestions I'd would appreciate it!

Thanks!
Lynn

Carrie on Sat Mar 08, 2008 12:20 pm

coconuts,

Welcome to the board! We're glad to have you here!

I will have a 7th grader next year too. You could have your 7th grader ride along with the same one-year overview American history focus you are using in "Bigger...." next year with your youngers, and beef it up by adding several more difficult spines like "George Washington's World" by Foster (for early American History) "The Story of the Great Republic" by Guerber, and "Short Lessons in U.S. History" (for a general overview).

You could also add additional advanced reader books to the Extension Pack (like "Poor Richard" by Daugherty, "Abigail Adams" by Bober, "Of Courage Undaunted" by Daugherty, "American Tall Tales" by Stoutenburg, and "Carry a Big Stick" by George Grant).

These titles would require a strong 6th-7th grade reader/literature lover to read on his/her own. If your kiddo is not wired that way, you could just use the Extension Package in "Bigger..." for additional history literature and add a single spine such as "This Country of Ours" by H.E. Marshall to "beef up" the history.

Anyway, you get the idea. For literature you could add "Drawn into the Heart of Reading" Level 6/7/8. My oldest son has used "Drawn into the Heart..." for years, and we have found it has provided him with a very strong background in literature study.

I'm not sure if you are also looking for recommendations for language arts and math, but this will get you started.

Blessings,
CarrieCarrie
Site Admin

[Lynnw]

Yikes! I apologize for the triple post! I'm having computer issues, I guess, as well as placement issues, LOL. Sorry!

[lovetobehome]

I am not sure I would put my son into Bigger at that age, I tried it last year with him and it was just not enough. I was trying to combine him with his sister. He was 9.5 at the time. But if that is best for your family situation, and I understand your reasoning, I would use the Sonlight catalog cores 3 and 4 for loads of American history reading ideas.

[1shortmomof4]

Since Bigger's focus is more on the key people - their biographies, so to speak, you might take your reading focus in that direction? Also, I purchased (since my high schooler is doing American History and one ds is doing Bigger) the Drive Thru History DVDs (there are 4 of them) that cover the key players. This week, after studying Columbus, we watched the first part which covered Columbus and it was an excellent supplement - and brought the boys to Italy and it provided the background information of all the countries and what was going on in that time. It is certainly not a dry presentation by any stretch of the imagination. My 11 year old ds was complaining at first because I think he thought it was going to boooorrrriinnngggg and over his head, but so not true. I know your ds is a reader but maybe bring in some visual stuff, too, might bring everyone together (I loved watching the video). We learned about Cabot this week and so next we'll watch the next part which covered the other explorers. The Foster books (Beautiful Feet) are great and a safe read. Another idea to expand the Bigger program is to research the music of that time and the artists. Discovering Great American Artists comes to mind and would be easy to do using your library, online and some craft stuff. I think we also forget about the popular patriotic songs we learned in school and this would be a good time to work on some of them - definitely something a family could do. And, last but not least, adding in some rabbit trails on our American Military - how the different branches came to be, etc. (In The Hands of a Child has lapbooks that help cover this)

Hope this helps and I will continue to pray for you and your family

Heidi

[Lynnw]

Love to be home,
Thanks for sharing your experience... I think I just won't know until I try. I think that there are so many flexible options for beefing it up that my bigger problem will be having confidence in the extensions I choose. I'm interested in using Carrie's suggestions (though he has read American Tall Tales before).

Heidi,
Thanks for sharing your great ideas. The Drive Thru History DVDs sound like they would be a hit here. And how timely to look for ways to learn more about the military with dh deployed! We also have a shelf of Landmark books I think he would enjoy. I have another Eggleston book that is for older students so I may look at that, or the Guerber book or Foster. (We have enjoyed other Guerber books before!)

Thanks again!
Lynn

[Lynnw]

Update.... After looking at various lists and thinking about how little I would trust my own choices and looking at the extension pack again and the reading levels of the various books, I've decided to go with the Extension pack. I love knowing that I can trust Carrie's choices and I don't have to worry about too much or too little. The only sub. I'm going to make for him is the spine - using the Foster books instead of the Child's Story of America. I think going with the more challenging spine, but sticking with the extension books for the rest will be a good balance. I can also adjust up or down with our literature choices! And I can see how the Tiner book (which I already had for RTR) is going to go GREAT with Bigger.... so I'll just stick with that as well. I can't wait for his new books to get here.... in the mean time he worked on a beautiful map today to do a little catch up on his notebook. I think it will be fun to see what beautiful work he does in this slightly easier guide instead of barely satisfactory work in a more challenging guide.

[1shortmomof4]

That is AWESOME!!!!!!

Heidi

[deltagal]

sounds like a great decision. Looking forward to more updates...

[ihvnangel]

So excited to hear your update. I also have a 11 (will be 12 January 23) son who is considered 6th grade that I am going to be doing Bigger with also! So I am happy to hear that others with children this age will be using the same. I know for us right now, this is what we need. I also have a just turned 10 year old doing Bigger with him. We actually just got our book two days ago, and we are moving the house around some this week before we get started next week. I will look forward to hearing how your year is going.
Also sending prayers for your family and for you husbands safety during his deployment. My husband was deployed to Afghanistan for nearly 20 months (had about 3 months of training at Ft Bragg first). We are happy to have him home now. He was thinking he would be able to retire from the Reserves after getting demobed, but SUPRISE, He made Chief! I think he was totally in shock and not looking forward to the whole initiation, but now it is over with and he is advanced and so 2 or so more years and then retirement. I love the military life! lol Anyways good luck with everything.