Should I go ahead and put dd in Preparing???

[Carrie]

sharon,

It looks like the ladies are doing a terrific job of talking through possible options with you. As I'm reading through the thread, I have a few things running through my mind that I thought I'd share as you ponder too.

While it is possible that your 3rd grader could do Preparing Hearts this year, in looking ahead to CTC the following year, I'm worried that it will be far too much for a child who hasn't had the incremental skill-building that Bigger Hearts (or its equivalent) provides. The jump from Beyond to Preparing is very large, which could leave you really adjusting things for your 3rd grader. The step up from Preparing to CTC is also very large, which could result in much more tweaking and adjusting. So, I'm wondering whether your 3rd grader may end up at the end of Preparing not quite ready for CTC.

If your 3rd grader is a very strong reader, copies fairly lengthy passages well and without complaint, writes easily in DITHR/grammar/science related tasks (with multiple writing tasks within a single day), can use the dictionary to look up vocabulary words, copy definitions, use the words in sentences, is ready for formal writing lessons, can fill out a science lab sheet easily, is able to draw/color/label notebook pages, has had a formal introduction to poetry and poetic devices, can look up Scripture verses in the Bible and copy from the Bible, is ready to memorize entire chapters of Scripture, is working at least at a third grade level in math, has listened to challenging material such as Eggleston read aloud, and is ready for independent work through reading and following a series of written directions on his own, then you could head into Preparing with him without first doing Bigger Hearts. If not, I'd lean toward Bigger Hearts.

Your 4th grader could also do Bigger Hearts with extensions. Since the jump from Beyond to Bigger is fairly large, you wouldn't need to jump your 4th grader all the way up to Preparing to find more rigor. I believe you'd find it in Bigger with extensions. I just don't want to have your son being pulled behind your daughter and have you lose the benefit of having a child who can actually do the work we are asking him to do for the long haul.

The other thought I had was taking into account the other thread you have running on the board right now about your 3 and 5 year old. With this in mind, I'm wondering how your 1st grader is doing in Beyond? Is it a great fit for him overall? If so, then just keep on going! If, however, he was placed in Beyond to better mesh together with the 3rd and 4th grader, then it is possible that you could combine your 5 year old and 1st grader in LHFHG together now, and just keep doing LHTH with your 3 year old. This may or may not be anything you'd wish to consider, but since you're at a crossroads with Beyond and with your 5 year old, I just thought I'd mention it.

Blessings,
Carrie

[sharonb]

Carrie-
First of all, Beyond is a GREAT fit for my 1st grader, so I don't want to change anything for him.

Next, I'll go through the list you made of skills that my 3rd grader needs to do well in Preparing, and I'll comment on those.

[quote="Carrie"]If your 3rd grader is a very strong reader his reading has REALLY taken off this school year; he is devouring chapter books (with understanding), and loves to read in his spare time as well as for school, copies fairly lengthy passages well and without complaint he is copying the entire poem in Beyond each week without complaint. His manuscript is still a bit sloppy, but he has been learning cursive this year, and routinely writes MUCH more than I require, and it is very neat., writes easily in DITHR/grammar/science related tasks (with multiple writing tasks within a single day) I do require quite a bit of writing from him this year, and he does not complain., can use the dictionary to look up vocabulary words yes, he can do this., copy definitions yes, he can do this, too., use the words in sentences yes, he can do this., is ready for formal writing lessons I believe he is. He and his siblings love to write stories., can fill out a science lab sheet easily we did quite a few lab sheets last year and he did fine (I made up my own to go along with a science kit we had)., is able to draw/color/label notebook pages he's already doing this for Apologia Botany., has had a formal introduction to poetry and poetic devices he's been exposed to poetry in Beyond, but that's it., can look up Scripture verses in the Bible and copy from the Bible he does this for fun!, is ready to memorize entire chapters of Scripture I'm sure he is. He's had the books of the Bible memorized for a couple of years now, and easily learns the memory verses in Beyond., is working at least at a third grade level in math Yes, he is, but we are happily using CLE for math and plan to stick with it., has listened to challenging material such as Eggleston read aloud I read aloud to my dc a LOT, including challenging material. Ds is a great listener, usually begging for "one more chapter, Mom!", and is ready for independent work through reading and following a series of written directions on his own I believe he is up for the challenge!, then you could head into Preparing with him without first doing Bigger Hearts. If not, I'd lean toward Bigger Hearts.

Thank you for your thoughts, Carrie. Your list of skills needed to succeed in Preparing has helped me see that my ds probably is ready for it. If he ends up needing to drop back, I'll put him back in Beyond, because like I said, Beyond is a great fit for my 1st grader so I don't want to mess with that! Then the following year the two boys could do Bigger together, and I could add the extensions for the older. But I'm really feeling confident that ds will do great in Preparing. He has shown so much growth lately, in many areas.

[sharonb]

In case anyone is still following this, we have completed the first day of Preparing. Ds said that the questions during Bible study were hard. He also said he wasn't sure if he would have been able to figure out all the instructions for independent history and science if I hadn't gone over them with him first. When I ask him if he enjoyed our first day with Preparing, he hesitates.

So, I told him we are giving Preparing a couple more days before we decide for sure. We aren't rearranging his binder yet; we are just putting the Preparing work in the back for now. I did start another thread asking about the independent subjects, to figure out the best way to work that with more than one child. Preparing is perfect for dd, but I'm afraid we might actually end up dragging ds along (even though on paper he seems ready for it. Bigger would be perfect for him, but if I put every child in the guide that is perfect for them, I'm going to be running a LOT of guides. I do feel kind of badly that ds is in the middle there, and we are being forced to go either up or down from his abilities. Maybe i'm worrying for nothing though, and he'll end up being comfortable with Preparing after a couple of days to get used to it. We'll see!

[LynnH]

It is very normal for dc to need you to go over the instructions in the independent boxes for the first several weeks. Carrie has explained to me that it is a skill they are working on and growing into. They don't have to have it perfected at the beginning of the guide. Maybe if you explain that to your ds he would feel better about needing help. It is ok to have some boxes that they are right on skill level for and then a few boxes that are more a work in progress.

[sharonb]

It is very normal for dc to need you to go over the instructions in the independent boxes for the first several weeks. Carrie has explained to me that it is a skill they are working on and growing into. They don't have to have it perfected at the beginning of the guide. Maybe if you explain that to your ds he would feel better about needing help. It is ok to have some boxes that they are right on skill level for and then a few boxes that are more a work in progress.

Thanks, that makes me feel better.

ETA: It's Tuesday now, and today went SO WELL. Ds was much more involved in our Bible study discussions than he was yesterday. He also did fine with the independent work. The only thing he complained about was vocabulary, but I insisted that he do 3 of the words. I think once he's used to it, it won't seem like such a big deal. As I pointed out to him, he'll do 2 or 3 pages of his cursive workbook just because he wants to, and yet he complains that he has to write definitions/sentences for a few words!