Should I do Beyond over again?

[hfwalker]

I have a 7 year old (July), perfectionist son who is currently on Unit 18 of Beyond. I'm wondering if I should do it over again after he finishes mainly because of his handwriting. We went through Little Hearts for kindergarten using the handwriting A book (my DD used Little Hearts for first using the K book) and when he finished I was disappointed to find that book K was not listed as an option for Beyond. My son was definitely not ready for writing sentences, etc. Anyway, I brought in K and he's been doing awesome with it. We're no longer doing 1/2 a page as we were towards the beginning of the guide and his penmanship has greatly improved. He also is able to write the Bible verse without getting stressed out. Yay! The other subjects are going pretty well. He loves the math and we've only had to do an activity a few times. The classic poetry he hates, but he never enjoyed the rhymes in motion either. I've substituted a rhyme or poetry piece by Jack Prelutsky at the advice of a fellow homeschool mom and he loves them! He already has a few rhymes memorized. Reading is going well now. We're only at the beginning of the emerging readers list as we had to extend The Reading Lesson into Beyond. I was looking through Bigger the other day and it just seems so advanced. I can't really see him doing it in 15 or so weeks. Should I do it over again as written with 2nd grade math? Any other ideas?

[daybreaking]

Instead of repeating Beyond, how about cutting back to half-speed? That will extend your time until Bigger another 30+ weeks, which would take you through the remainder of this school year and possibly into the beginning of next school year, depending on when you end for the school year. I have a feeling you'll be pleasantly amazed at the growth that will take place in your son during that time. When you start Bigger, you could begin half-speed, to give your son time to grow into the guide, switching to full-speed when/if you feel he is ready.

[StephanieU]

I am confused. The K handwriting book is easier than the A book. Did you use K with LHFHG or A? And which one did he complete this year?
Have you looked at the handwriting requirements for Bigger? Is he ready for that next year? Would he be ready for at least that at half speed? I wouldn't repeat Beyond just because of handwriting. But I also wouldn't modify the expectations for a guide long term. If he can copy a full verse, that isn't really different from what is in the Beyond guide. In Beyond, they copy party of a poem each day (5-10 minutes of good writing), which is how long it takes to write many verses. So he might be right on track.

[MomtoJGJE]

I have repeated Beyond and it has gone well, but I repeated it because mine just wasn't really getting it still at the end of the guide. Not because of handwriting.

First of all, you have a LONG time (for a 7yo) between now and starting Bigger. I think if you keep at it and slowly increase the amount of writing each day until he is copying 3-4 sentences/lines at a time you'll find that Bigger will be no issue.

Second of all, you really could slow Beyond down to half speed until the end of March and then do full speed. If you take summer off, you'd just pick back up in the Beyond guide at the beginning of the year next year where you left off. Then when you start Bigger, do it half speed for a while.

But again, I really think that if he's doing all of the writing in the Beyond guide by the end of the guide, he will be able to do Bigger just fine. It's really not THAT much more writing.

[my3sons]

It sounds like your son is making some good progress, which is worth celebrating! Good job! Rather than doing Beyond... over again, it would be better to keep going forward but do all that is in the guide. An important part of Beyond... is to have your son consistently do the poetry copywork each day. He should be copying the entire poem within the week by the end of the guide in order to be prepared for BHFHG. The poetry box of plans is linked to the history and includes many important LA skills. It takes about 10 minutes to do each day. I'd not omit it or sub in other poems as he will not be prepared for the harder skills in BHFHG the following year. Even if he 'hates' the poems, they are linked to the history, and Carrie has carefully chosen them for their length, content, level/maturity, and timeless classic quality. Likewise, I'd not skip the math activities as they are part of the lesson that helps them prepare for the next year (i.e. maybe he can do 2 + 2 + 2 in his head, but the hands-on activity of physically grouping objects and counting by 2's better prepares students for multiplication, which begins in 1B in Singapore Math). If your son can do all that is planned in the Beyond... guide, working up to writing all of the classic poetry within a week a little at a time each day, moving toward writing on wide-lined notebook paper toward the end of the year, he should be ready for BHFHG. We don't recommend slowing down a guide unless it is really necessary, nor do we recommend repeating a guide unless the student really didn't do the guide to its fullest. It doesn't sound like he needs to slow Beyond down, but rather just work toward being able to do it all. Hope that helps!

In Christ,
Julie

[hfwalker]

Thank you, Julie for responding.

So, you don't think that with already being in Unit 18 that it's too late to get the writing skills under his belt by the end of the guide? Should I stop the handwriting K book and just focus on writing the poetry piece from here on out?

In regards to Math, DS is quite a bit ahead. He's already half way through 1B. If I implement the hands on activities will he be ready for Bigger at this point?

[my3sons]

Thank you, Julie for responding.

So, you don't think that with already being in Unit 18 that it's too late to get the writing skills under his belt by the end of the guide? Should I stop the handwriting K book and just focus on writing the poetry piece from here on out?

In regards to Math, DS is quite a bit ahead. He's already half way through 1B. If I implement the hands on activities will he be ready for Bigger at this point?

Hi! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving! A quick question - Is he doing A Reason for HW K, or A Reason for HW A? Is he still working on letter formation, or writing words/sentences? The hands-on math activities add more depth to the lessons, so I'd implement them from this point forward. Whenever he finishes 1B, he can move on to 2A.

In Christ,
Julie

[hfwalker]

Julie,

Yes, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends. I hope you had a blessed day, too.

Isaac is currently working through A Reason for Handwriting book K, so he's writing the verses at the end of each section.

I will begin the math activities from here on out.

Heather

[StephanieU]

Julie,

Yes, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends. I hope you had a blessed day, too.

Isaac is currently working through A Reason for Handwriting book K, so he's writing the verses at the end of each section.

I will begin the math activities from here on out.

Heather

I think that is the A book, not the K book. The K book is letter formation. My daughter is about half way through it, and on one side is a lower case letter to write, and the back is a picture to color (one one letter to write, e for Elephant, etc).

[my3sons]

Thanks, Heather! I did have a wonderful Thanksgiving! As far as the HW book, if it's words and sentences, it must be the "A" book, as the "K" book only has letter practice in it. So, that's good - as if he's writing words/sentences for handwriting, that is aligning him better with the increased writing to come in Bigger Hearts. For that reason, I'd also have him do 1 line of poetry copywork from Beyond's poems each day of the week, increasing it to 2 lines a day, then 3 lines a day, then 4 lines a day, by the very end of the year. You will be surprised how this gradual increase builds those fine motor skills little by little! I know I've always been pleasantly surprised by this with our 3 sons! There first one sentence attempts were not pretty and were often met with opposition; yet little by little, by gradually increasing it each month or two, they were able to copy the entire poem over the course of the week by the end of the year - hooray!!! Likewise, doing the 3 sentences each week with the spelling words in the LA box was important. I did a post on my son Riley's gradual improvement of handwriting with pictures here, in case it may help...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5605&p=41147#p41147

In Christ,
Julie

[hfwalker]

Thanks, Julie.

I just read your latest post as we've recently moved to another state, so I've had a million things going around in my mind.

Yes, you are correct about the handwriting book. It is book 'A' he's been going through. Before reading your post I had him stop the book and start copying the poem for the week. He was surprisingly easy going with the transition. The finished product was a bit on the sloppy side and the letters were not consistent in size, but figured it was good for a first time. Today we began a new poem and his penmanship was better. He is writing two lines a day at this time, but I told him that later in the week he'll need to increase to 3 and then 4.

I will read the post you shared about your son. I'm sure it'll be helpful.