Hi There..., Can you help me w/ placement? (warm smile)

[hippiechyck]

Now I just have to keep praying and see. I wish you were going to our FPEA convention here in Florida.

i wish *I* was going to that convention! my cousins always have such a blast (and then he calls me to boast...umm, share all the cools stuff he found, LOL)

sorry, had to comment

[MamaMary]

i wish *I* was going to that convention! my cousins always have such a blast (and then he calls me to boast...umm, share all the cools stuff he found, LOL)

sorry, had to comment

LOL I have to admit it is pretty amazing. They had over 20,000 homeschoolers last year. It's really fun for me because I make it a girls weekend. We do silly things like stay up waaay too late giggling, laughing, plotting, praying and even planning our next year.

But I bet it would be MORE fun with you there! (the more the merrier, right? )

[hippiechyck]

sounds fun! maybe once we get to Denver i can hit a convention (never been to one in 10+ years of hs'ing)

[my3sons]

Hi Mary!
I just wanted to chime in here and welcome you to the board! I think we "chatted" on the other board too, and I'm so glad to "see you" here! I have 3 boys as well. They keep us busy, don't they?!? I just got home from church, and I feel like I had an hour-long aerobic workout!

I read through your posts, and wanted to say that I have found the placement chart to be right on target, so I think that's a strong indication you're making good choices. We are doing Bigger Hearts... right now, and I agree with Carrie that it takes us about 3 hours now that we're into the swing of things. We are truly loving it! I'm also doing Little Hearts for His Glory with my 5 year old, and he's thriving with it.

I think you could easily do Little Hearts... with your 5 & 7 year olds. You could just choose the more difficult reading options, math, etc. for your 7 year old if that's what he needs. I also think your oldest would enjoy Bigger... It's a very flexible program as well.

Your plans right now sound great! However, if something changes, or some of your test results indicate that it would be better to match your 7 year old with your 11 year old, and do your 5 year old separate - Here's one other option I'd like to mention. You could take 2 years to do Little Hearts with your 5 year old, by doing the left side of the plans one day, and the right side of the plans the next day, alternating back and forth. We are doing this, and it's a good fit for us. It will take 2 years to finish Little Hearts then. It only takes me about 45 minutes to do this each day, and we have lots of time for my 5 year old to play,listen in on Bigger's read-alouds, color, etc. This would free up some time to do Bigger... with your older two sons.

However, I think the plan you have is awesome, and unless something changes in the levels that best fit your kiddos - you sound all set to start! I'd love to hear what's going on with you and your sons, so be sure to keep everybody "in the know"! Nice to meet you!

[MamaMary]

What GREAT feedback. So here's some questions....,

I really like the idea of taking two years to do "little" since my 5 year old will be truly focusing on his phonics program.

1- Except how does that work w/ the math? Unless, he's struggling I probably wouldn't want to take two years to do that...., right:?:

2- I'm wondering if I did that should I pull back to the "beyond" program instead of the bigger for my two older boys?

3- If I used Beyond would it have lesson plans for singapore 2a?

[netpea]

We are using Beyond for my 7yo who is in Singapore 2A. I had already started 2A with him last year and then put it on the shelf for a while so I am not using Carrie's lesson plan for 2A but it IS in the appendices in the back of the manual.

I know about how much my 7yo can handle in a day, so we just plug along in his math at his pace. If we finish a book early, we just start the next one, if we lag behind, no big deal, we pick up steam when they do reviews of material he already knows.

If you want to have Carrie's activities for 2A / 2B though, you will need to buy the Bigger manual. I bought it for that reason. I like having the hands on activities to along with the book work. My son was doing fine without them but they make the math more fun.

So just to clarify, we do our daily lessons from the Beyond manual but I pull out the Bigger manual for the math activities. Carrie's programs allow you to move ahead or slow down in most subjects with no problem.

[MamaMary]

Carrie's lesson plan for 2A but it IS in the back of the book. If you want to have her activities for 2A / 2B though, you will need to buy the Bigger manual.

Great info Lee Ann! So I will need to have "little", "beyond", "bigger", but will only use one of the manuels for the math activities?

Here's my question? (please bear w/ me )

My oldest really "IS" ready for the R&S english and the extra reading. So should I use "beyond" for he and the 7 year old and add the "Bigger" for just the math and LA OR should I go for the Bigger and purchase "beyond" for math and english for my middle child?

Actually, as I type that out I immediately think it would be better to start with "beyond" because I can always go forward, but I can never go back? THoughts?

[netpea]

So I will need to have "little", "beyond", "bigger", but will only use one of the manuels for the math activities?

exactly...

OK, here goes,

Last year I put my son into a program from another provider that looked good but was way too much for him instead of going with Beyond. So this year I switched back to HOD and decided to use Beyond. You can always "Beef Up" a program for your oldest. But you do not want to put the younger one in over his head. Trust me, it leads to frustration on your part and his.

I would probably start with Beyond and then see how it goes. If it's just too darn easy for the 11yo, you might consider doing Bigger for him separately or for adding to Beyond for him alone. More writing perhaps.
Or perhaps add some related unit studies or simply life skills lessons. Certainly you can add more LA for him if he's ready. That's the beauty of it, you do the Beyond lessons with both then add on the other stuff for the 11yo (while the 7yo plays with the 5yo perhaps?).

[my3sons]

Hi! So sorry I'm just getting back to you here! My little guy had a hospital stay today - he's doing fine now. Anyway, these ladies gave you some great advice to ponder already!

We've really enjoyed doing Little Hearts... over 2 years because we've been able to focus on phonics, just as you mentioned. I LOVE the idea of children reading as soon as possible - it just opens up a whole new world of learning!

We're doing two years to do the math, but my son will be 5 in March, so he's a little bit younger. I think you could do it over 2 years and be fine, but if you are wanting to clip along more, Singapore 2A and 2B are scheduled out in the Appendix of Beyond... The hands-on activities in Beyond... are awesome though, and they go with 1A and 1B. If you want the great hands-on activities with 2A and 2B, they are written in Bigger... Levels 3A and 3B are also scheduled in the Appendix of Bigger..., but again, you wouldn't be doing the hands-on activities then.

I am going back and forth myself, as I read your posts, about whether you should do Beyond... or Bigger... with the older 2. It sounds like your younger of the two could hang with Bigger... just fine - I wonder if he'd hang with the next year's Preparing... as well. It'll be a jump in everything, I'm sure. So..., may I ask you if you feel able to purchase all 3 guides or not? If so, I think that would effect my advice. If you need to choose between Bigger... and Beyond..., than I'll think through it that way. Are you doing DITHOR as well? Also, are you wanting to keep your two older together the next year to do Preparing? That is something to consider too. If you could answer those few questions and share any other thoughts you've got now after processing all this, I'm sure we'll all try to get back to you and weigh in!

Keep on searching through this - you'll come to an answer that gives you peace eventually! Hope some of that helps!

[Carrie]

Mary,

You've gotten some excellent things to ponder from the ladies on this board. Luckily, where to place your children in our programs is the hard part, actually teaching from the guides is the easy part!

When choosing between "Beyond..." and "Bigger... " for your 7 and 11 year olds, you really have to weigh how much writing your 7 and 11 year old can do.

"Beyond..." has very little writing required beyond daily copywork, spelling words, and once a week grammar lessons. "Bigger... has cursive writing daily, spelling or dictation 3 times a week, daily writing within grammar lessons, once a week history and once a week science notebooking, copywork of a weekly Bible verse, 1-3 weekly vocabulary cards, and a once a week written science experiment. There is also writing required in "Drawn into the Heart...". Mind you, each of these writing assignments is kept short, yet they are still there each week.

Also, the science varies quite a bit between "Beyond...' and "Bigger...". "Beyond..." is assuming your kiddos are still working to develop their reading, writing, and math foundational skills, so science is kept to short, twice a week lessons. "Bigger..." is assuming they have their foundational skills in place for the three "R's", so it moves into daily science readings and lessons using living books.

I don't feel as if I have a good grasp of what especially your 11 year old can do, which makes it difficult to tell you which program would be best. If you wouldn't mind sharing a few details about your 11 year old's reading, writing, and math, I think we could all help you better. If you would rather not, that is understandable too!

More information always makes placement easier!

Blessings,
Carrie