Books needed for first 2 months of Preparing and a question.

[Lynnw]

I really need to continue praying about this, but here it is. We are finishing our third week of Beyond with a 1st and k-er. My oldest ds, 4th grade, does the left side with us and story time, but he has other "right side assignments" and additional reading/writing assignments on his own. I hope to start him in Creation to Christ in the fall. He has a great love and understanding of history (so he does not necessarily need an entire year of overview before starting ancients), but I think he could benefit from doing even part of "Preparing" now - to help him develop skills needed to go into CtC, and to get him used to the structure, pace, workload of HOD.

So, I'm seeking any thoughts about possibly doing only part of Preparing, (or possibly finishing just the left side over the summer). Also, funds are pretty tight right now. I have an old copy of CHOW and I do have Life in the Great Ice Age. I might be able to get away with just getting the guide, Grandpa's Box, and OSS:Arctic. What other books do I need the first month or two? (I know there's a post somewhere about that, but I couldn't find it when I searched).

Thanks so much! I love the encouragement and the godly hearts of the women on this board!
Lynn

[MainelyJen]

Lynn, I just started Preparing, and I created a spreadsheet for myself of what I would need for the first 12 weeks of lessons. As a single parent homeschooler, I simply can't afford all the books and must resort to inter-library loan - that was my motivation for organizing this list! The only resource not listed is the Draw through History book, because that is needed on a constant basis. An "E" on the chart indicates the book is from the extension package.

I tried to attach it to this message as either a pdf document or a rich text document, but the board here won't let me attach either. Instead, I quickly uploaded it to my blog and you can access it here:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JennyMaine

[my3sons]

Lynn, I just started Preparing, and I created a spreadsheet for myself of what I would need for the first 12 weeks of lessons. As a single parent homeschooler, I simply can't afford all the books and must resort to inter-library loan - that was my motivation for organizing this list! The only resource not listed is the Draw through History book, because that is needed on a constant basis. An "E" on the chart indicates the book is from the extension package.

I tried to attach it to this message as either a pdf document or a rich text document, but the board here won't let me attach either. Instead, I quickly uploaded it to my blog and you can access it here:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JennyMaine

Is it strange to call a chart beautiful?!? The organizer in me loves the chart you made!!! Thanks for sharing it.
Julie

[my3sons]

I really need to continue praying about this, but here it is. We are finishing our third week of Beyond with a 1st and k-er. My oldest ds, 4th grade, does the left side with us and story time, but he has other "right side assignments" and additional reading/writing assignments on his own. I hope to start him in Creation to Christ in the fall. He has a great love and understanding of history (so he does not necessarily need an entire year of overview before starting ancients), but I think he could benefit from doing even part of "Preparing" now - to help him develop skills needed to go into CtC, and to get him used to the structure, pace, workload of HOD.

So, I'm seeking any thoughts about possibly doing only part of Preparing, (or possibly finishing just the left side over the summer). Also, funds are pretty tight right now. I have an old copy of CHOW and I do have Life in the Great Ice Age. I might be able to get away with just getting the guide, Grandpa's Box, and OSS:Arctic. What other books do I need the first month or two? (I know there's a post somewhere about that, but I couldn't find it when I searched).

Thanks so much! I love the encouragement and the godly hearts of the women on this board!
Lynn

Lynn - I do think it would be very helpful to do the left side of PHFHG in preparation for CtC. I'm trying to think through how though. How long is his day now; how much time could he devote to this? Would you still have him do the left side of Beyond? Do you have some time to get him started on this - or would he need to be pretty independent - is he pretty independent? I am thinking that after 3-4 weeks of you helping him get used to the left side of PHFHG, much of it could probably be done independently by him. I can see these benefits to doing the left side of PHFHG prior to CtC:
*he'd have an overview of history, giving him mental pegs to hang future learning on and helping him see God's hand in it all
*he'd have detailed instruction for doing written narrations
*he'd learn how to do the vocabulary cards
*he'd have oral narration practice
*he'd practice research on the Internet or in an encyclopedia
*he'd learn to use the manual and check off as he went
*he'd learn the format of the history projects
*he'd learn how the notebooking goes

If he'd done Bigger Hearts (for the rest of you reading this ), I don't think he'd need this, and he still might not need this - but it's a good thing to ponder, Lynn, because it could make CtC a much easier start for him. What do you think?
In Christ,
Julie

[Lynnw]

Jen, thanks so much for the chart - what a great help!

Julie, thanks for thinking through some of this with me. I'm not sure if he would continue to sit in on the left side of Beyond or not - he generally wants to be in on anything history related whether it's his assignment or not. I agree with the points you listed - Preparing would be good prep for him. I need to continue to pray about how adding it would effect our day overall. The left side of Beyond has become our "together time" in the morning and part of me would like to leave well enough alone. I'll continue to pray about this.

My other thought is if I don't do any of PHFHG ahead of time, we could still begin CTC in the fall, but go at half pace for awhile. (Even then, I'll need to adjust to having more than one package going ).

Thanks!
Lynn

[my3sons]

Lynn - If you are enjoying doing Beyond all together, and your ds is enjoying that - I think you should keep that going. If your ds already has a passion for history, and is doing additional LA and Math, he's getting a balanced day right now - so that's great! I'm thinking that if your purpose for doing some of PHFHG would be to train him for CtC and as a quick overview of history, you could just do the left side of the plans and possibly the independent science on the right side. Here's a hierarchy going through my mind that may or may not be helpful. #1 would be most helpful in reaching your goals, and then if there is time and funds available #2 could be added on, then #3, then #4 - hope that makes sense:
1. He could do the Reading about History box - Grandpa's Box, CHOW, Life in the Great Ice Age, and Hero Tales - on his own, along with all of the boxes on the left side of the plans except the History Project, History Notebooking, and Storytime.. Your purpose would be to teach him to use the manual and to work on the skills in the boxes with him (the geography, timeline, vocabulary cards, research, written narrations could all be done with this and would be excellent skills for him to have going into CtC). You would not have to do Storytime because he's already doing that with Beyond - and because the purpose is different here - a quick overview and a teaching of skills to prepare for CtC.
2. If he has time, he could do the history projects. They are wonderful, and it would teach him how to follow directions to do this, which will also be done in CtC.
3. If he has time and you have funds, the Independent History box would be good to do. It will enrich the history and teach him how to do notebooking plus Draw and Write through History, which will also be done in CtC.
4. If he has time and you have the funds, the independent Science box would be next in line. It would teach him to follow directions for science assignments, experiments, and notebooking.

I think these are the things that would best meet your goals. The other parts of PHFHG are great too, but you are covering LA, math, and writing in other ways and there is no need for overkill. You are already doing the best thing for making this decision, Lynn, and that is praying. I know God will help you come to a good decision here - He is our best resource and the supreme Voice of wisdom. I would take care not to overload ds though - especially timewise. Even just doing #1 above would meet your goals for him quite well. Otherwise, it sounds like he's doing well, and you could always start CtC half-speed too. Hope this helped somehow, and I've also prayed for you.

In Christ,
Julie

[Lynnw]

Julie,
What a wealth of wisdom you are! Thank you so much for thinking through and answering me with such a logical progression of how to approach my question. I'll print it out as I continue to pray. My flesh is feeling like it's time to "wind down" the school year rather than start something else new. So, I'm inclined to let us truck along enjoying Beyond. But, 3 months or so is still plenty of time for my ds to get enthused about PHFHG. So, I'll keep praying a bit longer about this.

Thanks for helping me see so many great options and especially for praying for me. I'm so thankful that I found HOD!

Lynn