Beyond with a 3rd Grader

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DHT1999
Posts: 274
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:00 pm
Location: Alabama

Beyond with a 3rd Grader

Post by DHT1999 » Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:00 pm

Hello! I am wondering if any of you who have used Beyond with a mature 3rd grader could share with me how it went.

My youngest son is using Little Hearts this year for 2nd grade. He uses the History, Bible, Storytime and whatever rotates through the Activity/Science/Dramatic Play box. He grew out of the science about half way through the guide and we haven't been doing that. He is almost done with the Emerging Readers set. He is beginning to love to read and reads lots of other books, including some beginning chapter books. He has started cursive and is using the Italics book that comes right before the one scheduled in Bigger Hearts. He doesn't use Singapore as MathUSee is a really good fit for him. He has loved Little Hearts this year. He especially loves the Dramatic Play and the Thornton Burgess books. In addition to these things, he has enjoyed learning how to do lapbooking (we did one on Petter Rabbit and now he is hooked and wants to do more) and he sits in on all of the reading that I do for Preparing and he has done some of the activities in Preparing with his bigger brother. He has almost completed Writing With Ease 1 (for the copywork since he is beyond the LA in Little Hearts), Rod & Staff Spelling 2 (he's a good speller) and has a basic grasp of beginning grammar... proper and common nouns, verbs, capitilization and ending punctuation.

I think he would place into Bigger Hearts pretty well. My concern with that placement is that 1) he loves to play and really enjoys the way that play is incorporated in Little Hearts - I think Beyond would have more of this than Bigger Hearts 2) he is not confident with his drawing and it looks like Bigger Hearts has a good bit of that with the notebooking and 3) I would just hate for him to miss out on Beyond's storytime lessons and he is begging to reading Pioneers and Patriots. We started that book but I dropped it after a few chapters just in case I decided to do Beyond rather than Bigger Hearts. He told me he really loves that book and wants to read all of it.

My concern with not bumping him up to Bigger Hearts is that 1) he is asking for more science 2) I am afraid I may not feel content to teach Beyond as it is, feeling some pressure to add to it since he is "old" for the guide. If I do that, I think I'd end up frustrated. I have LOVED the simplicity of using just HOD this year. It's the first school year we've ever had when I was perfectly content to use a program pretty much as is and 3) I think one reason that Little Hearts has felt like enough for him this year is because he has sat in on so much with Preparing and has learned alot through that program.

I have consulted with Carrie. She was leaning towards recommending that we continue on and not skip Beyond, adjusting for LA and adding a little content for science. I think part of her thinking was that he has enjoyed Little Hearts so much this year that he will enjoy the lighter history and more playful feeling of Beyond. I am leaning towards agreeing with her thoughts. I would like for him to have two years of American History.

I just thought I'd run this past some of you. I'd love to know what you think about Beyond with an older. My big fear is that he will grow out of Beyond too quickly.
2011-2012: Creation to Christ & Bigger Hearts

"He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children." - Psalm 113:9

Mom2Monkeys
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Re: Beyond with a 3rd Grader

Post by Mom2Monkeys » Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:27 pm

I would do just what Carrie said! It's just what I was thinking. Remember too, that Bigger will have extensions for him if you felt the need. My rising 4th grader will be doing Bigger. She's ver much like your son. Had I actually done it with her from the beginning of 3r like I'd intended, it would have ben too much! It's a perfect fit! Beyond is great...I think you'll both enjoy it so much!! :D
~~Tamara~~
Enjoying HOD since 2008

DD15 long-time HODie finding her own new path
DS12 PHFHG {dysgraphia, APD, SID}
DS9 PHFHG
DS6 LHFHG
DD new nursling

water2wine
Posts: 2743
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Location: GA

Re: Beyond with a 3rd Grader

Post by water2wine » Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:44 pm

I can say we have been on the other end. :D I have done Bigger with a 4th grader and am finishing up Preparing with a 5th grader (actually with three 5th graders). It goes really well on that end. So on the other end I can assure you that the future programs will be fine for those ages. We have been doing Beyond this year with my younger children. I will tell you that the jump from LHFHG to Bigger is a big jump to me. I would tend to go the way Carrie said as well. There is plenty there with Beyond. You could do the higher science and add to it if that is a concern. If you need more subject matter I might just read through a story Bible as well. I really lean toward going to the lower program and adding if need be rather than going to a higher level if there is any question. It is just hard to go down and Bigger is a lot more than LHFHG. In the end you know best but I think that would be my choice. :D
All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13
~Six lovies from God~4 by blessing of adoption
-MTMM (HS), Rev to Rev, CTC, DITHR
We LOVED LHFHG/Beyond/Bigger/Preparing/CTC/RTR/Rev to Rev (HS)

Allison TX
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2008 5:36 pm

Re: Beyond with a 3rd Grader

Post by Allison TX » Sat Jun 05, 2010 9:23 pm

There is so much to Beyond that I think you will be fine. :) If you really feel the need to up the science, you could add in a CLP Nature Reader for your son to read on his own. Did he enjoy the one scheduled in the Emerging Reader set? If so, that would be a very easy, inexpensive, and not time consuming solution. :)

Allison

FiveLittlePeaches
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Re: Beyond with a 3rd Grader

Post by FiveLittlePeaches » Sun Jun 06, 2010 4:34 am

I dealt with that same question last fall. My children loved LHFHG, but I thought my oldest needed more of a challenge. Long story short, I had my oldest skip Beyond and putting her in Bigger. The results were mixed. She could do the majority of the work, but it seemed like all the "fun" and "love for learning" that she experienced in Little Hearts had disappeared.

I recently recombined my children in Beyond and we are back on track now, loving school. I wouldn't skip Beyond -- add DITHOR and/or supplement the science, but please don't skip a manuel. Your child will enjoy learning skills in Beyond that will help prepare them to be successful in Bigger.



Hope that helps.

Joy

FiveLittlePeaches
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Re: Beyond with a 3rd Grader

Post by FiveLittlePeaches » Sun Jun 06, 2010 4:34 am

oops. Double post.

DHT1999
Posts: 274
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:00 pm
Location: Alabama

Re: Beyond with a 3rd Grader

Post by DHT1999 » Sun Jun 06, 2010 1:03 pm

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate you taking the time to give me some feedback.

I have spent some time over the last couple of days really looking at everything and praying about it. I noticed that I have almost every title from ALL of the genres for Storytime already! And, I think every genre except humor listed atleast one option that falls under the "American History" theme. I knew there were alot but I didn't realize how many.

I've decided to do Beyond but he'll continue with Rod & Staff Spelling (3) and he'll go ahead and start Rod & Staff English 2. We actually had started it a few months ago and he really liked it but I ended up dropping it, preferring to wait until next year. For science, I already have all of the CLP nature readers and the One Small Square books. I have set aside the ones that will go with Bigger Hearts and Preparing but he can read the others just for free reading. He will start DITHOR. Well, he has sort of started that already. He did one genre this spring and he enjoyed it. He will also be doing his own Greek workbook. He's been riding along for that with big brother but now he will have his own. I think he will be well covered for LA and Science. We are going to add Patriot songs and some coloring sheets for American geography.

I'm feeling good about this now. I have enjoyed doing Preparing with the Extensions this year. This plan will set my youngest son up for being able to use the Extension packages once we get to Bigger Hearts.

Thanks again! :D
2011-2012: Creation to Christ & Bigger Hearts

"He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children." - Psalm 113:9

Carrie
Site Admin
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Re: Beyond with a 3rd Grader

Post by Carrie » Thu Jun 10, 2010 10:47 am

Donna,

I'm so glad that you asked the wise ladies on the board about this and that they were able to share from their personal experiences and similar situations! It really helps to have multiple opinions as you're pondering through the process! :D

I am so thankful for the board and the wonderful ladies, including you, who take time out of their busy schedules to help, ponder, guide, and talk through options with one another. It helps so much to have that dialogue as it often reveals more clearly to us what we're thinking! :D

Blessings,
Carrie

DHT1999
Posts: 274
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:00 pm
Location: Alabama

Re: Beyond with a 3rd Grader

Post by DHT1999 » Thu Jun 10, 2010 4:29 pm

Carrie, thank you! I am really struggling with this decision. I am praying about it alot. I just keep feeling like I'll need to add to Beyond to such an extent that I won't enjoy the simplicity that using HOD has provided me. He has loved Little Hearts but he has also really enjoyed the readings from Preparing. He's also doing really well with his copywork and spelling and his reading has totally "taken off".

I'm just going to keep praying!
2011-2012: Creation to Christ & Bigger Hearts

"He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children." - Psalm 113:9

kvmck
Posts: 92
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2009 9:26 pm

Re: Beyond with a 3rd Grader

Post by kvmck » Thu Jun 10, 2010 11:21 pm

I just recently finished up Beyond with my 2nd and 3rd grade children. It was absolutely perfect for my 2nd grader and very close to perfect for my 3rd grader. We actually started out with Bigger but both of my kiddos found it too challenging due to all the handwriting---vocabulary, notebooking, science experiments, etc.. (not all in one day, but handwriting was our weakest subject). I added in some extra science for them (we like science a lot) as well as some extra Bible and missionary story reading. We kept on grade level with language arts and math also. We only started DITHOR a few months ago with my oldest. My 3rd grader loves history--he goes to the library and picks out 10 books about a certain event in history and reads them plus he watches a lot of documentaries with his history loving dad (A few months ago he got me into a detailed discussion about the causes of WWI)-- And yet, he was all ears as I read the history stories out loud and completely loved them. Both of my kids would literally beg me to read more of the history stories every day. We had time to go deeper into some of the history stories when we wanted, but didn't do this all the time. Beyond was our first experience with HOD and we LOVE it.
We started Bigger (half speed) a month or two ago and my kids are enjoying it very much. I can see now that for us I made the right choice in putting my 3rd grader in Beyond because now in Bigger I can easily add the extension package if I need to plus I feel like my kids are more free to learn since they aren't so concerned about the work load, they just take it in stride now.
I know God will lead you in the direction that is best for you. I like to hear about the experiences of other families so I just wanted to share ours :D
Kristen

ds '00 PHFHG, Latin for Children
dd '02 BHFHG, Latin for Children
dd '07 LHTH

DHT1999
Posts: 274
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:00 pm
Location: Alabama

Re: Beyond with a 3rd Grader

Post by DHT1999 » Fri Jun 11, 2010 6:59 am

Thank you, Kristen! That is so helpful to me. The handwriting/notebooking is one of my concerns in regards to putting him in Biggers. I also think that the history in Beyond would help him to better understand the history in Bigger Hearts. I'm probably not expressing that very well. It seems like a child would need those two years to get a fuller view of American History. But, the readings seem so light. I think he is ready for more info. But, I have to consider the storytime readings. There is alot of history in many of those titles. Hmmm...

Thanks again!
I'm so glad you have enjoyed HOD.
This was our first year and we have loved it.
2011-2012: Creation to Christ & Bigger Hearts

"He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children." - Psalm 113:9

funkmomma71
Posts: 373
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Location: Las Vegas, NV

Re: Beyond with a 3rd Grader

Post by funkmomma71 » Sat Jun 12, 2010 9:31 pm

It seems as if you have made up your mind to do Beyond, and I think that is great! It is so easy to add in extra readings to the history if that is one of your concerns, we did that by simply going to the library and picking out interesting fact books with lots of pictures and also borrowing some hands on history books. My daughter LOVED history!!! She also loved doing science, which we beefed up by going through the book(GWW) as it is written and doing the science activities in Beyond. She also did a science notebook, the other advantage to doing the science book as written was that we could easily add in more library books.

The two biggest reasons I beefed-up these things were 1) she was always begging for more, so why not have her do more reading on her own(she LOVES to read) and 2) she wanted more science, daily was perfect for her. Beyond is terrific as written, BUT it is also easy to add in extra stuff if you feel like it, which we did. I will add, that by the end of the year and as spring was blooming we let a lot of extra stuff go, who wants to be inside on a beautiful day?? We LOVE HOD and Beyond! I hope you and your dc will, too.
Nancy
Mommy and teacher to
Dd 12 and DS 8
Doing MTMM & Preparing 2016-2017

momofgreatones
Posts: 120
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Re: Beyond with a 3rd Grader

Post by momofgreatones » Sat Jun 12, 2010 9:56 pm

I am using Bigger with extensions for my 10 almost 11 year old dd right now, and it is plenty! The extensions really do change the program and bump it up a pretty big notch. I just gave my dd the book Exploring Planet Earth, her eyes got wide, and she said, "this looks like a book smart people read." And it is! But also right at her level and she is enjoying it and feeling smart. 8) So I think Bigger will be plenty challenging for your little guy when he gets there.

I wish we hadn't had to skip Beyond - but we didn't know about HOD last year. :( So if you have the opportunity to do Beyond with him before Bigger, I wouldn't miss it!
Monique

dd 18 graduated!
dd 16 studying for CLEPs
dd 14 Studying for CLEPs
ds 12 CTC with extensions
ds 10 Bigger Hearts
dd 8 Bigger Hearts
dd 4 Little Hands to Heaven
dd 2 Little Hands to Heaven

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