Beyond is, I think, intentionally light on content. It is more for building skills so it schedules spelling, copywork, beginning grammar, math activities, and emerging readers. Bigger was much better for us. It was the smoothest year we've had. The only complaint I have heard is that some people do not like the history spines in Bigger. We loved them. Bigger had more of a Charlotte Mason feel with the hymn study (we loved that) and the nature study.

I think this is a personal choice. Neither is wrong. I liked Guerber better because I like the writing style better. It just clicked for me. I could have read Mills as well. When we get there I will give dd her choice.

I don't think it would work for Catholic prespective. The pilgrim book in particular. If you are using it as a reading schedule, you should know the lit is not scheduled for you only the history. The crafts were not bad. We liked the geography and math activities. We did our own science, as well. But really, you could just read the history and lit you wanted without the guide.

8 weeks Summer Reading Program 1 week VBS 2 weeks Spanish Camp 2 weeks swim lessons 1 week Olympics theme day camp 1 week family trip IF all of these do not happen overlap too much. They didn't last year, but the dates aren't out for all of them. I almost hope we can't do all of it. But, she remembers from last year. And, we only pay for the swim lessons not the other camps.

Thanks for the replies. She looked at Preparing. I think we'll go with that. If we get bogged down halfway through like we have other years I have a few unit studies we can do for a change and then go back and finish. or maybe supplement a little. Monotony gets me half way through no matter what we do. I need to give myself permission to change occasionally. I am thinking we will do something else for ancients and then back for RTR. As long as the writing component is strong, I think that would work. Thoughts?

Background: K- Little Hearts 1st-Beyond. We supplemented heavily. 2nd- Bigger. We flew through. I wish I had done it for first. We are now doing Prarie Primer. It has been fun, but I want something more. I have and plan to use A World of Adventure. But, dd saw the HOD catalog and wants to do RTR. She loves the journal pages. If we do it, it would be next year for fourth grade. The guide says fifth or sixth. I have seen people using it for high school! Preparing doesn't have the notebooking pages. CTC would be ancients again. Would she be too young for the content? The amount of physical writing? I'm tempted to get it just to see. It is just too expensive a buy for a maybe I will or maybe I won't. What age have you or would you do RTR?

We did Little Hearts in K, Beyond heavily supplemented for first, finished Bigger early in second and went on to a unit study, the Prairie Primer, and I plan to do at least one more long unit study before we get back to HOD. I just got bored with doing the same and needed a change. We started Little Hearts the day dd turned five and probably could have started sooner.

I use a sketchbook. I like the thicker paper. I divide it into however many boxes I like. Right now, I do 8 boxes. One box is a booklist for the week, one for the date and memory verse, one for little brother's "school", and five subject boxes for big sister. I plan each subject by the week using multiple resources. You could also have M-F. This looks much cleaner than any planner I've tried and has everything on one page.

American History Stories by Mara Pratt Indian Child Life by Eastman Fifty Famous Stories We liked those this year. Have you checked out Synge's histories? Guerber? Hawthorne's True Stories? Famous Men of ... By Haaren? Look at Ambleside Online for more authors and titles. With Librivox it really depends on the reader. An okay book with a good reader is better than a good book with a horrible reader.

The Littles

We also did not finish. We started when she turned six and by the end of the first semester it was going too slow for us. We flew through the second half in a couple of weeks. We did our own thing until she turned 7. Bigger was a great fit for that year, but again we flew through the second half. I've never heard anyone else say that, so we must be weird. Dd makes huge leaps in ability all at once. I am trying unit studies for now to accomodate this.

I'm tempted. But, we are already doing too much. I would have to throw too much out to make room for it. She would love them, though. I used to make what I called a "morning book". I used colored pencils and a composition notebook to make pages very similar to some of these. We are not morning people, so this was a gentle start to our day. It would be great to have this premade.

My Ker is finishing 100EZ and doing well. I want to cover phonics more thoroughly. I have SSRW and PP(and lots of others but I've limited it to these). PP: Pros- He would like the "just read the page and be done" It looks very thorough. No writing required. Con- It looks boring for me. SSRW: Pros- Not so boring for me. We like games and singing. Comes with readers. Con- Too much writing. Is it possbile just to read through the word lists in SSRW, sing the songs, play the games, and read the readers? Would the word lists be enough without writing? Or could I use PP and incorporate the "fun stuff" from SSRW. It wouldn't really fit together as well, but does it matter? WWYD?

Thanks for the replies. The only thing he is into now is transformers and robots. I can't think of any great literature for that. Last year I would have done trains or transportation, but he is 4.5 now and considers that too baby. Soooo... Charlotte's Web - farm theme Winnie the Pooh - bears Beatrix Potter - rabbits/garden Why is everything animal themed? We are purposely not doing anything history. We do plenty of that with sister. He is not into fairy tales. Argh. What am I missing?

I will have a month where my bigger is going to be gone during the day. I will only have my little. I know what we will do for phonics, hw, etc., but I want to read aloud more. I think it will be special because it is just for him. Would you read a book like Winnie the Pooh or Thornton Burgess and make it an animal study? Add more books about bears, do a bear craft, sing, etc. Or would you just read what you are in the mood for or find at the library or off a list of "good books"? This shouldn't be a hard decision, but I don't usually have just him. He sits in on what sister does most of the time. I tend to overplan so I am tempted to leave it random. But, I think he might get more out of it if I coordinate things. ??

I am looking for a math book that is like Teach Your Child to Read in 100 EZ Lessons. I want something scripted or at least all contained in the book with no writing required for the child. Minimal manipulatives needed. Does this exist? My kindergartener wants math but everything I have either requires too much writing or is too "fiddly" with manipulatives. I want something we can talk through or illustrate on the fly without hauling out a bunch of stuff. I have thought of scripting for him for now. What curric would work without him actually writing?

The Anlauttabelle is drilled pictures and letter sounds every day. Then syllables ma,me,mi,mo,mu. The syllabus are combined to read the words. Spanish reading is also taught this way.

Thank you for responding. I worried I had come off as rude. The co-op organizer has told me I can tell them not to come back. I can't do that until I at least try to make it work. I am insisting the mother be present. I cannot make her child stay in the room or prevent him from hurting himself. Hopefully, she can. She seems to expect me to deal with it. I worry that my methods are over-stimulating. But, that is what my class is. I use homemade games and manipulatives to work on phonics sounds. We do group activities. We sing. Right now, all my materials are being crumpled, thrown, and drooled on. What can I use to teach that is appropriate?

My co-op class this semester has 3 special needs children in it as well as a very young four year old. I wasn't expecting this and honestly don't know how to deal. I teach early reading skills through games, songs, and manipulaives. We cover left-right progression, phonics sounds, and blending. How do I make this work with two diagnosed autistic children? I have no idea how to deal with the emotional and behavioral problems. I'm not talking about sensory issues, necessarily. My kids have plenty of those. How do you deal with anger? Whining? I don't know if I am being too blunt , but I am out of my depth. I love to teach. I want to do this well. I don't want to just endure this semester. Ideas? Help?

I am looking at these. If you go to the publisher's site you can see a bigger sample. http://www.amazon.de/lerne-Deutsch-Band-Sprachförderung-Anfangsunterricht/dp/3867405859/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453239463&sr=8-1&keywords=Ich+lerne+deutsch They are available at book depository. If you search on amazon deutschland you will find many resources for Deutsch als Zweitsprache and Deutsch als Fremdsprache Grundschule.

I would like to use things we would copy anyway. I am looking to save time or at least to juggle less subjects. I'll try alternating. Thanks for the idea.

I would like to switch to copywork for cursive. I love Pentime, but I think if we practice cursive for things we are doing anyway it will save time and effort. Will we miss something this way?

Thank you. I showed your post to my husband. It helped us talk things through. We are trying to look at long-range plans. I have decided not to do HOD for high school. Ha ha. I have many years until high school though.I am thinking about taking off a couple of months and doing my own thing with resources I can borrow from the library and friends or raiding our own bookshelf. I tried this last year and came back to HOD but dd is more independent now. This may work. I think I tried to do too many teacher-dependent things. If not, we will purchase Preparing and keep going.

I have thought of moving her up to Preparing.She fits there on the chart. But most people use Preparing for 9-12 yos. My dd is 7. We are enjoying Bigger this year. It just doesn't feel "comfortable." I can't quite put my finger on it. I rearrange things more than I skip. We may do an art project or notebooking with foreign language instead of history. We do our church's Bible lessons and memory work. We practice cursive writing out hymns or Bible verses. I like the framework, but I often change the emphasis.

I am trying to talk myself out of it, but I keep coming back to it. We have done LHFHG,BLHFHG, and now Bigger. We will move to Preparing in the spring. What I love about it: The pacing- I struggle with how much is enough and how much is too much. With a plan in place I trade things out and still have a good pace. The book choices- I have so far loved them. Many were already on my list. What I don't love but have so far worked around: The assignments- We do some of the notebooking, none of the activities, none of the Bible, and very little of the art. I do get ideas and adapt them. I tweak. I rearrange assignments to other books or subjects. We do it at the lowest age range. I add foreign language, piano, and book basket. If I wrote my own program it would look a great deal like HOD, but without the "fluff". Would I actually be better off? I find it easier to change someone else's plan than to write my own. I also don't follow my own plans very well. It's like I can't take them seriously. I think I am going to do Preparing and then re-evaluate. Does anyone else struggle with this?