Love_to_Read Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 I'm still eyeballing HOD Bigger Hearts with extensions for my 10yo. I LOVE the history book by Eggleston in the main plans. The history spine in the extension has bad reviews, though. (A Child's Story of History) Do you think I NEED to substitute a different extension spine for a 10yo, or just skip it and stick to the main one? I *think* I want to buy the Bigger Hearts guide for the activity suggestions, the Bible, art, notebooking, poetry suggestions, character trait tie-ins to literature. But I'll already be using our own math, spelling, beefing up science, substituting/adding some Sonlight readers since I already Core D Language Arts. So, it wouldn't be too much further of a stretch to add one more thing as an alternate history spine.:lol: But do you think I need to? Or will Eggleston's text be enough alonside all the novels? I'm already thinking about adding The Story of the USA workbooks as another way to practice the material and nonfiction comprehension. I was told in a different thread that they were not a history spine unto themselves, but do you think Eggleston's + Story of the USA would be enough to tie it all together, or do I really need another spine with more detail for a 5th grader? Like I said, I like the look of Eggleston's book so far...but I'm terrible at history myself to know if the details are sufficient or light. And I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the special needs forum, but....I'm hoping to spend a significant portion of our day remediating the 3 R's. Dd is smart...in the gifted range...so I think she's really going to fly given appropriate instruction. I really want to focus on that this year--get her phonics straightened out, vision therapy, remainder of her math facts memorized so that she can continue to soar regarding the concepts, typing so that her handwriting will be less of a burden. She's going to need a fair amount of content to keep her gifted brain engaged, but I don't want to spend all day on history when we have other priorities. So, if it would not be grossly cheating her to use Eggleston's as our only spine...that would free up more time for the remediation extras. Thoughts? Spine suggestions if you think we need another? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abrightmom Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 (edited) Did you read those reviews on Amazon? Consider the premise of the book, who published it, and who is reviewing it.... :D Not everybody dislikes that book....Carrie has excellent taste in literature and I think her recommendations are worth trying!! I would DEFINITELY use the extensions for a 10 year old in Bigger. A Child's Story of America is reasonably priced. If you can afford it you should give it a test run! Those Amazon reviews must always be taken with a grain of salt....:001_smile: ETA: The Eggleston readings are REALLY short in Bigger..... and I mean REALLY short. Based on what you shared about your DD I think she'll NEED the extensions....We did a test run with Bigger and my 8.5 year old. There is much to love about the program but, quite honestly, I would not find it to be near enough for a gifted 10 year old (unless I'm misunderstanding what you wrote). I would consider those Extensions a must have in your situation. We never did feel quite satisfied with the amount of history reading....though I suspect we'd adjust. It is a CM based program which utilizes shorter readings and bite size assignments! We are used to more reading in general and found adjusting to the shorter readings to be challenging. My son always wanted MORE.... Edited June 27, 2011 by abrightmom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmschooling Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 I think it's meaty without :) but even better with. I did them with my 9yo 4th grader but didn't do the assignments with them. Same for Preparing this fall. I let her read them to extend her learning but that's it. She may volunteer an oral narration and usually does, but nothing required :) actually, she often draws a picture depicting the story as well, also just for fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love_to_Read Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 Well, I do plan on adding lots of reading...it's just a question of whether I need another spine to supplement the bite-size biographies and historical fiction. :) For gifted...well, she's a complex mix of gifted with ADHD and dysgraphia...she loves to make connections, theories, hypotheses. She loves to do things, and watch things, and read stories. However, she was not blessed with that photographic memory that so many gifted students have. This year's history was mostly reading a modern textbook and answering questions aloud. She's forgotten almost all of it. (We started hs midyear, so I'm not entirely to blame!) I think I can get her to do Eggleston twice--listen to the whole chapter on Day 1 for pronunciation, then read independently on Day 2 to select vocabulary, then Days 3-5 seem to be more activities, readings from other genres, timeline, notebooking, etc. I *think* that kind of repetition--making connections between activities and texts--will cement it in her brain. Asking her to read the exact same info a third or fourth time (by reading another spine after twice through Eggleston) might cross the line into boredom...it depends on whether there are enough new details to feel like it's worthwhile. If his text only sets the stage, though, and omits much....then maybe need might need more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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