Finishing Bigger Hearts For His Glory

[mcmadbrishawn]

My 9 year old son has learned so much with Bigger this year. We are on Unit 17 and will not be able to finish the book by the end of May. Bigger has several more weeks compared to some of the other guides. We do take about 2 1/2 months off in the summer. My question is: Do we pick back up with Bigger and finish it next year or skip to Preparing in August? If we pick back up with Bigger then from that point on we will only be half done with our guides going into summer break every year. On the other hand, I also don't like the thought of not finishing Bigger because I don't want him to miss any of the great activities in the guide. Has anyone else faced this? I could use any advice on which option would be better. Thank you in advance.

[my3sons]

I believe there are 15 five day weeks before Memorial Day. If you did school 5 days a week through the end of May, you'd get through Unit 32 of BHFHG. I think not finishing 2 weeks or less of a guide is alright, and there are 34 weeks in BHFHG. This is in keeping with what ps finishes within a year as well. So, this is one option.

Another option is working hard to get as far as you do this year, stopping for your break, and starting next school year where you left off, doing 5 days a week of school until you complete BHFHG. PHFHG is a 4 day a week guide, so you'd probably be able to complete the tail end of BHFHG along with PHFHG.

Still another option is finishing whatever you end up finishing of BHFHG before your break, and then finishing the rest of BHFHG next year, and then upon completion of BHFHG, starting PHFHG knowing you won't finish PHFHG next year.

I do think it is important to finish BHFHG at least through Unit 32. Hopefully one of these options will help you out as you decide what to do! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[luv2homeschool]

I used to be really caught up in the school year schedule but then I realized that I didn't have to and gave it up. Last year we were cramming it in at the end and went into June to finish up. It was stressful for all of us. It is a big relief now knowing that we don't have a deadline. For both of my kids, we will stop in May wherever they are (although we WILL finish their math books) and pick it back up again in August.

[TrueGRIT]

Last year my oldest ds finished to about unit 30 in Bigger by the end of May. Due to other circumstances we were not able to do the guides over the summer. We picked back up a week early in August and worked until unit 32 straight through. Then bits and pieces of units 33 & 34. My ds worked hard, then started Preparing the week of Labor Day. One thing I found was increased growth in skills over the summer and the ability to get more done
Hope this gives you an idea.

[Nealewill]

I am one who also used to stress about getting finished in the school year. I actually have switched to taking off only 6 weeks at summer and then doing half school for about another month and then we do full school for about 10 months out of the year. This has helped us out a lot. Also, I schedule about a week off every 4 weeks in the fall (July through November) and then schedule 3 weeks off at Christmas, 3 weeks off between January and April. We only do school 4 days a week usually. But the nice thing is that if someone get sick (like my youngest right now - we are pretty sure she has the flu), then we can do 5 days a week if we need to for a few weeks to get back on track or we will not take off for full weeks I had previously tentatively schedule. I like having a lot of flexibility in my schedule. Also, I have my kids scheduled to stagger start. So one child starts their guide beginning of May. Another child starts a guide beginning of July. And then the other child starts her guide in August or by September 1st. This way everyone has a month or so to jump into the new routine. Plus, I schedule their first 2 weeks of that guide at 1/2 speed or 3/4 speed. And finally, one thing I am doing with my oldest (she is 9) is I am letting her work ahead of she wants. The benefits are that if she works hard and gets ahead, then she can take more time off. I have tentative schedules set for how far along I want to be by certain dates. I did this so that I know to make adjustments to my schedule if I need to so that I can stay on target. Even though this doesn't really answer your question, hopefully my thoughts might help you in your thoughts about how to adjust your schedule to meet your needs.

[mcmadbrishawn]

Thanks you all for these great suggestions. I do seem to get so caught up in finishing a book during a traditional school year. I attended a public school growing up and then went to college to become a school teacher. I then decided not to teach in a traditional school, but to teach my kids at home instead. It is so hard for me to break the "rules" of a traditional public school. It was very helpful to hear that I really need to finish or at least almost finish Bigger. I know that going from Bigger to Preparing is a big jump in regards to working more independently. My son picks up on things fairly quickly, but his attention span and ability to sit still for longer periods of time still need some development. I think we will see where we are at in May and just finish up at the beginning of next year. It definitely won't hurt anything. Thanks again for your idea's and help. Many blessings as you train, teach, and mold our next generation.