Not Sure What To Do

[glperky]

I have one son that is in his 3rd week of Beyond and we are loving it. I also have a DS who will be 6 in Nov. We neither one care for what we are using for him so we need to change. On the placement chart he falls in LHFHG in reading and writing but in Beyond on everything else. While I am doing Beyond with his older brother, the younger one answers almost all the questions from the other room. I can hear him even doing the narrations. He learns the same Bible verses as the older and joins in on the science experiments. He is not reading at all. He is just now showing interest in it and is just starting phonics. He also has some fine motor issues, so struggles a little with handwriting. So, where do I place him? And just in case some of you are wondering, yes, I have asked for placement help with this child before. He is a little hard for me to figure out and so I am having a hard time knowing what to do. He kind of seems to be on several different levels of learning. Thanks for the help.

[countrymom]

It sounds like you could probably tag him along with brother this year in Beyond, doing phonics instead of the emerging readers with continued work on handwriting, BUT I would be worried about next year. We just finished Bigger last spring and I think a child that is still learning to read and struggling to write would have a hard time. To get the best out of the guides you would be faced with making an adjustment next year and it would be easier to just put him in LHFHG this year. You could do whatever level of math he is ready, but this would give you the year to work on phonics and writing. His young age is another reason I would do Little Hearts. He would be barely 7 when entering Bigger and for a lot of children that is young.

[MomtoJGJE]

I think since he is just 5, and since he has FMS issues and can't read yet I'd put him in LHFHG instead of combining. I had/have two in back to back guides like that. I did LHFHG half speed four days a week for a while, even though she was capable of full speed just to get them spread out a bit more. Then I continued going four days a week until the last 4-6 units. The only reason I started five days then was because she started "1st grade" so I wanted it bumped up. I had intended on doing Beyond half speed for a while, but she had grown/matured so much that I just couldn't. But it's still not bad having them in the back to back guides like that.

But maybe you could keep doing what you are doing, do unit studies or whatever, and then start LHFHG after Christmas? That would let you get farther along in the Beyond guide, and if you do it 4 days per week or half speed then that would spread them out even more. It's really nice to have stagger starts to the guides.

[glperky]

LHFHG was kinda what I was thinking. Thanks for the input.

[MelInKansas]

I let my 2nd "tag along" in LHFHG and Beyond with her older sister. Now, she is 2 guides behind her sister (1.75 guides actually because I started her in LHFHG before my oldest was done with Beyond). We enjoyed the "tag along" but it didn't really count. She is going through them again.

You know your child best. If he was "tagging along" with brother would he then not like going back and doing something else? While LHFHG does have shorter and lower level vocab in the readings, the readings are rich and he will gain more from them than a younger child doing LHFHG. And as another person said, you would not want him getting into Bigger right at 7 and with just a little bit of handwriting under his belt. There is a lot of writing to do in Bigger. I helped my oldest with the writing quite a lot at the beginning and while she has now grown into doing most of it herself, I am a little nervous that Preparing will be difficult too.

You could do tag along and start him with reading and writing practice until January and then start LHFHG and let him go at it full speed ahead. Or start LHFHG now if that's what you really want to do.