Thinking of simplifying and combining

[Snorris2]

Hi all! I would like some advice from other moms. My girls are 22 months apart. My oldest is 6 1/2. She is almost done with Little Hearts. We have kind of had to take a break due to me working from home some. My youngest will be 5 in a month and a half. Would it be crazy to start back at the beginning of Little Hearts and do it with both of them. My oldest still has issues with listening comprehension, so I am betting she doesn't remember a ton of it. Of course, I would use 1st grade options with her. We already do the 3 R's on her level. That is one reason I love HOD.

Here's some info aout them. My oldest is close to the end of the ER's. She is reading the nature reader right now. Her handwriting could still use some work. She seems to be a natural with spelling. We are doing simple dictations with AAS. We will likely use AAR 3 with her since they introduce literary terms. She grew a lot with Little Hearts this past year, so I know it works.

My youngest is going through MFW K. she is able to sound out CVC words. Her motor skills are almost on par with her older sister. Her listening comprehension is actually better than her sister. She has been ale to narrate about the Burgess books better than her sister. She also does K handwriting and is done with Singapore K A and is using MUS Primer as well. She loves workbooks and school work.

Any suggestions? Combine or keep separate?

[Rice]

I'm no expert, with this being our first year using HOD but one thought that crosses my mind is that there are plenty of other Burgess books to choose from. You could just use different ones this time around, especially since it sounds like your younger one has been listening in this go-around.

[Nealewill]

I really think it is up to you. I find that I am running 3 levels and I work from home and we do a ton of stuff and I get it done I spend about 4-5 hours per day teaching and that is all. It does sound like a lot and some days it is. But all in all, I find it very doable. I might just look at moving your kids to doing school 4 days a week instead of 5 and extend the levels a little if you wanted too. I only say this because I think if you are thinking about combining only because your kids are close in age, I personally wouldn't. I would combine only if the kids are close in abilities. That is just me though. Several moms on here do combine though and have no problems with it. From the sounds of it, your oldest is doing very well with reading and will probably take off with it in the next year or two. I think by the time you get to Bigger, your oldest will be able to do a lot on her own and by the time you get to Preparing, your oldest would be doing the majority of her day on her own. So you will really only have about 3 hours of teaching per day max even with running 2 levels.

[Snorris2]

Well, her reading has already taken off. She can read just about anything. The places she struggles with are fine motor and listening comprehension. We honestly didn't read much of the Burgess books this year because she didn't get them at all for quite some time. She is finally able to understand them though.

I'm trying to find a solution. We already only school 4 days a week. We attend co-op on Tuesdays. Our week is super full right now. I work from 7-12 everyday except Tuesday. On Tuesdays, I work from 3-5. I'm just not sure what to cut at this point. After I work, we have to eat lunch and then finally get started on school. I seriously feel pulled. I still have to clean the house too. There just aren't enough hours. I'm not sure how long I will be working at this point. I possibly won't work past November, but if we need the money I will continue after.

[MelInKansas]

Does the younger one place solidly in LHFHG? You say listening comprehension is strong, but is she ready for learning to read, writing, and math? Also how do you think they will do/feel about being together? I would say just repeat the Burgess books in the guide if you do combine them, kids that young don't remember something that well that they heard a year ago.

If you feel the younger one places solidly there and the older one would still be challenged with the core of it (obviously reading, writing, and math at her level). If so, sure, combine them. I know my kids always enjoyed doing the activities together, and it sounds like with your current schedule you'll be able to complete the program better if you are doing it with both of them. Prayers that you find the right fit and the time and energy to get it all done! I do not do well with schooling in the afternoon, but I have never had to do it consistently. Maybe an active break in the middle would make it go more smoothly?

[Nealewill]

Snorris

I am praying for you You sound stressed. I know how you are feeling. Can you husband help with anything? Just curious. I know with my husband, I used to have him listen to the kids read out loud in the evening. At one point all 3 of mine were still learning how to read and reading out loud a lot and I was overwhelmed Also, we have moved to cleaning on the weekends mainly. This way, everyone (hubby included) helps. It only takes a couple of hours and that makes it doable. Plus, I make the kids clean up twice a day - before lunch and before bed. Maybe your kids could clean up starting at 11:30? And then if you set another time, they could clean up again. If it were me, I would also move to making the lunches to the night before so you can just warm something up quickly or get something out that is already prepared. And for breakfast - we mainly eat things that my kids can get themselves. My kids are a little bit older. Sometimes I make muffins or loaves of bread (banana bread or zucchini bread) the night before. I just leave it out over night and it is ready to go the next day. Sometimes I make an egg casserole and I cook that in a crock pot on low for 8 hours overnight. My kids can get that on their own as well. If they want eggs, I can only make those if I am not working. But my kids usually eat eggs at lunch - in a tortilla or on bagel. We also keep lots of yogurt and bagels on hand here too - my kids love that. And fruit, dried fruit and nuts. Easy healthy snacks the kids get alone. And as for my work schedule - it flexes some but I mainly work from 6AM - 10AM most days and then for a couple of hours in either the afternoon or evening as well . I work about 6 hours a day but have a hard time setting a schedule because I get a lot phone calls throughout the day and that makes it hard to get stuff done all at once. And I am not sure how long you have worked from home but I have been doing it since my 2nd child. So after 8 years, I finally feel like I am in a groove that works for us

As for together or not for you kids, if you oldest is a great reader (sounds like she is) she would be a great candidate to complete the extensions as she gets older. However, you may also find that as she gets older, the gap between her and your younger child gets bigger too. Kids are all so different! I could never school my oldest and middle child together because my oldest would leave my son in the dust in learning. Because all of my kids are so close in age, I actually tried schooling them all together at one point and it was an epic fail! My middle and my youngest could definitely be schooled together but what I find is that my middle child will always look to see what his younger sister is doing and he won't do stuff on his own. If my youngest wasn't so advanced, then I would probably have schooled both her and her brother together. But my youngest is gifted and can do anything her brother does and usually better so I decided not to school them together. Last year they did do Beyond together and so instead of letting my youngest bump up to Bigger with her big brother, I put her Little hearts for the year. Next year and each year thereafter, they will end up doing back to back guides and I am okay with that.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9344

Above is a link for post Carrie created about some frequently asked questions. It discusses a lot of topics that are probably thinking through right now with your decision.

The one thing I would consider before making a decision is the question, would you look to combine if you weren't working? If the answer is no, then I wouldn't combine. You mentioned that your are only working part time from home for a period of time and that there is a near end in site. For me, I will probably always be working from home unless some things change drastically. If you are only planning to work from home till Nov, I would probably just continue on for the next couple of months with the track you have for your oldest and then add the next guide when you finish working for your youngest.

As for listening and comprehension, there are a lot of things you can do to help encourage it. My son was horrible!!!!! He could barely tell me what I read in 3 sentences. He does so much better now. I found that my kids like to move so they sit on exercise balls when I read and bounce the whole time. I also have a bosu ball that they jump on. My son, now, likes to lay on my bed upstairs while I read and that works well for him. He rolls around and moves the whole time but he likes being in there. I think he likes this best because it is just him and I in the room together only. I wonder if that could be part of the challenge, that your youngest is distracting the oldest? That was a huge probably for us until recently. I also don't wait until the end of the reading to ask questions or discuss things. It turns out that my son has auditory processing disorder and I didn't learn this until recently. He has been through many therapies for years for things that are side affects from APD but there isn't really anything you can do for APD except constantly engage your kids. I find, that when I read, I engage both my oldest and middle child the most to keep things moving smoothly for them. A lot of times when I am reading, I will read a page (or even a few paragraphs) and then we talk about what just happened. We keep a running story going verbally right after we read the story. Ever time we see a picture in the book, we talk about the pictures too. I just try and engage as much as possible. That has also helped tremendously. With her age, and her enjoyment of reading, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I also didn't realize with my son that because he has APD, he only struggles with listening to me read and that is only because I am reading it out loud to him. If he reads it to himself, then he actually comprehends most of it. Hearing it and comprehending is a still necessary life skill but I am not as panicked as I used to be. Now we work on hearing it, him telling me what was important and him keeping the story going the entire time. It definitely takes longer in those boxes but that is okay. He really enjoys me reading out loud now. And when I read out loud to him, it makes him feel good to have a job and a goal that he is working toward while I read a story or even the history or science.

[Snorris2]

Originally, I did not plan on combining. I thought that competition would not suit my oldest. I actually did not plan to start Little Hearts with my youngest until next June or July (or whenever she finished MFW K). She does place there according to the placement chart. I just like using MFW K the year before official K. We used LHTH with her last year. She is also already doing formal math and writing.

I think I may talk with my oldest and see what she thinks. Or we may even do a week in Beyond and see how it goes. My husband helps when he is home. He has a very demanding job though. It makes it difficult for him to really help. I think I may move to deep cleaning on the weekends. I'm going to talk to him about it.

[Nealewill]

I think giving Beyond a try would be good. My son did Beyond last year and he did not have comprehension skills at all. Now that he is 8, he finally is doing much better. Since you aren't ready to start Little Hearts for your youngest, even if Beyond doesn't seem like a good fit after a while, you could always stop and go back to Little Hearts. But I think that you will know once you start it and try it for a bit. Honestly, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. And personally I didn't notice nearly the jump in skills from Little to Beyond as I did from Beyond to Bigger. The history stories are great and my kids really liked them the activities for the year. And I have used MFW K as well with my kids before finding HOD. I found Little be a little bit more challenging than MFW K but it was just totally different Also - by starting Beyond now and not doing Little Hearts for a year, this would help you to have 1 guide between kids. It helps keep everything fresh for them once they get to that guide and helps you to not feel burnt out.

[Snorris2]

I thought I would update. We began Beyond this week. It is going so well. My daughter is truly enjoying the history readings and the story time. It really is perfect for where she is right now. I'm glad I decided to go ahead and keep them split up. Thanks so much for the advice!

[my3sons]

I thought I would update. We began Beyond this week. It is going so well. My daughter is truly enjoying the history readings and the story time. It really is perfect for where she is right now. I'm glad I decided to go ahead and keep them split up. Thanks so much for the advice!

I'm just getting to read this thread now, but the ladies and you did such a good job of figuring out a great trial test run! For your younger dd, she really could do LHFHG half-speed if you'd like at the start of next year or longer. I work as well, and half-speed off and on has been a terrific way to train dc to do a guide well, while I am full-speed with other kiddos. Completing 2 of the younger guides or so in about 3 school years, or completing 3 of the younger guides in 4 years, has been the perfect fit placement-wise and time-wise for our family for our younger dc. Also, once your oldest dd reaches PHFHG, she will be ready to take on some independent work successfully (assuming she's done all that is asked of her in the previous guides). This is the perfect time for her to do so, as she will be at an age when she should be taking more responsibility for her learning, especially in the area of reading some of her history/science herself. This will naturally free up time for you to work with your younger dd. HTH, and enjoy your year with Beyond!

In Christ,
Julie

[Nealewill]

I wanted to also say that I am so glad to hear that it is working out That is wonderful