Hello! Questions about placement for 10yr old

[Bibliophile]

Hello! I have been lurking for a couple of weeks. I have two daughters. One is going to be in 1st grade and the other will be in 4th. The oldest has been the experiment (poor thing). We have jumped from curriculum to curriculum over the years for various reasons. She is extremely bright and has always read FAR above grade level, which makes it a challenge to keep her engaged. Right now, we're using Sonlight's Core 2 and she loves all the books, the problem is the time involved. I am finding it hard to factor in my other daughter. I sat down with my husband and we've pared it down for the rest of the year so I can give my poor kindergartner the attention she needs. I think it's going to work better, but we'll have to wait and see

So, that brings us to next year, I am going to buy Beyond Little Hearts for my youngest with the emerging reader's set. I'm VERY excited about it, and I think it will be perfect for her. Here's my dilemma, what about my oldest? The same friend who loaned me Core 2 is willing to loan me Core 3 for next year. I'm a little worried about doing Sonlight with HOD, that I'll be biting off more than I can chew. I want to do American History with her for certain, but I can't see her fitting into HOD unless I place her in Bigger Hearts, and purchase the extension package, but I'm afraid she'll have gaps because it doesn't cover early American history. The other thought I had was, to do something else, like Beautiful Feet, and then do Bigger with both of them the year after. OR (I know, it's a lot to take in), I could somehow "ramp up" Beyond for my oldest by using Christian Liberty Press's, "A Child's Story of America," and various other living books. Either way, I think I'm going to purchase, "Drawn into the Heart of Reading," for my oldest. At least that's decided! Since Core 3 is being loaned to me, I can pare it down, but then, would Bigger Hearts for His Glory work the year after when she's a 5th grader (I would have to purchase Core 4)?

The reality is, HOD may not work for my oldest at all, and I guess that's fine . However, I think, for my own sanity, I need to find something that would mesh well with it, at least for the next year or two, until oldest is working a little more independently, and youngest is an independent reader. If others have used Sonlight with it, great! Please let me know how you made it work! Same with Beautiful Feet. However, if there's something I'm missing about placement, please let me know. I love everything I've seen of HOD's, and I would love to slip my oldest in somehow.

Thanks!
Dorinda

[MamaMary]

Hi Dorinda,

Welcome! It's so good to have you here;-) I want you to know that you definitely could do two HOD programs, but I think it might be a good fit to start your younger one out in Beyond and do DITHOR with your oldest this year. (while using SL w/ oldest) Then by next year you will feel more confident with HOD and at that time you could make the switch. The longer I do HOD, the more I understand what an incredibly DEEP program this is. Each year, prepares your child for the next year. HOD does something no other program I've used has ever done. It helps you teach your children to go from dependent learning to INdependent. It is very balanced. But there is always a learning curve when we make the switch. SL will keep you sane while you find your groove with HOD!

[my3sons]

Hi Dorinda! Well, I'm excited that you're excited to start Beyond/Emerging Reader with your dd! You have solved half of the placement already - hooray! I like MamaMary's idea of easing into it. Since we love to throw around different options to get a perfect fit for each family, I'll throw one more idea out there to consider, keeping in mind the idea of easing into it as well. You could finish out this year and then next year start Bigger Hearts half-speed (left page of plans one day, right side of plans the next day ). Then, you could use the Sonlight books you really loved best with DITHOR, and do that 3-5 days a week, however many days you wanted - we do 3 around here . You'd just need to put the Sonlight books in the right DITHOR genre (Biography, Nonfiction, Historical Fiction, etc.). You could also start Beyond halfspeed, left page one day, right page the next day.

I think this would ease you into 2 HOD programs earlier so you could do Bigger Hearts sooner. I think you'd especially enjoy the short activities in Bigger Hearts, as well as the wonderful literature that is meant to be savored in truly manageable increments, with you doing some of the reading and your dd doing some of the reading. (I had an older sister do Sonlight for quite a few years, so I'm going on her experience here when I say "manageable amounts of reading" .) If you do the other option of doing Sonlight next year still, you could still start DITHOR with some of the Sonlight books just to enjoy getting into DITHOR sooner too. Either option would work - it's just nice to have a few ideas to kick around because somewhere in all of the ladies' wonderful ideas here on this board is the right one for you!

In Christ,
Julie

[Bibliophile]

Thanks Ladies! It's so nice to receive such a warm welcome I was a little nervous about posting. I feel a little bit like a flake right now. My desire is (and has always been) to do the curriculum the Lord would have us do, however, there's a lot of "noise" out there that is hard to drown out. I have been really praying for some clear direction for next year and I'm starting to see the light! I've always liked HOD. We used LHTH in a pre-school co-op I was part of about 3/4 years ago. I mistakenly thought I'd never be able to use HOD on my own, and it's exciting that the Lord has brought me back. One of the things my loving, gracious husband pointed out to me was, that for some reason, I have different goals/expectations for my oldest than my youngest. He told me it's "OK" to let my oldest be a 3rd grader. That put things in a WHOLE different perspective! Today, I was so much more relaxed during school, and it has totally changed the way I look at curriculum. Our goals for next year is to find balance between the two girls, giving them each the attention they need and deserve when it comes to school.

So, here's what I've been praying over today:

1. If I understand you guys correctly, I might want to buy Beyond for my youngest now, and do it for the next couple of months to get a feel for the program. Then, next year, I would continue Beyond with her, and start Bigger with my oldest (with the extension pack).

2. I should go ahead and get DITHOR for my oldest and start that to get a feel for it, using the Sonlight books we have now. I think I would go ahead and get her the 4/5 level. She could handle it and then I would have it for next year.

3. After that, my youngest would just do the programs in order. My oldest would either move on to "Preparing," or the "Ancients," but that doesn't have to be decided until next year

4. OR I combine them next year in BLHFHG and keep them combined. It would take a little more work on my part next year to beef up BLHFHG, and I would have to do extension packs for BHFHG and PHFHG, but it might be worth it? I guess I have worked so hard for the last two years to find something that would keep them together starting next year, only to decide it was impossible. I felt like I was working too hard and fighting nature (so to speak). Even if I use the same science/history topics, I'm still teaching two different lessons, two different experiments etc because of their age difference. In light of that, I decided to purchase what was appropriate for their age and juggle them. If you have any thoughts on this, I'm totally open to them

Thanks for your help! I really appreciate your wisdom!

Blessings!
Dorinda

[my3sons]

So, here's what I've been praying over today: Well, I love to hear this - and I know God will honor that and lead you to the right answer!

1. If I understand you guys correctly, I might want to buy Beyond for my youngest now, and do it for the next couple of months to get a feel for the program. Then, next year, I would continue Beyond with her, and start Bigger with my oldest (with the extension pack).
Yes - I wasn't sure if you could start Beyond now, but if that is possible - I really do think that would be the best scenario. I really like the idea of learning 1 program at a time. It's not hard to run 2 HOD programs, but it's nice to focus on one, and then the other.

2. I should go ahead and get DITHOR for my oldest and start that to get a feel for it, using the Sonlight books we have now. I think I would go ahead and get her the 4/5 level. She could handle it and then I would have it for next year.
Yes - and when you order DITHOR, be sure to get the Sample Book Ideas list (it's part of the DITHOR 4/5 Package). The Sample Book Ideas list has Sonlight books that are chosen for the list coded with an "S". It would help categorize them into genres, and maybe narrow the titles down (I'm pretty sure all of the titles are not on the list.) This would cover your reading - so whatever Sonlight does for reading with those books should probably be dropped since it would be doubling up too much.


3. After that, my youngest would just do the programs in order. My oldest would either move on to "Preparing," or the "Ancients," but that doesn't have to be decided until next year
Yes!

4. OR I combine them next year in BLHFHG and keep them combined. It would take a little more work on my part next year to beef up BLHFHG, and I would have to do extension packs for BHFHG and PHFHG, but it might be worth it? I guess I have worked so hard for the last two years to find something that would keep them together starting next year, only to decide it was impossible. I felt like I was working too hard and fighting nature (so to speak). Even if I use the same science/history topics, I'm still teaching two different lessons, two different experiments etc because of their age difference. In light of that, I decided to purchase what was appropriate for their age and juggle them. If you have any thoughts on this, I'm totally open to them
Yes - and there are families that love to combine and families that love not too! There is no fast and true answer to that because HOD works well either way depending on each family's situation. I fall on the side off not combining. Our dc are 3 1/2 years apart and world's apart in abilities, so we do 2 HOD programs. I would say from what you've said here about trying to do your 2 dc together before, that you might enjoy doing 2 HOD programs too. But, as I said, some ladies here on the board completely enjoy doing 1 HOD program with their dc and are doing a good job with that, so pray, pray, pray - look at the placement chart carefully, and then make your best decision. I have prayed for you as well in this decision.

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Dorinda,

I just wanted to welcome you to the boards! The ladies are doing a wonderful job of talking through placement options with you. They are so gracious with their time, aren't they!

I just wanted to mention that you may want to take one more good look at the first page of the placement chart to make sure (language arts and math-wise that your K/1st sweetie is ready for Beyond). If she's through her phonics program, ready for the Emerging Reader's, ready for writing words/sentences, and ready for beginning spelling lessons and gentle grammar instruction, then she's ready for Beyond. If not, then you may wish to take a look at LHFHG with the first grade options instead.

Next, being a previous Sonlight user myself with my oldest son (did Cores 1, 2, 3, and a very down-sized version of 4), I understand where you're coming from with the always planning to combine with Sonlight and then finding it won't work type of thing. While my son thoroughly enjoyed Cores 1 and 2, although I was hoping for a much stronger Christ-centered, focus, at Sonlight Core 3 we were having some issues with the mature content within the books. By Core 4, we were bailing out of Sonlight. So, this is a good time to consider HOD in your Sonlight journey.

As far as your older daughter goes, Bigger Hearts does a one-year sweep of American history biographically. So, your oldest would get a good feel for American history by doing Bigger Hearts. You could easily start it half-speed, doing the left side of the plans one day and the right the next, bumping up to full-speed when you feel the time is right. I'd work toward teaching your soon to be 4th grader to read her directions from the guide, so she can move toward more independence as the year goes on.

One more consideration for DITHR, is to weigh how your older daughter feels about written work. If she doesn't mind written work, then DITHR Level 4/5 will be perfect for her. If, however, written work can be a real battle, then you may wish to do a year of DITHR Level 2/3, and them bump her up to 4/5 next year.

Anyway, I just wanted to discuss some final considerations to weigh to get the best fit for your kiddos overall.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Bibliophile]

Thanks Carrie!

And thanks to everyone else! It has really been refreshing to be on such a friendly forum. Everyone is very gracious and helpful, I can't tell you what a blessing it is.

I took what you said to heart Carrie, and I think you're right. I think we should start off with DITHOR level 2/3 this year (with my oldest) and see how she does. As for my youngest, I see what you're saying and, what I might do is wait until June or July to purchase anything for her. The drawback is, I won't be able to start now to get a feel for the program, but the benefit is, I'll have a better idea of where she should be. Kindergarten and 1st graders make such huge leaps, it's hard to know where they'll be in a month let alone 6 months! Right now, she's getting better at reading every day. She is reading anything she can get her hands on (we're going to the library at least once a week to keep her in easy readers and Dr. Seuss), but she's not writing on her own yet. We're half way through Handwriting Without Tears' K book. We always start school the first week of August, to ease into things without any of the outside activities. I could ease into both programs then, taking it slow.

Thanks again for all your help! I really appreciate it and I feel peace for the first time this year. It is truly great when you feel God's peace about a curriculum.
Blessings!
Dorinda

[Bibliophile]

And one more thing Carrie, I am so glad you suggested having my oldest work toward independence. That is something I've been trying to figure out how to do, and I'm so excited HOD works toward that!
Blessings!
Dorinda

[my3sons]

...I feel peace for the first time this year. It is truly great when you feel God's peace about a curriculum.
Blessings!
Dorinda

That's wonderful to hear, Dorinda! This is the over-reaching goal always, so that is a great place to be. I'm so glad you've come to a decision, and your plan sounds good.

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Dorinda,

I think your plan sounds excellent. I agree that kiddos grow and change so much toward the end of the school year. It can be hard to be sure what will be the best fit until you get there! I am so glad that you have a peace about your decision. Peace comes from the Lord and is a gift I treasure.

Blessings,
Carrie