New to homeschooling and HOD

[WigglesMom]

Hi,
I am a SAHM of 4 great kids. 2 girls and 2 boys. They are almost 9, almost 8, 6, and 2 years old. The girls are older and the boys are the younger 2. They are in the 3rd, 2nd, kindergarten, and my 2 year old is doing LHTH right now. They currently go to public school. I am hoping to start homeschooling full time this next school year. I am going to be doing a trial run this summer and if we are successful and it is working well we will move forward.
Now for my dilema. I can only do 2 programs with the 3 school age children. Adding 2 programs would put me at 3 programs total including LHTH for my youngest. I had planned to do BHFHG with the 2 girls and LHFHG with my 6 yr. old son. That was before I did the placement chart for them. I was convinced that the girls needed to stay together and that my son would be the one in his own program. I don't know why I was so sure of that except that he is in kindergarten and 2 years behind in school than my middle daughter. The only reason he is in kindergarten is b/c of a December birthday. He could have done first grade work this year, but public school has their cut off day and they are strict about it.
With the placement chart, all 3 kids place in a different program.
My almost 9 yr. old soon to be 4th grader placed in HFHTT for the Age, Reading, Writing, Grammer, and Math section, BHFHG for Bible and History, and BHFHG for Science, Storytime, and Poetry and Rhymes.
My almost 8 yr. old soon to be 3rd grader placed in PHFHG or BHFHG for Age-PHFHG, Reading-PHFHG, Writing-BLHFHG, Grammer-BHFHG,and Math-BHFHG section, BHFHG for Bible and History, and BHFHG for Science, Storytime, and Poetry and Rhymes.
My 6 yr. old soon to be 1st grader placed in BLHFHG for the Age, Reading, Writing, Grammer, and Math section, LHFHG for Bible and History, and LHFHG for Science, Storytime, and Poetry and Rhymes.
My oldest is very self led and very smart. She taught herself to read at 3 and was reading on a 3rd to 4th grade level in kindergarten. She would probably do very well in PHFHG.
I had planned on holding her back somewhat b/c I didn't feel that her sister was ready for PHFHG and I couldn't figure out a way for my middle daughter and son to do it together b/c LHFHG was too easy for her. I am very unsure what to do now, but am leaning more towards having my middle daughter and son do BLHFHG together and having my oldest do PHFHG. I would really love some advise on this and whether or not I would be shorting any of my kids by doing this.
My middle daughter and son get along well and there isn't the competition that is with the girls. My middle daughter gets very discouraged working alongside my oldest and my oldest rushes to be done so she is the first. We have been afterschooling with LHFHG with my son and my middle sits in with us on history, science, and storytime and loves it. She does her own handwriting and math. She helps my son when he needs it and it gives her such a confidence boost.
I had it in my head that the girls would have to be together in a program b/c of the grades but if I don't look at the grades and look at the age then my girls are only 13 months apart and my daughter and son are 15 months apart. That is only a difference of 2 months. I just want to be sure that I can do BLHFHG at a 3rd grade level for her.
Any advise or personal experiences with this would be greatly appreciated.
Val
Edit-they have not done any type of dictation in public school. They have had grammer combined in workbook form with their reading program. They tested 2A-middle daughter and 2B-oldest daughter in Singapore. They make all A's in math at school so I was surprised by their placement.

[jenntracy]

i have 3 children . the 2 older are 5 1/2 son and just turned 4 daughter . i have done the LHTH with my son and i am now doing it with my daughter. i am taking two years to do LHFHG with my son , so we will continue this following year. we don't exactly take a break thru summer etiher.my daughter may be finished with her program in the fall sometime.
i want to combine my children too. so after my son finishes LHFHG, i am going begin my son in BLHFHG, with my daughter joining him for the Learning thru history portion of BLHFHG and then she will do the Learning the basics in the LHFHG.

since she will finish LHTH before my son finishes LHFHG, i am going to to get Explorer's Bible Study :Beginnings to do with her at her level. she will only be 4 1/2 in the fall and she doesn't listen as well to longer stories. but by the next fall she will be 5 1/2 and i think she will be ready to do it then. so even though she will be skipping the LHFH Learning thru history section, she will still be doing bible history at her level and she can just listen in if she wants to her brother's lessons in Learning thru history. she does that now with the rhyme time and even the bible memory verses.

the learning basics is very flexible and you cna always tailor that if you need to step your daughter up a notch.

i hope this helps. i guess, too, my point is that my oldest two are only 16 1/2 months apart and i think i can keep them together for at least the Learning thru history portion. they love doing things together anyway!

I pray all goes well this summer!

[Mom2Monkeys]

Off the top of my head (and without reading the other reply- so sorry if its a repeat or contadicts ), I would think combining the two olders in Preparing with each having their own math and LA and possibly extensions for the older if she needed some more independent work (or even just needed to feel like she was doing more than little sister). Then your son in Little Hearts or Beyond Little Hearts. My son has a Dec. Bday as well and now that he's 5.5 I've just started him in Little Hearts for K even though he isn't "old enough" by pub school rules. It's meaty enough for a 1st greater with the 1st grade options and Beyond is a good fit as is doing the 1st grade options as well. If he places in Singapore K, I'd do Little Hearts so all your plans are in the same guide, and if he places in Singapore 1A, I do Beyond for the same reasons. It's your first year homeschooling so the easier the better! Since he fits by age and ability into either one, I'd think you could do either. It looks like the more important subjects put him in Beyond though. He'll likely have to grow into the read-alounds, as many boys do at that age.

Have any of them taken a Singapore Math placement test? Have you looked at Rod & Staff grammar to get an idea of where they place there? There aren't placement tests, but you can see table of contents and sample pages at www.rodandstaffbooks.com. I would imagine coming out of public school and considering the rigor of R&S, they could both start in Level 3. They only need to finish to Level 6 by end of 8th grade and should take 2 years to do level 5. It's a tough one!

Are they familar with oral narration? oldest begun any written narration? Preparing is the level that introduces the written narration and this is a VERY important skill that I would not skip! I really would lean more towards starting her in Preparing even if by age, she could do HFHTT. She is still within the age range of Preparing as well. Rest assured that it is enough! My very advanced 2nd grader just completed Beyond and it was plenty! When you are adding in your own level of math and using the right level of LA in the guides, the rest is very flexible for a wide range of ages. Using a guide where she is on the older end has allowed her more independence in her studies as well, which is important to me (and to her, just her personality). Your oldest would be able to do more independently which is a great training for the next guide to come which will have a lot of student-directed work. Honestly, you could do Bigger with them and do the extensions as well. My rising 3rd grader/almost 8yo will be in Bigger and it's incredible! We've done the first week and you'd be amazed at what you'll learn about people in American History. Same here...add right level of math and R&S books. This would give some great training in oral narration, which is a precursor to the written narration. Allow a shorter school day for you and a gentler intro to homeschooling while still maintaining academic standards (or exceeding them!). It's a change to learn by living books instead of textbooks, narration and projects instead of tests, etc.

I am so sorry if I've confused you, I know I'm rambling a bit and likely make no sense. I'm up with morning sickness (yes, at night) and I'm exhausted! BTW, my kids are about the same ages as yours...almost 8, 5.5, 2.5 and one due in Dec...so I'll be in your boat one day. LOL. I'm doing 3 guides now and will be doing 4 in the future. Once you get the hang of HOD, it's very possible. But, a gentle start is best! Especially when it's a trial run to see if you really will start for next school year.

Why don't you let us know their placement for Singapore (www.singaporemath.com) and R&S English, and any narration/dictation experience they might have, if any. And what have they studied in History? Do they need American History? World History? What's your/their history interest?

[Lynnw]

Hi Welcome! How exciting for you to be looking forward to homeschooling, that's great! I know Carrie, Julie, and others will be along to help evaluate your kids placement, but I just wanted to tell you that I understand what you're saying about your middle daughter. Often times there is more to consider than just age and skill level. I had the possibility of combining my 5yo daughter with her older brother. They are 18 months apart and they do get along well. But, like you, I felt my dd would do better as the "lead" person in a combining situation, or else in a package by herself. Sometimes that gut feeling is worth listening to.

As far as Beyond being enough for a 3rd grader, I think it can be. I think it will be engaging enough. Stories of the Pilgrims (and probably some of the other books too) would be considered on target for a 3rd grader. The nice thing is if your older dd is doing Preparing, than you will already have the Preparing manual which would allow you to do dictation with your middle dd (there are several levels of dictation in the appendix so your dds would likely be doing different dictation). I'm sure others will be along to share if there is anything else to consider adding to make Beyond work for your dd. (As far as personal experience goes, my oldest ds was often joining in on Beyond readings and activities before I started him in Preparing, so I know Beyond is engaging and enjoyable for a wide range of ages!)

I have prayed for you as you make your choices and pray that you'll have a successful summer.

Lynn

[Carrie]

WigglesMom,

Welcome to the HOD Board! We're glad to have you here! Thank you for your very thorough description. Checking the placement chart helps give me some common ground when advising you.

I agree that it would be wise, from what you've shared to place your 6 and 8 year old together in Beyond. You'll definitely want to make sure your sweeties have a great transition to homeschooling and proper placement will really help! You can easily add the right side of Bigger Hearts for your 8 year old if needed to beef up the level of the 3 R's. I'd most likely add the English 2, Cheerful Cursive, possibly the first level of dictation passages (depending on how well she spells),and whichever math level your daughter places into. After you've given the Singapore placement test, we'll know better which level she's at in math. I'd begin by giving her the 2A test and going up or down from there. Here's the link to the placement test: http://www.singaporemath.com/Placement_Test_s/86.htm

You may be able to get by without the Bigger Hearts guide, depending on whether your daughter still needs spelling list 2 in the Appendix of Beyond or whether she's more suited to the first level of dictation in Bigger Hearts. Math placement will also make a difference in whether you'd need the Bigger Hearts guide or not.

I would agree that Preparing Hearts would be a great fit for your 9 year old. You can have her do the readings herself if possible and train her to read the directions right from the guide. This will help her immensely as she moves onto CTC the following year. Make sure to give her the Singapore placement test as well. I'd begin her testing with 3A and go up or down from there.

To start the year off, you can easily begin both guides at half-speed and then bump one guide up to ful-speed and eventually the other.

I'd love to hear your thoughts if you get a chance to pop back in.

Blessings,
Carrie

[WigglesMom]

I am so glad that you give hands on advise on the board. I had been wondering whether I would need the Bigger guide for my middle daughter also for the math and english and such. She still needs some work on spelling. She is currently doing Handwriting without Tears Printing Power b/c of grip and handwriting issues. Long story short...she needs major work on handwriting which causes her to be really slow or really sloppy. We have corrected a lot using Handwriting without Tears and I plan to finish it before moving to Cursive. We may not move to cursive this year.
Math is a strong suit for her and she placed in 4th grade level on the public school star test. She didn't do very well on her Singapore placement test which surprised me. I gave it to them months ago though and may give it again now that they are finishing up the school year. She tested 2A.
I plan to do DITHOR level 2/3 with her and R&S English 2. I feel more confident about her being in BLHFHG now. I am a little nervous moving my son up though. Even though we have been afterschooling with LHFHG with the kindergarten books this year, we are no where near through with it. Will it make a very big difference if we stop with LHFHG and pick up BLHFHG since he is going to public school and will have completed kindergarten? He is ready for the emerging readers and he is strong in math also. He also has horrible handwriting and grip issues. I am definitely thinking of doing Handwriting without Tears with him also. I will be doing Adventures in Phonics A by CLP. He has done the AIP K this year.
This may sound like a strange idea, but I thought that maybe I could finish up LHFHG this summer with my son and middle daughter. That way we would ease into homeschooling. She could finish her handwriting without tears and work on math. He could finish up his math and handwriting. They would both feel comfortable and gain confidence. Then come fall we could move to BLHFHG whether we are done with LHFHG or not. My son has not had a good public school experience and hates school right now.
I thought that if I did it that way then I could start my oldest on PHFHG this summer right after public school gets out. I could guide her through the summer months and prepare her for more independant work. By the time I move the other 2 to BLHFHG in August, she will be ready to do some of PHFHG on her own and we will have a routine down.
Does this sound like a good plan? I am getting more and more excited about getting started soon.
Thanks,
Val

[funkmomma71]

Your plan to continue with LHFHG through the summer sounds great, it will help fill the gaps and prepare your dc for homeschooling. As for your ds doing BLHFHG, my 5 year-old dd will be doing it this upcoming year, she turns 6 in Oct and I'm confident that she will do just fine. If I were in your shoes, and I'm not but if I were, I would follow Carrie's advice to go at a slower pace in the beginning and pick up the pace as the year progresses. I think you will be amazed at how fast your dc improve their academic skills and probably even their handwriting. Copywork is used in BLHFHG, that should help make handwriting be more appealing and maybe something your dc look forward to rather than something they struggle with. Best wishes!!

[WigglesMom]

I like the idea of starting out slowly, but am not really sure how doing half would work. Would I just do the learning through history one day and the learning the basics the next and alternate? I definitely will feel more comfortable finishing up more of LHFHG with my younger son before moving to BLHFHG in the fall.
I can definitely see doing half with PHFHG with my oldest through the summer. Maybe do 3 days a week of the unit. Alternate history and the basics and work on Saturdays some with her to get in 3 full days of the program a week. She will have to work on cursive though. She hasn't really been writing in cursive at school. They are still learning it in the 3rd grade. She also is not too great at her multiplication and division yet. Maybe if we start out at half pace we can gain strength in our weak areas.
This way, when I move to doing BLHFHG with 2 children at half pace in the fall, I will have her ready to move to full pace. I am really trying to figure out how to work through 3 programs in one day also. Right now, me and Wiggles(my yougest) work on LHTH right after we get home from dropping the kids off at school. We go slow and stop a lot and do other things and clean and such and then have lunch and down to nap and then pick up the big kids from school. I will have to do him first and have it together instead of dawdling so much and coming back and forth with it. He is 2 and we are going to work through it in 2 yrs. Right now we do 3 days a week M, W, and F. I am going to stick with that.
I think if I can work with him in the morning first and all the big kids be getting up and moving around. They can eat breakfast, get dressed and take care of hygiene, and play in rooms or straighten rooms. Then my oldest can play with Wiggles while I work with the other 2. I have found it doesn't take a lot of time to do LHFHG with them and it runs smoothly. I am hoping BLHFHG will be the same. They get along so well I won't have the fighting/bickering that would have happened keeping the girls together. Then we will have snack somewhere in there and some outside time along the way. My oldest and Wiggles will probably play outside while the other 2 work.
The girls will be doing DITHOR together though and I think that I will do that when Wiggles is napping after lunch. I am hoping to get in some time with the oldest before lunch. And at some point she will be doing some independant work. My honest goal is to be done by 2 for the day 3 at the latest.
this is my first attempt at full homeschooling. Does this sound feasible and does it sound like the logical way to go? Thanks for all the advise.

[Carrie]

Yes! Your plan is coming along nicely. I do think it is a good idea to continue on with LHFHG with your son and middle daughter. Then, when the summer ends, we can see where they're at and see if they're both ready to move into Beyond (or if you should just finish up LHFHG first).

I agree it is a good idea to ease your older daughter into Preparing Hearts over the summer, however you don't want to burn her out on school either, so I would lean toward doing the left side one day and the right side the next, and then take Fridays off. This would help you cover 2 days a week but would still allow for a good bit of free time in the day. You could take Fridays off with your other pair too to make it more like summer for them too.

With your littlest one, your plan to stretch LHTH out over 2 years is a good one. Instead of doing it 3 days a week, doing a day in a day, you could consider splitting one day up over 2 days instead (which would cut your teaching time to 15 min. daily and would also give you something short and sweet to do with your little one each day). To split one day into 2, you could read the Bible story, do the fingerplay, do the letter activity, and the music on one day. Then, the next day, you'd read the same story, do the same fingerplay, and do the other 2 boxes of the plans that are left. Just a thought.

I would most likely begin your middle daughter on spelling list 2 in Beyond after summer and see if it is the right fit for her. If it's too young you'd need the Bigger Hearts guide for her dictation passages. If you do go the Singapore math route, you would most likely want the Bigger Hearts guide for the hands-on math lessons for 2A/2B. It isn't unusual for kiddos coming to Singapore from another program to have to back up a semester or a year, even if they're good in math. Singapore just has a different way of doing things, which actually results in very solid mathematical thinkers.

Depending on what your daughter has had for grammar coverage in the past, you could either use the gentle grammar lessons in Beyond as her grammar, or you could use the English 2 book. You wouldn't need the Bigger guide to do English 2, as you can just do a lesson a day.

We have a past scheduling thread on the board here that may be of some help to you in deciding what to do with Wiggles in your daily schedule. In all honesty, he will drive how much you can do with your kiddos by how well occupied he is. So, you may wish to scroll down at the following link and take a peek at the things I scheduled for my wiggles in the my thread where I shared our schedule for doing Preparing and Little Hearts this year (with my 2 year old in the mix too). Link: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2093

Since wiggles is so young, doing school with him falls lower priority-wise and could be shelved until next year if needed.

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

Val - I wanted to welcome you to the HOD board, and I am excited for you to bring all of your dc home to homeschooling. It will probably take a bit of time to get into the flow of things (it always does for me at the beginning of a new school year too), but then the blessings will come as you settle into enjoying homeschooling. I have just read this whole thread, and it is so neat to see a great plan unfolding. It is a great idea to continue with LHFHG 4 days a week, and I also like the idea of starting PHFHG half-speed only 4 days a week. This will get your oldest going in PHFHG and help her be more independent with it later, but doing it half-speed in a low key way will also send the message that homeschooling is doable, fun, and won't take all day. This first impression of homeschooling will be important for your dd coming home from ps. It will also give you time to get used to teaching PHFHG (the plans are very easy on us moms though ), and you can take your time with things without feeling rushed to complete a whole day in a day right away. We are 2 weeks from finishing PHFHG, and what a wonderful year it has been! We've also done Beyond Little Hearts with our middle ds this year, and are about halfway through that. We couldn't have asked for a better year. I think you'll enjoy teaching PHFHG and BLHFHG. As far as little wiggles , I have one of those too, and I really like Carrie's idea of how LHTH could be done half-speed. Fifteen minutes a day can be done even with a very busy schedule, and that 15 minutes will give wiggles the 1:1 mommy time he loves. What a great plan you have ahead of you - but that's what I think - what are you thinking? We're glad you are here!

In Christ,
Julie

[WigglesMom]

Okay, while I love my plan placement wise...financially it is a bit problematic. I am not opposed to tweaking and coming up with a solution. I am a planner by heart so here is what I have bought and what I can't afford to buy yet. I totally can't afford to buy PHFHG yet. Since I am starting in the summer, I have come up with an alternate plan until the funds come in.
Right now I have LHTH with both the younger and older Bible books. I bought them all at the same time b/c I knew I was going to do it for 2 years. I have LHFHG with History for Little Pilgrims, History Stories for Children, R&S finding the answers and do it carefully, the storytime set, Our Father's World (we did the k version the year before finding HOD), and A reason for Handwriting K. I have BHFHG Economy package and science adder, english 2, PM 2A and 2B, PM 3A and 3B, Abeka Writing with Phonics 2 (manuscript to cursive), DITHOR 2/3 (will get books from library), and will get storytime books from library.
Big Bubba is having trouble sounding out words. He is a fair reader as long as he already knows the word. We are working through Abeka's kindergarten 12 readers now and doing CLP's Adventures in Phonics K. I am not sure whether to continue AIP next year or move to explode the code. He is ready for some emerging readers now but still needs a lot of work. We are in the Dr. Seuss book club and I plan to just work with him with these while doing LHFHG after finishing the Abeka k readers.
Now my revised plan based on low funds.
1. Wiggles does LHTH slowly with Big Bubba sitting in on the Bible (b/c I have the Bible books already for olders)
2. Big Bubba doing LHFHG Learning through History and Learning the Basics (either using CLP's Adventures in Phonics A or Explode the Code), Tadpole (middle dd) doing Learning through History with him as well as doing her HWT and storytime together (she likes the books and can read it out loud to him if I am busy).
3. Big Sis (oldest dd) doing BHFHG Learning through History with extension pack (books from library) and learning the basics with English 2 (thought about doing English 3-unsure?), Abeka writing with phonics 2 (older edition does manuscript to cursive), PM 3A and 3B and storytime (again books from library)
4. Tadpole (middle dd) doing BHFHG Learning the basics with English 2 (done with Big Sis), will be doing Handwriting with Big Bubba using HWT Printing Power, PM 2A and 2B, and can sit in on storytime if she wants to.
The new revised plan is based solely on the fact that I didn't have the money to buy Preparing at this time. Since I will be schooling through the summer, we will switch to BLHFHG mid-year with Big Bubba and Tadpole with Big Bubba doing BLHFHG as written and Tadpole doing the left side of BLHFGH and right side of BHFHG but with English 3 and PM 3A and 3B. Big Sis will move to PHFHG as soon as she finishes BHFHG doing English 3 or 4 maybe? and PM 4A and 4B and be working as independantly as possible.
Wiggles will just plug away at LHTH at our own pace. My oldest can honestly do a lot of it with him if needed.
I am having a hard time getting the kids through the next 3 weeks now though of public school. They want to just come home now. I have had to explain to them that I need them to finish to pass their current grade.
Now that my plan has been revised b/c of money issues...does it still seem like a good fit and fair to all of the kids? That is my big concern.
Val

[WigglesMom]

bump
If Carrie or Julie has a chance or anyone else with HOD experience, could you look through my revised plan (had to change because of funds) and tell me if there is anything else I need to do for my oldest. She is the one I worry the most about. She is extremely smart, but has gotten a bad taste in her mouth for school this year. We have had bullies, both girls and boys, and let's just say we can't wait for the next 14 days to pass and for us to get out of the nightmare.
Also, has anyone else pulled their children from public school after 4 years in and what was it like to transition out of public school? I am more than a little nervous and really hope that I am making the right decision.

[spidermansmum]

Hi
Im delighted you are homeschooling and that you have chosen HOD.Just to throw another point of view out there.Once I decided we were pulling DS out of school,we did.I didnt see the point of finishing out the term.Now thats just me but just a thought.
Secondly If school has been a negative -sometimes the children continue to see school work as a negative -despite where its done.I took a period of de schooling before we started school.

[Carrie]

wigglesmom,

I agree with spiderman's mum wholeheartedly on all areas that she mentioned. Next, I completely understand the need to economize, however I'm struggling with how to advise you right now as I've already given you my very best placement advice in the thread above.

So, my advice if you are short of funds would be to begin with the Economy Package of Preparing Hearts for your daughter, which is your most economical route to go while still making sure to have correct placement for her. You could also order only the first two science books and first couple of books needed from any of the other packages if desired. Then, as funds allow you could add on any other needed packages. My recommendations for grammar, math, and reading would remain the same as I previously mentioned for all of your kiddos.

My goal is to give you the very best placement possible based on your kiddos needs, and then to write the programs so they work well with the Economy Package option for every program in order to make it workable financially for families. So, my placement advice remains the same. Only you can know whether varying from what I advised is best for your family as you know your kiddos best.

Blessings,
Carrie

[WigglesMom]

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully a way will be made soon for me to purchase the economy package of PHFHG. I have all of the rest of the things needed to start the children.
Val