threegreatkids wrote:Does anyone know if it will always work OK to have a child a year ahead on the right side? I've looked at the catalog, and it looks like you could have a 4th grader do the left side of BHFHG and the right side of PHFHG and you'd just need to add storytime (from BH right side) and delete bible and poetry (from BH right side). Clear as mud?
Then looking at the following year you could have a 5th grader do the left side of PHFHG and the right side of CTC. Looks to me like it would be a good idea to add something for a bible quiet time in this case, since the Genesis bible study is only every other day. Anyone doing this combination this year?
I'm just thinking this through for this year and next. Having 2 dds a year apart makes the combining thing appealing for history, but oldest really is ahead of younger dd for the right side subjects. I hate to push one ahead or hold one back.
So, I'm asking any half-combiners to tell me how this all works 
Another option is that I could separate them completely next year (PHFHG and CTC, with BLHFHG for little brother) but then oldest would never get PHFHG which seems like such a good preparation for CtC. And I hate to have oldest do PHFHG this year while middle does BHFHG because then I'll be teaching PHFHG two years in a row.
I do think it will always work, provided you do exactly what you are doing and choose which Bible/poetry/LA/math best make sense to do. I think it's important to keep the left side of the guides as intact as possible, since that all goes so nicely together. So, for instance, if you had your fourth grader do the left side of Bigger Hearts, you'd have these things covered:
*history, poetry that reinforces the history theme, Bible memory work along with character trait study linked to the history, devotional and personal Godly character trait application linked to the history theme, music, art, geography, history activity, timeline, vocabulary, and notebooking - again all related to the history theme. You could decide if your dd should to the extension package as well, in which case she'd have more difficult history readings and a rotation of follow-up assignments noted in that section of the Appendix. It makes sense to do the BHFHG Storytime as well, since the PHFHG Storytime is linked to its history. From there, you can look at the PHFHG right side of plans and fill in with what your dd needs. I was little confused because Bible and Poetry are on the left side of BHFHG, so I wasn't sure about that part of what you'd shared - sorry if I've misunderstood this.
In Christ,
Julie
It really comes down to choosing the connections or the writing level, and you'll know which weighs more heavily for your decision. 
I do think it will be easy to do the right side/left side thing for years to come as well if that helps any.