Using Prepaing for almost 8 year old

[pjsullivan]

I am just new to HOD and i bought a used package for my 10 year old and twin 7 year old. The twins will turn 8 in jan. I am wondering if this level would be too hard for and would then do better in the program before Preparing (Bigger Hearts) Has anyone u sed this with 7-8 year olds and did you have to modify the lessons a lot? I look forward to beginning our journey !
pj

[lovetobehome]

Hi, friend!!!
It depends on how much you would be asking of them. I don't think the history would be too much for them to grasp, nor the science. The Bible might be a bit advanced for them, and you would need to help them more. I think the main thing with Preparing is it is guiding them toward more independence. But for a 7-8 year old, that is not a goal yet. So, if you wanted to combine them, I think you would just have to plan on helping them more with the writing and activities, and maybe requiring less of them. Anything is tweakable, and this isn't HARD to tweak. If it makes your life much simpler to combine, then I would!

[Carrie]

pj,

I'll just move this post over to the Main Board, so more moms will see it. All new posts begin on the Main Board.

If you haven't already had a chance to check out our placement chart, it would be good to take a peek there. That will really help you see where your 7 year twins and your 10 year old fit best, all combining aside. Here's a link to the chart:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

If you get a chance to pop back and let us know a bit more about where your 7 year olds and 10 year old place on the chart that will help us too.

Blessings,
Carrie

[basesloaded]

I am currently using Preparing for both my 10 year old (who will be 11 in 2 weeks) and my 8 year old (who just turned 8 in July). My older son uses the extension pack. It is my heart to keep them together and this program allows me to do so, and do it well. The program works well with their ages and levels but if I was not trying to keep them together I would have backed my younger child up ... especially thinking of the material in the year's to come. This is our 1st year with HOD and we all are loving it !

[brenm37]

PJ,
Welcome to HOD! This is my first year also, and we are really enjoying it. I am using Preparing for a 10 year old girl and an 8 year old girl. With extensions, it is great for the 10 year old. The 8 year old can handle the work, but it takes her longer and seems to be a lot of writing at times. My personal opinion is that this program would be just right for her next year, when she is 9 and in 4th grade. In fact, I am going to move my 10 year old to CTC next year (she will be 11), but am thinking I will back my then 9 year old down to Bigger. I personally feel that CTC is more appropriate for 5th grade. Just my thoughts, you know your children best!
Brenda

[inHistiming]

Bigger... is perfect as is for 8-9 year olds in my opinion, and it is easily combined with older kids using the extension pack. Both my children thoroughly enjoyed the program! This year we are separating the two, for various reasons...mostly because I feel my daughter needs more 'mom' time and my son will do well with the extra challenge of CTC. However, since we've received our books, he has read portions of the Preparing...books and he is really enjoying those too. Anyway, I guess my point is that you could do Preparing... with both, if you feel you have the time to give 'extra' help to the twins as needed, or you could combine in Bigger... which may be just right for them and it would work really well for your older child too. Several options, just a matter of what you think is best.

[my3sons]

You are getting excellent advice here already! Since age is only one determining factor in placement, I'd encourage you to study the placement chart for each of your dc separately first, and then with the thought in mind that you'd like to combine. When combining, I think it's easier to use a younger program and extend than it is to use an older program and modify "down" for a younger child, but that's just my opinion. HOD makes it easy to combine and many families do this successfully in many different ways.

In Christ,
Julie

[water2wine]

I have not yet. I am using it with 10 year olds and a 12 year old that has learning delays. I had planned for my youngest to hit at 7 and tuns 8 half way through. She is 5 now and really reads well for her age. Spells almost at the level she reads. She is about to go into Singapore 1 B and I believe we might need to maybe slow down a bit with that, just waiting to hit that spot she gets stuck. But I am really thinking now that I will slow down Bigger and come into things a little bit later. Even though she is doing well with LA and math it is more than that. It's just a more grown up program than I think she will be ready for perhaps with maturity even if she can do it. And Bigger is really very full it could easily be a year and a half in and of itself. Then Preparing is a jump with the writing and independenceand then looking at CTC and how independent that is, (which we are also doing I am sure my other kids) I am sort of worried I might be putting too much pressure on her to move that fast. The programs really do really progress on skills learned and build on each other so I am seeing the wisdom in holding back a little in our case. I want to make sure that we might maybe get through Preparing modifying it a bit but then when we hit CTC we might be a little over our head. I am going to use the placement chart as our guide and perhaps run Bigger on a 4 day schedule to even things out so that she will end up in Preparing perhaps at 8 and turn 9 while in it. I think it would have been perhaps a bit too young for my other kids but might be perfect for her.

I am not sure any of that helps but just in case wanted to share what I am thinking for my youngest now.

[mamanlait]

We have gone back and forth with using Preparing (vs. Bigger) for my 8.5 year old. Let me explain. She is an excellent reader and capable of doing the writing assignments but she gets bogged down in them sometimes and it takes the joy out of learning for her. We have chosen to use Preparing this year after all (because we were ready to move on from American History and we didn't find the History text terribly engaging - I know others love it, though) but we are doing Preparing at half pace. It is working well but I think half-pace Preparing is still more rigorous than the full-time Bigger we did for the first 8 weeks (and she was reading the Extension Package books as well).

I love Bigger's Bible (the Proverb study is perfect for this age) and so we many times will add this element. We also use the Bigger Math guide because the Singapore Hands-on work is wonderful that Carrie has incorporated. I honestly think Preparing is a real stretch for most 3rd graders (even for my dd who really is advanced in comprehension and writing) but it's doable if you are willing to leave out or shorten the long copywork from Drawing through History and go at your child's pace. I really think the element that MUST be considered is the writing piece (and drawing). This is geared for 4th grade plus and takes your time away from the 4 R's (reading, wRiting, aRithmetic, and Religion). If you feel confident that you don't need as much practice on those basics, then go for it. For us, we are making it work and really enjoying the readings but not getting nearly as much out of the curriculum than if we were to have waited a year (or two) more to use it. I find this frustrating (simply because I'm a box checker and I don't always get the check the boxes The currriculum is wonderful but correct placement seems to be *everything*! I hope this helps!

Amy
DD 8: Preparing
DD 5: LHTH

[my3sons]

PHFHG is a full program, and I agree it is wise to make sure LA skills especially are up to par for it via checking out the placement chart and the first week of plans carefully. Placement is important, though you can fudge on this if needed to best fit your family's overall goals. I guess I think of placement as well worth spending some time contemplating because it will effect us and our dc for an entire year of our lives. Comparing it to swimming lessons - we would not just choose what class to place our dc in for swimming lessons based on their age. That could be detrimental! Instead, we weigh many things... what skills they have in place, what skills they need next to improve, and then other considerations such as time and difficulty come into play. Throwing a child into a curriculum that is way over their head can be like putting them in swimming class that is way over their head and causing them to flail and ultimately "sink". Likewise, choosing a class that it way to easy could cause dc to be hanging out in the shallow end of the pool, standing around twiddling their thumbs - same deal with choosing a curriculum that is way to easy. BUT, IMHO, choosing a swimming class that is a bit too easy has less detrimental effects than choosing a swimming class that is way too hard. LIkewise, choosing a curriculum that is a bit too easy has less detrimental effects than choosing a curriculum that is way too hard. So, taking time to study the Placement Chart and the first week of plans, talking it over with ladies here on the board, praying about it - are all important decisions when choosing any program for our dc.

In Christ,
Julie

[juliekay]

Hello & welcome to HOD!

We are currently using Preparing with an 8 y.o. All of the material is wonderful and we LOVE it! However, he is my youngest in this program and for him we just cannot keep up with the actual written pace of the program. I agree with the previous posters: See where you kiddos fall on the readiness chart and go with that program. I'm thinking Bigger would be a better for all of your kiddos. (We did that one last year - our 1st year with HOD!) IF you choose to go ahead with Preparing anyway - you may want to do it at 1/2 speed.