Can you help me figure out how to combine?

[snickelfritz]

I'm probably missing the obvious here.

One of the things that draws me to Heart of Dakota is having the pacing of the language arts and math done for me. It seems to give me the "open and go" program I want, while using the math choice I like and letting me adjust the reading level to the appropriate point. So, if I pick a program that is in between my dd's for them to do together.....how do I keep the language arts and math laid out for each of them?

For the period that I'm ordering for:
dd#1
7 years old; 2nd grade
*currently reading Junie B. Jones level books on her own(labeled as 2.1-2.3 ish)
*currently working through Singapore 1B and doing well. So, Singapore 2 should be appropriate.
*Our current handwriting program has her doing copywork of Bible verses and she does well with that. We haven't done dictation. She would be thrilled to start cursive work.
*Enjoys hearing chapter books and says that she's too old for picture books. However, she seems to stay close for little sisters picture books.
*We're doing an oral grammar program now. I would like her to start in the "Preparing to Build" series. Which I guess I could do on my own, but it gets back to wanting everything paced for me.
*So, I'm torn between Bigger Hearts and Beyond Little Hearts. Our library doesn't carry the main history books to look at. She likes the One Small square series.

dd#2
*older 4/younger 5; kindergarten
*currently working through a very gentle kindergarten program.
*reading beginning Bob books
*handwriting is typical 4 year old
*Loves picture books, but doesn't have much attention span AT ALL for chapter books.
*For her, I would pick Little Hearts for His Glory

So......what do I do? I just don't think I would get BOTH programs done every day. I didn't find where it spelled out how long Bigger Hearts takes a day, but I did find that Little Hearts is about 90 minutes and Beyond little Hearts is 120-150 minutes. So, I really need a way to combine history/science/Bible/etc.... We have an excellent library system, so I can use it to supplement up or down. But, I don't want to HAVE to go to the library every week for school to happen.

[8arrows]

I would order Beyond to combine with and then just order the BIgger manual with the corresponding math and English. Follow the Beyond for everthing except your olders math and English. Use the Bigger guide for that. Two teachers manuals will be used, but not two programs. Clear?

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD Board! This is a good question, with multiple options being possible. One of the many things I love about HOD and this board, is there are many different options available, and I feel one way we can all help each other out on this board is to express our different ideas and hopefully within them, you'll find the one (or a combination of them) that fits your personal goals best.

I am thinking that if you first and foremost want to combine, then I'd have to say to do LHFHG, as I see it being a big stretch for your little one to do Beyond. Beyond has chapter books for Storytime, history readings with fewer pictures, copywork (though that could easily be omitted for her), grammar lessons 1 x a week - for a 4 yo turning 5 that has typical handwriting/reading skills, it would be a stretch to do Beyond, and what concerns me more than that is her doing Bigger Hearts the following year, if she did Beyond this year. So, if you are thinking to combine the 2 of them at this point, I would place them in the left side of LHFHG together, as they are 5 and 7 yo and fit within LHFHG target age ranges, and as this would be a placement that would work well for the years to come. Your older dd could do the right side of Beyond, using the harder spelling list, doing the Emerging Reader's Set (maybe from the middle of the set to the end) and when she finished starting DITHOR 2/3, the 1 x a week grammar lessons, the copywork, the math (there is a schedule for 2A/2B in the Appendix of Beyond), etc. You would know going into this that this year was a year to let your little one catch up some so the 2 of them could then be more easily combined for the years to come. I think this is a plan that could make it very possible for you to happily combine from here on out. Especially as your 2 dd's get to BHFHG on up, as then extensions become available and make it super easy to do this.

When dc are 3 years apart and don't have their 3 R's strongly in place yet, I think combining can be harder. I would always error on the side of choosing a program that was gentler for the older, than one that was way too hard for the younger - as this can result in poor younger child possibly always feeling like school was a struggle, and unable to ever really get the full potential out of a program. I am speaking from years of seeing someone close to me go through this. So, just know that is where I am coming from with this advice, as I realize opinions vary on this for good reason.

If you were able to see yourself doing 2 programs, I would place your oldest dd in either Beyond or Bigger Hearts, depending on the rigor you want for her there, and placing your younger dd in LHFHG. I think you could do LHFHG half-speed with younger dd, doing the left side of the plans one day, and the right side the next day, but keeping phonics daily. This would take you only 45 minutes with the younger dd, and your older dd would need about 2 hours to do Beyond or about 3 hours to do Bigger Hearts (times for older dd are reflective of once she gets in a rhythm with it).

Only you can know what fits your family best, but those are a few thoughts I had to share. Prayer is always the best help in making decisions, so I've said a prayer for you - keep asking questions here until you come to a decision you have peace about.

In Christ,
Julie

[snickelfritz]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I've got all of the info and sample weeks printed for the 3 programs in question. So, I'm going to look through them and try to live with them a bit.

I'm going to have to think on whether I could attempt both programs. Going half speed on the younger one's might be the way to do that.

I am hesitant to slow the older one down too much (at least, when it comes to language arts and math....I'm not so concerned about the history or science being too easy), to keep her completely with the younger one. While, at the same time, I don't want to speed the younger one up so much that she's frustrated.

[Carrie]

snicklefritz,

The ladies are doing a great job of tossing around options with you. A couple of other options that may work would be to do both LHFHG and Bigger Hearts at half-speed. This would cut down on your teaching time and give you a way to meet both of their needs where they are at right now. Here's a link to a post where I mention one possible way to do Bigger Hearts at half-speed. Link: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5431

Another option would be to do LHFHG at full-speed with your younger one (to really get her moving along in the hopes that she could join big sister the following year). You could then do big sister at half-speed in Beyond and have her join in on LHFHG in any areas in which she's interested. So, by the end of their year little sister would be through LHFHG and big sister would be halfway through Beyond. Then, the following year, little sister could join big sister in finishing Beyond at half-speed. Then, they'd be the right ages to head into Bigger Hearts. This plan only works if you don't mind slowing big sister down a bit in history (and likely adding to the science on the second year in Beyond), while hustling little sister along in her progress in the 3R's to join big sis.

You could also do both in LHFHG for a year instead, adding a few portions from the Bigger Hearts guide for your older daughter (like Cheerful Cursive, Rod and Staff English 2, 2A/2B for math, dictation or spelling list 2, and the emerging reader's set from the Appendix of Bigger). You could beef up history from LHFHG by adding some of the supplemental titles from the Appendix of LHFHG and also adding some additional science reading for your older daughter too).

Anyway, some other thoughts.

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

Hi there! I was just checking back in on this and wondering how it's going, or if you had some questions we could ponder together that may help you figure out what placement you'd like best? We all like to throw around some ideas here, but you'll know what fits you best. I'd love to hear back from you if you get the chance!

In Christ,
Julie