Preparing and Creation to Christ

[livedailey]

Hi,
I am looking at my curriculum choices for next year. I have 3 children. My daughter is 11 and will be 12 in the fall. My oldest son is 9 and will be 10 in August and my youngest is 8. He will be 9 in January. We did Bigger Hearts this year but did not finish it; however, I am considering doing Preparing or Creation next year. My daughter is does well independently and they are all excellent readers. I feel I may be holding her back in order to do the guides for all of them. Does anyone have any suggestions? I would greatly appreciate any insight.

[Mumkins]

Did you end up figuring anything out?

[MicheleW]

I am considering doing Preparing or Creation next year

For all of them?

If your 8yo did well with all the skills in Bigger (including writing), I would move on to Preparing. Otherwise, I would finish Bigger and work on any skills he still needs.

Your almost-10yo would probably be fine in Preparing, but I would advise against CTC for him. A 10yo with the solid foundation of skills from Preparing would probably be fine in CTC, but I wouldn't expect a 10yo to do well going from Bigger to CTC. You could add the extension books for him if he is a good reader.

Your almost-12yo could either do Preparing with extenstion, or could possibly skip to CTC if she was way above Bigger. Even still I would expect some difficulties as you start since she didn't have the skills taught in Preparing. I will say, though, that I ended up doing this with my oldest. I had 3 kids combined in Preparing (trying to save money and time), and realized that my oldest was way above this. We finished the year, but the next year I moved him up to RTR. He did great, and by the middle of the year, I had added in the extension set as well. I don't think I would consider skipping a guide with your youngers though. Besides, Preparing is most families' favorite guide. You really don't want to miss out on it!

Good luck.

[my3sons]

Hi livedaily! Age is one consideration in placement, but there are so many other things to weigh. Could you take a peek at the placement chart, especially the first page, and share a bit about each of your dc, especially in the areas of reading, writing, grammar, and math? That would help us give more solid advice tailored to your dc. Also, could you share how each of your dc did with Bigger Hearts, and what they did from it consistently? That may help determine what each should do next. Here is a link to the placement chart...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

I'd be glad to help chat through placement options then, and I know others will chime in too! I'll check back later!
In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Welcome! The ladies are doing a great job of talking over possible options with you. If you have any thoughts to share, we'd love to help.

Blessings,
Carrie

[livedailey]

Thank you so much for your advice on how I could possibly proceed. I am definitely going to finish Bigger with my youngest son since that was a big guide for him and possibly with my 10 yr. old son. I am going to do Preparing with my oldest including the extensions. I am still unsure whether I could do two guides. It would helpful if someone could share their experience on doing more than one guide and how they scheduled their time so that they could work with multiple children. Thanks.

[mom23]

When we switched to running 2 guides in our house it was easier than combining the kids into one...we had fewer attitude problems to deal with (no one was frustrated because things were too hard), no one was getting away with being too lazy . Work was on their level and they enjoyed it more. Our day just flowed smoother, and we didn't add any more time to our school day by having one child work idependently while the other worked with Mom. Stagger start them if you can-get you older one comfortable in running Preparing so that he can do his independent work while you're working with the two in Bigger. It sounds to me like you have a very workable plan!

[momtofive]

It sounds like your developing a great plan here! I really like the idea of separating the older from the younger two, and starting in Preparing the guides start to be much more independent, so that will free up a little more of your teaching time each year.

There is a sticky at the top of the main board that has schedules in it that people have tried, especially when running more than one guide. It's really helpful to read through and get some ideas from what's worked/or not worked for others!

Here's the link: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2093

Just wanted to also encourage you that running more than one guide is totally doable! I'm running three guides this year and a seperate plan for my youngest two kids. Next year, I'll be running five guides, but because of ability levels and ages, it's the better plan than combining would be. That works great for us, and with planning and organizing can be done successfully!

Blessings on your year!