Help with deciding on which guide to pick!

[anne]

We are going to be a new HOD family next year, and we are so excited to get started! I have 5 wonderful kiddos. My oldest ds will be 12 next year and in the 7th grade. We will be doing Revival to Revolution with him. It looks likes a great fit for where he is.

My middle 2 ds are the one's I'm having trouble placing. I have a 9 yo who is currently in 3rd grade (late birthday), and a 7 yo who is in 2nd. Next year, when we start HOD, they will be in 4th (10 yo) and 3rd (8 yo). I wasn't sure if I should keep the two of them together or split them up. My soon to be 4th grader fits well into the Preparing category, however his younger brother looks to be a better fit in Bigger Hearts for His Glory (or maybe even Beyond). I thought about bringing them both back to Bigger Hearts (or Beyond), and getting the extension package for my 4th grader, however we have been doing MFW the last couple of years, and last year they did the exact same time period that seems to be covered in Bigger. I'm sure the information is covered in a different way, and they love American History, but I'm afraid since the JUST did that they might be a little repetitive. Not that we won't EVER revisit American History...Maybe I worry too much!

My soon to be 3rd grader is not yet comfortable reading independently (although he is improving quickly, and may be by next fall). He struggles greatly with his writing, but is excellent at oral narration, and has wonderful reading comprehension. He LOVES LOVES science and enjoys history. He is one of those kids that remembers EVERYTHING! He does well with grammar, however I usually have to modify the amount of writing we do. He HATES copywork, although he is getting better at it - or at least he is complaining less .

My soon to be 4th grader is reading independently, and has been for awhile. He loves to write. He loves copy work and creative writing. Ironically he struggles with grammar, but he does great when he is just writing on his own. He also LOVES science and history. He can write in cursive and print.

I guess that about sums it up. If anyone has any thoughts on what to do about my middle two boys, I would really appreciate the insight and wisdom. I know the right fit is so important to their success, and my sanity. I didn't know if I should place them both in Bigger (or Beyond) and do extensions with my 4th grader and not worry about it being a repeat year, or if I should try Preparing and modify some of the activities for my 3rd grader, or even have them each in their own guide.

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

Blessings,
Anne
mother of
ds - 11 yrs
ds - 9 yrs
ds - 7 yrs
ds - 3 yrs
dd (aka Princess Smoochie Cheeks) - 22 mos.

[Jennifer-Anne]

I assorted of in the same boat as you. My dc are almost 7 and almost 9. We did mfw Adventures last year and mfw ECC this year and thinking of changing to HOD. I was looking at Bigger Hearts too but worry about repeating the American history part. I will be interested to see what kind of response you get. Both of my kids are independent readers, but my almost 7 year old is still a slow writer.

[lmercon]

The American history in Bigger is covered with a biographical approach. You study important people and their contributions. Students learn the history in the context of the world as it was at the time of these people you are studying. I haven't used MFW to know it that approach is used, but it was wonderful my ds. Children really attach themselves and form a relationship to individuals being studied. Having an American history background would really help your dc better understand the contributions of the key figures and the world in which they lived.

[anne]

Thank you for the added insight into Bigger. The MFW curriculum we used was a combo state study and overview of American history. My kids preferred the history part to the state study, and so we found ourselves focusing on that. It sounds like Bigger would have been perfect for us because almost all we did was look at what time period MFW said to do that particular week, and then I would find lots of great books and biographies at the library on the topic, and we would read. I got to the point where I felt like I was basically doing my own thing and only using MFW as an outline. That's part of what I LOVED about the look of HOD. In looking at the samples, and researching it, I really like the way the books are used. The activities seem so much more in line with what I want to do with my dc. Anyway, we read LOTS of biographies everything from Leif Erikson, to Columbus, to Washington, all the way thru Lincoln, Buffalo Bill, the Wright Brothers, Snowflake Bently, and more! It was so much fun. But I wish I would have known about HOD then, because I feel like the activities would have been such an added benefit. Maybe Bigger would be too much of a repeat for us????? hmmmmm.....

Still TOTALLY open to suggestions!


Anne

[MomtoJGJE]

I don't think it's too much of a repeat. I mean, if you do HOD from the beginning you have Beyond and then Bigger that are both American history.

I think even if you've read some of the books before it would be completely different doing it the way HOD does it.

I would definitely lean with combining them in Bigger with extensions for your older one. Preparing is a LOT of writing.

[anne]

Thanks Lora Beth! I was afraid Preparing might be too much writing for my younger ds. Bless his heart. It's such a struggle...
I appreciate your insight. I did go back and look at the books listed for Bigger, to see how many we had already read. Actually as far and the extension package, there were only a few we had read. Rest would be new. The emergent reader package is another story. We have read all of those books, some multiple times, so I might have to come up with my own selections for that one, but I'm sure if I poke around I can find some good books for my younger ds to read. That would be MUCH easier than adjusting the writing for an entire curriculum...Not to mention, I REALLY don't know if my younger ds would be ready for CtoC the following year. Yikes!
Maybe we will take a closer look at Bigger and see if that would be the better way to go.

Appreciate the help!

[laurapella]

If you have read all of the Emerging Readers, there are supplemental titles listed for each selection in the back of the Bigger guide. No questions...but there are additional books.

Laura

[anne]

Oh wow! That's good to know. I'm sure that would be very helpful when adjusting which books we read... Thanks for the help!