New here, curious about combining guides for next fall.

[fullhands_fullheart]

Hello!
I have heard great things about HOD on other boards. This is my first year homeschooling and it has been chaotic to say the least. So for next year I am definitely looking into a complete, planned out, teacher guide, Christian curriculum. I have looked at the HOD website and am wondering if I can combine my 3 kids in one guide or if it is too big or a stretch. I was thinking of Preparing being a good fit. Next fall, my kids will be ages 11.5- 6th gr, 9.5-4th gr. , 8 in sept-2nd gr.....and then I will have my pre-k and infant too!

My oldest is a boy who doesn't like to read, he is capable, but tested at the low end of his grade level last year at his school.
My next oldest is a girl, reads above grade level
My current 1st grader is a boy who also is advanced at least 1-2 levels. Definitely above the emerging readers set.

Also.. How does Drawn into The Heart of Reading work? Does it go along with the read alouds already in the HOD teachers guides or does it have its own separate reading list?

Thank u!
Kindra

[Motherjoy]

Preparing would be a great fit for your older two. Preparing is the guide that we started when we switched over to HOD a few years ago, and its our favorite! I don't think it would be a good fit, without lots of tweaking, for your younger guy. He could listen in on history, storytime and bible. Science is scheduled as independant, so you could have the olders do science on their own, and then find another science for him.

What I like best about HOD is the guided transistion from teacher-directed to independant work. It has helped us so much here. I have my three middle boys combined right now, and I'm not sure how that will work as we get to Preparing.

[countrymom]

I agree with the other poster that I wouldn't put your youngest in Preparing, especially just coming into HOD. There is so much in that guide. My oldest has been with HOD since Little Hearts, running the very younger end of the guides. He will turn 8 right as we hit Preparing this March and I am going to stall a bit. He is very bright and reads well, but there is so much more. I can see he needs to grow into it a bit and in retrospect I started him too early. I would seriously consider doing Bigger with your youngest. It is a wonderful program too. DITHOR is not meant to go with the storytime books. You can choose your own books (to match the genres) or you can use the booklists provided by HOD, see link below. Welcome to HOD! You will love it!
http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into.php

[fullhands_fullheart]

Thank you for the replies!

Now for a silly question. If I am teaching out of 2 different guides, how does that look/work? I mean, sitting down and teaching out of 2 guides, 2 levels at once...does it get confusing/overwhelming?
I am asking because right now when we sit down for math time, 3 different levels of Saxon math. Sheesh! Total chaos with all of them needing help and asking questions at once and me trying to go back and forth teaching 3 lessons. I think I need a new system!


Kindra

[pjdobro]

I agree with the other ladies that I think Preparing would be quite a stretch usually for a 2nd grader, even an advanced one. The writing itself would usually be a bit much for one that age. Have you checked the placement chart to see where your dc fit?: http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php That would probably help us advise you better knowing where they place on it. Of course, you are talking starting in the fall and a lot of growth can happen in 6 months time. I guess age wise, they would fall into the Preparing category, but you would need to think about the skills and see how that looks for your dc. I'm thinking that Bigger might be a better option if you really feel that you have to combine all 3. It might be difficult though to beef it up enough for your oldest. I would hesitate to do Bigger and Preparing together your first year. Bigger is the most teacher intensive guide so I think it would be challenging for you to start doing those 2 back to back. Hmm, it's tough to figure out what might be your best option.

As far as doing 2 guides at once, it's all about scheduling. (I have to interject here that I don't have personal experience with this. My two are in one guide so the majority of our work is done together.) What many of the ladies do though is schedule their times in blocks and work with one child while the other is doing something independent and continue rotating through children this way. There is a great thread at the top of the main board about scheduling where many ladies share their different schedules and how they work it all out. Many of the ladies do 2 or more guides, some of them are even running 4 guides at once! So it is very doable to do more than one guide at a time. Many feel that it is easier than trying to combine over a large range of ages. If you haven't read it yet, you might want to read Carries, A series of posts on common questions: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9344 She talks about combining and placement in this thread and gives a lot of food for thought.

Placement is probably the biggest challenge that you'll have with HOD. It can be tough at first to figure out the best placement, but once you do, you'll be all set to go. The hard work will be done. It is open and go so you as the teacher can feel confident and relaxed each day that school is going to get done without hours of prep time. Your dc will be learning valuable skills and gaining knowledge with all things centered around Christ. I still remember my first year of homeschooling, and it was overwhelming. I was really burnt out by January. I then found HOD and it's been much smoother sailing ever since. I think you've come to the right place! Welcome!

[fullhands_fullheart]

Thank you... I have been studying the placement chart. Right now I think my younger would be on the border of Beyond and Bigger. Whereas my older two are between Preparing and CTC. Ugh.. Confusing. Lol

What does it mean sentence diagraming? They have been doing Grammar grades 3and 5. So I am not sure...

[fullhands_fullheart]

Ok, so my will-be 8yr old/2nd grader is on the border of Beyond and Bigger. My will be 4th and 6th graders are between Preparing and Creation (the 6th grader would fit mostly all in Creation with the extention, the 4th grader just lacking in a couple spots putting her under the Preparing category).

I want to combine at least 2 of the kids. I guess I could even take my middle child backwards with the youngest?
Ideas? advice? which 2 programs are easiest to teach together for a newbie?

Thanks!
Kindra

[pjdobro]

I am debating what seems best to me. It sounds like from what you've shared that if you were to place them individually, you would place the youngest in Bigger, the middle in Preparing, and the oldest in CTC, right? I keep going back and forth in my mind as which way to go. I'm thinking of 3 possible scenarios.

First, you could combine the older two in Preparing having the oldest do extensions. This would probably work really well for both of them. Then you could put your youngest in Bigger where he places best. This would probably be great placements for all three of them, but the most teacher time. Bigger is probably the most teacher intensive guide since most of the work is done with the teacher. The history, science, Bible study, poetry, storytime are all read by the teacher and most of the activities are teacher guided as well. This is the year that you work side by side with the student helping them gain the skills that they need to be independent in future guides. It will probably take about 2 to 2 1/2 hours of teacher time leaving only 1/2 to 1 hour of independent time for the student. As the year progresses and everyone settles in to the routine, there will be more and more that the student can do independently. It's possible since your ds is a great reader and already 8, that he would be able to take over reading his science or history himself fairly early on which would help free-up some of your time. Preparing is more independent with the students taking over the science box, having an independent history study box, and quite a few of the activities can be completed independent of the teacher. The teacher time with that guide is more like 1 to 1 1/2 hours each day with the other 2 to 2 1/2 hours being independent.

Second, you could combine your older 2 in Preparing as before but have your younger ds in Beyond. This would be less time intensive for you since Beyond is overall just less time per day. I'm thinking though that Beyond might be too little for your advanced 2nd grader. We did use it as a 2nd grade program using the appropriate levels of math and LA for second grade and my dc loved it. It didn't seem too light and we had really great days so it could work for you too. One of the benefits of choosing this path is that it would allow you to focus more on getting your older two up and running and more independent so that the following year, you could really focus on moving your younger son into independence. This would also give you a year between guides so you wouldn't be doing the same guide two years in a row.

Third, you could combine your 2 younger dc in Bigger having your dd do the extensions. Then you could have your older son do CTC. This might work though I wonder if your dd wouldn't feel challenged enough in Bigger and I wonder how your older ds would be starting in CTC. It's really a meaty guide with quite a bit of reading and writing that is done independently. Some dc have problems with the reading level of the history text. I think it is the first one, Story of the Ancient World, that some have difficulties with just because it is an older style book. My dc haven't had a problem with it, but they both read above grade level and they had already done Preparing before this year. So they already had an understanding of the flow of the history and had mental pegs to hang the information on. I think that has really helped them this year as they study some of the same topics but from a different perspective or more in depth.

Those are some of the combining scenarios that come to my mind. I'm not for sure what would be best for you. Perhaps if you look at the first week of each of the guides that will help. In the guides from Preparing on up, the boxes are listed with T, S, or I in the corner of the box. T indicates this is a box that will require you to teach, so pretty much plan on that box being done all together with you. S means that box is semi-independent. That means that after you've read the instructions together or in the case of grammar or math done the textbook portion, they can do the rest of the activity themselves. So usually about half of the time or less of that box is spent with you. The I boxes, the student does independently. At the first of the year, you may need to answer a question here or there, but for the most part that box is theirs and they will do it without your help. Looking through the first week of plans for each guide to see what would be required of you and what would be required of your dc might help you figure out what would be the best fit for your family. If you need to see the approximate times that each guide takes, it is in the schedule thread on page 10: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2093&start=135 The other thing to ask yourself is how you feel about teaching the same guide 2 years in a row. Some people don't mind, others do. If it's something that bothers you, I wouldn't do option 1. Hopefully some of these thoughts will help you ponder your options more. In the meantime, I'm sure more ladies can offer their ideas as well.

[fullhands_fullheart]

Thank u for the advice and replies. I think I am leaning towards doing Beyond for 2nd grade, with his level of math and grammar, though we may start early since he is almost done with his first grade stuff.

Preparing for the 4th and 6th grader with the extensions. I think that will be an easier combination for me easing into it the first year esp with a new baby coming.


Kindra