Will there be enough of me to go around?

[FaithfulSteward]

Hi everyone!

This isn't my first year with Heart of Dakota but it is the first year I will have 3 in their own levels. I don't think I can pull it off!! I need another set of eyes to see if I am missing something. If I've already chosen the best path then I need encouragement, scheduling advice or SOMETHING!

My children all place perfectly in their respective levels:

Oldest child will be doing Preparing this year. She will be in 4th grade and has done Bigger so there is no option to move her down. I need to start DITHOR with her because she has not done it yet and it is time.

2nd grader will be doing Bigger Hearts at a slower pace. He has completed LHFHG in K but did not do Beyond this year in 1st grade. I had considered letting him do Beyond for 2nd grade (for my sake) but he places so perfectly in Bigger. It seems like ultimately it will be better to have a child go more slowly through a guide he is placed appropriately in than to have him go full-speed through an easier guide.

Next child will be an older k'er because of her birthday (6 in Oct). She needs to be in LH because she needs phonics instruction and more handwriting work. I briefly considered moving her up to Beyond with 2nd grader but I don't think it would be right for her.

Basically, I am looking at LHFHG, Bigger, Preparing, and DITHOR with other little children in the house. My husband thinks we should just set school hours and get what we can get done with an honest effort. This is wisdom . But I am afraid I am going to be bouncing around like a pinball all morning! Plus, my school-age children will all need to be working diligently on their school work all morning to get it done, so who will be able to play with the babies? I will be in the same place in two more years, and after that, and I am worried about being stretched too thin. I am not organized or a multitasker by nature. It takes a monumental effort for me just to keep things going every day.

[momtofive]

You are very wise to consider your time in teaching your children, and how that will work for you in the day to day! I think that's something that often times gets overlooked and then we are surprised when our best laid plans become overwhelming!

This year we have been doing RTR, Preparing and Bigger. My older who was doing RTR (and now moved on to Rev2Rev) is pretty independent, so his program really wasn't an issue. Preparing and Bigger, however was another story. Now, I don't want to discourage you, because we are proof that it can be done. . . . with a lot of organization. These two guides are wonderful guides, but are fairly teacher intensive. Bigger required more in the way of writing and reading skills, and teacher involvement. Preparing is nice, as the student gradually works toward more independence throughout the year. A really great year for training of skills, which of course, takes time.

You could possibly consider combining your younger two into Beyond. Beyond is such a fun year. Just do the 3r's at each of their levels. You mentioned that your little K'er needs work in phonics and handwriting. You can still work on those things while doing Beyond, but tailoring their assignments to their skill level, not requiring as much writing from this child. When we did Beyond some years ago, it was with a 6 yr. old and an 8 yr. old. It was a fun, confidence building year for my 8 yr. old, and a very good skill building year for my 6 yr. old.

One thing that would help you to have a good start to the year would be having your oldest start Preparing about a week or two ahead of your youngers, just to help them kind of get a feel for how it's all going to go. Then after they are comfortable with what's expected of them each day, you can begin with your younger two. After a week or two, once they are all settled into their new guide, you can begin DITHOR lessons. This would give you a nice space of time to really get to know each guide and how it will work best for you. It also goes a long ways toward not overwhelming you and making a smoother start all around.

Of course, you can do the guides you mentioned earlier, and make it work well for you. I'm only offering a suggestion to consider that might help, timewise, while still meeting everyone's needs. You will know best what will work for your family, better than I, so please just take this as another option!

Blessings as you decide what's best!

[water2wine]

I think Lisa has great advice and I actually did exactly what she said. I held the older one to Beyond and did bigger with a 2nd and 3rd grader the next year. That turned out to be really the absolute best for us. I could focus on other things with my third grader and she still had plenty in Beyond. And Bigger is definitely not lacking anything for older kids with the extensions if you need that. I had 5th graders go through Bigger and be fine for al the programs that came after. It is all about the extensions at that point. There is tons of flexibility in the programs to come but the skills need to be built to get there.
You really want if at all possible to cater to the younger child so those skills can be had rather than having the same guide but you are going at one pace for one and another for the other when they are so close in age. That is really going to be something that is going to plague you forever in the guides to come.

Know this. What you are doing is enough. And spiritually it is more than enough to work with for an older kid coming through the lower guide. When you know that you now have the freedom to teach as the Holy Spirit leads you and address those things that your child really needs individually. That really is the goal of homeschooling in the first place when you think about it. I would hate to see you lose that freedom now and in the guides to come.

In the end you are the only one that has the right answer because you know your children and you know yourself. Just want to say prayerfully consider not letting the fear of is it enough for your older child guide you in a way that will not bring peace ultimately. You can add so much through DITHR to their learning along with Beyond. So just pray and ask God to give you peace in the direction He has for you. I will also say a prayer for you.

[FaithfulSteward]

I so appreciate your advice!

I do like the idea of combining them in Beyond but I don't want to force it, kwim? It seems a shame not to combine them; although they will be k and 2nd grade, they are only 16 months apart in age. They also have personalities which would make them a pleasant pairing for school . My main concern is my kindergartener. She is bright and eager, but she is also a perfectionist and frustrates easily. I want her to have fun! The 2nd grader has been readng for years and just seems light years ahead right now. He has finished the entire Milne series this week (The House at Pooh Corner, etc...) and she is working on cvc words. But I know that in another year when she is up and running that "gap" will narrow. Her narration skills are EXCELLENT and she has been doing first grade math, so perhaps Beyond wouldn't be as much of a stretch. I also agree that Beyond with DITHOR will be plenty for my second grader!

ETA: I am much less stressed to think of doing Beyond/Preparing than three guides!

[Molly]

We have three guides on the go, plus LHTH when we manage to fit it in. I have a bit of a timetable so that the older blossoms can play with my 3yr old while I work with others. It worked really well last year but it did make for four big school days a week. I do a five day unit over four days for my two that are in LHFHG and BHFHG just for ease of keeping it all together. My oldest was in Preparing so still needed a reasonable amount of time. She has just moved to RtR so I'm expecting in the next few weeks to have her time down a bit once she is settled in. I do find often I'm not necessarily needed but they like having me sit next to them. I have made the effort to be with them for their math as I realised too many things were slipping past, so now I'm there things are being understood to a fuller degree and many less mistakes.

Anyway, I pray you find the right answers for your family and things move forward happily for you all.

[mom23]

We're doing Preparing, Beyond, and LHFHG right now at our house. 3 guides is definitely doable if your children are correctly placed! I still think this is easier for me than trying to tweak a guide to fit 2 kids that wouldn't otherwise place there. BTDT.

[StillJulie]

We're doing Preparing, Beyond, and LHFHG right now at our house. 3 guides is definitely doable if your children are correctly placed! I still think this is easier for me than trying to tweak a guide to fit 2 kids that wouldn't otherwise place there. BTDT.

This is my feeling as well. We enjoy having the children in their own guides.

[FaithfulSteward]

Yes, the more I think about it I realize that I really want to keep my little one in LHFHG.

Would it be easier on me to put them in Preparing, Beyond, and LHFHG than Preparing, Bigger (slower pace, 4 days a week) and LHFHG? That would put us in CTC, Bigger, and Beyond the following year. I'm almost certain my little guy will be fairly independent with Bigger at that point.

[twoxcell]

Yes you can do it! I'm doing those three guides right now. My daughters just started Bigger and Little Hearts this week. I did that so we can stick to 4 days a week. They will get in 9 weeks of school before summer break and then finish their guides by the end of next school year. My oldest is in unit 28 of Preparing so next year he will be doing CTC. We only do HOD 4 days a week. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you it is easy, but it is doable and it works for us. In order to get all of the guides done to my satisfaction I set aside the time between 9-3ish for teaching. I go through everyone's seat work first starting with my youngest. The other two work on some things independently while I work with her. I then sit between my 7 an d 9 year old and take turns helping them. The kids get a lunch break after seat work, and then I read to each of them individually and help them finish projects and do any thing else we have left like notebooking, geography, projects, etc. My oldest does DITHR while I read to my daughters and the girls play with my youngest while it isn't their turn. If oldest gets done before his turn he reads to my 3 year old. Anyone who is not doing school at any point during the day helps keep the 3 year old happy. I put out some games, books, workbooks, DVD etc. for them to do with him.

[8arrows]

You all amaze me. I could never pull off that many guides. I vote for Beyond and Preparing. However, you are the mom. You will know best. Whatever your decision, I think your husband's advise is wise. Your title for this post is also wise. I am currently timing everyone on all their subjects to see if there are time-stealers in our day before I place my order for next year. I am trying to make sure that I am consistent in what I tell my children is important as compared to what we are actually spending our time doing, but that is another post.

[farmfamily]

When my oldest was starting 2nd, she was in a similar situation to your upcoming second grader. She placed in Bigger according to placement charts, but had not done Beyond. She read well enough to do DITHR too. I plunged into Bigger with her, while my 5 year-old did LHFHG (we were also running LHTH half speed with a 3 year old). I found that though my 2nd grader could do everything in Bigger, it was a lot of work for her to get through her day. Full speed Bigger with DITHR is very full for a 2nd grader IMO. She had a hard time sitting alone with any writing, and was very distracted by everything little sister was doing in LHFHG (my two girls are very close). I found it exhausting just doing those three guides. We only made it through 10 units of Bigger. Eventually I combined her with her sister who was finishing LHFHG by then.

Other than finding HOD, combining my girls has been the best choice I have made in homeschooling! Even though their abilities are quite different, and they are 22 months apart in age, they do so well together in history, Bible & science. They love being together. Now they are doing Beyond (we are on Unit 28), and we started one month before the younger turned 6. My older one was almost 8 when we started. We beefed things up quite a bit for the older one as you can see in my signature. I bought the Bigger guide and she does most of the 3Rs from in there. Her dictation is from the Preparing guide! I was worried that the writing in Beyond would be too hard for my younger one, but she has done fine with it. I am a little worried that Bigger will be too much for her when we get to it - but if it is we will go 2/3 speed for a bit and my older will do 3Rs full speed plus extensions. I'm not worried about following the school calendar.

Whether combining is best probably depends on a lot of things, including the personalities of the kids and what you can realistically get done. I would say that if your younger one could possibly fit into Beyond, I would try it. It seems like a golden opportunity to combine since no one will be repeating a guide. I would say that Beyond is only a little harder than LHFHG, but Bigger is a big step up. If it doesn't work out it would be easy to split them up...

ETA: I just read your more recent post and saw that you feel your younger is really better placed in LHFHG. If that's definitely the right placement then I suppose you have to go with it. As for the 2nd grader, I would say that if your son is a perfectionist like my daughter is, Beyond is definitely easier than slower -paced Bigger. Bigger has notebooking pages and vocabulary cards - things that took my little perfectionist FOREVER to do! Beyond has been a lot of fun for us...
You could also possibly combine your LHFHG child with the Beyond one just for Bible and Storytime.

[8arrows]

I would say that Beyond is only a little harder than LHFHG, but Bigger is a big step up.
_______________

I would agree.

[mom23]

Yes, the more I think about it I realize that I really want to keep my little one in LHFHG.

Would it be easier on me to put them in Preparing, Beyond, and LHFHG than Preparing, Bigger (slower pace, 4 days a week) and LHFHG? That would put us in CTC, Bigger, and Beyond the following year. I'm almost certain my little guy will be fairly independent with Bigger at that point.

Yes, I think Preparing/Beyond would be easier. Although, with this scenerio, you're looking at Bigger with Preparing in a few years...depending on the situation, you could possibly slow your LHFHG student down to half speed at some point so you may not hit those two guides at the same time. The other option is to go for Preparing and Bigger right now, but run Bigger half speed. That still puts you finishing Bigger at the same point, your child gets the higher work requirements right now (if that's where he/she is placing?), and cuts down on your personal stress and time commitments for this year. In that case, it would probably be a good idea for you to run Bigger half speed this year, and then next when your doing CTC with your older child, you could bump Bigger up to full speed to finish out the guide. That will leave your child well prepared to go on to Preparing's requirements.

Oh, boy! I hope that makes sense to you . I am completely thinking outloud. I guess next time I should organize my thoughts before I start to type!

[water2wine]

I so appreciate your advice!

I do like the idea of combining them in Beyond but I don't want to force it, kwim? It seems a shame not to combine them; although they will be k and 2nd grade, they are only 16 months apart in age. They also have personalities which would make them a pleasant pairing for school . My main concern is my kindergartener. She is bright and eager, but she is also a perfectionist and frustrates easily. I want her to have fun! The 2nd grader has been readng for years and just seems light years ahead right now. He has finished the entire Milne series this week (The House at Pooh Corner, etc...) and she is working on cvc words. But I know that in another year when she is up and running that "gap" will narrow. Her narration skills are EXCELLENT and she has been doing first grade math, so perhaps Beyond wouldn't be as much of a stretch. I also agree that Beyond with DITHOR will be plenty for my second grader!

ETA: I am much less stressed to think of doing Beyond/Preparing than three guides!

Oh my gosh I am so sorry I messed up on the grade levels of your kids. Beyond would be way too much for a K'er.

But I will second the three guides is very doable. We have been doing three for a while now and it works very well as long
as they are all placed properly. Sorry I misunderstood your situation. Once you get the placement correct, three guides
with a good fit is way easier than having them all in a one size fits all program. It seems illogical but believe me it really
is way easier. Sorry I caused confusion.

[momtofive]

Water2wine makes a very good point! I wouldn't do Beyond for a K'er either. Based on your first post, it was my understanding that this was a bit older child as you said they would be 6. When we did Beyond with my children, they were in 3rd and 1st grades, although my daughter was 6, too! So that's where my suggestions came from! Please forgive me for not focusing on the K part of your post and only seeing the 6 yr. old part!

I think it would be wise to place your K'er in LHFHG, and you shouldn't worry about this guide, as it's actually not a very long, time consuming guide. When we did this a few years ago for my little K'er, it usually only took us an hour, or a little over an hour to do each day. This does NOT add much stress to your day. It's a fun introduction to school for your little one, and doesn't stress out a mama! It was always something I looked forward to doing with my little one!

It sounds like your oldest is firmly placed in Preparing Hearts, so all that's left is your next little one. I'd recommend Beyond for this child still, as he hasn't done this guide yet, and it's also a nice skill building guide. All the guides really build well on the one before it, and it would be a difficult jump into full speed Bigger, without Beyond to jump from. Not saying it isn't possible. Bigger is a great guide as well, but does require more skills, and more time from mom to help teach those skills. You can always beef up Beyond to whatever level of reading, math, and grammar/phonics things your child needs. Many here on the board will do one guide for the left side (say the left page of Beyond), and then use the right side of the guide for the "beefed-up" skill level for the 3R's (say, the right side of Bigger). Again, just another thought, as you were concerned about your time as their teacher, and getting everything accomplished each day. This may be another option to consider. It would also put a little space between your older two, and not leave you doing back to back guides each year.

Please remember that none of us walk in your shoes each day, and cannot know what is best for your sweet little ones! God has given you that place, not us. Please take any advice as just that, and always weigh whats best for your family according to what God has placed in your heart for them! I wish you many blessings as you decide what the best path is to take, and that you enjoy learning with your children along the way!