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Well, where to start? Hmmm.... In the winter of 2009 we purchased LHFHG and LHTH. At the time I had just two boys. Beginning in January 2010 my eldest was working very comfortably in the LHFHG book and the youngest turned out (as suspected) to be just a little too immature for LHTH so it was put on the shelf for "when he was ready". Meanwhile he LOVED tagging along with whatever his big brother was doing in LHFHG. We all LOVED our new HOD guides.

In June 2010 I gave birth to my 3rd son. Along with him came some serious health problems (for me) which led to us enrolling my older two boys in two local private Christian schools two days a week. My eldest (almost 6 now) has been/is attending what is called a Homeschool Center which uses primarily ACE curriculum. He is in a first grade class but working at a second grade level. At first I was overjoyed to find a school with so many positives (I didn't have to completely give up homeschooling, it was Christian based, he could be with peers but still work at his own pace, and best of all, we could afford it!). However, now that I am nearly fully recovered, I'm looking forward to bringing him home fulltime once more and I've been considering what to do when that happens. As I'm looking over the HOD placement chart, my heart is breaking for how much he has missed out on in his time at school and I'm anxious to get him back on track. I just need to get my plan figured out before I can do that. Thus I am assessing where he is at now and trying to figure out where he needs to (re)start with HOD.

While he is continuing to excel in math, I'd say 95% of it has been paper and pencil. Fortunately his learning style does very well with workbooks, but I feel he's missed out on a lot of the "why" and different ways of thinking that I loved about the Singapore math. This was all brought back to me as I had him take two of the Singapore placement tests this morning. I am also wondering if he's been spinning his wheels with busy work. He easily passed the 1A test and although he CAN do everything in the 1B test, I'd say he's only MASTERED about 70% of it because about 30% of it hasn't actually been taught to him in school yet (multiplication, division, borrowing, carrying over, and changing currency (ie. 10 dollar bill for 5 dollar bills)). I *think* those things are meant to be taught by the end of the year, but the frustrating part is that he was well into Singapore 1A back in spring 2010. It seems like after this much time he should be farther along, right??? (Just to clarify, last year he used all ACE curriculum. This year he has traded his ACE Math Paces for Abeka's Arithmetic 1 and is currently on lesson 34. The school suggested the switch for him because they felt he was blasting through the ACE curriculum too quickly and in the Abeka Arithmetic book "there were more lessons than he could possibly complete in a year." I agreed to it because I felt the quality was better than what ACE was providing.)

As for reading, he is quite the little reader. I'm pretty sure he's learned about as much as he could possibly learn phonics-wise. He frequently reads for 30-60 minutes at a time just for fun and he's gotten in trouble more times than I can count for staying up hours past bedtime with a stack of books he's snuck into his bed. He reads things such as the NIV Bible, Amelia Bedelia, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, Toad and Frog, the I Wonder Why series, the Kids Ask series, Step Into Reading books (up to level 4), I Can Read books (up to level 4), nonfiction reference books (i.e. the encyclopedia of butterflies), batman comic books, and more, all independently with only very rarely coming to me for help with tough words (like he finds in the encyclopedia). So zero worries there. However, I think he could use a bit more instruction in the area of comprehension/retention.

As for writing, he is good at constructing sentences, but doesn't much enjoy it. Having to rewrite things for neatness is a constant issue and I only hold him to the standard that "If this were out of context, could I tell what it was supposed to be?". I've been forced to lower my standards to this level due to the incredible amount of busy writing involved in his ACE curriculum. Having him write everything to my preferred level of neatness would just be torturous for us both and he'd fall way behind. (He's required to complete and test in 3 Paces per subject per quarter.) Last year I also had him working on an "Imagination Journal" at home which was basically responses to writing prompts, but this year they keep him so busy with busy work he hasn't had the time for it and there is no creative writing assigned through the school except maybe a journal entry once a month and one book report per quarter (if you can call filling out a form creative writing ). He knows to capitalize proper nouns and the beginning of sentences. He knows to use a/an at appropriate times. He knows to use a question mark, exclamation mark, or period. ... etc. I do find, however, that when creating sentences from his imagination he will often revert to spelling via phonics (in other words, he spells it how it sounds to him and using the phonics rules he remembers).

His science, though God-centered, has been pretty shallow and has included almost no hands-on activities. He has learned surface information about: creation, things like lakes, rivers and oceans, mesas, valleys, and mountains, plant parts, butterfly cycles, and they are currently working on weather and the four seasons. The primary focus of the ACE Paces (aka workbooks) seems to be an increase in science related vocabulary and a heavy emphasis on relating everything back to God. Just now when I asked my son what he was learning in science at school his answer was "Um... reading and writing." When I prompted for more detail, he couldn't give it. I had to double check his book to be sure I was right about them still being in weather and seasons! Unfortunately I think his answer was probably more accurate. I know for a fact he's learned NOTHING about the steps of the scientific method.

His school does not use the ACE Bible Paces (at least my son hasn't been given any). Last year we winged it for the subject of Bible Study. This year we've purchased our own copy of BJU's Bible Truths 4th edition workbook which he is working through on the days he's home (MWF) and which I use as a loose guide for which part of the bible to read that day. I read the Bible aloud to both my older boys (my youngest won't sit still for it and is usually napping anyway). We alternate between our 4 different children's Bibles and when we read the more advanced one I take the time to explain things to my middle one that I think may be worded too high for him. We also occasionally read from and discuss "Big Thoughts For Little People" and "Big Truths For Little Kids", and listen to our "Hide 'Em In Your Heart" CD, all of which were purchased the same time as our original HOD guides. However, he has learned little-to-nothing about biblical history as a whole (only random bible stories I've selected and of course the creation story, but nothing that really ties it all together). Teaching him Bible history was one of the things I was most looking forward to with HOD. He has had no other form of history instruction at all.

His ACE curriculum has no rhymes or poems that I recall and the only "storytimes" are very short (no more than 1 page) stories in the workbook which he is meant to read aloud to me. There are no readings assigned for me to read to him, though of course I still do other readings for fun and at bedtime.

In short, what began as a God-send in a time of need, has now become dramatically disappointing and it's time to move on. The question is, to where?

Using the placement chart, it seems my 6 year old fits perfectly in Bigger for reading, writing, and grammar. However, he seems to score in the upper range of the Singapore math assigned to Beyond. Yet when it comes to just about everything else he is WAY behind! So I'm really not sure which path to take.

(In case you're curious, my middle, now almost 4 yr old, is doing excellently in his Preschool and, after this morning's assessment, seems on par with everything covered by LHTH except the biblical history which I am making a note to start covering at home. I've already been using parts of LHTH on his at home days, but will start putting more emphasis on that section now that it's been brought to my attention. He is a kinesthetic and social learner so the Reggio Emellio style Christian-based school he's attending has really brought out the best in him. As such we've decided to allow him to continue there until he ages out (around June 2013) before bringing him home to get started in HOD full time. And my youngest is just 16mths old so I'm not really doing much of anything except trying to get him to TALK! as opposed to screaming when he wants something. )


And if you've made it through reading all of that, GOD BLESS YOU!!! And thank you so very much for taking the time to help me with this decision!

I'm thinking that it sounds like your 6 yo would thrive with Beyond Little Hearts! We're enjoying it this year with our own level of math and reading and it's going so well. You could either do the last couple Emerging Readers with your son, or just begin DITHOR with him at the 2/3 level. (You'd most likely want to help fill out the student book pages for him as you ease into that.) We're ahead of where the guide is with Singapore, and just have a different tab to keep our place for that. I'm actually usually only doing math 4 days a week with Allison so that we don't move ahead too quickly with it...it gets more difficult soon enough! My oldest switched to Singapore in 3rd grade, and began with 2A. He's on track with HOD's plans to complete all the math - even advanced math - that we'd like to as is. Not behind a bit - so no need to rush.

You could use spelling list 2 in the appendix for spelling practice. Keep in mind that the spelling plans in HOD are meant to help the child learn to visualize the correct spelling of the words and prepare them for dictation as they move along. This is different than the "spell-it-right-the-1st-time-and-you've-mastered-it" approach that most schools use. My little gal has rarely misspelled a word as we've moved along, but by following the plans exactly I can see her gaining in her spelling skills and being ready for studied dictation in the future. Anyway, your sharp little guy may spell the words correctly to, and I just wanted to point out that the spelling plans are still not a waste of time. If you really wanted to move along, you could start studied dictation by getting the Bigger guide as well and using it. BUT, with a 6 yo, I personally would not.

I think you'd love the history and the activities and other subjects that go along with it! There's some science, art, geography. We also LOVE the poetry. My daughter is learning more about good writing that I know will come in handy in the future as she's copying from the poems weekly. And she's VERY proud of her work.

Hopefully that helps some as you think about placement. It sounds like you have a bright little guy to teach. I can tell you from having done Bigger with my oldest, that there will be plenty there to challenge and inspire his bright little mind the following year. I think that's one of my favorite things about HOD's guides. They give my kids so much to think about that is worthy of their thoughts!

Kathleen

Hi Kathleen,

You probably don't remember, but I'm pretty sure we "chatted" back when I was selecting my first guides.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read all that and share your thoughts with me. I was somewhat leaning toward doing Beyond, but concerned that he may find it too easy. He has always been quick to grow bored with things that do not challenge him (something I think has caused some challenges with his current curriculum). And as he is a very bright child, I guess I have a instinctual fear of holding him back and doing him a disservice. On the one hand I don't want to push him too hard or make him grow up too fast, but on the other hand I want him to reach his highest potential in order to be capable of taking advantage of whatever opportunities may appeal to him later in life. Most people don't get to spend their whole lives learning and I want to make sure he gets to make the most of his time, which to me means getting enough of the basics to allow him to successfully explore his interests.

Anyway, the point is, your words make me feel a little better about using Beyond. Also, I think I need to take a closer look at Bigger again as I'm not sure how well he'd take to dictation at this point. I haven't looked through the online samples since purchasing our first guides. I'd forgotten about them till just now. I think I need to take another look at them. That would probably help, right?

Please forgive me, I'd forgotten what a mental overload it can be to figure all this stuff out. I tend to get obsessive about researching major decisions till I've made them and I've been reading about my options for close to three days straight now and I think my brain is ready to go on strike.

He does seem like a very bright child, but I think you will also have to consider the fact that he will be switching from a very different style of learning to something that is not just about him finding a pattern in a book and following it, instead about thinking, remembering, organizing thoughts in his head, and then being able to express them. There would probably be parts of Beyond that are too easy compared to what he has already done. But I am doubting that he will be bored. Maybe if you can talk to him about how this will be different, it's a different type of learning where you and he will be interacting a lot and talking about a lot of things instead of doing pages in workbooks, and I think working through the quality of his writing for example will probably be something you will want to focus on in Beyond, and not move up to Bigger with more writing, dictation, and expecting him to also be able to improve his handwriting (and learn cursive I believe).

Definitely look at the samples and ask more questions here if you have them about each guide.

I should go find this for you, Julie addressed something like this with a woman who had a 5.5 year old boy who was very advanced in LA, writing, spelling, etc.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10295&p=75060

It doesn't all address the same thing you are dealing with, I just like the way Julie talked about that her very bright son needed to just learn how to grow a little in every area each day, how to have a good balanced school day, how to listen, things like that. I thought you might find what she said helpful. Again my thought is from reading your post that it would be good to go into the guide he will be very comfortable and capable in, because of the dramatic change in learning style that he will be experiencing. You can make it harder for him in areas he is ahead in, if you see that being needed when you get into it.

MelInKansas,

You make such a fantastic point! Actually you make several! Like the point about moving on to cursive when he hasn't mastered neat printing yet, the vastly different style of curriculum, the need to readjust to doing school at home with mom full time again instead of part time.... It all makes perfect sense! Reading your post was almost like having an epiphany. I just got this, "Ohhh! Yes! This is exactly what I needed to hear!" Thank you so much for taking the time to read through my lengthy posts (God has not blessed me with brevity ) and taking the time to so thoughtfully respond! I read Julie's reply on that other thread you linked to and it only confirmed what you'd said. Between Julie's post, your post, and (the other) Kathleen's comments, I think I have my answer.

And if that weren't enough, I just spent the last few minutes refreshing my memory on what the Beyond Guide looks like and entails and realized it covers American history - a personal all-time favorite of mine!

Thank you very much!!
Kathleen

Oh! Okay, one last question.

I was just browsing through my LHFHG stuff and again noting what he had covered and what he'd missed out on when an idea popped into my head. I was thinking maybe I could just start him off in LHFHG where he left off, but skip the rhymes, thinking skills, and phonics boxes. That way he could "catch up" with what he missed out on, but .... then I realized we only got through Unit 7 (we were doing 4 days/week) before pregnancy got the better of me. Which would leave me 27 Units/weeks to catch up on and that just seems too long to have him at a "lower" level. The plan is for me to pull him out of his school over winter break and start back with HOD in January, so ideally, I'd like to have him "caught up" by June/July, and preferably I'd like to keep him on a 4 day per week schedule again so we can do field trips on Fridays.

Thoughts? Is it a bad idea to try to catch up? If not, any suggestions on how to do it in my ideal time frame? THANKS!!!

Okay, so I calculated and there are roughly 21 weeks between January and June, taking off 2 weeks for holidays and illness, that leaves me 19 teachable weeks. Leaving out the boxes I think he has covered, I average about 34 boxes per unit that need to be covered which is about 7 boxes per day. I figured out that I won't have enough time to cover every unit he has missed, so I figured out how much I can cover:

I can do 7 boxes per day, 4 days per week, which equals 28 boxes per week. If I do 28 boxes per week for 19 weeks, I'll cover 532 boxes. Divide 532 total boxes by 34 boxes per unit and I can cover 15 units. There are 34 units in the guide. If I subtract 15 from 34, I discover that I need to start with Unit19 in order to reach the end of the guide by June. (Does that math sound right to you?)

Looking at Unit 19 I see it begins with Chapter XVI of The Adventures of Grandfather Frog. Flipping toward the front I see that Grandfather Frog is started Day 1 of Unit 16. Five readings times 3 weeks equals 15 readings he'd miss. To avoid that, I think I'll talk to his teacher about him slowing down his ACE curriculum starting with the new quarter (near the end of October) and using the extra time at home to start the readings and a tasting of other misc. boxes prior to Unit19. That way when we are ready to start with Unit 19 in January, he'll be right on track with the Storytime boxes and will already have some idea of what type of lessons he's looking forward to with HOD. A sort of easing into it, if you will.

Well it's nearly 1 in the morning so I think it's time for even my obsessiveness to give it a rest for the night.

Thanks again for reading and replying. I really do find everyone's responses SO helpful!

Welcome back to HOD! I'm sorry to hear about your illness, but so happy that you are recovering.

I agree with the previous posters about starting out in a lower guide even though your ds is advanced. The physical writing in Bigger would be a huge challenge for a 6 year old and I don't think you would want him to be getting into some of the older guides at such a young age. I was thinking of the Beyond guide as well until I read your last posts saying that you didn't finish out LHFHG. I think you could easily just pick up where you left off in LHFHG but instead of doing phonics and math at that level, do the level that he is at. We used LHFHG as a first grade program, but used a higher level math and reading. Basically we did the right side of LHFHG plus storytime and the left hand side of Beyond minus storytime. I didn't think my dc would like the rhymes at age 6, but they surprised me and loved them. It was one of their favorite parts. We really enjoyed LHFHG and the skills it teaches are a wonderful foundation for future guides, so I don't think I would skip any of it. Just add in the proper level of math and reading to go with it. Then when you have completed LHFHG move into Beyond continuing his math and reading at the level that he is at.

For the area of math, I would get the Beyond guide, use the activities that go along with 1B and start there. Singapore starts to ramp up quite a bit at 2A. So I would make sure that he has a solid foundation before heading into it. He is still way ahead in math. In Singapore they start 1A at age 7 so he is way ahead of that and Singapore is 1/2 to 1 year advanced as far as grade level here in the US. So start him where he places and try not to think about the time you feel you lost.

In reading, I think I would use the emerging readers. Even though he can read Frog and Toad and books like that, it would be beneficial for him to do the comprehension activities that go with the emerging readers. They really help dc with their comprehension. You could start part way through them if he would be too bored with the early ones though my dd could easily read those and I feel she still gained a lot by going through them. We did go at a faster pace through them with her, but went through them completely.

I like your idea of going ahead and starting with LHFHG now. You could do it 3 days a week for now easing back into this way of learning. That is a wonderful plan! It sounds like you have many fun day ahead!

kamariden wrote:Okay, so I calculated and there are roughly 21 weeks between January and June, taking off 2 weeks for holidays and illness, that leaves me 19 teachable weeks. Leaving out the boxes I think he has covered, I average about 34 boxes per unit that need to be covered which is about 7 boxes per day. I figured out that I won't have enough time to cover every unit he has missed, so I figured out how much I can cover:

I can do 7 boxes per day, 4 days per week, which equals 28 boxes per week. If I do 28 boxes per week for 19 weeks, I'll cover 532 boxes. Divide 532 total boxes by 34 boxes per unit and I can cover 15 units. There are 34 units in the guide. If I subtract 15 from 34, I discover that I need to start with Unit19 in order to reach the end of the guide by June. (Does that math sound right to you?)

Looking at Unit 19 I see it begins with Chapter XVI of The Adventures of Grandfather Frog. Flipping toward the front I see that Grandfather Frog is started Day 1 of Unit 16. Five readings times 3 weeks equals 15 readings he'd miss. To avoid that, I think I'll talk to his teacher about him slowing down his ACE curriculum starting with the new quarter (near the end of October) and using the extra time at home to start the readings and a tasting of other misc. boxes prior to Unit19. That way when we are ready to start with Unit 19 in January, he'll be right on track with the Storytime boxes and will already have some idea of what type of lessons he's looking forward to with HOD. A sort of easing into it, if you will.

Well it's nearly 1 in the morning so I think it's time for even my obsessiveness to give it a rest for the night.

Thanks again for reading and replying. I really do find everyone's responses SO helpful!

I think this sounds complicated. Maybe I'm just not understanding what you are doing here. If I was planning to take my child out of school, I wouldn't wait till January, I'd just take him out now and start out either where you left off in LHFHG (unit 8 I think you said) or put him right into Beyond. You could always do LHFHG at a faster pace if you wanted, but I wouldn't skip over any of it, let him fly through it and build up confidence. Then you could run straight into Beyond.

Another option would be to simply read the books from LHFHG to him as bedtime reading until you take him out of school and then just start Beyond.

Just my thoughts. You know your child better than we do.

I think that starting where you left off in LHFHG and just do the Reading about History, Rotating activity and Bible boxes. If he likes rhymes, do them as well. I would just go in order, and if you do more than one day's worth on a particular day, great, if not, that's fine too. It might take 30 min to do all that...longer perhaps on an art day if he enjoys art activities? If an activity is too "young" for him, just discuss it and move on. That's what we do in Beyond if a science activity is one we've already done - we redo it if it was of interest, or just talk about it. Then you'd get to enjoy the content at his speed. The storytime questions are great, so that would be good to fit in, maybe as a lunchtime read-aloud to everyone?

Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful replies. You've all given me a lot to think about.

Regarding our reasons for waiting to January for pulling him out:
1) We don't want to do anything too abrupt. We want him to have time to adjust to the idea and not feel blind-sided. We've already broached the subject with him, and although he started crying at first, the tears stopped when I explained that I'd make a point of arranging playdates with his school friends so he wouldn't have to worry about never seeing them. Then I explained that he'd be getting to do curriculum the same style as what I've been doing for his younger brother at home and I got a little smile. Then I explained that on some days we might even take our school work to the zoo some days and alternate looking at animals and doing school work. I got a big grin and a hug for that! LOL But I still recognize that it will be a huge adjustment for him and I want it to be as easy as possible. Having the last day before winter break be his last day at school will seem more natural, I think, because all his friends will be taking a break from school then, too. Plus then he'll still get to participate in all the holiday activities that he enjoys.
2) We're hoping to start house hunting over the next few months and that alone will be a somewhat scary change for him. I'd like to let him adjust to the idea of the possibility of a new home before having to deal with the reality of a new curriculum and schooling plan.
3) As I mentioned, I think he'll benefit from doing half (ACE) and half (HOD) for a while before jumping into HOD full time.

Basically, I know this will be a major life change for him and I want to make it as gentle as possible, especially given that we may (God willing) be buying a new house and moving within the next 6 months on top of that. Not ideal timing I know, but....


Anyway. As for the rest, I think I'm going to need to mull it over, pray, and talk to hubby. Thanks again, so very much, for taking the time to read and reply. Your comments have all been extremely helpful!

Hi, I also think racing through Little Hearts and skipping parts sounds complicated, and counterproductive. I want to share my experience-My youngest had done half of Bigger and then because of life circumstances, went to public shcool for a year and a half, before I was able to bring her home again. I did Preparing with her at the time, but wished I had just finished Bigger first, because she really hadn't grown much in school. She did all right, but I think she would have adjusted better if I had gone back to Bigger first. I wound of going out of order and finishing the second half of Bigger with Extensions after Preparing It worked okay, but the other way around would have been better She is now in CTC, and after a few weeks in, I think she needs the Extensions
Just to let you know, as bright as your boy is, isn't part of homeschooling enjoying life as a family and letting your child be a kid? I think finishing Little Hearts at 4 or 5 days a week, adding the 1st grade options (instead of the Rod and Staff books and K science and handwriting you would use the Critical thinking Book, the Gr 1 Science, and the Gr 1 handwriting), would be a great introduction back to a relaxed homeschool setting. Don't skip things, even if you think they are "young"-you may be surprised at how much your bright son enjoys them You could also add the Grammar lessons and Math activities from the Beyond guide with Singapore 1A/1B to up the level, as well as the Emerging Readers rather than a phonics program, if he is ready.
One last note-my oldest boy was a super bright kid (still is, lol). Anyway, when he was 4 I pushed him into a "rigorous" "K4" program followed by the corresponding "K5" program. Then 4 more years of "rigorous" textbook-based learning which I put together and planned myself. All I really accomplished was sucking all the joy of learning out of him, and out of teaching for me. When I came to my senses I started doing unit studies and using living books, and we both came alive again. I only wish I had HOD around at the time! HOD is truly rigorous, but in a way that is natural, pleasant, and uses fantastic books and resources.
So my two cents, which you can take with a grain of salt is pick up right where you left off in LHFHG with the adjustments noted above as needed, and enjoy motherhood with all your wonderful little ones! Your bright boy has nothing to lose, but so much to gain

Also I noticed he is almost finished A Beka Arithmetic 1-just wanted to add, children in the country of Singapore start Primary Mathematics 1A at age 7, so don't feel like you have to push him past that, or that he is "behind" in any way, if you think he could use the time to get a strong foundation in concepts with Singapore by starting where he left off in 1A.

Since you aren't pulling out until January, but you have some wiggle room when he is home 3 days a week with you, I would suggest picking up LHFHG where you left off. Doing LHFHG would not make him behind as he fits smack dab in the middle of the age ranges. For his skill level, I would buy the Beyond guide and do the Emerging Readers for the comprehension it will give him as well as for the Singapore 1A and 1B instructions. I would do everything else in Little Hearts as written. If you are having difficulty with handwriting, I would definitely use the fine motor skills 1st grade book and the A Reason for Handwriting A. Even if you are only doing LHFHG 3 days a week when he is off from his school, you will still be making progress and finish by the end of the year. I would not consider LHFHG with a 6yr old boy with ERS from BLHFHG as behind at all. This way you wouldn't have to stress trying to rearrange and change boxes. You would just skip the phonics and math box from LHFHG and replace them with those boxes from BLHFHG and continue smoothly through the guides. When you get to BLHFHG, you would need the Bigger guide for the Singapore Math 2 hands on instructions, but after that you would fit neatly in one guide.
This is what I would do, but you know what will work better for your child and you.

Just to clarify, his Homeschool Center doesn't consider him "off" on the 3 days he is home with me. I am expected to have him complete his ACE/Abeka work at home on those three days as well. Most home days he is working from 9am to 3pm with only a 30 minute break for lunch, although when he really focuses he can get it done between 9 and 12:30 (yet another reason I'm NOT happy with it). Which is why I'm going to speak to his HC teacher on Tuesday (she's not there Mondays) about reducing his "official" workload. It shouldn't be a problem, but if it is we'll have to seriously reconsider pulling him out sooner.

Hubby and I have been talking and praying all night, and we've decided to go with the recommendation to simply start him where he left off with LHFHG and not skip anything, just working straight through till he's finished it. We've decided that it won't do him any harm to slow down and take his time getting used to this new curriculum. He was already using all the 1st Grade things that go with it, so we'll just pick up with all of those where he left off. I'm even thinking of starting him in Singapore 1A where he left off (despite his very easily passing the Singapore test for 1A), because I think it may be easier for him to learn a new style of instruction with tasks he already knows .... if that makes sense.... than to try to learn a new style of instruction AND new tasks at the same time. At least that's my thought for now. If he gets too bored, though, I've already got 1B all set and ready to go at a moments notice. Oh, and we will be purchasing Beyond for the hands on math suggestions. The only thing I haven't completely settled on yet is whether to do the Emergent Readers or the DITHOR. I appreciate the suggestion that the ERS may provide comprehension practice and I'll keep that in mind when looking at the two options. I also appreciated Tidbits info that he would eventually fit back into a single guide. That's something I've always been concerned about simply from an instructor standpoint. And Momof4, thanks SO much for sharing your personal experience! It really helped! I feel a peace about this new plan that I didn't totally feel before, so I think this is the right plan for us.

You have all shared such great comments, advice, and experiences with me. I am truly grateful for your time and effort!
Kathleen