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We're still considering and talking about coming back to HOD. My children enjoy the unit study approach, but my oldest dd is very independent. However my 2nd child has some learning troubles and it'd be best to keep him at a different level.

So, we're throwing around a couple of ideas:

Putting oldest dd (she'll be in 5th grade next year) into Creation to Christ, but have her do it independently (is this possible?)

or

Putting the oldest and the then 3rd grader into Bigger Hearts for His Glory.

My only concern with this, is that my oldest dd will not complete the history cycle by high school, which is what I thought was the goal of chronological history.

But am I wrong with this? Does it matter if she doesn't complete the cycle by high school?

Should I just go ahead and let her do CtC independently?

AboveRubiesMama wrote:We're still considering and talking about coming back to HOD. My children enjoy the unit study approach, but my oldest dd is very independent. However my 2nd child has some learning troubles and it'd be best to keep him at a different level.

So, we're throwing around a couple of ideas:

Putting oldest dd (she'll be in 5th grade next year) into Creation to Christ, but have her do it independently (is this possible?)

or

Putting the oldest and the then 3rd grader into Bigger Hearts for His Glory.

My only concern with this, is that my oldest dd will not complete the history cycle by high school, which is what I thought was the goal of chronological history.

But am I wrong with this? Does it matter if she doesn't complete the cycle by high school?

Should I just go ahead and let her do CtC independently?

CtC from what I understand is meant to be done mostly by the child, so it is more of an independent program.

With regards about where to place your child, you would need to look at HOD's placement chart. You can find it here http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

My 3rd grader who will be 9 in 7 days just started Beyond because that's where he placed. My two boys 10 and 11 will start Preparing in Jan. again that is where they placed.

You want to place your child where they are at in the areas of writing, reading, narration, and dictation, not the history cycle. Writing and reading are very important when placing your child.

HTH a little, hopefully someone with more HOD experiance will jump in.

Blessings,
Linda,.,

DD 9 (who will be in 5th grade) places somewhere between CtC and RtR, while DS 7 (who will be in 3rd grade) places somewhere between Beyond and Bigger.

Based on what you've shared, I'd probably go with Beyond and CTC then. We did these 2 guides at the same time and enjoyed it very much! By doing the guides that your dc are ready for, you'll be on your way to them being able to be more independent successfully - a goal you'd mentioned. To help my ds be successful with the "I" (independent) boxes in CTC, I sat right by his side for the first few weeks and carefully trained him how to go about doing those boxes. It was important for him to use the CTC manual as his student planner, read from it himself, and check off the boxes as he completed them. I also helped him get started off on the right foot for the "S" (semi-independent boxes), and I was available if he needed help finishing them out. I did my "T" boxes each day, as well as checking his work regularly. With these training tools in place, Wyatt was able to be quite independent with CTC very successfully. As far as keeping the time to 4 hours, I found it important to clip along, not elongate follow-ups or assignment by asking more of my own questions or adding more of my own project ideas, and finally - it was most important not to be adding things to the day for him to do for school that were not part of HOD. Here is a link to CTC's first week of plans, so you can read through the "I" boxes and "S" boxes to see if your child is ready to do that work independently and semi-independently (with some brief initial training)...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/CTC-First-Week.pdf

If you find yourself thinking that your child is very capable of doing these boxes independently, then CTC should be able to be done independently in the areas it is intended. If you find yourself thinking that your child would need quite a bit of assistance from you to be able to follow and complete the directions and assignments in the "I" boxes, then you may want to move down 1 guide in order to help the child to be able to be more ready for the independence the next year.

Beyond is a wonderful guide as well, and it will not be difficult to teach the 2 guides simultaneously with a little training and a plan for the flow of the day. Which areas did your child fit in Bigger Hearts? It is easy to use pieces of Bigger Heart's LA and math alongside Beyond to up those areas if needed. A lot of ladies on this board do so and enjoy that ability to customize these areas. But, what are your thoughts about this? I'd love to know! We've loved HOD. It has made homeschooling a joy in our home. I'm glad your dc will get to enjoy it too.

HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

From what you've shared so far, I would also lean toward Beyond and CTC. If you have other questions about how this would look, feel free to ask away!

Blessings,
Carrie