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I am very interested in HOD for my daughter who is 8. She is borderline concerning handwriting with Bigger Hearts and Preparing Hearts when I look at the placement chart, if I were to start now. I don't know if she can handle the amount of writing in Preparing. I am not planning on starting until September, however, when we start our new school year. Here is my quandary: My dd has issues with handwriting, and because of that, she is still at a beginning stage with handwriting/copywork. She cannot do more than 1 sentence of copywork a day at this point. It seems that there is a vision problem, and thankfully I was able to find a children's vision center that takes our insurance and also tests for eye teaming/tracking and does vision therapy. I am hoping that this will resolve the handwriting issue, and she'll take off and be able to advance in amount of writing per day.

All that to say this: We are in a co-op that we absolutely love and continue to participate in. Participating in this co-op puts us on a four-day week of school at home, which is actually working out very well for us. Therefore, PHFHG is a great program for us because it is scheduled as a 4-day. However, with her handwriting and vision issues, I don't want to push her into doing too much and find her overwhelmed to the point of tears. This problem, makes Bigger Hearts a better choice.

So....for the sake of using curriculum that keeps pace with my daughter, and not trying to make her keep pace with a curriculum, do you think it may be possible to start with BHFHG instead of Preparing and condense it down to 4 days instead of 5? This is where I am struggling in making a decision. It really all depends on what her progress looks like between now and late summer. I am interested in any opinions anyone can offer me so that when the time comes, I can make an informed decision. I definitely don't want to push her and then struggle year after year because we started off too advanced to begin with.

Thank you so much for any reply you can offer!

We are using Bigger now and I would not try to condense it into 4 days because it is very meaty as is. However, you can just do it four days a week. There are times of the year when I can only do 4 days due to my work schedule and it works out fine. Many parents do not worry about doing each unit on a Mon - Fri schedule. It will take you longer to finish that way, but you can just pick up where you left off in the fall if you take summer break. Some (including us) find a year around schedule works very well too.

The pp is right. You can do Bigger for 4 days as is and pick up the following week. My dd will be 9 in May and has reading and handwriting issues, mostly due to vision problems and hand-eye coordination. We are in Beyond and probably won't finish that by May, so I plan to finish that in August and then begin Bigger. At this point, I am planning to do 1/2 speed with Bigger. We have activities and field trips with our co-op sometimes, so we just don't do HOD that day and pick up the next. It will take two years to complete Bigger, but I feel I need to give dd more time to focus on the handwriting and reading, which I will try to do, even if we don't do a day of HOD. You know what your dd can handle, so enjoy Bigger and don't worry if you need more than a year to complete it.

That's actually not a bad idea. I'd much rather go at a slower pace now to ensure that writing and reading comprehension are cemented, than race ahead just to pick something for a superficial reason. If she places on the chart at the end of the school year/beginning of summer with Preparing, then I'll go ahead and use it. But if she does not, and is still borderline, then I'll just choose Bigger and we'll make it work. The last thing I want to do is push her to do work she's not ready for, and then see her struggle all the way through because she wasn't placed right to begin with.
Thanks for the advice!

I went through Bigger once and agree with pp's, that it is meaty enough for an 8 year old to do it 4 times a week especially with the writing requirements in the guide and your daughters current challenge with writing. If you do it 4 times a week, you will add 9 weeks to the guide. You can either finish up in the summer or choose to take a break and just continue the next school year! I have learned the beauty of breaks even if it is a short one to get re-energized for the school year ahead.
HTH and success