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I am pretty much settled on HOD for the long haul. We are really enjoying LHFHG this year for K. My DD will be 6 next month. She is an emerging reader, *loves* read alouds, and engages in all the activities in the guide. We are using (and plan to continue using) Spell to Write and Read for phonics/writing/language arts and RightStart for math. Those are the only areas that we stray from the guide.

So I'm wondering what do next year. She will be starting 1st grade in September at 6.5yo. I keep reading that Bigger is challenging and is best for 3rd grade. I have a friend using Beyond for 2nd and she says it is perfect. So...what to do for first grade? I don't want to do LHFHG again. I'm thinking, either start Beyond in September for 1st, then do a year of something that's literature based for 2nd, and wait to start Bigger in 3rd. OR do something literature based for 1st, after we finish LHFGH, then do Beyond for 2nd and Bigger for 3rd. OR we could start Beyond when DD turns 7--February 2013. Then just take it by her birthday each year and not school year.

Another factor is my little DS. He will be 4 in March. His K year will be my DD's second grade year. Our workload will increase a lot that year because I will be getting him officially started with phonics, writing, and math. I would love to combine them eventually, but I am not opposed to using a younger guide for him or adding age appropriate activities for him that correlate with our history, science, and Bible themes.

This advice is coming from one who did leave HOD for a year with one child, primarily because I messed up on placement and did not think things through . My other son has been in HOD since the beginning, and I would not choose an option that would cause me to swing out of HOD for a year again . Two things to keep in mind: 1)the guides are geared so the child grows and adds skills each year, 2) every child is uniquely different in terms of academic readiness, abilities, and maturity. The second reason is one of the many reasons why homeschooling is so great - you can gear your curriculum for your child's abilities. If your dd is progressing well within a guide she should be able to move to the next guide. She would be 7 1/2 when she started Bigger and there are certainly children successfully doing the guide at that age. There are also children with the perfect fit at age 8 or 9. I think the best thing to do is move forward until you come to a point where you feel you need to slow down (which may or may not happen). Then you can always take a new guide at 1/2 speed for awhile to give your dd a chance to settle in and grow some skills. If you take a break, your dd will be 1 year without using the skills that she has learned in the previous guide. That is not to say that she will not be using any of those skills, but HOD is so wisely woven together to build skills according to CM philosophy. We are currently in unit 4 of Bigger at 1/2 speed with my not quite 7 yr old and having a wonderful time. I am going 1/2 speed with him for awhile so he has plenty of time to grow some skills and we don't hit Preparing before age 8. That is my two cents worth, but certainly there are many ways to proceed.

I totally agree with all countrymom said. My dd is currently 5.5 and we're going full speed LHFHG for K. We should finish that up sometime mid to late summer. She'll be turning 6 in April and I had planned to move her into Beyond after finishing Little Hearts. But (of course this all depends on her skills by that time) I will probably go half-speed. That way her 1st grade year hopefully won't be too overwhelming and it will give us plenty of time and opportunity to work on her skills before moving into Bigger. Of course, if she decides she can handle the full load of Beyond at 6 then I'll have to re-group my strategy. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. As stated before, HOD is so flexible and customizable! I am so very thankful that I found it early in our homeschooling journey and I have absolutely no reason to leave it. We will make it work for us and our situations. It is such a blessing!

I will include this too: I've had to let go of standard thinking when it comes to what school looks like, levels, grades, etc. and HOD is helping me do this. By being written for an age range vs. a specific grade I can focus better on my child's specific needs and abilities rather than trying to make him/her fit into a specified mold. So if that means doing the books as written, great! If it means slowing down, that's fine too. If it means adding on, that's totally doable. Have I told you how much I LOVE this program?!

When people ask me what grade my son is in I honestly stare at them with a deer-in-the-headlights look. I want to say, "he's in Beyond." Of course, they won't understand that. But the truth is he doesn't really "fit" into a grade. Some of his skills are 1st, some are 2nd, and some are way ahead. That's what I find so beautiful about HOD. It fits each of my children perfectly.

You could always do some of each year half speed and by the time they get done with Bigger they'll be at the end of 3rd grade Or just do 4 days a week with each guide. I would not do something away from HOD for a whole year. I do take 3-4 week breaks here and there and do something different... maybe something they've been asking about a lot.... or like this past year between T-giving and Christmas we did lapbooks on The Polar Express, Twas the Night before Christmas, and hmm... something else. We've done planets and lighthouses, Magic Treehouse books, etc. to take a break.... but we school year round and do not take extended breaks from school of some sort.

We did Bigger Hearts with both of our sons when they were each 7 yo and found it to be a wonderful placement! My oldest ds did it full-speed ahead for the whole year, and my middle ds did it half-speed for awhile before switching to full-speed. We have great memories of BHFHG with both of them. My oldest is 12 yo and flourishing with RevtoRev right now, and my middle ds is 8 yo and flourishing with PHFHG right now. I would stay the course and enjoy the benefits. Age is one indicator - and one indicator only - to consider for placement. Many times certain skills come to a standstill (or even regress) when dc miss HOD for a year, and backtracking/reteaching is then necessary. The reason there are target age ranges for each of the guides is they can be appropriate for any of those ages, depending on the dc. Beyond is not a first grade program, but rather a program that in general best fits dc ages 6-8, depending on their individual needs (and there are dc happily placed in Beyond at older ages and thriving as well). So, all that to say, I'd not worry about other dc's placements, but rather try to hone in on just your own little sweetie. If she is doing well with LHFHG, she will do well with Beyond. If she did well with Beyond, she will do well with Bigger; and if at any time she needs some time to slow it down for a bit, half-speed works very well. It keeps that continuity of learning going, and we all (child and mom) enjoy the benefits of that then! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie