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So we have been doing a little "combining" experiment with our girls in the last two weeks to see how it would work for us. To give you the history: my older daughter (7.5) was struggling in Bigger even half-speed (only with the amount of writing & being easily distracted - everything else was fine), my younger (5.5) was around unit 18 in LHFHG and doing great. Carrie and others suggested placing my older in Beyond, which I bought, but then I just couldn't resist the thought of combining my girls - otherwise they would be only 14 units apart (24 units apart once my older got back to Bigger), and in a year or so I'll probably be starting LHFHG with my son, making us in LHFHG, Beyond, and Bigger! I thought I'd try combining my girls in LHFHG now and taking them through Beyond together after that, when they are in 1st and 3rd grades. Of course I'm continuing the 3Rs for my older daughter at her level, including DITHOR 2/3, dictation and Rod and Staff English 2, all of which are going well.

So here's how it's been working out: combining has been so much fun! My girls love to do their Bible verses together, and doing the same read-alouds (we are adding in selections from the optional literary supplements in LHFHG appendix, plus some short science books - Usborne & others I have or easily located at the library). My older daughter and I are also giving DITHOR the attention it deserves, which we weren't before. And the best of all - we are finished earlier! Yay!

So on the whole we are pretty happy, but there are a few things that give me pause: (1) in about 4 weeks we will hit the lessons in LHFHG that I did with my older daughter last spring & I know these lessons will sound familiar - we still have some of our old projects around the house!(we did most of LHFHG for her K year, but then I switched to something else. We returned to and completed the science and history portion of LHFHG in April and following of her 1st grade year) my younger daughter also participated in all of this last spring - though I'm not sure how much she will remember. (2) my older daughter thinks History for Little Pilgrims and the LHFHG science book are babyish (they seem that way after reading and loving the Eggleston books from Bigger) - but she likes everything else from LHFHG. Both my girls continually beg for more read-alouds.

So I'm torn - for my older daughter's sake I just can't wait to get to Beyond! My younger will be 6 in June - I've looked at Beyond and feel quite sure she could handle it now (or in March - when I think we would start it, if we skipped the end of LHFHG). But LHFHG seems a perfect fit for her now too. And, I'm quite sure I don't want to push her into Bigger at too early of an age. Basically the question is - should I finish out & repeat the last 10 weeks of LHFHG for my older daughter for the sake of my younger, or should I skip ahead to Beyond with my younger for the sake of my older and then do a 4-day week or something to slow them down so that she is 7 when she starts Bigger?

If Bigger is too hard for my younger when we finally get there, could we take it half speed and give my older extensions and still have a good plan for my older? I realize that combining means a less than perfect fit for one or both of my girls. I'm willing to tweak a little, but just trying to find the best fit we can. I saw that some of those combining have kids with an age difference of only 15 or 16 months. My girls are 22 months apart and miles apart in ability right now, but I so long to keep them together at least for some things (Bible, history, science, read-alouds, projects, etc.) - please help me figure out the best way!

I know, Carrie, if you read this, that you suggest combining with the younger in mind & that this would probably mean completing LHFHG this spring, even if it is a "repeat" for my older daughter. But I don't want to unduly penalize my older daughter for the sake of this combining plan - especially if it turns out that down the road it doesn't work out and I want to "uncombine" again. However, I am happy to finish out LHFHG if this is really best for our family.

Sorry for the length of my post!

farmfamily wrote:...Basically the question is - should I finish out & repeat the last 10 weeks of LHFHG for my older daughter for the sake of my younger, or should I skip ahead to Beyond with my younger for the sake of my older and then do a 4-day week or something to slow them down so that she is 7 when she starts Bigger?...

I would definitely finish out the last 10 weeks of LHFHG. It may be the very thing that makes combining your 2 dc for the long haul successful. 10 weeks is a very short amount of time for your older dd to repeat. I would have her take the Chapter Quizzes for "History for Little Pilgrims", and you can add any books you want to for those 10 weeks from the excellent Supplemental list of history books in LHFHG's Appendix. For the science, she can easily further research the science topic for free via the internet or through library books. For example, if the topic is clouds, she can research types of clouds and either orally tell you 5 new things she's discovered, or create her own notebooking page on clouds to share her learning, whichever she would prefer. I would have a 1:1 talk with your older dd about her not acting like the books are babyish for your 5.5 dd's sake especially, as this will tarnish the time together and steal the joy for everyone. Those are just a few ideas I had. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you so much Julie,

It is nice to have a "definite" answer to my question!

I think I will follow your advice. I think repeating Little Hearts bothers me more than it does my daughter. She is having fun with it. She only once told me the two books I mentioned were "babyish" and that was when her sister was not around. She is actually a wonderfully sweet big sister, who is quite sensitive to the younger ones' feelings. She is artistic and a major perfectionist about her own work, but is always ready with praise for the younger ones' attempts to do anything.

However, please reassure me about one thing! I am really afraid that if we combine, my younger daughter may still not be ready for Bigger when we get there, since she will be only just turned 7 (about the same age my older daughter was when we started Bigger this fall). I really think I won't want to slow down to half speed with my older daughter since then she would be repeating the first 10 units of Bigger at half speed (she already did these 10 units at half speed).

So - Julie (and others whose kids are at the young ends of the guides when they do them), what are the chances my younger daughter will be able to successfully do Bigger full speed as a young 7 year old, having completed LHFHG and Beyond? I know I can't count on it, but is it reasonably sure? Are there things I can do to prepare her? If we can't combine for the long haul, then I'm not sure it's worth the less-than-perfect placement for my older daughter right now. One thing's for certain: my younger daughter is not a perfectionist, or so distractible as her sister - she is a "let's get it done" sort of person! But even at this age, she's not terribly fond of writing - though she can do a small amount of copying. On the whole her work in LHFHG is very good in everything she does. She is on Lesson 12 (past halfway) in The Reading Lesson.

The placement of Bigger Hearts for a young 7 yo full-speed depends completely on the child. Full-speed BHFHG at 7 yo was a great placement for my oldest ds - we loved it, and it went great. For my middle ds, at 7 yo, he needed to go half-speed for awhile with Bigger Hearts, and then move to full-speed. He is now 8 1/2 yo and flourishing with full-speed PHFHG. Writing skills make a definite difference. I do think typically girls take to writing more quickly than boys, but of course that is not always the case. Once your dc reach Bigger Hearts, there are extensions for your older dd, and you can always use any of the right side of PHFHG for any LA/math if you want to up those for her, so she will be fine. For your younger dd, I do think you will want to be able to slow down to half-speed if it is what she needs at that time. In most cases, half-speed is best done (in LHFHG on up IMO) for the purpose of helping dc ease into the next guide, as opposed for the purpose of dc taking an entire 2 years to complete one guide. You could easily go half-speed for a few months or so at the start of BHFHG if necessary, without slowing down the pace too much for your older dd, as she will have her extensions anyway. If combining is your goal, this is a good way to achieve it, and I do believe it would work. However, if at any time you see your older dd pulling very far ahead of your younger dd, you can always separate them at that time. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Yes it helps!

Thank you