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Hi all. I've been planning out our next homeschool year and researching HOD for the last few weeks. I love what I see of the curriculum and "think" it would be a wonderful fit for us, but I'm torn about how to place my kids.

Next September, my daughter will be 9 and in 4th grade. My son will be 6 and in 1st grade. I've spent considerable time looking at the placement chart, and ideally me son would be doing Beyond and my daughter would be doing Preparing. But.... I don't know if I'm up to doing two separate programs. Would it be ok to put both of them in Bigger? My daughter is advanced in her language arts and math skills. She loves to read and reads independently very well. For grammar this year she is doing First Language Lessons, Level 3. I'd like to see her work on more formal writing skills, and it looks like there is more of that in Preparing and not so much in Bigger. My son is finishing up Kindergarten now and is right where he should be. He's reading easy readers independently and his handwriting is atrocious. He has a good attention span for sitting and listening to me read to him, but very limited attention span when it comes to cutting, coloring, holding a pencil, really anything that requires focus and fine motor coordination, excluding Legos of course!

I also have a three year old and one year old, so it can get a little crazy around here. I don't have a lot of uninterrupted time for sitting and reading with the older two. Combining the two older kids and doing one program would cut back on the time I am reading out loud to them - right? Is Bigger going to be enough for my daughter? Will it be too much for my son? I'm concerned that I will misplace both of them by putting them in the same program! If doing separate programs is really what will make the program successful for us, then I'm sure some of you wonderful ladies will help me figure out how to do just that!

I'm doing Preparing and Beyond right now together... it's really not that much time... All the teacher intensive parts of Preparing take about an hour or an hour and a half for us, then she goes off and finishes up the semi-ind and the independent work. For Beyond (especially if you are doing Emerging readers instead of phonics) it really doesn't take that long. I save the things for last that dd might want to spend longer on and get done with the stuff that she wants to get done with. My part in that takes maybe an hour... 1.5 hours on a day where she's not really in the mood Doing both of them takes me 3 hours, max... and that's with adding in my 5yo who is doing LHFHG half speed.

I might say, if your ds isn't big on writing and fine motor skills, maybe put him in LHFHG instead of Beyond? It's a really good first grade program, and I feel Beyond is even better for 2nd grade than for 1st. You could DEFINITELY get LHFHG in during the time that your oldest is doing her independent work! It's not TOO much sitting still, a lot of fun, and great prep for fine motor skills needed in Beyond.

Thank you so much for your input! Do the time requirements that you listed include doing math with your kiddos? I have been using Rightstart math from the beginning with the kids, and plan on sticking with it since it is working well for us. Math takes 30-45 minutes per day per child. How much additional time would be required for Beyond and Preparing? Also, if I did two programs, would I be doing two different art projects every week?

I've looked at Little Hearts for his Glory, but it seems a little young for my son. The Rod and Staff fine motor skills books he already did last year and enjoyed them at the time. He turns 7 in December, so he will be an older 1st grader. My daughter turns 9 in August, so she will be a younger 4th grader, but is advanced in many areas for her age.

Another point to consider is that my oldest did Story of the World 1 last year and is doing Volume 2 this year, taking us through the Middle Ages. I feel like she would benefit from her own country's history at this point and it looks like Bigger has a wonderful lineup of books for American History. If I do Preparing with her in the fall, I feel like I may need to take the summer and do American History with her.

purpleshells wrote:Thank you so much for your input! Do the time requirements that you listed include doing math with your kiddos? I have been using Rightstart math from the beginning with the kids, and plan on sticking with it since it is working well for us. Math takes 30-45 minutes per day per child. How much additional time would be required for Beyond and Preparing? Also, if I did two programs, would I be doing two different art projects every week?

I've looked at Little Hearts for his Glory, but it seems a little young for my son. The Rod and Staff fine motor skills books he already did last year and enjoyed them at the time. He turns 7 in December, so he will be an older 1st grader. My daughter turns 9 in August, so she will be a younger 4th grader, but is advanced in many areas for her age.

Another point to consider is that my oldest did Story of the World 1 last year and is doing Volume 2 this year, taking us through the Middle Ages. I feel like she would benefit from her own country's history at this point and it looks like Bigger has a wonderful lineup of books for American History. If I do Preparing with her in the fall, I feel like I may need to take the summer and do American History with her.

You can use Little Hearts with first grade options, which includes a grade 1 handwriting book and grade 1 fine motor skills book. The time allotments in HOD includes math-the way HOD uses Singapore, I believe math in the Little Hearts or Beyond guide takes about 15 to 20 minutes a day, so you would be adding anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes a day by keeping hte math you are currently using. If you chose to switch to Singapore and used the 1A/1B math with Little Hearts, it is great to get the Beyond guide to have the great hands-on activities for 1A/1B. If you go with Beyond, it also can make a great first grade program and has everything you need, including handwriting practice by way of copywork

We did Beyond and PHFHG together as well and found it very enjoyable! As another poster said, while one your PHFHG is finishing independent work, you can teach Beyond. I'd plan on adding 20 minutes each day for your math, as that substitution takes longer. We are doing RevtoRev right now, and it has a fair amount of American history in it. However, you could have your dd read the two Eggleston books this summer for some exposure to American history. They are excellent books! We are loving PHFHG right now. It is such a neat guide. We enjoyed Beyond too - I think this sounds like a good plan for your dc. HOD continues to be an incredible blessing for us. May it be a blessing in your home as well. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

We use Rightstart Math also, and it is going great! However, I time how long it takes and for my older daughter (in level C) we stop after 30 minutes no matter what (my younger daughter does 15 min. of math). It helps math to not take too long. We pick up the next day where we left off. A Rightstart math rep. suggested that this was a great way to do it! Just a thought...