heartofdakota.com

I have a question about combining HOD guides with multiple children.

I have a 6, 4, 2, and 8 mo old; boy, boy, girl, boy. They all have June b-days, so will be 7, 5, 3, and 1 in a few months. The 6 y/o is doing Beyond right now and it's going great and doing the Singapore 1A and 1B. He'll be ready for DITHOR next year and Singapore 2A and 2B. The 4 y/o would be doing LHFHG next year; we have already started the K math because he wanted to and also started phonics.

I'm pre-thinking about 3+ years in advance and wonder how I can do 3 books....or even 4 books at a time .... and wondering if there is a way to start looping the 2 older together, and then the 2 younger together (eventually)? Is this even doable given where they are currently at? I'm not opposed to having the 6 y/o "re-do" the Beyond book next year {with the 2A/2B math and DITHOR}, but that would mean the 4 y/o would skip LHFHG. And then the following year we'd have to go to Bigger, but the younger of the two will only be 6, and the older one 8 and the Bigger manual age range is 7-9.

Do you have any thoughts about this? If the answer is that I just need to make all the books work at once, I'm not opposed to that, and will work on a schedule to make that work -- just want to make sure there's not something blantantly obvious that I'm missing in looping the kids together. Thanks!!

You could wait and not start the 4yo until the next one is ready to start, therefore combining those two.

But really, if they are placed correctly, doing 3 guides or more isn't really hard. My kids are all roughly two years apart and they are separate in abilities as well, and it would take a LOT of work to combine them. Right now I'm doing three guides, and will be adding in LHTH in a few months. It really isn't very hard. The hard part is getting them to stop what they are doing when it's time for them to do school.... and that would be an issue no matter what guide they were using.

We are in Bigger right now, having done all of the guides previous. A couple of thoughts, I would not have a 6 yr old in Bigger unless they were just turning 7 and then it would very much depend on the child. I also would not want to repeat Beyond with a child - I repeated LHTH (1st guide) with my youngest and I wouldn't repeat beyond that guide. I will say, based on my own experience it is way to early to know what you might be able to do with your younger 2. My sons are 19 months apart, but they are miles apart in their education (LHFHG and Bigger). If your oldest is doing Beyond with no problems and your next oldest will just be turning 5, I don't really see how you can combine them reasonably. I was looking at your middle two to see if they could combine, but I still ended up with the almost 3 yr old getting into a guide way too early. I think your best bet is to place the two oldest in separate guides and wait to see how it plays out with your younger two. If your children are placed correctly it is much easier in the end than trying to do major tweaks with combing. You might check the placement chart to see if your almost 5 yr old would be fine in Little Hearts or if you would want to do LHTH first. http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

I'm in the same boat except for the baby. My girls will be 7,5,and 3 this coming fall. I'm going ahead and doing three guides (Bigger, Littler Hearts, and Little Hands). I know it seems ambitious, but I think it will be easier to work out the kinks now when things are simpler. I already have a chart made up for each kid so I can track completing each subject. For me personally, I don't like the idea of combining guides. I know a lot do it and it works for them, but I prefer keeping them separate. I agree with the previous poster that you'll probably have to wait to see what your younger kids are like to see what will work for them. I'm a planner too, so I totally understand thinking ahead. I've already bought everything for Bigger next year and I can't help but look ahead to Preparing! We're only in week 21 of Beyond

Thank you so much, ladies for your responses! You have confirmed for me what I was thinking -- just keep moving ahead, as scheduled and as the kids are ready. If the kids are properly placed, 3 guides will be okay. I really appreciate this board; it's my first time posting, and it's been such a positive experience!! Thanks again, and God bless!