5 kids, multiple guides...

[brla]

We just started using HOD this year and are liking it. My girls are 6th grade and in Res. to Res, 3rd grader and 1st grader in BLHFHG, and pre-k in LHTH.

BUT, my 3rd grader should have been in Bigger and I put him with his brother in Beyond to keep from using 4 different guides and because the 1st grader couldn't have handled Bigger. I've added several things to the program to beef it up for him and am allowing him to do research on any of the history topics that interest him. So far he's satisfied. But this is going to throw off our plan for him long-term.

So, if I had to skip a program, which one Bigger or Preparing? And should I skip next year for him? If I keep them together, then he'll be in 9th grade doing MTMM (which I know it will support, it just throws us off for our high school plans). Otherwise, I can just keep them together and see what happens? I'm not sure I want to do 4 guides at once, but if that's what it takes...

[pjdobro]

I really don't think I would skip Bigger or Preparing. There are so many skills in both that I think it would be difficult to bypass either. I'm thinking it would be better to keep them together and just let your ds do MTMM in 9th grade. That's probably not what you wanted to hear, but I can't imagine skipping any of the guides.

[countrymom]

I am in Bigger and have already been pouring over Preparing, which we already have, and I would not skip either of those. There are too many skills in each guide and Preparing also starts to slowly lead the child into independent work. If he is accurately placed I would just continue as is. If he solidly places in Bigger I would probably make the move now while your youngest is in LHTH, which is a short program to run. The other thing to keep in mind is your oldest already has a lot of independent work, and when your middle hits Preparing he will start to do some semi and independent work. With proper scheduling I think the 4 guides would be doable. You would be pretty busy next year, then it would start to level off.

[netpea]

How is your 1st grader doing with Beyond, is (s)he well placed? And your 3rd grader, is he placing solidly in Bigger on the placement chart? You mentioned he is researching topics on his own, so I'm wondering if he already places in Preparing? knowing where he places on the chart would make a difference in what my advice would be.

[MomtoJGJE]

I was also thinking that knowing where he would place on his own, without regard to content, would help make the decision I think.

What I would probably do in your situation is get the history books from Bigger and just read them for fun. And I'd go ahead and put the 3rd grader in Preparing. I think Preparing is a good year to "start off" in because it teaches everything you need to know to do each section, plus it's starting independent work.

Four guides is not hard to run. In a few years I'll be doing 5 guides and I really don't think that will be terribly difficult either. Right now we are halfway through Preparing, finishing up Beyond, about 1/3 into LHFHG, and fitting LHTH in when we need to (when the 3yo gets mad that she hasn't done school in a few days so probably 2-3 times a week, which will bump up to 4 times a week in the spring.)

[brla]

Well, according to the placement chart, he places solidly in preparing. However, he's never had american history. That played a deciding factor into the decision to put him in with his brother. He's using Teaching Textbooks 3 for math, Essentials in Writing 3 for Grammar, Spelling Workout C for spelling (he likes this, so he uses it). We also add Studying Gods Word (CLP) for all of our kids regardless of what's in the HOD guide (we do both).

In an effort to reach our 1000 hours required here in Missouri, we have added more science (he's doing Answers in Genesis science plus what's in the guide). He's also reading ALL of the required books in the alternative schedule of readers (I found on the Yahoo Group). I have him do a short 1 page book summary (fill in the blank) for a book a week. He just finished Floss.

So, He's able to do independent work, but he really likes working with me. I think he needs that extra reassurance as well. So, maybe it's ok for it to be a little easy this year. Maybe we can do the extension packs for him once we get to Bigger to add more for him? He'll be 9 on September 23rd.

I don't mind not using all of the guide as written for him. I am fine with putting other things in those boxes for him and then using as written for the 7.5 year old (8 in May). We've been using the left side of the page as written and the right side we modify as we need - doing the language arts box plus the extra Language arts I have for him, Story time box we do most things, the reading choices box I have him reading the emerging readers and the alternative emerging readers for comprehension even though they are easy for him to read, we don't pay any attention to the Math box for him since he has his own math program.

I've never seen the guides for Bigger and Preparing, so I'm not sure what he'll be getting there. Just by looking at the catalog, though,he's already read almost all of the read-alouds for Bigger and several of the ones in the extension pack.

My 7.5 year old is PERFECTly placed in Beyond. So, I know we did the right thing with him. The 6th grade girls are also perfectly placed in Res to Ref. The Pre-k, well he wants to do more, but he's not ready and I'm not either. I just let him listen in with everyone else and am working on activity boxes for him to use only for school time. It's just my 3rd grader...I don't want to short-change him but I don't want to overwhelm him either.

[netpea]

I think if your 3rd grader places solidly in Preparing then I would seriously think about putting him there. I know you are beefing up Beyond for him, but you mentioned he has already gone through most of the books from Bigger and the extensions. Preparing only has two I boxes, so he would still get that cuddle up time with you reading the history and storytime selections.

[happyhome]

Just to give my experience- it may not be yours. Last year I did Beyond with my 1st and 3rd grader. It was fine, but I constantly had to add reading- mostly historical fiction and we did Apologia Science. My 3rd grader did extra writing in co-op and speech class and in our curriculum and we also used the 3rd grade choices for language arts and math. What I found was by the end of the year my 1st grader was so frustrated and felt hurried along while my 3rd grader was constantly asking for me to read more of the history, etc. This year I have had my older do Preparing and it has been a perfect fit. My now 2nd grader I have spent the first part of the year doing a sort of Beyond review, using classic poems, storytime and science reading, focusing on copywork and narration-along with math, language arts just to let her easeback into school. I plan to start Bigger half speed in a couple of weeks. If I had to do it all over, I would definately have placed them in Beyond- going slowly when we needed to and probably Preparing. But at the time I was trying to make life easier as we have six kids. My advice would be to make the changes now because you will need to in the future.

[keyjoh]

My advice would be to make the changes now because you will need to in the future.

I totally agree! I only have 3 children and tried to combine my 1st & 3rd grader last year and it was a flop. I saw that really soon I would have to split them up anyway because it just wouldn't work with the older guides. I wanted things to be easier for me and at the same time I was just frustrating my 1st grader--totally not worth it! With that said, I am running 3 guides this year, bigger, little hearts and lhth and things are going ok so far.

[brla]

ok. Well, I own most of the Bigger books and just placed a bid for a guide on Ebay. I think I'll go ahead and switch and just run 4 guides. I will have to check out some of the books from the library that we DON't have and I think several of them are public domain books? I'll also have to get the hymns.

So, I guess the next thing is step is scheduling...I'll make a new post =) . Thanks for all of your help!