Combining for 6 & 8 Yo's

[stawnasalas]

I am already thinking of next year for my 6 and 8 yr olds, lol. This yr they are doing Bigger and Little Hearts now, so each will move up to the next level next year. How can I combine without having the older one repeat what she learned in Beyond? I am doing 3 separate guides this year (i also have a 10 yo) and just really think it would be easier if I tried to combine the younger 2 in maybe History and Science? Is that even possible?

[countrymom]

If both your children seem to be properly placed your easiest course for next year is probably just to keep them in separate guides. Having a child properly placed in a HOD guide can actually be easier than trying to modify something for that child. I can't really think how you would combine them next year without duplicating for the older. Keep in mind that your 10 yr old will continue to become more independent, and your 8 yr old will have some semi-independent and independent boxes in Preparing next year, so with a thought out schedule it should work for you.

[holdinon]

You actually have a great set-up with currently doing CtC, Bigger, and Little Hearts. Moving up to RtR, Preparing, and Beyond next year is very doable. I don't know if your oldest was in HOD prior to CtC and completed Bigger and/or Preparing, but it may help you to know that Bigger is the most teacher intensive guides of all. Sure, as the guides go up, the skills and content gets harder, but Bigger is the year that they are being taught a LOT of skills to be able to move into more independence. Preparing (after the initial intro stage) will actually take LESS of your time than Bigger. So assuming your dd in Bigger this year is doing well, she will need you less than this year. Beyond is slightly more teaching (and student) time than Little Hears, but not nearly as much as Bigger. All that to say, that timewise, you will have just as much (or more) time in your day as far as teacher-intensive time for the upcoming year as you do this year. So if everyone is handling their current workload well, I would say your best bet is definitely stay the course and move everyone up to the next guide. I would suggest possibly starting Preparing a couple of weeks early to get dd used to the independent parts, but after that adding in Beyond should go very smoothly.
Angie