heartofdakota.com

Hello all-

I am homeschooling my children and started this year off doing Bigger Heart for His Glory for my 9 and 7 year old. I had all the stuff for it and it seemed like the right age ranges for my kids, but it didn't seem to be working well. It was to much in the language arts and while they comprehened the History, Science,and Geography it seemed to be to much in the writing department. So I went to Lifepac, I had that on hand also. I am currently doing Lifepac Language arts 1st grade for both of them and 2nd grade in History and Science and 1st grade math for my 7 year old and 3rd grade math for my 9 year old. We are doing The Reading lessons for reading with both boys and they are both struggling with that, but my 9 year old is sturggling much more. He can not seem to remember one lesson to the next:( I now wish I would have just stayed with HOD becuase I really HATE how lifepac is going. too much worksheet work and the language arts, even though it is for 1st grade is to hard for them when they are still in the begining stages of reading. They are expected to be able to spell and read things at this point and they cannot. It leads to alot of fustration for everyone! Now I am wondering if I should get Beyong Little Hearts for his Glory for them instead. the Language arts part seems more on their level and the HIstory, Science, Geography may be a little to easy for my 9 year old when it comes to comprehension, but the work it entails may be more at his level for writing etc. A little history to help out. I have homeschooled my children on and off the past few years, due to some family issues I haven't been able to do it all the time. However from this point on I do plan on homeschooling until high school at least. My 9 year old son has autism and I am wondering if he has other issues with reading and my 7 year old may have ADHD and be on the speturm also but not as sever as my 9 year old, we are currently going through some testing to help determine if he is or not. So with that said it can be a challenge to get school done daily. I really think BLHFHG would be a better fit but I have worries too. One it is already well into the school year as we need to be done with school by the end of May. We cannot do school during the summer because they will not be here for the entire time and we have other things planned. So where would I start in the program? Two I fear that my 9 year old will get even futher behind, however when he was in school they didn't seem to worry that he wasn't reading at all yet and often they didn't require him to do the work at 2nd grade level. With that said I am worried that I will set my children up for failure by not keeping up with their actual grade levels if I switch at this point and again where would I start in the program? could I start in the middle or almost middle to make sure we finish in May? Would that confuse them too much? I believe you go over alot of the history and stuff again in Bigger hearts for his glory right? So they would get it again anyways if I did bigger next year right? Ugh. . . it is so hard at times! I know my 7 year old is pretty much right on track for his age and it seems like BLHFHG would be a good fit for him and my 9 year old is at about or even at a slightly lower level in reading and LA, but ready for more information with the read out louds in History and Stories. I would really like to keep them together as I will be starting my 5 year old soon in Little hearts for this glory and still have 3 year old and a newborn at home to take care of. I do not think I could manage three different programs! So ladies I know this is long and may even be confusing, but over all I am wondering if I got BLHFHG and started close to the middle would that work and then my plan would be to do BHFHF next school year. Any thoughts? Please!

Thanks
Sheila

I find that going with the placement chart on the HOD website is a much better indicator of which guide you should choose than choosing by age. Do you know where the placement chart has them?

If you feel they would both place in Beyond, then start them at the beginning and don't worry about grade level. You can pick up with what you don't get finished next fall. Math and Language Arts are done at their indivdual levels. I have a 9yo girl who had CP and has some learning struggles. She is in 3rd grade, but is well below that in Math. She also is a slow reader. You need to find what level they can work at and begin there. Just be consistent. If you go with Beyond, stick with it until you are through and then move onto Bigger. I jumped around in curriculum with my older kids and now looking back on it, I regret doing that. If you go with Beyond, do not start in the middle. You would be missing so much. You will see more progress if you pick a guide to start and then just keep building with each one that follows. HOD is set up for certain age ranges, not grades. Even though Beyond says 6-8, if your 9yo would do best in that guide, it's okay to put him there. Bigger is 7-9, but my dd will be 10 before she finishes it. The key is that they are showing progress. HTH

I agree with Pam that I would definitely start at the beginning of Beyond. From what you shared it sounds like that would be a great fit. Just do as many units as you can by May then put it away for the summer. When you come back in the fall, pick back up where you left off. When you finish Beyond, then you can move into Bigger. It may be that the start of the new guide for you will be the beginning the year most years, but that is fine. There are many people who do start their new guides in January. It's fine to take the summer off too, then pick back up again in the fall. I think the real key is just consistency. Just continue each day to do a little bit. You'll be surprised at the growth in skills when you do a little bit everyday.

I remember when we started with HOD that LHFHG didn't seem like that much work in a day, but we consistently did our work each day and by the end of the guide, my dc had grown so much in skills! Then we continued on with Beyond and by the end of that year, they again had grown so much. Carrie recently started a thread asking what areas of growth we had seen in our dc recently. I have thought and thought about it and have struggled to put my finger on a specific area that they are growing right now, but I know they are growing. It's just they are growing in every area little bits each day. So when I look at the here and now, it's difficult to put my finger on where the growth lies, yet when I look back over the year(s) I see tremendous growth!

So, I just encourage you to start in the guide that fits your boys and don't worry if it doesn't have the right age or grade association that you think your boys should have. Meet them where they are then consistently do what is written in the guide everyday. The guides are so well written to not only teach information, but to teach skills and train our dc. So by doing what is written everyday, your dc will be growing and making progress.

Thank you for reminding me to focus on their skills and not their age or grade level. I think beyond is the best fit for them:-).
I am looking forward to it now!

Thanks,
Sheila