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I had thought long and hard about combining and not combining my 2 school aged kids in HOD. I ended up buying LHFHG, Beyond, and Bigger ... My DD is 5.5 and my son has just turned 8. At first I was going to use Beyond for both but thought parts would be too hard for DD and too easy for DS. So I decided to do Little Hearts with our 5 yr old and Bigger with 8 yr old son.


My DD is 5 yr old and finished our "K" curriculum in November and we are starting our new year now ... we started with LHFHG yesterday and I'm very pleased with the layout and love how it tells what to do, etc. It is perfect for us. The left side of the page is perfect for my 5 yr old ... absolutely perfect. The right side is way way too easy. She begs to do more work. I pulled out Beyond and started using the right side of Beyond mixed with the left side of Little Hearts for her. She does the spelling list 1, the emerging reading, the Singapore Math 1 ... and it all seems sort of easy for her. I know that would not have been the case with my son had he used the same thing at that age. He just turned 8 and is using Bigger and it is perfect for him. He is doing emergent reader, spelling list 1, R&S 2 ... everything. We are doing the whole thing as written. I'm wondering if I really should have just combined them. Has anyone been in this same spot? Has anyone every used both Beyond and Little with the same child ... and Bigger with another child? Should I have just combined both in Beyond? I'm just getting over being really sick for the last 2 weeks and thought I had everything figured out ... and now I'm confused. I love HOD and I really love Bigger for DS. If I didn't have such a quick little 5 yr old I wouldn't be questioning any of this! Guess this is a good thing to have to worry about ... just don't want to sell anyone short. As of right now I'm able to get both done in 3 - 4 hours or so because when I'm directly teaching one, the other is finishing up some work (like math, etc).

Personally, I think if your children are well placed right now I'd not mess with it. I know it feels confusing-I had my dd in Beyond (left) and Bigger (right) for a year, and it did feel overwhelming sometimes when I was constantly pulling out a different guide. Eventually, though you'll hit your stride and it will begin to flow. I eventually began to type off the math activities on a different page, a week at a time, and also copy our dictation passages for the week. I kept all of these things in a 3-ring binder with our Beyond guide so everything was all together. That just made things work better in my brain . There are other families who use dual guides for a child and don't have my "issues" . Once you get to the Bigger guide you won't really have to worry about juggling different guides because of the extensions and the higher levels of Math don't have activities.

I think if your DS is thriving and really well placed in Bigger, that I'd really not recommend pulling him back into Beyond. Proper placement really makes all the difference with HOD. Also, if the left side of the LHFHG plans are fitting your dd I don't think it would be optimal to put her in into the left side of Beyond. It would mean that neither of your children were really appropriately placed and you'd risk tweaking things and losing the beauty of the guides.

I'm so sorry to hear you have been sick! Hopefully you are now feeling better! I agree with the pp. If your ds is doing well with BHFHG, then that is a solid placement. Run with it!!! As for your dd, a LOT of families do LHFHG with the right side of Beyond. You'll get into a good rhythm of pulling out your Beyond guide for the Emerging Reader's Set, the hands-on math 1A/1B lessons, and the Spelling List 1. Just put stickies on those pages, and you'll be set. That's really only 3 subjects to pull out an additional guide for, and really, with some curriculums, you are pulling out a different guide for every single subject. I'd look at LHFHG as your main guide and use it for all of the left side, as well as the right side for Storytime and Fine Motor Skills. I'd still do the Fine Motor Skills box, BTW, as it does cover a variety of skills that are often missed otherwise. Same thing for the Storytime box in LHFHG - important skills there - plus, great fun! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie