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I really loved having the girls in 3 separate guides last year. It worked very well. But this year, I am tired. I am 15 weeks pregnant with #5 and have a 3 year-old who needs someone's attention every waking moment.

Oldest dd (10) is doing Preparing. It is perfect for her and going very well.

2nd dd (8 will be 9 in a few weeks) is doing Bigger. We are 10 weeks in. I am not loving it this year as we just did it last year and I'm tired. Did I mention that? I think she could do most of Preparing, but would not be ready for the cursive or amount of copywork in Preparing.

3rd dd (just turned 7 Sat) has been finishing the 2nd half of Little Hearts. She's kind of outgrown the rhymes and activities so we have just been doing history, scripture, Burgess books, Math, and Emerging Readers. She can write, but hasn't really had any copywork outside of her handwriting book.

Who could I combine to make the rest of this year a bit easier? Would it be best to add 2nd dd into Preparing or add 3rd dd into Bigger?

What if, instead of combining them, you increased their independent work?

My oldest is 10 doing CTC (has been through all the other guides), and was in Preparing last year when *I* was pg with number 5 with a 3yo in the mix I had added in her reading her own history fully about a month before the baby was born (started out with her reading it one day per week, then two, etc) It was amazing how much that helped me. I also started reading the Story Time books at bedtime. So she was independent in History, science, independent history, vocab (because we worked on that through Bigger, more to come on that), poetry (because I needed her to be), timeline, a lot of the Bible, and English. After she finished all that, she would come to me (or obviously if she had questions)... I would also teach her the math before she went to do her work, so she did the workbook during her independent work time.

My second is currently almost 9 and in Bigger. We have worked her up to where in vocabulary she can find the definition and copy it by herself and draw her picture, but she needs a little help with the sentence (her brain does not work that way). In math I teach it and she works independently. We are currently working on her taking over her science and/or history. Today she chose to read her science. Surprise of all surprises she picks the shortest one every day We are also at the point that with her notebooking I sit there while she reads me the instructions and then she goes and does the work, both science and history.

I cannot feasibly combine mine right now... Grace remembers all we've done in Beyond and so far in Bigger, so I can't put her back down with Julianna. Jayden is way past them, so I can't move Grace up. Julianna could easily do Bigger, but it doesn't seem right to jump her from the first 1/3 of Beyond to the middle of Bigger.... a lot of stuff is in there! And Evie and Penelope aren't nearly to the level the big girls are. So those are my suggestions based on my personal experience.

My only other thought would be to back off on Bigger to half speed or 3-4 days per week.

Oh, and in the 3-4 months leading up to Penelope being born, I spent a LOT of time working on chores/housework/jobs. My oldest three can do pretty well everything I can do around a house. All I have to do is tell them what to do and they are able to do it.

It's hard for me also to imagine how you could combine them. I suppose your 2nd could go up to Preparing and that's about the only combination I see working. I don't see how you could put the LHFHG one straight up into Bigger, the writing requirement there is too much! But I could see doing Preparing (which I haven't done but am looking at because my daughter who is almost 9 will be starting it in a few weeks) and adding in cursive and maybe helping her more with the writing. I assume the 2nd has done Beyond already, so you wouldn't want to repeat that for her.

But in the end, would that end up being more work for you instead of less? If your daughter isn't quite ready, I could see that being a problem. There is more work in Preparing and if it's hard for her it could be trouble. I would pray hard about that decision. It saves you time on read-alouds but little else, and maybe you could enlist your husband, do read alouds in the evening, or something.

I like what MomtoJGJE said about working on independence and them helping you around the house. Even though that is more work up front it really pays off. My kids do the laundry and dishes and they can clean bathrooms and such but we hired a cleaning lady because of some other factors. And work with that precious 3 year old. My 4YO was very challenging to school around at certain times. I remember the year she was 2 being particularly hard... maybe because that was also the year my 2nd was formally schooled also. Keep him moving around, find things for him to do, let him watch a video if he will do that, etc. My DS has room time, blanket time, snack time, and has started spending time playing in his "bean box" every day if he can't go outside. It makes a royal mess (which a kid could clean up if they weren't doing school) but it buys me 10-15 minutes of peace.

I know how hard and tiring it can be to get through a school day, pregnant or not. Keep with it, take a day or two off when you need to to refresh, and pray! I will say a prayer for you.

I would try combining the oldest two. Let the younger one know that it is just a trial run, and if it isn't a good fit, you will return to what you are doing. If it is just the cursive and copywork, I think it might make your load lighter. What can it hurt to try? You should be able to see quickly if it will work. I wouldn't try backtracking. I would just start her right where you are at with the older one and go from there. Find out now before the baby comes if this would be helpful...or not. Sometimes, you never know until you try. I would not move the seven year old up to Bigger. It doesn't sound like she is quite ready for that.

Following!

These are very good ideas to try as you are wanting to combine...

8arrows wrote:I would try combining the oldest two. Let the younger one know that it is just a trial run, and if it isn't a good fit, you will return to what you are doing. If it is just the cursive and copywork, I think it might make your load lighter. What can it hurt to try? You should be able to see quickly if it will work. I wouldn't try backtracking. I would just start her right where you are at with the older one and go from there. Find out now before the baby comes if this would be helpful...or not. Sometimes, you never know until you try. I would not move the seven year old up to Bigger. It doesn't sound like she is quite ready for that.

I'll add that you can always slow PHFHG down to half-speed for the first while if that will help ease 8 yo into it and result in better success down the road. I'd not backtrack, as 8arrows said, but just continue on where you are, blending in the 8 yo. She can print the parts that are 'cursive' assignments instead, while still working through a cursive workbook like "Cheerful Cursive" (or whatever you were using with Bigger Hearts). It will be very important the 8 yo is able to handle the writing work load in PHFHG, especially by the close of it, if she is going to be able to continue on to CTC the following year - hence the idea to slow it to half-speed now.

If combining is not working and you find yourself tweaking many things for the 8 yo, and you cannot foresee her being able to do CTC next year, then I love MomtoJGJE's ideas of upping the independence of Bigger Hearts!

In Christ,
Julie