Need Help with Placement!

[ozmomof4]

Hi,
I am having a hard time trying to figure out where I should place my kids. I have a 10yr old that is a very strong reader, he placed at mid 6th grade level for reading & comprehension but has dysgraphia & most probably dyslexia (he'll be tested for that next week) so he struggles with writing & spelling and is behind in math, He also has ADHD so doesn't work well independently yet, I have to help him alot because of his attention & his dysgraphia.
I also have a 7 year old (just finished grade 1) who is advanced but I would want to keep him on 2nd grade level.
So i was wondering if I could put them both in Bigger or if I should put the 7yr old in beyond and the 10yr old in Bigger or Preparing?? I don't want to put my 7 yr old in a level that is too advanced for him and I don't want to overwhelm my 10yr old or myself
I also have an almost 5 yr old that hasn't had anything taught to him yet, he knows the alphabet & letters and can count to 30 but doesn't know all the sounds and is only starting to trace letters, so would I put him in LHFHG or LHTH? I also have a 2 1/2 yr old.

Thanks in advance!

[MelInKansas]

Have you looked at the placement chart? My guess is from what you've described that your 7YO places in Beyond or Bigger and your 10YO in Bigger or Preparing? If you haven't yet looked through the placement chart I suggest you start there.

It sounds like your oldest could handle Preparing, except perhaps the independence but you could work him into it if you wanted, it would be more work at first but I bet you it would pay off. With it broken into the boxes, you could use a timer and check-in times with him after each task, you might need to be on hand to help him finish at first but then I bet he could take off in this area. And Preparing is a great guide with lots of challenge. Writing might be an issue but HOD takes a pretty gentle approach to writing IMO so if he can copy a few sentences, draw, ad if you are willing to help him with written narrations (which they do not have to spell correctly at first anyway) then I bet he could do it.

If you put your oldest in Preparing I would put the next one in Beyond and add things on for him in areas he needs more challenge. Reading and math are done at their level in all the guides. If you felt your 7YO was ready for more grammar or cursive writing you could easily add those two things in, you would just need the R&S 2 book and the Cheerful Cursive book that are used in Bigger (one lesson of R&S 2 each day and one page of Cheerful Cursive each day). Generally it is not recommended to have children in back-to-back guides, especially in the younger guides because you are involved in all or most of the work so it can be very demanding on you.

If the 7YO placed very strongly in Bigger I could see doing Bigger with both of them and adding on for the older one. My one concern is moving up to Preparing the following year, and then CtC, etc. If you think he is a go-getter and will continue to stay ahead and strong and will not mind having a longer school day at an early age, this might work. But I could see you hitting a wall with that younger one just in terms of maturity and readiness and if you have them together then you have a dilemma of whether to keep them combined or split apart. If you start them both where they fit, you have some freedom to move around as needed. I had hoped to combine my kids but I am really glad now that they are in separate guides and can move at their own pace in the guides, slowing down or speeding up as their interest and ability seems to indicate.

I would suggest LHTH for the next one, maybe with added in handwriting if you think he is ready and willing (there is a gentle introduction to letter formation in LHTH but no formal handwriting practice, my 5YO is now doing that and math along with LHTH. This is mainly to make life a little easier for you. Also, I wouldn't even start the LHTH until you have your other two going strong in their guides. Starting a guide is the hardest, once you are a few weeks in they have such a strong rhythm it gets a lot easier.

[Gwenny]

Good morning! Definitely check the placement chart. When will your 10 yo be 11? I have a guy just turning 10 this month and he wouldn't be ready for Preparing yet. He's not a strong reader yet, just finishing the Emerging Readers and doing spelling list 2. We are starting Bigger the end of this month with him. He can copy sentences well, I'm sure that his sentences he has to create on his own will be a challenge for him. In Bigger they have to copy things, but also write down guesses and conclusions from their science experiments. He will also be doing Rod and Staff 2 English.
I just wanted to give you an idea about Bigger. If your guy is close to 11 and can do quite a bit of copying and write some original sentences he could probably start Preparing. If you think he is close to those things, you could start him slowly in Preparing to ease him into it. (and you!) You could do 1/2 speed-basically it's left side of the guide one day and right side the other day. Could he do the reading on his own in the independent boxes? I think they say that Preparing takes about 3.5-4 hours with 1.5 for the teacher when it is being done the way it is written) Bigger is 2.5-3 I think. There is a thread saying the times but I'm horrible at finding them.
Really check out if the younger could do Bigger. Beyond is a great guide, but if your older one needs to be in Bigger, doing those two guides together would be a challenge.

I know you will love HOD! It has been such a blessing for our family. Choosing the correct guide is such an important part!

[Nealewill]

I agree with the other two ladies. From what you shared, I would probably have your oldest complete Preparing. Before this year my oldest could write some (not tons but some) and she had a hard time doing anything on her own. It took her a little bit of training but she did great in Preparing. She has come a LONG way from the girl I knew last year. And her being on her own was a great confidence booster. I didn't realize how ready she was to be left on her own until we tried it. I was glad we did.

As for the 7 yo, I would probably complete Beyond. My son did Beyond last year at 7 and it was a fantastic fit. I know some have completed Bigger at 7 and your 7 yo may be able to do it. But it might be hard to do Bigger and Preparing in the same year. Preparing is very teacher intensive in some ways because you are training your child to be more independent. And until your child is more independent, you may not have as much time to complete Bigger with the 7 yo. I found I would only spend about 1.5 hours with my dd this year towards the end with Preparing but at the beginning sometimes it was longer. That was because I was working on teaching her how to write narrations or working more with her on the creative writing activities. In general though - with Beyond - we absolutely loved it! My son still tells me things he remembers still from earlier in the year and he talks about how much fun he had this past year. And you can easily adjust your 7 yo to math and spelling if you like. We did have to do a harder level of math because my son is ahead.

As for the 5 yo, since it sounds like he knows some letters and some numbers, you could either do Little Hands (preschool) or Little Hearts. If it were me, I would probably be incline to do Little Hearts and just go at half speed for a while. I think he would really enjoy the books and activities. But going 1/2 speed would make it so that it is less stressful on you and it gives him time to grow.

By doing these 3 levels, your teaching time should only be approximately 4 hours per day. I found with Beyond, we only took a max of 1.5-2 hours per day (I did beyond with both of my younger kids last year - if I had only done Beyond with the 7 yo, I would have spent less teaching time because that includes the 3rs for both kids). With Little Hearts, I am spending about 1 hour a day with my youngest now (she is going full speed). And with my oldest, I took about 1.5 hours a day for Preparing consistently. And with this schedule of you doing Preparing, Beyond, and 1/2 speed Little, the following year your schedule would put you at having 1 guide in between each child (because the following year you would finishing Little, start Bigger, and start CTC). And then your 2 yo would just start Little Hands whenever you wanted or Little Hearts at 5 or 6. I know others may recommend having the kids together. But from what you shared, I thought they might like being separated more. I know for myself, before I found HOD, we did everything together. That was okay but not great. Now everyone is separate with their own stuff and everyone LOVES it. And with HOD, next year I will be doing CTC, Bigger, and Little and I anticipate maintaining no more than 4 hours of teaching time a day. For me, that is very doable. As the kids get older, teaching time lessens. So once the kids make it to CTC, I anticipate only needing about 1 hour of full on teaching time per day per child. HOD does a great job of helping to balance my time with the kids so that I can keep everyone separate.

Also - since HOD might be a different format than what you are used to, I might only start the 11 yo half speed for a month and the 7 yo half speed for a month. Then once the 11 yo is full speed, I would add in Little Hearts to start with the 5 yo. Since you said your 7 yo was pretty advanced, you could decide when to start that child full speed. Also, you will probably want the 11 yo to complete the Drawn into the Heart of Reading literature program. You could decide on whether or not to start that right away or not. I waited about 2 months before I started DITHOR with my oldest this year. I wanted to give her time to grow into her new responsibilities. For me, this was good decisions. We started Preparing 1/2 speed for 1 month. Then we went full speed for a month. Then we added in DITHOR after that. Hope that makes sense. For us - that was wise. It increased her work load slowly and she didn't complain at all. And by the end of the 2nd month mark, she was taking more initiative and able to complete most individual boxes alone.

[my3sons]

Such super advice here already! Heart of Dakota's guides are all terrific, so in choosing which guides to do, you are so wise to consider placement. I have a few quick questions... For your older ds, I also would like to know when he turns 11 yo please. Also, how much did he write last year each school day - as in how many times a day and how many sentences each time? Or, did he do most of his work orally? Did he do a formal reading and writing program, and if so, what did he do with them? Did he read his own history and science? What did he do for grammar and math? Thanks!!!

For your 7 yo, can you share about his reading, writing, and math? Is he at the phonics stage or the emerging reader's stage (like level 1 or 2 readers)? Is he ready for spelling words and/or some grammar? How is his writing (i.e. is he writing letters, writing words, copying several sentences, writing 3-4 sentences on own, or ready for cursive)? What did he do for math?

Sorry for all of the questions, but your answers will definitely help us help better with placement! HOD has been such blessing in our home, and I think it will be in yours too. Once we chat through placement, it'll be smooth sailing. I'll check back!!!

In Christ,
Julie