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This might sound a bit jumbled but I'm hoping someone might have some insight. My oldest dd will be in 6th grade next year. She did LHFHG for K, Beyond for 1st, we did something different for 2nd and then Bigger for 3rd. We have done something different for 4th and now currently for 5th. I'm trying to decide how to place her correctly. She uses Growing with Grammar 5. She doesn't have a lot of practice with writing. She loves to read. She'll be 11 when the next school year starts but will turn 12 in October. What guide would you place her in?

Then here's my next dilemma. I have dd's that are 9, and 7 (almost and 6. The 9 and 7 year old have reading delays. At least a grade level "behind". I've never used HOD for them. So, do I combine the 9 and 7 year old next year in Bigger? They will be 4th and 3rd grade respectively. And then put my other dd who will be going into 1st into Beyond. Or can I combine them all in beyond and just beef it up for a 3rd and 4th grader. I'm guessing Bigger would be too much for a first grader. Has anyone actually used beyond for a 4th grader? I'm torn what to do. I also have a 4 year old, 2 year old and a 3 month old so I'm trying to make this as doable for everyone.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or insights!!

where do they fit individually on the placement chart?

Ok. Good question. Here it goes. I think. This is what I'm saying I think that they'll fit into for next year.

DD who is in 5th grade now. 11 years old. Fits into Res to Ref. although she hasn't had much practice with dictation.

DD who is 9 and in 3rd grade. Fits into Bigger. But in terms of reading probably closer to beyond.

DD who is 7 almost 8 and in 2nd grade. Fits into Beyond but also fits into Bigger. She is also much more suited with reading instruction in Beyond. So she kind of fits into both.

DD who is 6 and in K. will fit in Beyond perfectly.

So I feel like my oldest is somewhere between CtC, and Res to Ref. More leaning towards Res to Fef.

The next two can fit into both bigger and beyond and my youngest would fit into beyond.

If your oldest fits with everything except dictation you can just start at a lower level... especially since you'll likely have the Bigger guide.

I might combine the next two in Bigger, but have them do the Emerging Readers instead of DITHOR... The schedule for Emerging Readers is in the Bigger guide too so that's good!

And honestly since you have two in Bigger, I'd put the little one in LHFHG. It's a wonderful K-1st program! Even if they fit in Beyond, it's still a really good sweet guide that doesn't take too much time.

I would consider how the younger work together. It might be possible to put all three in Beyond, but that would mean they all have to be willing to work together, at least for some things. I personally would be willing to do two or three storytimes with combined kids (especially since some books can be found as audio books), but I wouldn't want to read the history stories two or three times in a day.
I see three options:
1. Combine all three of the younger ones in Beyond, adding notebooking for at least the oldest, and maybe for the middle in that group. You could also do Rod and Staff English as well as cursive.
2. Put the older two in Bigger, doing it half speed if necessary, for the older two and LHFHG for the youngest. The question where would be if the middle one was really ready for Bigger (and Preparing after).
3. Put the oldest of the group in Bigger and the other two in Beyond. The concern here would be doing Bigger and Preparing the next year together. It is do-able, but it can be very parent intensive. But, it might be the best placement for all three boys.

For the true oldest, if it is only dictation and possibly formal writing (not the amount of writing/ability to physically write) that is keeping out of R2R, then I would go with R2R. If you have been doing spelling and grammar, picking up dictation shouldn't be a huge hurdle. And because HOD uses a variety of writing curriculums, it is easy to jump in I think without a huge background.

R2R is a completely different writing program than CTC anyway. So if that's an issue, you'd be starting something new there anyway.

After my oldest fit in Beyond perfectly her K year and then even though she answered all the questions and did all the work, it still felt like she didn't GET it. So I went through it again, and oh my goodness the difference a year made. So now I'm more likely to even though they might place in Beyond, I'll look and see that hey, they'd be on the younger end..... so maybe LHFHG would be a better match. Even if we have to do a few things differently, like add in spelling and LA from Beyond or do 1st grade math.