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We will be new to HOD in the fall.
My 8 year old (turning 9 in Oct) daughter just finished 2nd grade at a private school. She did extremely well in school.
Reading: She reads very well and was in the 3rd grade classroom for reading at school this past year.
Writing: Her cursive is excellent. She loves creative writing, but in my opinion, her oral narration skills need some work.
Grammar: She's done basic grammar. She did 4th grade level spelling in school this past year.
Looking at those facts and the placement chart, she fits into Preparing. However, in my obsessive online reading I've seen many people recommend children being at the higher end of the recommended ages? I also feel like she's really, really good at doing school work, but I often wonder how deeply she internalizes the learning/books. I think it's from being in a very standards-based school environment.

My 6 yr old son (will turn 7 midway through) has been homeschooled so far. We did an eclectic year last year.
Reading: He is an emerging reader. He's on Explode the Code book 3 with phonics, but his reading skills are a bit beyond that, if that makes sense. He's much more of a whole language learner, but I'm still encouraging him to get the phonics base.
Writing: Knows manuscript letters (albeit he could use taking his time a bit more). Can copy sentences easily.
Grammar: Hasn't done any formal work yet. He does excellent oral narrations.
He doesn't like the formal schoolwork type of thing, but he has an incredible ability to understand higher level books and mull over the information and make connections. Honestly, he's better at that than my 8 year old. They're kind of opposites in that regard! Both kids need to be challenged
Looking at those facts and the placement chart, he seems to fit into Beyond.

Am I on the right track with Beyond and Preparing? I feel like they are a good fit, but I guess I just need some reassurance that my kids will be okay being in the middle-lower end of the age ranges!

Beyond does sound like a good fit for your son.
As for your daughter, it depends on her maturity level & if she has the ability to do independent work. In Preparing they are to do science themselves, and have an independent section to the history. The oral narration you could always practice sone this summer.
Hope this gives you an idea. I know others will be able to help. It's been awhile since We did Preparing. It was a stretch for us with a 9 year old. Some can do it easily though.

Maybe you could print out the first week sample for each of the guides....there are download links on the site for each guide. That's what I did when I was choosing. I can't advise you, but I will share what I chose for my 7 & 9(almost 10) yo boys: Little Hearts adding rod and staff grade 2 science, finishing phonics with explode the code, then starting emerging readers. Bigger Hearts as written along with DITHOR 2/3, adding in Rod and staff grade 4 science. We LOVE science and we've already gone through the science books used in Little Hearts and Beyond. My 9yo is still learning cursive and can't write sentences without copying them, so he places best in Bigger even though his reading is strong and he places in Preparing for that. He just needs a good year of narrating and honing in on skills before I move him up. Once I understood that the skills are what determine which guide, the light turned on for me! If you call and talk to the ladies at HOD, they can really help you decide!

With your son, I definitely agree that Beyond is a good place for him.

With your daughter, does she like to read? I know you said she reads well but reading well and liking to read are two different things. If she likes to read, then I would definitely place her in Preparing. I started HOD with these same two guides two years ago. It was a fantastic year! It was probably the best year we ever had. This year was fantastic too, don't get me wrong. I just think I have a lot of great memories from switching to HOD in general. With my oldest, she was 8, turning 9 in November. I also read a lot of the same reviews you did. But I looked at the placement chart and she placed in Preparing. I think school would have been too easy if I had started her at a lower guide. One thing with my oldest though is that she is a very SLOW reader. I suspect she has some mild dyslexia because reading was a real challenge for her as was spelling. Plus, she did some weird stuff with math too. I never knew dyslexia affected do many things LOL. At least she is great at art!!!! I digress....I think Preparing was a great fit for her because the books were very interesting and she was excited to work on her own. And my dd actually hated to read before using HOD. She loved those books and now loves to read. For her, it was step up in skill level but it went really well. As for what to expect with your dd - at the beginning of the year, your dd will be reading for about an hour a day. If she is a fast reader, then it will be faster than that. But if she is a slow reader, then it will be about an hour. By the end of Preparing, they are reading for about 1.5 hours per day. Then, when they move up to CTC, the reading does get a little bit more challenging. But you are still looking at about 1.5 hours of reading a day.

One thing to consider is that Preparing is written over 35 units with having only 4 days per unit. So you can always spread the guide out over 5 days if you need too. With Beyond, it is written for 34 units at 5 days per unit. With each guide, especially since your kids are on the younger end of the age range, you have some wiggle room if you need more than 1 year to complete a guide. So if you decide to do Preparing and you need more than this year to complete it, that is perfectly fine. As I mentioned with my oldest, she does read really slow. I decided to slow her down just a little bit. She did all of CTC this year except for 4 units. I am saving those and she will finish CTC next year. I am kind of glad for it because the next level has a bit of a jump in volume of reading. I am sure it will be fine! Every level of HOD does a fantastic job of preparing kiddos for the following level. I guess for me, I just feel like my dd might be a little bit happier being right in the middle of her age range Is this to say your dd wouldn't be able to handle it? Absolutely not! My youngest is a fast reader. She devours books now. And she can read at a VERY high level. I anticipate that she will always be on the lowest end of the age range. I just think that every child is different and the wonderful thing with HOD is that you can go at your child's pace. In closing, I hope my story was an encouragement. I shared it in hopes that you can know that if your dd starts Preparing and you find it a little challenging, it is okay to take it a little slow. From what you have shared though, I think your dd will be placed very well.

One last though - I always start my years off half paced for every kid. We do this for a few weeks up to a month. Mainly I do this to ease my kids into a school schedule But you can always go 1/2 paced for as long as you need too. Eventually your kids will be ready for full pace. And you will know when it is I just assess my kids looking at how much they can complete in a set amount of time. Basically, we do school for 2.5-4.5 hours a day depending on the child. Anything not done in that time frame is saved for the next day. To help with moving at my kids pace, I make sure to finish ALL of the boxes on the day of the guide that I am on before moving to the next page. For example, if I was on unit 10 day 2 and we didn't finish the grammar or science box, I would not do anything in until 10 day 3 until I finished those two boxes. I have found I am much more diligent about completing each box when I take this approach. Also, it frees me up to move at my child's pace. The only thing that I try and make a point of doing each day though is math. I try and do math at least 4 days per week. However, if we get to a challenging concept in math that my kids are really struggling with.....you guessed it.....I will slow that item down Other than that, I just keep moving forward at their pace for each subject.

Welcome to HOD. I do hope you love it!!! I can't imagine my day without it. It has been such a blessing to my family and my home. Before finding HOD I was mainly eclectic. Then I tried a boxed curriculum (not HOD) for a year and found I do love ease of using a boxed curriculums, just not that one The following year I tried HOD and I am never switching! It is my prefect fit!!!!

Thanks so much for the input!
My DD does love to read and is a pretty quick reader. (Too quick at times, but I'm hoping to address that.) She also enjoys having independent work. So it sounds like Preparing probably is the right choice for her and Beyond for my DS!
I like the idea of taking it slowly at first and not being in a rush. We do a co-op one day each week, so I think we'll end up schooling only 4 days each week. That way these guides may take us into next year, which actually sounds good to me.
Thanks again. I feel more confident now!

I think you will love BLHFHG and PHFHG! You really ended up with excellent placement advice here, and having taught those 2 guides in the past myself, you are going to have a terrific year!

In Christ,
Julie