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I am not totally new to HOD as I used it for 2 years with my girls years ago (it was great for one of them but not the other due to her being mildly autistic and also having expressive/receptive language disorder and I could not do any out-loud reading with her and have her comprehend it.....and the reason why we switched to something else). I am now looking at it for my boys (ages 7 & 9). I would like to use one book for them together but am not sure it it is possible....looking at their ages you would thing so....thus the questions.

My older son (age 9) has learning disabilities (both reading & math). He is finally reading at about 2nd grade level although he is still in 1st grade math (repeated several curriculum and none of them seem to be working...sigh). He is ready to do more than just focusing on learning to read as we have done the last 3 years. I had his speech teacher look at both Beyond and Bigger and she highly recommended Bigger for him. Other background info.....he was born with a cleft palate, was adopted from China at the age of 2, so switched languages...and his palate was repaired at the age of 2 and a half.

My younger son (age 7) was adopted from Haiti on Aug 5, 2014. Last year we focused on learning English, learning letters and numbers (so Kinder type things). He was not capable to listening to story reading as he did not know the language. He still has a hard time sitting and listening to a story. He is doing phonics and starting to read some 3 letter words. Instead of going into second grade (as most 7 year olds), he is going into first grade. As far as I know, he does not have any learning disabilities (other than changing languages!!), but he tends to be very active and can't sit still for very long. I am not sure if he could do Bigger with his brother (even though he is in the 'age' range). I do have all the books for both Bigger and LHFHG (but not for Beyond).

I would love to do History, Science and Storytime together with them. Any suggestions? Should I just try to do them together (other than math and LA), see how well he does? Mentally he might be able to do some of the things. He loves to draw and do crafts (at age level) and of course loves to take anything apart. He also like to do everything his brother does (competitive)...especially what they consider 'fun 'stuff. Oh, I also have 2 other older children...one in 9th grade and one in 12th grade, so have to be able to help them as well.

Wendy
mom to Emily (16/12th grade), Melody (14/9th grade), Steven (age 9) & Clarence (age 7)

IMO, I wouldn't put my 7yo in Bigger. I did LHFHG with my 7 yo last year (late birthday so used it for 1st). It was a perfect fit, without it being in a second language. I think your DS might be able to handle Beyond, but since you have LHFHG, I suggest you start there. He won't be "behind" N. American standards for grade and can confidently go through each year as it comes.

That said, you might be able to do the Bigger Science with him tagging along (there isn't much to LHFHG sci) - but then you'd have to consider what he'd do for science when he gets to Bigger himself. (Maybe doing it again would be fine?) If his attention span can handle it, he could sit in on Storytime, too - there are other options when he gets there - but I wouldn't want to skip the Burgess books for LHFHG storytime!

If you really want to combine, my suggestion would be Beyond. That would give your older one a chance to spend some more time on reading, etc., but may not be where you want him for the long run. I definitely wouldn't put your younger one higher than that. Even if he could handle "most" of Bigger this year, that puts him under the recommended age range; in Preparing at age 8 and CTC by 9, which is a stretch for most gifted 9yos, never mind a second language student.

I know it seems like a lot to be running 2 guides, plus the older 2, but it truly is best to have them placed where they're not over their heads. I had to make a mid-year switch for two of my kids last year and it was a hard year. It's easier for us doing 4 guides than doing 3, as we'd started last fall!

Blessings as you make some hard decisions,

I second that advice. My sister adopted two kids internationally and she used LHFHG when they were a little younger than yours (after they'd gotten the basics of English). She ended up having to slow things down before hitting Preparing b/c of the language. The difficulty really builds each guide. Preparing can be a good fit for young 8's if they are academically very strong, it would probably be too much for a second language learner at that age. Where do they each fit on the placement chart? That might help you decide!

http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Thanks Rice! I will take a look at seeing what I can combine and what they need to do separately. Science might be a good one to combine (also music/Bible might work together), I think he will have no problems with repeating it again later. I do like the storytime books for LHFHG and already have them so that is a plus. I was going to try to do that last fall, but then the younger one could not even sit still yet so I just did unit studies and Rod & staff reading with the older one instead. It was not what I wanted to do, but we had lots of family adjustments to deal with.

If the younger one wants to do some of the projects the older one is doing, I can let him join in.

Thanks Liz, I did look at that chart and Steven (9 year old) totally fits Bigger, but Clarence (7 year old) is between LHFHG and Beyond. It might be best for Clarence to go slow so that he learns to like school. He was in pre-school in Haiti since he was 2, but did not learn much there (as far as I can tell). He still has a hard time recognizing the symbols for 6-9, but has no problem counting and adding one. They had them write numbers and count, but did not learn which symbols went with with which words. Same thing with letters.

I gotta change my siggy....it was from way back when (2008 I think...when my girls were 7 & 9....they are now 14 & 16!!). LOL I just have to remember how. hahaha!!

Wendy

After thinking about it more...I realized that this year will be crucial if I want to keep my boys together. If I separate them this year, they will always be separate, but if I keep them together, I might be able to keep them together in the coming years. I looked at Beyond and I could do that one with them together and just add on to the LA area (maybe do the LA from Bigger) for my older one or add other things (some notebooking/vocab words and so on). I think in the long run I will be happier if I can keep them together. If Beyond works well for them this coming year, I will do Bigger next year (if the older one needs the extension reading and such, he can do that as I already that all of those books anyway because my daughter needed them). I will talk to my hubby about what he thinks this evening. I hope to start them with some school work again soon otherwise they will forget what they learned.

If anyone else has any comments, I would love to hear them.

I am thinking that you might consider the competitiveness of one ds and whether it might benefit their relationship more to be doing their own curriculum. The younger ds would only be schooling for about 2 hours a day in LHFHG, then could sit in on older ds science. This would give them each their own projects to share and excel in without the (conscious or subconscious) comparison to eachother. I did combine two boys for a couple years, but it is so much easier now that they each have their own focus and don't rely on the other to do the listening or answering for them. As they get older, they also become more independent, so my time is not too intensive. I run three guides, and most of my time is spent with my more dependant youngest

Thanks everyone for your input. I talked with my hubby and we decided to try them together for a few weeks in Beyond and see how it goes. If Steven (older one) needs more, I can switch him at that point to Bigger. Academically he is about 2 years younger than his actual age, so he might be better off with the younger book (it is like his brain 'reset' when we adopted him at the age of 2 years, 2 months)....also he has learning disabilities so an easier day would be better for him. Once the school year starts (at the public school) he will be going to speech class twice a week....which takes about 1.5 hours out of our mornings due to it taking 30 min just to get to the school. If Beyond is too much for the younger one (due to his English), I can pull him back to LHFHG.