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Hello!!

I will be homeschooling three kids this year. I have four children, however, the 4th child is only 3 yrs old and I won't buy anything for him.

Child #1 - Girl, age 9.5, previously schooled at a private christian school using Bob Jones and finished 3rd grade this past spring with all As. Excellent reader, good thinker, concepts easy to pick up, mastered cursive, doing multiplication, creative writing, and loves math and art. Just went through American history last year but I'm sure going over it again wouldn't hurt. I'm nervous to start her right in with Creation to Christ because the next one is for kids 10-12 and I don't want to move her up too fast. But the level below (Preparing hearts) seems like she would be repeating everything. I'm wondering if the extensions are "beefy" enough to challenge her. She's also very sensible, responsible, and thoughtful, and I sense she'd do well independently if I gave her a list of things to do. She loves lists. She loves reading, and I think she could even start Drawn into Reading as well.

Child #2 - Boy, age 7.5, previously schooled at a private christian school using Bob Jones and finished 1st grade with all As. Emerging reader, still a little weak, but went from 17 WPM to 100 WPM in 1st grade there. Excellent handwriting, but weaker in spelling, writing concepts, and has not learned cursive. Love math and numbers, loves science and animals, and has a great memory. My initial thought after reading the placement chart is that he needs more than Beyond and would start with Bigger (and not ready for Preparing). This one needs the most of my attention. A very physical active boy who needs constant mommy snuggles. He's also the most excited about homeschooling.

Child #3 - Girl, age 5, completed 2 yrs of preK at a christian preschool. Can write most her letters, knows colors, shapes, etc. She's my little dancing sparkly princess and loves all things pink. Pretty much decided on her starting with Little Hearts.

Can I really do THREE guides simultaneously?!?! This makes me nervous. I want to combine the oldest two kids but they're so different, and at different levels. I understand the concept of keeping two combined kids at the lower level and beefing up for the older one, but....I want to make sure she's not bored. Kids can't repeat books and do extensions can they? I'm all new to this, hoping someone with experience can help me out. If I combined guides with my oldest two, I don't think the oldest would be challenged AT ALL if she did Bigger with extensions. But this is the area I need help. if Bigger with extensions would be enough for her, that is what I need to know. it is two levels below where I initially thought she'd be.

THANK YOU!!!
Maria

Hi Maria It is hard to decide... My first thought for your 9 yo dd is to print the first week pdf of Preparing and really look at it and the activities involved. Then assess whether she would do well there adding in DITHOR at her level. If you really think it is too light, do the same for CTC. Also, the extension readers for Preparing are really good I agree that she may be bored in Bigger, simply because it is a repeat of American history, although it is a fantastic year. For your 7.5 yo ds, I would again print the first week pdf for Beyond and look at the activities. It may be that as an active ds, he would do better there with shorter assignments than he would in Bigger. He would also have more time to work on reading/writing skills. If this still seems light, then repeat with the first week of Bigger pdf. A happy placement will make his day go more smoothly, which will help you to accomplish three guides. Also, here is a link with the average times for each box in each of these guides: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2093&start=135&fb_r ... age#p74537

Hi and welcome to HOD!

For child #1 I would lean towards doing PHFHG for a couple of reason. First of all, HOD has a different approach to learning than the textbook schooling your daughter is used to. It encourages a child to interact more with the texts being read, articulate what's being learned and sift and sort through information using living books. Oral and written narrations are used instead of quizzes and tests. So expect that there will be a period of adjustment for both you and your daughter this coming up year. Preparing introduces the skill of written narrations in bite size pieces that will be VERY beneficial for both you and your daughter

Another reason I would lean towards Preparing is because it does an EXCELLENT job training a child to become independent in doing their schoolwork. CTC already assumes that a child can do 2-3 subjects independently and only adds to that independence. My concern would be that you, as the teacher, would get bogged down with training your daughter how to do the independent work and then CTC would become time consuming for the both of you. I wouldn't even worry about adding in the extension for Preparing. I would go ahead and start DITHOR with her though. If she does Preparing this next year, she will be on track to finish all the HOD manuals through graduation, so there's no need to rush. Preparing is a meaty manual and I don't think she will be bored at all!

For child #2 I would go with Beyond. Bigger is a big jump in skills and time to complete. Everytime my kiddos go from Beyond to Bigger, I'm reminded of that again! Beyond is an excellent 2nd grade program. It introduces spelling, grammar, oral narration skills and keeps learning fun and balanced so the child doesn't feel too overwhelmed with "doing school all day." It will help you get a feel for how HOD works as well

For child #3 maybe you can consider doing Little Hands with adding in the kindergarten options from Little Hearts. Little Hands would require much less of your time, is engaging for the student and covers all the needed skills for kindergarten. By adding the handwriting, math, and fine motor skill books from Little Hearts you would be all set! Also the three year old could join in for some of the fun and not feel left out!

Both your responses were extremely helpful. I hadn't even thought to get the Little hands and incorporate the youngest child. I forgot to mention that my youngest little guy who is 3 will be going to a nearby preschool two times a week, Tues/Thurs mornings (the same preK that my oldest three kids all went to when they were 3 and 4).

Thank you also for the explanation that Bigger is quite a leap past Beyond.

If we do the Beyond with child #2, can he repeat it with extensions for the following year, or does that mean he bumps up to Bigger automatically?

Anyone think that the 9.5 yr old would work well with doing Bigger with extensions? She would be going into 4th grade.

Way back when....I did Bigger with my oldest and she was 9.5 and did it with the extension package. She loved it. She was and still is my biggest reader.

Really?! I don't know why I'm surprised to hear that. I wish I knew the math content of these packages.

Now that I've read a lot of responses and notice the jump from Beyond to Bigger, I think I'll keep my child #2 down with the Beyond curriculum, which is below where my child #1 needs to be. That leaves me wondering where to put my Child #1 if she won't be sharing with #2 - Bigger or Preparing?

Sigh. I wish I could see all of these in my hands.

You can see the first week of each (links for the first week, week at a glance and the intro are on the page about that guide). Compare that first week and you will get a feel for how the guides run.

Bigger- http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/BHFHG-first-week.pdf
Preparing - http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/PHFHG-sample-week.pdf

I put my 9.5 year old in Bigger only because that way I could combine my girls (the other one was 7). For my older one I also bought the Preparing Guide and did the dictation & math from it....the math scheduled in Bigger is grade 2 & 3 and she needed grade 4. I do not care for Singapore math (the one HOD uses), so we now use something else (Teaching Textbook...it is all computerized and we loved it; then this year we got CTC math for all but one of my kids and love it so far). The great thing about HOD is that you can choose your own math if the one that they use does not work for you. If your daughter is like mine, she will probably fit into Preparing.

Since you sound like you are waivering about your oldest, I would recommend doing Preparing for that child. Even though she may have touched on most of this information, HOD does a wonderful job of presenting it in a very interesting way. And I am sure there are things she probably didn't spend much time on in school. She will learn about Shakespeare, Mozart, and Leonardo Di Vinci to name a few. She will also be learning how to be independent. I think this would be a fantastic guide for her since you said that she reads well and writes well too.

In HOD, the guides are about much more than the topics they cover. They guides are focused on the skills building. I know you mentioned that she might like learning about American History but I actually think the Bigger guide sounds like it might be too easy for her. And if you are left with a guide that is too easy, then you will be trying to find ways to beef up skills in the guide and it can get to be time consuming and challenging. One mom posted on here that she did Bigger with an older student because she was trying to combine with a younger student. That makes sense. In this way you aren't teaching two different levels. The small amount of time it takes to add in things like the written narration to the oldest while teaching the youngest isn't challenging. And for the record, all of these items are discussed in the back with in the extension area. You aren't coming up with anything alone. But in general, if you are just picking this guide and not combining it with a younger child, you will find that every minute counts. And the more you can only look at the days worth of work with one child - meaning not having to flip back and forth all day - the easier your day will be. Finally, with the Preparing guide, because it is written to the child, several boxes are written to the child. Your oldest could probably take on some of the reading in Bigger but the activities and experiments are written to you so you will need to be involved. Preparing would take some of the workload off of your shoulders.

Also - I would recommend doing Preparing with your oldest because her becoming independent will highly benefit you when running 3 guides. If you do Little Hearts, Beyond and Bigger, you are going to be exhausted by the end of each day. This year might not be too bad but when you move up and do Beyond, Bigger, and then Preparing...whew! I can't even imagine. The first three guides are mom heavy on the workload. Preparing is the start of mom freedom! Little Hearts and Beyond weren't too long on me but Bigger took me some time. Next year I am teaching RtR, Preparing and Bigger. I am not gonna lie - I am sweating teaching Bigger and Preparing at the same time a bit . It is a lot. I did put a schedule together and I have scheduled my self 3 hours of school in the AM and then 2 hours in the PM. I am sure my year will go fine. And my schedule is for 4 days a week only. I think what makes me the most worried is that my son has auditory processing disorder and he will struggle a bit in the beginning with the independence. Plus I work from home and at times work a lot. I need flexibility and sometimes need to use the extra day to get work done or meetings in. The good thing is, that will be my only "heavy" mom teaching year. When this year is over, I will have 2 very independent kids with one on her way to independence. But I know that next year is going to be a push. If you are set on doing Bigger with your oldest, then I would look to combine your two younger kids together in Little Hearts. Just my 2 cents.

As for math - I would look at the place test on the Singapore website to see where your kids place. Your youngest should just do the math included in Little Hearts. But you will want to see the placement chart for your other two kids. Don't be alarmed if they place a little bit down. Singapore is a very robust program and the level doesn't necessarily correspond to the grade. My oldest is doing RtR and she is in level 5A. My middle is completing 3B. And my youngest is in 2B. Level 3 is when they start introducing a lot of challenging concepts and by level 4....wow! I am so impressed with the challenge and great way they teach algebraic thinking. You goal is to finish 6B before Algebra. So if you plan to do Algebra in 8th or 9th grade, that is your target for when you want to finish Singapore 6B.

Daneale,
You've given me so much insight, thank you so, so much.
Maria

Your family is just like mine! This is our first year homeschooling, and those 3 guides are definitely possible! We have finished one week of school (I started early just in case!) Those are the same guides we chose for ours: Preparing for 4th grade (she is advanced, so we got the extension package). I don't know how private school was, but my daughter loves it, and it does take a while to complete. The narration is completely new to her and we are working on clear speaking; no likes, um's, etc. I have her working independently except for follow up ?s and Bible study, or if she needs help. We ordered English 4, and so far seems to be review, so we may end up finishing early and moving to the next level. Math is much different than public school, so we did a placement test right through singapore's website.
For our 2nd grader we are using Beyond. He's an emerging reader, so that's the package we went with. Your son sounds exactly like mine. So far, it's been great, I can see he will improve reading and writing greatly! It seems a little easy so far, but he likes to join in when we do Little Hands so I think of it as extra learning . He usually is finished in 1.5- 2 hours, so I have plenty of time to work with the kindergartener. Again, do a placement for math.
Little Hands for our kindergarten. It is harder than preschool, but not too hard. She already knows most of the math we've done, but I see addition further in the book, so it will advance fairly quickly. Loves the memory verse activities.
We also have a 3 yr old- whoever isn't busy doing their work gets to help entertain, but she also likes to join in Little Hands occasionally, and has memorized the Bible verses for both of the younger two, much to my surprise/delight.
Here's my theory: if it's too easy, we can always move faster in math, reading, English, and move up a level. Also, Drawn into the Heart of Reading only does half of the genres for Preparing, so you can always do extra and cover them all if she's getting bored.
Hope it helps you make a decision. Best wishes!

Correction; we use Little Hearts for His Glory, not Little Hands. I type faster than I can think sometimes, lol!

supers ~ thanks for writing. Crazy how our families are so similar! I love, love hearing from how other families do this. I am not starting until later because I'm still kicking around what to order for each.

Alright, I'm starting to "map this out" ...ASSUMING we go with HOD through high school. I know things can change. I'm needing a "big picture" here.

But for child #1, if we go with Preparing, her school schedule til she graduates will look like this, and it leaves me confused about high school. What to do then?

Age 9/10 (4th grade) = Preparing
Age 10/11 (5th grade) = Creation to Christ
Age 11/12 (6th grade) = Resurrection to Reformation
Age 12/13 (7th grade) = Revival to Revolution
Age 13/14 (8th grade) = Missions to Modern Marvels
Age 14/15 (9th grade) = World Geography
Age 15/16 (10th grade) = World History
Age 16/17 (11th grade) = ??
Age 17/18 (12th grade) = ??

How does this work for high school? I see there are extensions available, but I was under the impression that these student guides can not be repeated.

Does this mean I should start her with "Bigger" and maybe graduates earlier? I just feel as though it wouldn't challenge her enough. thanks again for all who are helping me work through this. I'm thankful for your help.

The third highschool guide, "American History" is being produced this upcoming year, with plans to develop the final highschool guide the following year. No worries, start where she fits

Here you can see the scope and sequence of the current guides and the 2 future guides http://www.heartofdakota.com/scope.php . As the pp said the first of the High School American History guides is due out this fall and the plan is for the next and final high school guide to come out next fall.