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It's hard to believe it has been so long since I was here! I used Little Hearts and Beyond with my oldest child who is now 10 . I have four students to place for this coming school year and I would appreciate feedback on my thoughts.

Before I get started let me just say that I am expecting to use three guides and I am completely fine with that. I am wanting to start my youngest little guy before the current year ends so his guide can be stretched over a year and a half if necessary while I adjust to working with all four children. Also, I expect that my oldest will be in a guide that has a four day per week schedule and in addition, he is a strong reader and mostly independent -- not in the sense that he does school without me but that I can trust him to get started and keep moving even if I am occupied for a time with another child.

I have the program placement chart beside me as I type.

So, as I said, my oldest is 10 and will turn 11 half way through the next school year. He reads independently (and widely -- nonfiction and fiction, from nursery rhymes to H. G. Wells), writes freely in cursive, can write his own short narrations and frequently does his own creative writing (outside of schoolwork), is working smoothly through R&S English 3 this year (and will soon complete it), enjoys diagramming, is on grade level with math (but not using Singapore & I don't know how the levels correspond), and all his history (American), Bible, and science this year has been independent reading plus discussion with me.

I have been thinking of placing him in Creation to Christ next year. I expect that he won't be going into the next level of his current math program but I am undecided about switching him to Singapore.

My daughter will turn 9 soon after the beginning of the school year. I think she would be considered an emerging reader. She lacks confidence and isn't reading freely of her own accord but can read through Frog and Toad level books easily and has been reading aloud to me, with a little help here and there, from the level 2 Christian Nature Reader. She can print and has pretty cursive handwriting but still needs occasional help remembering some of the less frequent letters. She composes her own sentences, usually as brief letters to friends or short journal entries. We use copy work and dictation for spelling so she is used to copying sentences, studying spelling words, and writing short sentences from dictation. She has done only a little work on parts of speech so far but regular work on mechanics and usage. She is progressing smoothly through second grade math, including word problems and mental math.

My second son will turn 8 half way through the next school year. He is reading independently. He prints and also does daily copy work and dictation for spelling (with his sister) but more so to practice printing neatly as he is strong in spelling and can write longer passages from dictation. He occasionally composes his own brief notes and short stories. He has done only a very little work on the parts of speech but regular work on mechanics and usage. He is progressing smoothly through first grade math, including word problems.

I was contemplating placing both of these guys in Bigger. I'd have to wait and see whether I would do DITHOR with either or leave it off this first year while we are adjusting to the load. I might need to look at it first before deciding.

My youngest will turn 6 soon after the start of the school year. He is currently learning phonics and very gentle math (not with a workbook and not daily). He is reading three letter words and and learning to form print letters, doing occasional copy work from his little readers.

I was intending to start him in Little Hearts within the next few months, as I said, and take a year and a half, potentially, to go through it.

What are your thoughts? Would you place them differently?

From what you've described, CTC, Bigger, and LHFHG sound pretty good to me too. Combining those middle two, as they are pretty close in age and skills, will help take a load off as Bigger and Preparing are the most teacher-intensive guides. You are at a point with those kids where they do have a lot of school work to do each day, but they aren't quite ready to take off and be independent with it yet. So you get to be a part of most things, especially with starting them out and making sure they understand what they need to do. Do those two like to work together? Would there be any competition between them?

MelInKansas wrote:From what you've described, CTC, Bigger, and LHFHG sound pretty good to me too. Combining those middle two, as they are pretty close in age and skills, will help take a load off as Bigger and Preparing are the most teacher-intensive guides. You are at a point with those kids where they do have a lot of school work to do each day, but they aren't quite ready to take off and be independent with it yet. So you get to be a part of most things, especially with starting them out and making sure they understand what they need to do. Do those two like to work together? Would there be any competition between them?

I don't know if they would both specifically "like" to work together. There is no animosity between them but I can't think of any example of them working together on anything. I think DS would be happy to but DD has previously expressed a (general) preference to work with her older brother but she is simply no where near his skill in writing, reading, and independence.

Regarding competition, not on his part. DS has no scholastic ambition. DD on the other hand has already had to deal with the reality that her brothers, both older and younger, read sooner than she did, and are stronger readers than she is (at the moment). DS7 had even figured phonics out for himself while she was slowly working through formal lessons so that was a bit of a blow at first. There may be some soreness when DD is having to correct spelling mistakes and work hard at spelling or even just remembering things and DS doesn't (additionally, he doesn't have any sensitivity to getting things wrong or being corrected if needed).

Besides that though, DD is the classic "good student". She wants to "do school", "be pleasing" and do well. She physically writes clearly and easily though not prolifically. Her main battle is growing in patience with herself when she forgets things or gets confused, and in boldness -- to risk making mistakes and accept it as part of the learning process.

DS, on the other hand, is your classic wiggler. He is a strong reader, yes, but a little on the slower end and not given to reading overall. He has the tenacity to complete a large novel when he wants to, even if it takes an hour and a half for him to read one chapter, but there are few things he wants to read so badly and he has many things he would prefer to do than read, generally speaking. Though he has an exceptional visual and auditory memory and can hold passages in his head for days and spell anything he's seen, he is still working on consistently legible handwriting and though he CAN write efficiently, anything that requires writing slows him down, not because he is physically struggling but because is given to getting lost in daydreams mid-word or number. His attention span can be, and often is, exceptionally short -- in direct contrast to the length of his memory. He will surprise me now and then by doing his work (whether school, tidying his room, or whatever) promptly and efficiently without any oversight (and shows superior skill! I have seen no child tidy a room like this child when he wants to) but it is a carefully guarded secret because 98% of the time he only works if my eyes are directly on him. He is the boy that needs to be sent regularly to run outside, who frequently chooses to move about the house in any possible way besides walking (crawling, sliding on his chest, ..), who is constantly humming or talking to himself and always has a million interesting things, real or imagined, buzzing around in his mind that are infinitely more interesting than "school". There is a chance that he is simply not ready for much more school (required reading and writing specifically) -- maybe Bigger would be too much just yet.

And maybe the amount of reading and writing is a little above DD's comfort level. Maybe she would have greater confidence if she started in Beyond plus R&S 2? DS could probably just do it as besides some adjustments for spelling. But if I don't want to do guides back to back, I would have to also make some adjustments for youngest DS, also. He's a bit of a wiggle worm, too, so maybe LHFHG's left side at half pace with K options on the right this year, then 1st grade options on the right the following year ... I don't know, I'm just tossing around thoughts now.

Alicica - your thoughts of about placing them CTC, Bigger and LHFHG sounds about right to me. If the younger one that you want to place in Bigger finds it too hard, you can always slow him down and let him go half speed (but then that will almost be like doing 4 guides instead of 3).

Hi Alicia Sounds like you have the correct guides picked out. My thoughts were to maybe do two storytimes with the Bigger guide...girl books for dd and boy/history pack for ds. Also, maybe start them in different spots for dictation so as to avoid the inevitable "comparisons", or even keep dd on spelling only, while ds does dictation. Bigger does have many analytical elements built into storytime, so you may well save DITHOR until next year. I think these will help make for a peaceful step into your HOD adventures. God bless and guide you