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Hello - After much prayer with our oldest approaching kindergarten age, I have finally decided that I am going to start homeschooling our children! After a lot of research I found HOD and am excited about it. I am wondering if you have any suggestions for HOD curriculum starting out.

I have a 6yr3mo old boy that should be starting kindergarten this month. I also have a 4yr10mo old girl. Our third child is a boy that is 2yr11mo. I am not planning on any formal teaching for our youngest this year.

Our 6 year old boy and almost 5-year old girl are 17 months apart in age and are nearly inseparable. They are also both very bright and love learning! I would like to combine them in the same curriculum package if possible... at least in the later years, even if we don't this first year. According to the placement charts our boy would probably be ready for Beyond in most areas, but I'm thinking about and wondering if I should start out a little more "gently" with homeschool using LHFHG. According to the placement chart, our daughter should also be ready for LHFHG too.

What do you advise for starting out? Should I start this year with both of my older two in LHFHG? Or just our oldest in LHFHG (or possibly even Beyond)? If I do start out with both in LHFHG, and always keep them together (which I would like to for the sake of time), that would lead to our girl always being in a curriculum that is recommended for a slightly older age than she really is. As I think is often the case, the girl seems a little more prepared for "school" at a younger age than our boy was. I already plan on needing to do separate curriculum with our youngest boy, as he is 2 years younger than the others. And I would like to be able to avoid 3 separate curriculums going at the same time if possible. However, I know that we may have to adjust things as the kids grow and mature at different speeds.

Any thoughts on how to start out, while keeping the future years of curriculum in mind? I've seen that some people stretch the LHFHG curriculum out for greater than 34 weeks by taking it more slowly, so that might be an option too. Of course, everything is new to me, so any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thank you!

If you want to combine, you would place the younger and then extend for the older. So that would mean using LHTH for your base. Then add math, phonics, and handwriting for your older child. You would do the Bible, rhyme, devotional, and any activities directly related to the Bible with both. Then the younger would do the math and letter activities in the LHTH guide while the older did the K math, phonics, and handwriting.
The only thing i would them add extra would be some sort of storytime. Maybe do some good picture books this year (there are a lot of lists out there for good non twaddle picture books).

I kind of disagree with Stephanie (whom I almost always agree with). I think you could do LHFHG with both this year, understanding that if you end up getting into something too hard for your 2nd born on down the line, you could always back her up. Given that they are so close in age, and as you said, girls are often more ready for formal learning, handwriting, and such things at an earlier age, I would say go for it. Another thing to consider is the 4 day/5 day issue and you could do something like 4 days a week, which would make it last more than a year, and then that might let your 2nd born "catch up" in age and maturity before you move on to a new guide.

Generally the idea is, if your children would place in back-to-back guides you would combine them in the guide for the younger one, and add on challenge for the older one. If they would place more than 2 guides apart you would keep them separate. This makes the combinations of guides more "do-able" on down the road. There are two guides, Bigger and Preparing, which end up being VERY teacher intensive and doing both of those in one year would be very difficult. Not impossible mind you (and mine are a bit less than 2 guides apart so sometimes I do end up doing those two guides together), and I like having my kids in their separate guides. I like the individual time with each one doing their work, I like that I don't have to adapt anything, my child just fits in it and it works, I like the build of skills they get as you go on.

But when my oldest two were 6 and 4, we basically did LHFHG together. I didn't expect the 4 year old to do handwriting, reading, or the math workbook work (she always did the activities though). When she was 5 she did LHFHG again on her own. It worked out great for me, and you could do the same if you wanted.

I agree with Melissa that you could combine your two in LHFHG this year. That is how I started my oldest two. They were combined for LHFHG and Beyond and it was wonderful. However, I did need to split them up once we got to Bigger, so that may be something for you to consider as you contemplate the long term picture. Also, while I loved having my two oldest combined for the years they were, there were occasional frustrating days when one would be sick but not the other and it was basically a school day off for both. It got to the point where I really wanted my oldest to keep moving forward as I would prefer he get through all the guides and each unnecessary day lost was very frustrating for me. Overall it was a better fit for us to be in separate guides long term, even though that meant I ended up running Bigger and Preparing at the same time. My youngest two are two years apart so I won't face the same issue with them. In retrospect, I would probably still have combined my oldest two for those first two years, but I would have been quicker to separate them when my daughter could no longer keep up. So, if you are prepared for that possibility in the future, I think combining while it works is great. If you decide not to combine, I would probably still start your oldest in LHFHG. The first two guides may seem a bit easy, but the requirements really ramp up in Bigger so it is best that your child be well prepared. My oldest is in the mid to older age range of the guides and transitions easily from one guide to the next. My second child is on the younger to mid age range and needs a bit more time to grow into the skills required in each guide. I hope this info. helps some in your decision.

I agree... You could definitely try combining both in LHFHG this year. Just pay attention to if your older one needs more or your younger one needs to slow down.

I combined my second (Grace) and third (Juli) in LHFHG at about those same ages. They are slightly farther apart in age, but were very close in abilities (as yours are) when we first started. But Grace just took off in ability about halfway through. So I ended up slowing Juli down to half speed and doing double each day with Grace. Grace was more than ready for that (I could have just put her in Beyond, but I wanted her to finish LHFHG history) as it took just a little bit more than an hour to do two days worth of LHFHG with her. The only reason I slowed Juli down to half speed was to put some distance between them. She finished out the last 5/6 units full speed and then did Beyond half speed for a while. Now they are roughly one guide apart and are perfectly placed.

I said that just to let you know that if you do get started and it becomes apparent they don't belong in the same guide it's easy to separate them. Just remember you are in control of the curriculum.... it doesn't control you. It's just a guide for you, not a manual.

As you see you will find different people with different opinions. I am with Stephanie. I personally use LHFHG as a 1st grade curriculum (and if you use HOD all the way though there are 11 other guides after LHFHG). I would recommend using LHTH for Kinder and then you little one can join in.....and since you want to keep them together if you look at next year when she is in Kinder, both of them will fit into LHFHG with the older in 1st and the younger in K.