heartofdakota.com

Good afternoon!

I noticed on the main web page for Heart of Dakota, where all the guides are listed, that Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory is listed as a program for ages 6-8 with an extension package for ages 9-10. However, when I clicked on the guide, I could not find the extension package. I don't seem to remember if this particular guide had an extension package before, so is it new or just coming out maybe? It would be fantastic if there was an extension package, since I'll have two 6-year-olds, a 7-year-old, and a 9-year-old doing school this upcoming school year. Having them do the same guide together would be great!

If anyone could give me some information on this, I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks so much!!

-Karlyn Crafton

Beyond and under don't have extension packages. Bigger is the first guide with an extension package. I double checked the main page and the placement chart, and I didn't see extensions mentioned for Beyond. Speaking of the placement chart, have you checked there for your kids yet? Here's the link. http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php I have found that having the kids accurately placed matters for how smoothly the day goes, and can even make it easier than combining. I'm combining 2 kids and they're doing well, but I couldn't have combined my oldest 2, who are actually closer together in age than the 2 I'm combining! Once you've looked at that, pop back on, and I"m sure that there are many who can talk through what guide might work best for your situation.

Where are your seeing an extension age for Beyond? I looked all over, and didn't find it. I agree that often combining is not easier. If kids are closer to the same skill level, it might be. But even then, I find making sure I don't over challenge or under challenge a struggle.

I messaged the Austins on facebook right after I posted on the board, and Mike told me that it was an error on their new website. He fixed it right away, so that's probably why you guys didn't see it. Sorry about that!

You could always still do Beyond if you had your heart set on that guide. It may seem young for your 9 year old. I would just include appropriate grammar (maybe level R&S 3), update math, and maybe get the Preparing guide to use for spelling (if you plan to use HOD spelling). Then you could decide which level of dictation you would want to use. You would also want to use the DITHOR program 3-5 times a week for your child so that they reading things regularly. The following year when your child is 10, they could then do the Bigger guide and use the extensions.

But honestly, if your oldest child would fit better in the Preparing guide, then I would probably use just run 2 guides. I know that might sound crazy to think about but I have found that my kids get a lot more out of their guide when they are placed correctly. In Preparing, your kids start becoming independent and by the time they are in CtC, they are very independent. As you can see, my kids are similar in age range to yours. I have my oldest in the RevtoRev guide and then my two younger kids are doing Preparing this year. My girls have done very well on the youngest end of the age range. My son is much more similar in level to my youngest than my oldest. For me, I didn't want to run two guides back to back. I have done it and at one point I had all 3 kids separated and was running 3 guides. That was when I realized that my son and youngest were so close in level. So that was when I realized that I wanted them both to be combine. My son ended up repeating half of bigger (last year I was running Bigger, Preparing and R2R and working almost full time....just too much!!!) I do still work quite a bit but running Beyond and Preparing together should really only take you between 2.5-3.5 hours a day of your time to teach all of it - max. I am to a point where I only spend about 2-3 hours a day with my kids teaching/reviewing everything. My oldest takes no more than hour a day and my younger kids take 1-2 hours depending on what we are working on. HOD is great about getting the kids to be independent. If it weren't for that, then yes, running more than one guide would be very challenging. But as the kids get older, they take over all of their history and science reading and the assignments that are assigned to them. Even this year with my oldest doing RevtoRev and working in the Principles in Mathematics series, she is having no trouble at all doing her math lessons on her own. It is great! I check her work every day or two and make sure she understands along with verify she is keeping up with all the boxes. But other than that, she does a lot alone. And she loves it.

Thanks for your reply...sorry I haven't been on the message board for a while, so I didn't see it. These are all good ideas, and I'm still debating what I want to do this upcoming year. There's a lot to think about and consider. Thanks again!