heartofdakota.com

We LOVE HOD, but I have been struggling with homeschooling since we started our oldest in Kindergarten. We have had some major life circumstances alter the course as well including moving three times in the last 3.5 years as well as dealing with the hospitalization of an elderly parent and numerous doctor's appointments for three months at the end of last year and earlier this year. Our third move is scheduled for July, so I want to pick up fresh after the move, and I want to make sure each child is placed appropriately. I don't necessarily want to hold them back for the sake of finishing the guide (though my Type A personality wants to finish the guide).

My oldest daughter will be 11 yo in October, but 5th grade according to the public school system. She is WAY behind. She is currently working through Singapore 2B. It is probably too easy for her, but we are powering through doing two lessons a day as I am afraid if we skip ahead, she will miss out on some important math facts and techniques. We are also still working through Preparing to Build English 2. We are halfway through, and we will sometimes double up on the lessons. This is also too easy for her though she does learn something new every once in a while. She struggled A LOT with learning to read in the beginning, so she has come a long way. Her reading comprehension skills are amazing. We have just recently added the extensions (though I have been reading them to her). We are only on Unit 7 in Bigger though. But, she is very independent with her lessons. I read the history, science, and Bible Study to her at night, but she takes off on her own to complete the vocabulary, notebooking pages, etc. every morning with little assistance from me. We have also been working through the dictation in the Bigger guide. She is on passage 48, and we have been doing these daily to try to catch up. She rarely makes a mistakes, and these particular passages are very easy for her. She is halfway through Cheerful Cursive. She also copies the poem from Bigger each week, but she can complete the poem in two days (probably one if I made her).

My middle daughter just turned 7 yo this month. She is technically 1st grade right now, so she will be 2nd grade in the fall. She doesn't struggle so much with reading as my oldest daughter did, but I have fallen behind with her trying to catch the oldest child up. She is on Lesson 6 in The Reading Lesson. We had been using a different reading program for her, but I decided over the past week that I wanted to give The Reading Lesson a try again with her since reading is not as much of a struggle for her. I have been using LHFHG with her (though we are only on Unit 3), but the math is too easy. I have planned to move her up to Beyond for the math and possibly the spelling and language arts lessons as well. She is still working through A Reason for Handwriting Kindergarten, but she already has the letters down and writes stuff on her own with some assistance from me with spelling. She listens in when I read to her sister, but she has had little practice with narration herself.

So, I need helping placing them. Do I just keep chugging along? Or do I maybe place them in different guides after we are settled again in July? I am fearful that they will continue to get farther behind just because of life circumstances if I don't have them placed correctly. I do also have a 3.5 yo little boy who thankfully still naps! But my husband works long hours. He usually leaves the house between 5-6:00 am, and he isn't home until 7-7:30 pm, so the brunt of the housework is on me as well. I am not complaining, but just trying to paint a realistic picture of our days. And we have the move coming up in July. And we are also still dealing with issues with the family from the hospitalization last year.

I hate for them to miss out on all of this great material! But I wonder if I should just let my oldest daughter use the books from Bigger as her free reading. She now loves reading, and I cannot keep enough books on hand from the library to keep her occupied with reading.

Also, I have started DITHOR with my oldest, and she does fine with it. I am having her read Level 2 and 3 books as I have noticed when she reads to me that she makes a lot of mistakes. I am not sure if that is because she isn't used to reading aloud or if she truly needs the assistance with the words. She makes a lot of mistakes with the easy words that she knows, but she does a pretty good job sounding out the harder ones. I have suspected for years that she is dyslexic, so I wonder if this is normal for a dyslexic child or any child for that matter. She is probably reading at a 5th grade level on her own.

Thank you all for your help on placement!

If your were to look at the placement chart WTH fresh eyes, where would you place each of them?

If I were coming into Heart of Dakota new, I would probably place my oldest in Preparing after she completes Cheerful Cursive since the first week of Preparing has the child copying lessons in cursive. I could probably have her complete Cheerful Cursive by the end of July. I would place my middle child in Beyond.

I am mostly worried that my oldest will be missing out on the history and science from Bigger. I feel like so much of their education has just been living life because of our life circumstances over the past three years. I also see how they have learned so much by just living and being a family, but I still feel that my oldest has been short changed, so I have this urge to play catch up with her. But I am not sure if this "catch up" is beneficial if she ends up not getting through the majority of the high school guides.

There is nothing that is DO NOT MISS in science and history. This is actually the case with any elementary level history and science (any curriculum). All of the important things are repeated in the middle school and high school years. I would start next year where they place skill wise, finishing up cursive this summer. I would also jump to Rod Ave Staff 3 in the the fall regardless of if you finish Level 2 or not. It reviews the necessary things things from 2. Some families actually just start Rod and Staff with level 3 or 4 (depending on age, etc).