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Hello,

Starting a new thread to ask this question.

I've been reading all over the forum and really looking at the placement charts. I am pretty sure my oldest DS (11yo) fits squarely into Preparing and my DD (9yo) fits best into Bigger. I was originally planning on combining the two into Preparing, but I read Julie's post about the kids needing to be completely up to par with the skills on the placement chart in order to start that guide, not aiming to grow in those areas. That would place my daughter probably halfway between Bigger and Preparing...

I've heard the warnings not to run these two guides together, and I've also heard the warnings to make sure kids are properly placed, so I am wondering what to do? I will also be starting LHFHG for my 5/6 yo DS and managing a toddler and a newborn and our house.

Any suggestions or links to read where this question has been answered?

thanks,
sara

I can just chime in and say that running those two guides at the same time is really a lot, especially when you have several other kids to manage as well. I JUST finished Beyond and Preparing with my two daughters and switched up to CTC and Bigger. My 7YO was really ready for Bigger (she is almost . And the increased independence for my 10YO seems to give me just enough extra time to work with my Bigger daughter on the things she needs to do. At least, 3 weeks in, it is going well. I always have more drive when I start a guide so I'm sure it will wane, and there will be good and bad days, etc.

So that's not helping you figure out where they place perfectly, but if you are at all in doubt about your daughter's readiness for Preparing I would really rethink it. And I could say too that Bigger with an older child will look very different, and you could probably have her start becoming independent in some of the boxes. I know by the end of Bigger I do start having them do some things independently, though not usually the reading because reading level is chosen for listening and not for reading themselves, but other things like math, timeline, etc. Good placement really is very helpful. But I guess you could start off together in Preparing and then if she's not really doing well, struggling, upset, can't keep up then look at dropping her down. You might also have a better idea at that point whether running another guide with similar teacher intensity to Preparing would be feasible.

I ran those two guides for half of last year, and in my opinion it really is too much. There is so much read aloud material and so much that is teacher intensive. I found I was simply not able to successfully run the two guides full speed. Thankfully my middle child was halfway through Preparing before my youngest started Bigger. I kept my youngest half speed in Bigger all the way until my middle started CTC. I tried a couple times to bring him to full speed because he was really ready for it, but I found I just COULD NOT manage it. And I only have one other child. In your position with running another guide plus having a toddler and a newborn, I really would not recommend it.

Has your older one already done Bigger? If not, perhaps you could combine them in Bigger, beefing it up so it has a similar feel to Preparing. You could even have him do the independent science from Preparing. He could do the poetry assignments from Preparing too and written narrations from the extensions, and then the following year he should be ready to skip right into CTC, while your daughter does Preparing.

My older two were combined for Bigger and I have some great memories of it! It helped me get them through those teacher-intensive times, though by the end we were really ready to split them up. My oldest was ready to go straight to CTC (we had beefed up Bigger for her).

If he has done Bigger, then your options are more limited. I know this is not usual advice, but I would suggest you combine them in Preparing and cut things out for your younger child if you find she is not ready for everything. It is fine to have her do all the cursive copywork in print, for example. I told my son he could do that this year in Preparing until he finished Cheerful Cursive (he started cursive halfway through Bigger since he really wasn't ready for it until then). Actually he himself chose to do all the cursive copywork in cursive anyway and it looks good!

If you find your daughter is not ready for CTC because you watered down Preparing too much or for some other reason you always have the option of having her do Bigger (adding to its independence a little) the following year while your son does CTC. That may be unorthodox, but perfectly reasonable in my mind to save your sanity this coming year. Or she can go half speed in CTC, while he goes full speed. If you are combining in Preparing and you find that halfway through the year he can skip up to CTC you can do that to separate them also.

I guess what I am trying to say is that this combining thing can just be temporary. And you can tell your kids it is because of the new baby, etc. Let them know that eventually they will be in their own guides. There are so many ways to split them up down the road that in my opinion it is not worth it to stress yourself out now for what can easily be fixed later. And if you are anything like me, running those two guides will stress you out.

I would also advise you if you do combine to buy two copies of the guide, and alternate what time they do independent work so they don't have to share books. For example, have your younger one do her projects in the morning while your older one does independent science and then switch. Also, don't worry about getting off track with the school year when you separate them. My kids are all over the place (My oldest is in Unit 33, My middle in Unit 6 and my youngest in Unit 15 of their guides right now) and it works fine for us! I like being able to move them up to a new guide individually and really get settled and comfortable before another child is moving up.

Anyway that is my 2 cents. It is a little awkward when they are so close together. I wish you all the best in figuring things out...

Another thought - if your son is a strong reader and is capable of independent work, then you could possibly place him in CTC and just have him take it slow until the writing/workload is do-able for him. This way you can have your daughter do Bigger. You could even start the year like that and if it doesn't work try combining in Preparing as a back-up plan.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts, ladies! I am concerned about the workload and feeling too overwhelmed. My oldest started Bigger two years ago and we were in half speed mode for 20 weeks (only putting us in unit 10) by 2/3 through our year that I was very discouraged. He needed so much more focus on the basics. So that is what we did this year, basically the 3 R's with our own storytime and bible. He did science with a co-op which he enjoyed and also writing (IEW) with the same co-op which was pretty difficult for him. I think Preparing would be a good fit for him and give him a stretching but successful year.

I will have to think about combining them temporarily and separating them later. I hadn't really thought about that! Perhaps temporarily in Preparing and bumping her back to Bigger with extensions later?

Why not just pick up Bigger where you left off and do it with both of them? You can add extensions with written narrations for the older one if he is ready. Then his workload would be very similar to Preparing, and it would save you a LOT of effort in running 2 different teacher intensive guides. It is quite possible to make minor tweaks to Bigger and have the level of work be very similar to Preparing. My oldest did Bigger with only a few easy modifications and moved seamlessly into CTC afterwards, skipping Preparing. Separating them when they can work independently from you is much easier in my opinion.

That is what I would do (or put them both in Preparing), but I did read what Rice said on your other thread, and I think that if your kids can modify the guides to work more independently than it suggests, then it may be more possible to do Bigger and Preparing at once. At the time I was running Bigger and Preparing both of my kids were a little on the young side for their guides and needed my attention frequently. And I read everything aloud that is supposed to be a read aloud.

Thank you farmfamily,

I will think and pray about that option as well!

After reading a lot of information about running both those guides, I decided to run both of the guides but modify a few things. We will do our math and language arts daily, skip the bible study portions (my husband does his own bible study with the kids in the evening that includes the same elements), combine both kids in the poetry for Preparing and complete the rest of the boxes in the guides on a loop schedule. I fully expect the loop boxes to take more than a year.

That sounds like a great plan! I really like that!