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Hello, I'm hoping you can please help me with much needed curriculum placement for my 3 children.
I feel so behind with homeschooling my children because of Covid-19 last year & we lost our home in Jan. 2020 due to a house fire which caused a long break in between, so my children who are 13,11,9 & should be in 7th, 5th & 3rd are more like in 6th, 4th & 2nd due to all of the setbacks, so my instinct is to repeat last year as them being in 7th, 5th & 3rd like them being a bit held back because we didn't get to do much even though going into the new 2021-2022 school year, their actual grades for their ages now should be going into 8th, 6th & 4th. I will list each child separately with my concerns & questions lol.

*Robert (turned 13 in Feb. 2021)
We mostly finished Bigger Hearts in 2019 & did mostly only 3 subjects in 2020 which were Reading, English & Math. I feel like we shouldn't skip Preparing Hearts because it would be a beginning to teach more independent study for him & we didn't get to do it in what would had been his 6th grade year, but I know that the extension pack only goes up to age 12, so I don't know if he should still complete Preparing before moving onto Creation to Christ even though he skipped Preparing last year at age 12 & if we are repeating a grade, should we make time for the Preparing guide & just make sure to do the extension pack along with DITHOR. He is ready for creative writing and I was thinking if we could move along quickly with Preparing, he could move onto Creation to Christ before he turns 14 possibly or would just moving onto CTC be a better option with his current age & also would be fine if he was being taught as like in 7th this year? Also would it be better with CTC because it could put him in his current needed curriculum for his age now? Another note, he didn't get to finish the bible studies of Proverbs in Bigger, so that's another factor in wanting him to not miss out on Preparing because of it teaching him Godly character traits .

*Caleb (turned 11 in Feb. 2021)
We mostly finished Beyond in 2019 & did mostly only 3 subjects in 2020 which were Reading, English & Math. I don't know what would be best for him, using Bigger w/ extension pack for 11yr. old or Preparing. I don't want him to miss out on the hymnal singing & bible study of Proverbs in Bigger but he could be independent to use Preparing. He hasn't done much dictation also & I know in Bigger, it teaches shorter passages for that. Also I don't know which is better, if my oldest son (Robert) starts in Preparing with the extension, then I could combine them both (Caleb & Robert) but if Caleb starts in Bigger, then I could combine Caleb & my youngest daughter Noelle(9) together, (Caleb with the extension pack) that way also because she is ready for more of what Bigger offers.

*Noelle (turned 9 in Dec. 2020)
We mostly finished Little Hearts in 2019 & did mostly only 3 subjects in 2020 which were Reading, Writing & Math. She hasn't moved onto Beyond yet & I know that doesn't have an extension pack available for her current age. She doesn't have experience with copying poetry yet but does do writing with words but struggling at times with sentences & not cursive yet & is an emerging reader, so I feel like she could do well with moving onto Bigger at a slower pace either only herself in the Bigger guide or combined with my middle son (Caleb) using the extension pack. Also I'm not sure if my oldest (Robert) moves on to CTC, if I should have Caleb(11) & Noelle(9) both doing Preparing even though my instinct is telling me that Noelle wouldn't be ready for what that guide is teaching for her right now. Also I would love to combine 2 of my children for the sake of our daily time & scheduling as I also have a 2 year old lol but I'm not quite sure who would benefit the best in that or if I should just keep them in 3 separate guides?

So sorry for the lengthy post. I'll be very thankful for any input that could help in deciding what would be best for our family .

It's interesting that you list what your children were doing over a year ago as a starting point. While I understand your desire not to miss anything, the reality is that, despite the stresses of the intervening time, they have likely developed more skills than you are aware of. I think you need to reconsider placement based on skill level, rather than completed work or guide content.

Are any of them dealing with any actual learning challenges? If you print off the placement charts (both "Little Hearts" and "Hearts for Him Through Time" sectionis), where would your oldest place (circle the appropriate skill level for each subject - where does he fall for most subjects, especially reading, writing and grammar)?

If you are not dealing with any LDs I would not consider Preparing as best placement for an average 13yo. Pretend HOD is a new curriculum for you and aim for best placement for them based on skills: not on History, Bible, or any other content (even grammar - you can easily use a lower grammar level than the one suggested).

I have had a 12 1/2 yo start in HOD with Preparing, but he really struggled with executive functioning and symptoms of dysgraphia. He is now graduated. While I think he got an excellent education, it was much harder for me to adjust the guides (using multiple guides - one for history/geo/Bible; another for science; sometimes a third for LA) to get him the high school credits he needed, than it would have been for him to have been placed higher; however, that simply wasn't an option for him - we tried higher placment for 10 units and he couldn't handle it. I would definitely suggest looking at CTC at the VERY lowest, but ideally RTR, if not Rev2Rev.

For your 11yo, you may be surprised where he places, since he was doing the 3Rs this year. Again, I would consider at least Preparing, if not CTC or RTR for him. For dictation you can use any level, not just those from the guides where he places (so if in CTC, he could use a level from Preparing, if you thought that was the best place for him to start.)

Your 9yo would likely do well placed in Bigger. You can definitely start slowly, if you feel that is appropriate, but she would likely be able to handle it as written (at least in the fall - I'm not sure if you're intending to start this spring or wait till fall).

While I totally understand the pull to combine, I found that truly did not work well, though I tried twice. You will notice that Preparing and up have more and more independence built in, and you will have more time to spend with the others. Bigger and Preparing are the most teacher intensive guides, so I find that Bigger/Preparing and Preparing/CTC back-to-back are the hardest to run, but it is still possible. (Our first year I had LHFHG, Bigger modified for older child, Preparing modified for older child, and CTC for an advanced younger child. It was not easy, but it was way better than trying just 3 guides for our first 10 units!)

Placement can be challenging, but while I don't wish for you to place them where they are frustrated or overwhelmed, don't shortchange them either. Because I have so many kids, mine don't start a full guide until they go into 4th in Preparing! (They just do 3Rs and Storytime until then; I don't have time to run full guides.) So, even without doing LHFHG, Beyond and Bigger, my almost-8yo DD (almost finished DITHOR Level 2 books, doing Bigger using the guide independently and asking for school) and her almost-10yo brother (struggling with reading, still in the ERs) will start Preparing this fall, half speed. My last 2 boys to do this are now in RTR (just started, just turned 11; will use it for 6th), and Rev2Rev (13yo in 7th; will start MTMM in the fall for 8th) and I have not noticed any problems for them not having completed the lower guides.

Blessings as you decide. I'm sure others will chime in, including Julie or Carrie, but I encourage you to take a look at the placment charts and pop back in here to comment on where each places based on skill levels in the placement chart.
Blessings,

I am not sure on placement for then. Have you gone and actually looked at the placement chart with fresh eyes to see where you think they place?

As for the hymns study, you could easily have them all participate in that together. It is only a few minutes a day, so you could do that around a meal or snack time. Similarly, you could do parts of the character study in Bigger together (those that aren't directly tied to history). Have it as a family trait and verse for the week. And the lowest level of dictation is included in Preparing, plus they are all public domain, so don't let that affect placement.

Thanks for sharing about your past year - those are some very hard things to go through! My parents had a house fire when we were little children, and it was such a challenging time. COVID certainly hasn't been easy either. I am so sorry, but you are on the other side of all of that now - praise God!!!

I read your post and understand regret about not using the guides to their fullest extent and about missing things you were looking forward to. I also understand not wanting to skip a guide or guides (i.e. PHFHG for your oldest) - the guides are all wonderful! However, the reality is your oldest will not get to do all of the guides already - which is okay. Families come to HOD at all different times and with children at all different ages. Not getting to do all of the guides is a reality for many, but they still enjoy wherever they start and moving forward. This can be that fresh start for you too!

I would encourage you to look at the placement chart with fresh eyes, as if you were new to HOD. Instead of hearing what they have done and were going to do previously, I would love so much to hear how they are doing in reading, writing, independence, following step-by-step directions - these are likely skills they grew in last year as your family went through many times you needed to pull together. Could you please share about these things for each of your children, using the first page of the placement chart as a reference? I'd love to hear what kind of books they each read - picture books, chapter books with pictures, thick chapter books? Also, I'd love to hear about how many sentences each would write in one setting - copywork of several sentences, 1-3 sentences with help, 5-7 sentences, 7-10 sentences, or more? Is their writing quite large, or shrinking, or fitting on wide-lined notebook paper? Also, who wants you right by his/her side, and who can work independently quite successfully once shown the ropes? Please share your thoughts in reading/writing/independence/maturity/direction following for each, and then we can all come up with a great plan going forward!

In Christ,
Julie