Looking for away to hold a son back to let other "catch up."

[momof2n2]

Hello!!

Last year I used Beyond for my 7y.o. son as 2nd grade. LOVED IT!!!
This year I used LHFHG for my 6y.o. son as 1st grade and Bigger for my 8y.o. son as 3rd grade. [ My 6y.o. 1st grader did the Bigger science with us with almost NO modifications, but he could NOT stay up with the history, so we couldn't combine more than that.]
Next year I need to add in a Kindergartener (5y.o. dd) into the mix, with my 7y.o. 2nd and 9y.o. 4th. I will also have a 3y.o. dd.

I can see that we will be VERY blessed if I can work us toward using the same curriculum for the "left side" of our lives.
Looking at my boys, who are almost exactly two years apart, I am trying to see how I can get them on the same curriculum.
I don't want my younger son to miss Beyond. I think Beyond was "beyond" amazing. Really. I LOVED the history piece.
But, I don't want to put my older son up to Preparing if I could *hold him back* a year and then do BOTH boys with Preparing next year... And have them move together thru the remainder of the volumes.
I am gently thinking about doing Beyond again with both boys next year. That would be a repeat of material for my older son. On one level that REALLY bothers me. On another level Stories of the Pilgrims, Boys and Girls of Colonial Times are considered "Fourth Grade" by CLP and repeating American history isn't really a problem. My older son wouldn't mind this, because he repeatedly tells me how much more he liked history last year, than this year.
The downside, is it isn't *meant* to extend the way the other ones are.

I could pull him out of HOD for one year [I'd likely use CLP Children of the Covered Wagon, A Child's Story of America, etc. from their 4th and 5th grade suggestions] but wanted to see if anyone had suggestions for beefing up Beyond for him.

I know that many of you do multiple programs, but I have seen our house have a great 5 months [Oct-Feb] and now that my 4y.o. dd wants to do "school" and I have started phonics, etc., with her, adding that third child in IS GOING TO KILL ME! [We've had some seriously rough days here, ladies... why do I only come looking for help when we are crashing and burning... really - it HAS been good here!] I am thinking when the two girls get in the mix it would be nice to have a curriculum for the boys and one for the girls.

THOUGHTS???????????????????????

[netpea]

I was considering the same kind of scenario. My daughter will finish Little Hearts before my son finishes Bigger. She is doubling up on Little Hearts some days and doing one days worth on others. When she is done, we will start Beyond and do Beyond over the summer and continuing in the fall. I plan on having my son tag along in Beyond over the summer while putting Bigger aside till Fall. Then depending on how much sooner he finishes Bigger than she finishes Beyond, I might do something else with him for a bit and put them both into Preparing when she is done with Beyond. I think this might be good for us in a lot of ways. She has been listening in on his history and science from Bigger already. It would be nice to have them doing the same program. Like yours, mine are 2 years apart.

I know that the manuals build off each other. So it might be quite the jump from Beyond to Preparing. But we might give it a try.
I could always fall back to 2 programs if it didn't work out.

[netpea]

I forgot to say that I asked pretty much the same question a few weeks ago. You might want to read the thread:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2990

[momof2n2]

Thanks, Lee Ann!
We have been in the same place a few times, now, haven't we.
I read thru your thread.
My 8y.o. is actually really motivated this year, which has been a HUGE blessing. My motivation is truly Mommy-centered.
I know he would not mind repeating the Beyond "left side."
I need to PRAY and see what else is suggested.

[I do know my 6 y.o. couldn't handle Bigger history, because I tried. I actually tried doing both histories with him [LHFHG and Bigger] in the fall, b/c he seemed up to it. NO WAY! I was WRONG. His brain could not tolerate First Book in American History. So I wonder if he would be ready for Preparing the following fall. If I do all this manipulating now only to find out it was a mistake later, I would cry. ]

[Carrie]

momof2n2,

I think I'd honestly lean toward doing Beyond and Preparing both at half-speed, rather than bumping your older child back down for a second trip through Beyond. Just something to ponder as it would cut your day in half time-wise for your older two and would also keep them moving forward at a level that is good for them. If you felt either was ready for more, you could always bump up to full speed. If not, you could take two years to cover each program, just making sure the math and phonics are moving forward as needed.

It would also be very tough for a child to jump from Beyond to Preparing Hearts as you suggested, so instead of that another option to consider if future combining is your ultimate goal.... would be to do Preparing at half-speed for your older child (over 2 years) and doing full-speed Beyond and full-speed Bigger with your next child. Then, you could put both in CTC the next year (skipping Preparing Hearts for your second child, although it may not be possible to jump your younger one that far either). At least in this scenario, you wouldn't be holding anyone back too far only to discover your kiddos won't combine well.

Blessings,
Carrie

[netpea]

We have been in the same place a few times, now, haven't we.

enough that I wish you lived next door! We could have our own personal co-op! As usual, Carrie had some wise thoughts for you. Let me know what you end up doing. Who knows, maybe we'll be in the same place again...

[netpea]

.

[netpea]

hmmm, after reading some of the other posts on what Preparing involves:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3168
I'd have to say Carrie's right, it looks like it would be too big a jump to have my little one skip over Bigger, so I guess, I'll always be doing 2 programs. But that's ok, because I know once they move into Preparing, they start to do some of their work independently. And I'm already trying to move my son into doing a little independent work in Bigger. But I'm still curious to see what you end up deciding...

[my3sons]

We are doing Beyond and PHFHG right now and having a great year. I think it is actually easier - at least in my situation - NOT to combine than it would be TO combine. By the time I did everything I'd have to do to pull along my little ds in order to be able to combine him with older ds, older ds could already have been done with his work, and younger ds would already be done with Beyond. Beyond only takes about 2 hours - it's fast! I have a toddler that is very LOUD and all-boy, if you KWIM. As long as I've got a good routine for him, life is good, and 2 programs are a snap. I know you have more dc than I do though - so while right now I'd say I really like Carrie's idea of half-speed Beyond, half-speed PHFHG for 2 years - if your ultimate goal is to combine your older 2, you could do Carrie's other idea...
...do Preparing at half-speed for your older child (over 2 years) and doing full-speed Beyond and full-speed Bigger with your next child. Then, you could put both in CTC the next year (skipping Preparing Hearts for your second child, although it may not be possible to jump your younger one that far either)

Otherwise, you could keep oldest in PHFHG - and plan (maybe over time) to combine your 5 yo and 7 yo. How is your 5 yo doing? Could 5 yo do BLHFHG with 7 yo, maybe at half-speed to allow 5 yo to grow into it over 2 years (using LHFHG LA and math for 5 yo)? Otherwise, you would definitely want to combine the 3 and 5 yo in the future. By the time you'd be doing 3 HOD programs though, your oldest would be very independent with HOD. Each year they have more independence, and you really reap the benefits of having moved them through the HOD programs in sequence to achieve that independence pretty effortlessly. (My ds doing PHFHG could honestly do his whole day right now by himself - but I don't let him - we both enjoy the times we do have together too much to miss them). However, my time with oldest becomes less and less as the HOD guides balance our time more and more with him being able to work ahead on his own without waiting for me. That is why it is definitely in your best interest to have dc work through the HOD guides in order. It allows them to be independent much more successfully much more early than if they had not gone through the previous guide -KWIM?

The best advice I can give is to teach your oldest to use the PHFHG manual. If you put your time in teaching the routine of the program for the first month, your oldest will be able to be very independent. I let my ds check off the boxes in the manual. I've set up an order for him to do the boxes in, and then I just work with my Beyond son. When my son doing Beyond hits an independent part, I just ask my PHFHG son what he needs me for. We then do that together, and I go back to finish up with Beyond. It works well. We are in week 28 though, so it seems very easy at this point. At the beginning of the year, it took us longer to finish - now, we're done by noon or 1 PM.

So, what are you thinking? I'd love to hear back from you - we all want to help you sort this out so you have a great year to look forward to!

In Christ,
Julie