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Hi ladies! I just had to share this, because I am so excited about this plan for my little Riley! He's always been a bit younger than the target age range in the HOD guides. He's done very well with this, but I did not want him to get to Bigger Hearts too early. So, I've finally figured out a plan I think will work great!

Riley is 6 yo and halfway done with Beyond Little Hearts now. He completed the first 18 weeks of Beyond, and we are now taking our summer break. Next year, here's what I'm thinking...
We'll start school at the end of August. My plan is to have him do Beyond 4 days a week, will take him about 23 weeks to do (since Beyond is a 5 day a week plan, we'll only do it 4 day a week, and we have 18 weeks left of it to do). Then, we'll do Bigger Hearts half-speed for the next 12 weeks, for 4 days a week. He should be to about week 5 in the Bigger Hearts guide then (since it is a 5 day a week plan, and we'll only be doing it 4 days a week at half-speed). (He will have turned 7 in March which will be about when he starts Bigger Hearts half-speed.) This schedule will take us to about the end of May, and then we'll take our summer break.

Then the next school year, we'll start school at the end of August. He can do Bigger Hearts full-speed 4 days a week and finish out the rest of it this year. At this point, he'll be 7 1/2 - 8 1/2 when he's doing Bigger Hearts full-speed. This will keep him in the middle age range for for all of the HOD guides to come, which is right where I want him to be.

YAHOO! I am very excited about this plan for many reasons. First, he'll be in the middle of the target age ranges for the HOD guides. Second, he'll be doing school 4 days a week, which is what my older ds will be doing in CTC - love to have them both doing school 4 days a week. Third, he can ease into Bigger Hearts by beginning it half-speed at first. Fourth, the second school year, he'll already have started a bit of Bigger Hearts at the end of the previous year, so I can focus more on my older ds starting a totally new program at the beginning of the year. Fifth, my youngest ds will be starting LHTH, which makes me so happy Riley will be in the middle age range of Bigger Hearts and be able to be more independent than he would have been if he reached it when he was too young. Sixth, yes, dare I say there's a SIXTH!!! He will be on track at that point to do PHFHG 4 days a week from end of Aug. to May - which I kind of wanted him at that point not to have the summer break in the middle of a guide anymore.

I just had to share this with all of my favorite HOD ladies. Only other homschool moms could understand how nice it is to have a plan figured out! Thanks for letting me share, and this will be a record of this plan in case I forget it at the beginning of next school year.

In Christ,
Julie

Yippie!! I love a good plan, too. Congrats to you on your fabulous plan-- and peace of mind.

I think that sounds like a w*o*n*d*e*r*f*u*l plan!

I love to hear how the mom's on this board figure out how to make HOD work out best for their children. That is so encouraging.

Thanks for sharing!

Joy
Just three more units left before we finish LHFHG!

Julie!
I like this plan A LOT! I might even use some of your ideas.
Thanks for sharing,
Dorla

Julie,

Thanks so much for sharing your plan, my dd is also at the lower end of the age range for the guides and I have been struggling with how to get her into middle range of the guides. I have been looking at going halfspeed or 4 days a week; half-speed seems like not enough work and maybe somewhat too disjointed and 4 days a week has her starting Preparing somewhere in the middle of a schoolyear. Maybe a blend is just what the doctor ordered. We'll be done with LHFHG by the end of May , so I should have some time to really sit down and look at how to make this work. As some background, my dd is 5 and will turn 6 in October AND she does not want to take a long break between programs I've made my own planner which will allow me to break the units up without losing my mind! Now I just have to start filling it.

Thank-you again for sharing your plan, this has been a blessing! I'm really excited to get started on my planning now, I've been stalled because I couldn't figure out how to stretch Beyond and Bigger to cover 3 years.

Oh thanks, ladies! It's great to know how things will go for the next few years, and at that point my littlest will need some thought. I am very excited to start him in LHTH - slowly though. I think he's going to pick things up rather quickly (you know how that goes once you have older dc you're homeschooling, the little ones are just dying to have their school too). He's 2, and he already knows all of his capital letters. I felt like I should be playing with him more, but I don't do that well on my own. So, I just named the letters on his wood blocks each day putting them in a tower as I did, and then let him knock them down (or "BOOM!", as he would say ) for a few minutes here or there. Anyway, this is why I always end up starting LHTH early. It makes me a better mom because I will do all of those fun things that are like playing, and otherwise, I hate to admit this - I am NOT a good player. I hug my little one, read to him before nap/bedtime, do the tricks (peekaboo, itsy-bitsy spider, etc.), tickle him or dance with him - BUT, I do not sit down and play with him. There are so many things to be done each day, and that is the one I don't get done like I wish I did. So, LHTH is a huge guilt reducer for me - hence me always starting it early. I guess I got off on a different track here, but since I now have the older 2 figured out for the long haul - the planner in me is already on to the next little bunny. Hopeless, aren't I?!? Thanks for letting me know you all think I'm on the right track with my older ones!

In Christ,
Julie

Ooh... That does sound like a good plan. I've got to get thinking through my Greyson's plan too. I'm thinking full-speed 4 days a week for him in Beyond next year and than taking 9 weeks of the next school year to finish Beyond before heading into Bigger on the 4 day plan.

Blessings,
Carrie

I just wanted to say that I sat down this weekend and did a rough plan for Beyond and Bigger incorporating Julie's idea of combining both some halfspeed weeks with a 4 day a week schedule and it looks like it will work out for us!! We will start sometime in July going halfspeed, 4 days a week with Beyond for the first 5-6 units then move into full speed but still 4 days a week. By doing that with both Beyond and Bigger my dd will be a full year older when starting Preparing, which I think will be very good for her. My plan will be to do math and LA (spelling and grammar) 5 days a week so that she is at a 4th grade level for Preparing and will be able to go throgh 8th garde with HOD!! I'm thrilled to be able to get this worked out. Thank-you Julie for sharing your plans, they were just what I needed.

Julie,
this really has been a blessing for you to post your plans. So many of us are benefitting from it!
After reading it, I also have been working on a plan for Bigger so that we may use it for 2nd & 3rd grade. Samuel will turn 7 at the end of the month, and even though he is able to do all the work in Bigger with ease, he is not mature enough and our struggle would probably result in a lost love for school.
So, we will also do Bigger at half speed/4 days a week. Math will be completed 4 days a week (instead of 2) and we will have enough time to add Fine Arts and Spanish which are both very gentle programs.
Thanks again, Julie!
Dorla

I love this board - such encouragement here - thanks, ladies! I'm so glad my schedule was able to help you think through yours too.

In Christ,
Julie