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Carrie,

You had wrote me a note about how to work through Beyond with my girls, who will be 7 in December and 6 in January. I plan to start school either in August or September. Anywho, I want to see if I am on track with what would be a good plan for the them. My goal is to be able to go through Bigger mostly at 4 days a week, and have them both, especially my younger to be more mature in her skills for that book.
Here is what I am thinking.... Start Beyond in Aug. or Sept. and move slowly at half pace for about 7 weeks, then move on to 4 days a week, depending on how they are doing. Then, at about the 27th week or so, stop and carry it over into the following year, and then move on to Bigger at 4 days a week (approx.)
Does this sound like a reasonable plan? I really would rather spend this year moving more slowly and a bit choppy, and move into Bigger a little more smoothly. My goal is also to keep them together, but i want to make sure that it's not too difficult for my younger. Will this plan put me in the middle and older age bracket of Bigger? That's what I would like anyway.


Thank you!
LeAnna

If anyone else has some thoughts too, I would love to hear! I just thought I would ask Carrie, since she gave me some advice a while ago. But, I would love to hear what others think as well.

LeAnna

LeAnna I have not yet done Beyond but I have done something like this for LHFHG. I found that we were really blessed by moving by their level and allowing them to grow as they needed. I have already seen and know what Bigger has to offer so I would not worry even if it puts you at the end of the age curve for that program. There is so much there that the entire range is really covered well. And after that you get into 4 day programs which allow you to move faster if you find you need to later. I think the future will even out fine so go with what blesses your child now. When you get the right pace for the program you are presently doing the next program will naturally be perfect for you when you get there. This is coming from a major been there done that planned every second from K to college type girl. I know other will have more wisdom but just wanted to encourage you that I think you will be great!

Hey, LeAnna!

I've been thinking through this, too, trying to see if I can keep my little squirts together. Here's one option. As you start Beyond this year (start ages 5 and 6), you could plan to move at half pace all year. If you school for 34 weeks, you'd be at unit 18 of the plans. Next year (start ages 6 and 7), you could move through the remainder of Beyond at 4 days a week taking 22 weeks to do that. For the rest of the year you could start Bigger, sticking with a 4 day week. If you did the 1st 4 units at half pace, and then the next 4 at "normal" pace, that would give you another 12 weeks for a 34 week school year. THEN, the following year (start ages 7 and 8 ), you could finish out Bigger 4 days a week which would be a 35 week school year. This would put both girls in the age range of the guides. My goal is to get to where I'm starting the guide and finishing it in the same year once I hit Preparing.

You could still move Olivia (she's older right? ) on in math...like doing it 3 or 4 times a week no matter where you are in the plans if you felt that was a good move. Of course you can keep them moving with reading, too. You could always do an extra read-aloud while going half-speed with Beyond, too. There are so many good options in Beyond!! You could stick with the same genre - or not - and just do it for fun! My kids would eat that up.

Have fun! Don't you love all the planning we do...and redo...and redo. I love to try to work it all out while totally knowing that God will most likely surprise me with my kids as we move along in life. I was looking at how to stall Allison this year from starting LHFHG so that she and Garret could go through HOD together. When I was talking about it with Carrie and Julie, I think I'm going to do a trial of the 2 of them taking 2 full years to do LHFHG followed by what I posted for you above so that they're 8 and 10 when we get to Preparing. Just moving on in HOD is going to be so much easier for me than what I was trying to come up with on my own!! And as I thought about it, I know that it's just "Kindergarten" and pre-K. Using LHFHG they're going to be learning about God and His Word and role in our world. (most important!) We're going to be having a blast together daily! They're going to be growing in important fine and gross motor skills. Alli can move ahead in reading, math and handwriting. (Garret can totally skip those subjects for now!) And...they might even remember something. What do I have to lose giving it a try?

I think you've got a good plan coming together, LeAnna. (You are writing it in pencil so you can erase, right? )
Kathleen

Thank you Kathleen!! I am not too "mathy", so trying to divide weeks and figure out exactly where I would be, doing half pace, or 4 days a week, is a bit hard. But, thank you for figuring that all out for me.
I like that idea. My ideal age range for the kids is to be on the middle and higher end of each bracket. I think that plan would work good. I would prefer, but you know how that goes, to be able to move through each guide after Beyond 4 days a week. But, going through at half pace for the year with the girls might work good. I would continue to move them along in math and reading, and maybe spelling. I would just use the 2nd list if need be. Hmmm, I will have to think on that one. I am defintely writing in pencil!!!
I have decided to wait until 1st grade, or Abraham just turning 6, to do LHFHG because after doing it with the girls, I think it will be better to move through each book. Or I might take 2 years to do it too. Maybe that would be a better plan. He will be in the middle age bracket and we can move through as planned by Carrie.
Which brings me to a question that I have had... do you consider 5 or 6 to be Kindergarten?

LeAnna

Either. How's that for a helpful answer? Honestly, I see parents starting K with both 5 and 6 year olds while homeschooling, public school, or Christian school.

I really like using HOD and not having to focus on grade levels. I really only need to know what grade they're in for Sunday School and AWANA...and eventually graduation.

Kathleen

I was just kind of wondering. We have discussed whether to start Abraham in K at 5 or 6. He turns either right at school time. I don't really care about that so much, as at Sunday School and such, they say 6 years old is first grade. So, I was kind of wondering if I should start him in K at 5 or 6, which would kind of have me decide on how to go through LHFHG. If I start him when he's 5, then we would take 2 years. If I start him when he's 6, one year.

LeAnna

Or you could always start in the middle of the year and take a year and a half. The possibilities are endless! I'd say that when you're done with LHTH you could plan on moving into LHFHG, just taking it at the necessary speed.

Most of the time kids with fall b-days here wait until 6 for Kindergarten. Honestly most kids here who are born in May or after don't start K until they're 6. Since you're homeschooling, you can just move him ahead at his pace. I'd just lump him with his friends for SS, if there happens to be a group of boys close to his age. (Or maybe that's not a great idea... Grant has a big group of boys his age at church, and they're a very talkative bunch. They've got a lot of energy, but it's exciting to see them use it in a good way.)

Kathleen

Hi LeAnna - Well, the ladies did an awesome job of chatting this through with you! I thought I'd copy a previous post I had with similar plans, 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 - and maybe this will help others think about how they want to customize their HOD years.

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