Half speed for Bigger?

[AnaDawson]

My son (5) will be doing LHFHG this year and his sister (7) will be doing BHFHG. I was wondering if I could just not do the left side of the plans with the 7 yr old doing Bigger and just have her join in with her brother for the left side of his plans. She would do all the right side this year and next year she would do Bigger's left side and Beginning Wisely for Grammar DITHOR level 3, Bigger's science, Math for 3rd grade, and girl interest set for story time. The reason I am considering doing this is because I want her to be in fourth grade when she does Preparing and fifth grade when she does CTC. I am not sure if anyone has slowed down Bigger in order to do this. I would encounter the same dilemma with my son, so I would either do Beyond half speed or like my daughter do Bigger half speed. Am I nuts for wanting to do this? We will not be starting until September, so there is nothing written in stone. I would really love your feedback.

Thanks and Blessings,

Ana Dawson

[Dorla]

Ana,
I don't have an answer but I do have a similar question.
Bumping your post!
Dorla

[Jen in Va]

I just worked this out yesterday for my son who is almost 7, but is viewed by the county as a 1st grader because of his late birthday. I don't think he will be ready for Bigger next fall when we would normally get to it. Plus, I want to be able to finish the guides as planned at the end of his 8th grade year, so that we can roll right into high school. My plans for this year--he's in Beyond right now--Unit 5--to reach unit 25 by May 2010. Finish the last nine units of Beyond by December 2010. Start Bigger in Jan 2011 (he'll be eight) and get to Unit 12 by May. Complete units 13-34 of Bigger Sept 2011- May 2012. I'll accomplish this by covering a unit of Beyond over two weeks--3 days one week and 2 the next. The off days we will be continuing to work our way through his math books--so when we reach the end of Bigger he will have finished SM 3B. Ready to start 4A with the start of Preparing in fall 2012--he will be almost 10 when he starts--just where I think he'll fit best. We'll also do additional read alouds, copywork, and storytimes with narration on those days while in Beyond. I'll have to juggle the schedule a bit with Bigger because I will need to cover a unit in less than 2 weeks--it avgs out to slightly more than three lessons a week. That year I think I will just stretch the total boxes for three days over five instead, but continuing to do math, DITHOR (by that time), copywork, and narration every day.

Over the summer, to keep him up to speed in math, we will be using the Intensive Practice Books and Challenging Word Problems from SM, plus lots of reading!

[busybee4]

I just worked this out yesterday for my son who is almost 7, but is viewed by the county as a 1st grader because of his late birthday. I don't think he will be ready for Bigger next fall when we would normally get to it. Plus, I want to be able to finish the guides as planned at the end of his 8th grade year, so that we can roll right into high school. My plans for this year--he's in Beyond right now--Unit 5--to reach unit 25 by May 2010. Finish the last nine units of Beyond by December 2010. Start Bigger in Jan 2011 (he'll be eight) and get to Unit 12 by May. Complete units 13-34 of Bigger Sept 2011- May 2012. I'll accomplish this by covering a unit of Beyond over two weeks--3 days one week and 2 the next. The off days we will be continuing to work our way through his math books--so when we reach the end of Bigger he will have finished SM 3B. Ready to start 4A with the start of Preparing in fall 2012--he will be almost 10 when he starts--just where I think he'll fit best. We'll also do additional read alouds, copywork, and storytimes with narration on those days while in Beyond. I'll have to juggle the schedule a bit with Bigger because I will need to cover a unit in less than 2 weeks--it avgs out to slightly more than three lessons a week. That year I think I will just stretch the total boxes for three days over five instead, but continuing to do math, DITHOR (by that time), copywork, and narration every day.

Over the summer, to keep him up to speed in math, we will be using the Intensive Practice Books and Challenging Word Problems from SM, plus lots of reading!

This sounds very similar to what I am going to do!!! I'm glad that someone else has thought of it too!!! Makes me feel more confident!!

[AnaDawson]

I have been praying about this and I guess my real concern is not about doing acrobatics with the manuals, but more with the question of having a 5th grader do CTC. According to the four year cycle it would be perfect if a 5th grader could do CTC so that 6th, 7th, and 8th will be the new manuals. If this is completed in this way, then 9th grade will begin a new history cycle. In my opinion, this scenario is best. I just don't know how to accomplish this if all of my kids start LHFHG at five years old (they all turn five in the summer). I know it all depends on where they are at academically when they start school, but God willing they will all be ready to start at five. My soon to be second grader is basically in the same dilemma because according to the placement charts she fits right in to Bigger. I am sure several of you may experience the same issue and I am just wondering how you overcame it or plan to overcome it. I may be looking forward into the future way too much and need to leave things in God's hands. He will work all things for good in my life and my children's lives, of this I am confident. Any thoughts on this are appreciated. Perhaps I am too brainwashed by the idea that history has to be completed in four year cycles from 5th grade to graduation. Maybe I need to change my thinking when it comes to this. Trust me when I say that the Lord has turned the way I view other things way upside down. What was once right to me is no longer right and what was wrong is now right . Hello, I am homeschooling here, this is way out of my comfort zone. Please bear with me as God molds me into the woman He wants.

Thanks and Blessings,

Ana Dawson

[Jen in Va]

Ana,
Your concern is the very reason I sat down yesterday and wrote out a schedule for my son so that he will be 5th grade when he starts CTC and will finish the guides Carrie (so far) plans to write at the end of 8th grade. It is a valid concern. As of right now, I plan on extending both Beyond and Bigger in the way I mentioned above to give my son a chance to gain the maturity and skills I feel like he will need when he gets to Preparing and CTC. That may not be necessary for your children...only YOU can be the judge of that. But if you decide you need to extend, it is very doable.

[my3sons]

My son (5) will be doing LHFHG this year and his sister (7) will be doing BHFHG. I was wondering if I could just not do the left side of the plans with the 7 yr old doing Bigger and just have her join in with her brother for the left side of his plans. She would do all the right side this year and next year she would do Bigger's left side and Beginning Wisely for Grammar DITHOR level 3, Bigger's science, Math for 3rd grade, and girl interest set for story time. The reason I am considering doing this is because I want her to be in fourth grade when she does Preparing and fifth grade when she does CTC. I am not sure if anyone has slowed down Bigger in order to do this. I would encounter the same dilemma with my son, so I would either do Beyond half speed or like my daughter do Bigger half speed. Am I nuts for wanting to do this? We will not be starting until September, so there is nothing written in stone. I would really love your feedback.

Thanks and Blessings,

Ana Dawson

Hi Ana! I like looking ahead too - we are two peas in a pod - born planners at heart!

O.k. if you REALLY LOVE to read planning ideas, here's a copy of a post I wrote about what I'm doing with my little Riley (the idea here is that you could read this very long post and tweak it to fit your goals - if this is overwhelming to you - by all means skip reading it )!

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

I hope something here helps! HOD is totally flexible, so you can tailor the pacing to fit your goals in many different ways like the ones ladies have shared. Enjoy dreaming up your HOD future - I sure am having fun doodling about it!
In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

Ana - this is not to hi-jack your thread here, but I misread your post at first and was thinking you were wanting to start with LHFHG for the 5 yo and hoping to shave a year off somehow so that child could complete all of the HOD guides right before starting high school. So, I'm still posting this kind of "out there" idea for anybody in that situation, since it took me awhile to type and I think it's a valid idea for someone with those goals in mind:

I hope I can explain this well:

You could do LHFHG 4 days a week, Beyond 4 days a week, and Bigger 4 days a week. Each of these guides has 35 weeks of plans, 5 days a week, which equals 175 days of plans. If you did the plans 4 days a week, each guide would take about 9 more weeks to finish. So, you'd be at 3 years' worth of plans + 27 more weeks of plans (I'm figuring a typical 175 days of school per year here). So, if you started each guide half-speed for 2-3 weeks, that adds another 6-9 weeks of school... and wa-lah! You are doing 3 guides in 4 years. This is just one more idea for you ladies that love working plans out ahead of time (knowing the Lord can change those plans at His desire , as I often have to remind myself).

In Christ,
Julie

[AnaDawson]

Julie,

Thanks. Now I have to sit down tonight and wrap my brain around it.

Ana Dawson

[AnaDawson]

All,
Thank you so much for all your help. Your input has helped me to come up with a plan that will work for our family. My husband and I sat down last night and came up with the following plan:

2009/2010 School year
Bigger for 7 yr old dd
-Do all right side of plans with classic set for story time
-Do history/lower left box/Bible every other day of Bigger (get through 1st half of units)
-Science and Poetry every other day of Bigger (get through 1st half of units)


2010/2011 School year
Bigger for 8 yr old dd
-Do Rod and Staff 3rd grade, Math 3rd grade, do DITHOR again
-Do Bigger's history/lower left box/Bible every other day r (get through 2nd half of units)
-Do Bigger's Science and Poetry every other day (get through 2nd half of units)


I think this works out perfectly for us. My dd will be in 4th grade (9yrs old) when she does Preparing and 5th grade(10yrs old) when she does CTC. This also has the added benefit of slowing us down a bit, which I need because it is my first year of homeschooling and doing LHFHG also. I plan on doing this with all my other children as well as they all have birthdays in May, June and July and turn 5 before school starts. I hope my plan will bless someone else. I praise God and thank Him for allowing my family to homeschool and be a part of such a wonderful group of ladies who bery obviously care about each other. Later I will post my actual schedule for those of you interested in seeing that.

Thanks and Blessings,

Ana Dawson

[Carrie]

Ana,

I'm so glad that you are your husband were able to come up with a plan! It sounds like you have a good one in place!

One other thing I'll mention for you to file in the back of your mind is that you may find that your child is ready for full-speed next year, after doing half-speed this year (as this often happens with kiddos). So, if you find yourself in that position next year, you could always bump the guide up to full-speed 4 days a week next year (leaving the 5th day for any special extras that fit your child well). We did this with our own son last year (as he'd done half speed the year before and was ready for full-speed this year). I just wanted to give you a good back-up plan, in the event your daughter grows by leaps and bounds academically and is ready for more.

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

Ana - How wonderful that you and your dh were able to create this plan together! When 2 are united, that makes all the difference in the world. Thank you for sharing what you've decided, and I pray for a good year for you and your dc.

In Christ,
Julie