New to the Board and Question about BLHFHG

[ShellyG]

Hello Everyone!
I am new to the HOD board even though I am a second year user of HOD curriculum. My name is Shelly and I am the homeschooling mama to three kiddos (and praying for more). Elijah is 7 (BLHFHG) and is special needs with his Asperger's Syndrome (autism spectrum), Lydia is 4 (LHTH), and Hannah is 2 (LHTH). This is our third year homeschooling and I still feel new to it I have to say. But we LOVE HOD!

My question is.... has anyone extended Beyond to cover two years? In other words used it two years in a row with the same student or done half one year and half the next? With my son's special needs I am really considering doing this. He needs extra help as he slowly progresses in math and reading, but needs (rather wants) to move forward in other areas like history and geography.

So my thought is that I could change out the literature books with the other title options for the emerging readers portion and the story time portion to prevent being repetitive. We use Math U See for math so that would be separate all together anyway. He is currently using the level one spelling lists in the appendix so we could move up to the level two lists next year. I am praying at some point next year he will even move up to DITHOR. And I don't think he would mind going over the same scriptures and music as he needs extra practice in his scripture memorization anyway. As for the History, Geography, Art, etc. I could still use the guide and simply expand on the topics further as he loves and excels in these topics anyway. There would be more to it than this I am sure. But that is my basic thinking on it.

Has anyone attempted to do this before? If you have do have any tips? And is anyone else on here home educating a child on the autism spectrum?

Thanks for the help in advance!

Just Clay,
Shelly
wanna be mama to many
three blessings so far
3rd year homeschooling, 2nd year with HOD
Eli, 7 BLHFHG currently, past LHFHG
Lydia, 4 LHTH
Hannah, 2 LHTH
10 blessings in the arms of Jesus

[crlacey]

Welcome to the board!
I'm not sure about repeating a manual since my DD would definitely recognize it as a repeat and not be happy with that.
Could you get more books from the library about this time period to read on off days and stretch the manual by doing it half speed. Maybe you could do HOD history one week with some library books the next?
That's all I've got off the top of my head. Maybe others can help you more.

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD Board, Shelly! We took almost 2 years to go through LHFHG, and we're taking 2+ years right now to go through LHTH. It worked great! Flexibility of pacing is one of the many benefits of HOD. I would not go through a guide twice from start to finish in a row, even though the guides are wonderful. I think it would lose it's fresh appeal for both the parent and child. When we did LHFHG over about 2 years, we did the left side of the plans one day, and the right side of the plans the next day. We did phonics daily though. With about a few months left of the plans, we went to doing it full-speed and finished that way. If I were you, I'd do Beyond half-speed to begin with, doing the left side one day and the right the next. If you'd like, you could have ds do the Emerging Reader's Set daily though, and then whenever he finishes that, just start DITHOR Level 2/3 then.

One other thing you could do is do the left side of the plans (Learning through History) daily. Then, you could half the right side (Learning the Basics) and take 2 years to go through that part. I hope this is making sense - so with this idea, you'd do the left side of the plans one day, maybe say the Storytime and the LA box from the right side the next day, another left side of the plans the next day, and then the Reading Choices and Math box to finish out the right side the next day, and go through that rotation again. This way it would take 1 year to get through the left side of Beyond, but 2 years to do the right side. I'll be honest that this idea I'm sharing is the first time I've ever thought of it. But, many ladies use different guides for the right side than the left side based on a child's LA/math level, so I don't see why you couldn't do the same based on your goals for your ds's history, science, etc. level. Just a thought - and maybe an off the wall one at that, but something to consider.

I think I like the first option better still, just because I'm a tad worried about ds doing the work that's supposed to be independently done, independently in the later guides (i.e. a little of BHFHG, and more of PHFHG, etc.) Doing Beyond half-speed would help ds's reading/writing skills grow in proportion to those needed to do the work independently to come in the future guides. But again, just one more facet of this to consider.

Keep asking questions here until you fine tune a placement for your ds. That's the beauty of HOD - many placements are possible, and you as the mom will know after we kick around some ideas here which one you like the best for your dc.

In Christ,
Julie

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Shelly,

If you get a chance to pop back and let us know what you're thinking, we'd be glad to talk through it further with you.

Blessings,
Carrie

[ShellyG]

Hi everyone!
It's the middle of the night here, but I had a kiddo up and then couldn't get back to sleep. Then I remembered I never checked back on here! So now is as good a time as any. Thank you for getting back to me! So sorry it's taken me this long to respond. We have had a rough couple weeks around here with illness and what not. But after seeing another thread on the forum about this topic and reading your suggestions I definitely think we can do BLHFHG at half speed! We were already doing it and I didn't even really notice! I was too busy feeling guilty for being "behind." Crazy right? That's the joy of homeschooling for goodness sakes! I have got to shed my "gotta check it all off" mentality sometimes! SO we have basically been doing the one side one day and the other side the next. He does do his Math U See daily and we are trying to boost his confidence in reading by using Star Fall online on the days when we aren't doing the emerging readers books. It seems silly, as Star Fall is rather simple, but it's working. That paired with lots of "just for fun" reading (meaning not during school time) off and on through out the day. At first he was not up to reading the recommended amount in the emerging reader books. He was past doing a phonics program, but he was in this weird sort of in between place. Now he is finally feeling more confident and is even reading books in his bed at night!! So I think continuing at the pace we are going will work out great!! I had been researching other curriculums to see if something else would work better, but when I saw the other thread and then read your suggestions it all seemed to fall into place! Pheww! Praise the Lord HOD is flexible! With my son's Asperger's Syndrome this is going to make things MUCH easier! God bless you for your help!

Shelly

[my3sons]

Shelly - I'm so glad you let us in on how you're doing! I pray you and your family are feeling better now, and I think your half-speed BLHFHG sounds just perfect. We do have to give ourselves permission to choose a pacing that best fits our family and our dc. A happy home is just as important (or more ) as a home full of solid academics. With HOD, we can have both! Your ds sounds like his reading is going well now, and you can always do the Emerging Reader's Set more slowly too. Usually there are 3-5 pages scheduled daily, so you could easily just have him do 1-2 pages a day and go more slowly. You could also read through both Bibles to lengthen that beginning stage of the set (we did this and loved it). It sounds like you are set with a great plan now - glad to hear from you! Oh, and HOD is ALWAYS this flexible, so don't ever worry if you need to change up the pace, that's o.k., and it's why HOD is written the way it is - because it's written by a homeschool mom who has to do the same.

In Christ,
Julie

[funkmomma71]

It seems silly, as Star Fall is rather simple, but it's working. That paired with lots of "just for fun" reading (meaning not during school time) off and on through out the day. Shelly

My dd is reading quite well now, but still loves to go on the Starfall! So I don't think it's silly, especially if it helps instill a love of reading.