How does this plan sound?

[sharonb]

I have been throwing around lots of plans in my head (and in other posts!) and here's another. For quick background info: My 5 year old does not want his own HOD program. He wants to continue joining his older siblings for history, science, Bible, etc. I had intended to do Bigger and Little Hearts (in addition to LHTH) starting in a couple of months. So, then I figured I would drop the Little Hearts and put the oldest three in Bigger. My 3rd child may not get as much out of it as the oldest two, but he'll just be in Kindergarten, so I don't think that's a big deal. His 3R's are priority right now. But then I was pondering the following year, and thinking that a 1st grader probably isn't going to get much out of Preparing. So, here's my new plan (keep in mind that the 3R's subjects will be done daily; the content subjects are the ones that will be done half-speed). We school 4 days a week year round, by the way.

2010-11 (K, 2nd, 3rd): Bigger half-speed AND LHFHG half-speed (probably do one two days and the other two days) for all three of the oldest together. That way they all get readings at their levels and get to stay combined. The oldest 2 will benefit from doing LHFHG since they haven't covered those books. Oldest two will do the notebooking in Bigger.
2011-12 (1st, 3rd, 4th): Continue with half-speed Bigger AND half-speed Little Hearts. Add Bigger extensions for the remaining units for the 4th grader.
2012-13 (2nd, 4th, 5th): Preparing for 4th and 5th graders (add extensions for 5th grader). Beyond for 2nd grader. (I'll have a K'er that year too; maybe even combine him in Beyond and take it half-speed. Not worried about that yet though! Or if 2nd grader still insists on being with 4th and 5th grader, take Preparing half-speed for the boys and let my oldest continue full-speed, or whatever!).

The really cool thing about this plan is that I won't need to purchase much for the 2011-12 school year since we'll just be continuing with what we are doing. I will just need to add the Bigger extensions and get the stuff we need for the 3R's. ($ is a consideration since we'll have the birth to pay for this fall!)

So, how does it sound?

[sharonb]

By the way, if I go with this plan, I would probably go full-speed with storytime from both guides because I don't want to just read a book for 2 days and then have to wait 5 days to get back to it again. Then after this year we'd cycle back through the genres in Bigger and pick different books, making sure they'd also interest my then-1st grader since he'll already be done with LHFHG storytime.

[sharonb]

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm really excited about this plan. I really have a peace about it. I've talked with dh and it sounds good to him too. I think the LHFHG days will be the ones where we do our extras (thinking skills workbooks, music workbooks, etc) since those days will be a bit shorter than the BHFHG days. Everything seems very doable now.

By the way, Angie, I have a Lydia too!

[my3sons]

Well, it sounds like you're excited about your plan, and that is a huge help for having a good year. I thought by now I'd heard every kind of flexible plan with HOD, but this is a new one. I can see why you made this plan, and it sounds like academically each child's bases will be covered, plus all dc sound excited about the plan, and it fits the goals you personally have for your family. The only thing I wonder about is if the continuity of the history/left side of the plans will be lost going between guides? However, they are young, and it's hard to know how much continuity they get anyway. I agree with you that by the time the olders get to PHFHG it will be important your younger ds does Beyond. I guess if I were you, I'd start with the plan, and if it's not gelling like you want it to, you could easily at that point separate the 2 oldest from the younger. Both Bigger Hearts and Little Hearts are wonderful programs. I think you and your dc will enjoy them!

In Christ,
Julie

[sharonb]

Julie-
That's my main concern too, the continuity, and whether or not it'll be confusing for them to be going back and forth like that. But didn't CM have her students learning multiple streams of history at a time?

I do know that I want to do both programs, and I don't feel that full speed for both is going to work (plus, if we take 2 years to do Bigger, then my ds6 will definitely be ready to do Preparing with his big sister when we get to it. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be ready for it only a year from now).

I guess I could do each program half-speed each day, and figure out which combination of boxes would work best. I don't know. I am still working out the details for this plan. We aren't actually starting the Bigger part of things until May sometime because my older 2 have some other things to finish up first. We can start LHFHG now though. Once we have transitioned into doing both programs, I will have to post a follow-up to share how it's working, in case that is helpful to someone else!

Right now I am thinking that maybe it would be best to do each program each day (just half the boxes each day), and in order to prevent confusion, keep the routine very consistent. If we always do LHFHG history, etc first, followed by the 3R's, and then do Bigger history, etc last, then I think it would be easier for them to keep things straight in their heads. That would probably be better than doing one program Mon-Tues and the other on Wed-Thurs.

Anyway, thanks for letting me ramble on about these plans and work out what I want to do!

[my3sons]

I know typing it out helps me think through things. In fact, that's how I figured out how I wanted to do Bigger Hearts half-speed. Someone had asked me how I was going to do it, and typing it out really made me think through it. After a few weeks, I changed the order of a few boxes, and changed the way I did DITHOR and Storytime a bit, and then we were good to go. I think if you know you want to do both programs, and you know you want to do them half-speed, that those are the biggies. From there, you can try out both plans and see what fits best. I like the plan you shared last a tad better, as I think it will help with consistency to your days and carryover retention. Starting LHFHG now may give you a better idea how you want to proceed, and if you want to keep your little guy doing both or if he begins to like his own thing. You'll know what clicks for you the best!

In Christ,
Julie

[sharonb]

I already have a change to the plan! We will be doing LHFHG full-speed afterall. It really does not take as much time as I thought it would. Today we did a day of LHFHG, and I had my oldest two listening in on the reading too. My 5 year old asked me again if everyone is "stuck together" (meaning combined) and I said yes, but he was the one who needed to answer questions about the readings first. Later on in the day, I did history and science readings (stuff we're finishing up before starting Bigger) for my oldest two, and the 5 year old listened to those too. I think those can be optional for the 5 year old. It seems that all he really cares about is that he's not doing LHFHG all alone! The children are enjoying doing the rhyme about the continents all together; I can see where he doesn't want to do that fun stuff without his siblings participating!

Once I'm ready to add Bigger, I do think I'll do it half-speed as planned. I do think it's wise to stretch that one out so that my 2nd child will be ready for Preparing when we get to it. It's easy to add extensions for my oldest when she gets to the point that she needs them.

Julie, you are right-- it does help to type it all out. And then it helps to actually put the plan into action and see how it's going to go. I learned a lot today about what we need to do. ds5 doesn't HAVE to listen in on the Bigger readings (when we start them), but I do want my oldest two listening in on LHFHG, not only because ds5 wants them to, but also since I've made their schedule a bit lighter by deciding to do Bigger half-speed. (And we will definitely do some each day rather than only doing it twice a week. I decided that was not a good idea!).

[Carrie]

Sharon,

Thanks for the update! I agree that it helps so much to ponder through options and then try your plan out, adjusting as needed. It is a great way to get a good plan in place that is specific to your family. It sounds like you're on the right track in finding your fit!

Blessings,
Carrie