heartofdakota.com

First let me say that after 10years of homeschooling, I am so thankful for finding HOD!! I have tried just about everthing out there! lol This seems to be a true perfect fit for us, but I am struggling with what to do. Hoping that I can get some advice here!

Here are my children and details.

DD#1 (13): She is highly motivated, but dsylexic so reading is hard for her. She has been doing Preparing basically on her own. In her words, it's too easy, but she has had trouble doing some of the reading on her own. Reading level is about 5.3 or so by the on-line tests that I have given her and what she chooses to free-read.

DD#2 (11): Not motivated, reading level of about 5.6 or so.

DD #3 (10): Struggling...everything is a battle because she wants to do everything perfectly, the first time, all the time. Tears OFTEN. Reading around grade level (4th).

DD#4 (almost 9): Auditory Processing problem. FINALLY reading on 1st grade level...not yet ready for the emergent readers even. Generally good attitude about school and is willing.

DS#1: newly 7. Reading and Math are well above 3rd grade. Says that the Emergent Readers are too easy...typical boy though! Lots of wiggles!

DS#2: 5...have not started much formal schooling yet, but he is going to be like DD#3. He won't even write letters because he says he can't do it right!
DD#5 almost 4...also have not done much formally. She can write the first letter of her name...so far

SO...HELP! My concern is that my oldest needs to be ready for high school by this time next year! I have thought about putting my oldest 3 in Creation to Christ, starting now and doing both CTC and RTR before next summer. Pretty sure that DD#1 will not be able to do the extension program on her own, since the reading level seems high.

Then doing Bigger (??) with my younger 2?? I am really not sure that I can handle 2 entire programs and get everything else done~!

Any one have similar circumstances?

Wow, you've got alot going on. I don't have any suggestions, unfortunately, as we began LHTH in March and will start Beyond in the fall but hopefully someone with more experience will respond. I know that once you get the right combination for your dc you will be blessed by HOD as we have been.

I would really check the placement chart. That will be the biggest help. If you don't follow it and jump to where you want them to be it could be a long year. I know from experience. The placement chart is great. Now, you always have the option of bumping them down to combine, but I would not bump them up.

I also would not do two programs (CTC and RTR) in one year with the same children. That would take alot of time and patience.

That's all I know of to help. Hope you get it figured out soon!

Hi 10Newtons,

I have a similar situation to yours. I have three girls 14,12,10 and two boys 9 and 6, and two little girls 4 and 1. My older two are doing CTC, and my 10 and 9 yo are doing Bigger. I am planning to start the 6 and 4 yo in Little Hearts here in a few months, right now they are doing LHTH with the 6 yo doing phonics and math.

We have only been at this for about three months, since we started HOD in January. We are still getting the kinks worked out, but I will say that doing these two programs is definitely doable! I've found that the key is to have a routine/schedule, and to make sure that I get started at a decent time in the morning. I'm not a naturally structured person so I have to stay on top of myself to do this, and when I find myself relaxing then school ends up going on late in the day, which I don't like. So I make sure we get going in the morning and then we can have relaxed time in the afternoon to do other things.

CTC is mostly independent, I spend approx 40 minutes a day doing the teacher-directed activities with my girls. If things are crazy and I can't get to it, then they do it on their own. It's a four day program and they use the fifth day to do the science experiment, the poetry painting, and finishing up anything they didn't get done during the week. It's a great program and my girls are constantly telling me how much they like it.

Bigger requires the most time, but still ends up only being around 2 hours from me. Both my 10 and 9 yo need extra attention with language arts, so we spend the most time with that, I even do a little extra stuff with them because they need it. My 9 yo is not a great reader yet either and so I have to do everything with him except he can do his math mostly independently. We are really enjoying Bigger and it is a great program also.

My biggest challenges are keeping up with my 4 and 1 yo while all this is going on. I have my older girls take a couple of twenty-minute turns with the little ones, and that helps, but I don't want to take too much time away from their school, so the rest of the time I have to be creative. I try to get the 4 yo involved in quiet activities, but she is not a quiet little girl by nature , so that doesn't always work. I try not to use the TV too much, so I get only about 30 minutes there. Sometimes I have one of the older three girls do LHTH with her and her brother, which she loves and so do they (they fight over who gets to do it with them ) The baby pretty much stays with me most of the time, she will spend a little time in her playpen with toys, or in her high chair with a snack. So the fact of the matter is, I can only do so much, real life happens around here and sometimes everything doesn't get done and I need to just relax about it. If I stick to my two keys of structure and starting on time, most things do get done, and what doesn't we get to when we get to. It doesn't have to be perfect (at least I hope not )

As far as getting your oldest ready for high school, I hear you there. What exactly are your concerns? Are you planning on a public school for her or high-school level work at home? For my oldest, she is technically high school now, but she wasn't ready for true high school work, an we have been focusing on love of learning for her, which HOD has really done. To be ready for high school academically is primarily about math, writing skills, and starting in the sciences. You can focus on advancing with these things whichever program you are using. We are trying to get my daughter a solid foundation in math right now, and working on her writing skills, and I am going to ease her into Apologia science when she and I feel she is ready. I am not worried about her getting where she needs to be. She will blossom when she is ready and advance quickly to where she needs to be. So I would say if your dd is motivated and wants to advance quickly through ctc and rtr that is great, but don't feel like you need to push her. These programs are tools for us to use to help our dc grow and learn, and so use them the way you need to for your childrens' greatest benefit. Steady progress and encouragement combined with a love of learning will get us where we need to be - that is my philosphy. Anyway, I don't know exactly what your concerns are with your oldest but that is what is going on here. Let me know if you have other questions! I've got to go get the morning started

Hugs!

I am not sure what I can offer other than to second what was said in a previous post. Make sure you look at the placement chart. We are using LHFHG for K this year with my dd6. And I would not push the younger 2 into Bigger. I would stick to the chart and probably put them in LHFHG. I know it seems easy but it really isn't. My daughter is very bright and she found the work challenging. The great part is that you can always change the Learning the Basics to meet their needs (up or down). But I found the Learning Through History and the story time activities to be about as much as she would handle. And doing 2 programs is actually pretty easy. I am using LHFHG and LHTH for the 2 children that are being schooled right now. I know the older guides have more to them but I know plenty of others that are doing 2/3 or even 4 guides. You can do it!

Hope that helps!
Mary

10Newtons,

The ladies are doing a terrific job of helping you talk through your options! If you get a chance to pop back and let us know where each child places on the first page of the placement chart linked here that would help so much: http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Then, we can help discuss some possible combining scenarios better. Writing and reading will play a big part in a child's readiness for the upper level programs so that is something to consider as you weigh your options. I am seeing that your oldest is currently doing Preparing but wasn't sure if your other kiddos are currently doing HOD? That will also make a difference in our suggestions, as what kiddos have done in the past makes a difference in how prepared they are for the upper level HOD guides.

Edited to add, I just came across this other thread of yours where moms shared possible scenarios too (which is great), so I'll link it here in case we need to refer back and forth between the two. Link: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6133

Blessings,
Carrie