What to do for next year.....

[Alicia]

Hi. I'm hoping someone can help me clear the cobwebs and decide what to do for next year. I am currently combining left side and storytime LHFHG with dd8 and ds6 (left and right side), which has worked beautifully this year. I am doing BLHFHG right side with dd8 doing spelling list1 and the emerging readers. I also have dd4 who has sat in and listened to everything going on. I discovered today that she is ready to learn to read when she said the word I was spelling out to my son. (I had planned to do LHTH with her, but had to push that aside when we offered to keep a 2 yr old for a friend who lost his wife.)

My plan for next year was to continue on to left side and storytime BLHFHG with both; for ds6, do spelling list 1 and continue with our phonics program (he is just beginning to read); for dd8, do spelling list 2 and DITHOR 2/3. Do I still allow the dd4 to sit in on the left side BLHFHG and continue with her level of reading and math? She does fairly well with answering comprehension questions after storytime reading. Or should I change it all around now and combine ds6 and dd4 and bump my dd8 up to BHFHG? If I keep dd8 with BLHFHG, should I add a LA since she will have done that portion of BLHFHG?

Oh! And I'd like to make up my mind by Friday when I go to our homeschool conference and hopefully buy the materials there.
TIA!!!
Alicia

[Busymomma1]

That's a tricky one, isn't it? I'm in a similar situation this year in that our 4 y/o sits in and listens to the left side and storytime of Beyond along with his older siblings (ages 8 and 7). He really gets a lot out of it, too, and can answer questions sometimes faster than his 7 y/o brother! I do The Reading Lesson with the 4 y/o, too. But... I decided to go ahead and start the 4 y/o in LHTH a couple of weeks ago. It has helped in many areas, even though it is somewhat simple for him. I mean, even though he is reading at a basic level, and can listen to chapter books (even The Chronicles of Narnia!),he could use help in other "typical" preschool areas like writing, cutting, better # skills, etc. So.. by using LHTH, I'm assuring that I don't miss anything with the younger. It really is EASY... takes no more than 30 minutes in a day. I think you'd be surprised at how little time LHTH takes, yet you cover those basic preschool areas. I see you are stretched for time with the friend's dd, but maybe she could join in, too!

And for the olders, I'm no expert, but I think your first plan is probably good. I just bought Bigger, and there is a significant jump in the amount of work required from Beyond (more writing/journaling,etc). So if you are just coming from LHFHG, it will seem like a HUGE jump. Beyond will prepare them for the next step into Bigger. And I would think adding in the next level of language arts sounds good, if you've already gone through the Beyond grammar with your oldest. (We differed from the Beyond guide this year; we did a 2nd grade grammar program for my older dd... then in Bigger, I'll do the R&S 3rd grade. I just pencil in my own changes in the guide).

I hope I'm understanding and my comments may be of help! I'm sure Carrie or Julie will give the best advice!
Take care!

[my3sons]

My plan for next year was to continue on to left side and storytime BLHFHG with both; for ds6, do spelling list 1 and continue with our phonics program (he is just beginning to read); for dd8, do spelling list 2 and DITHOR 2/3. Do I still allow the dd4 to sit in on the left side BLHFHG and continue with her level of reading and math? She does fairly well with answering comprehension questions after storytime reading...
Alicia

Hi Alicia! Welcome to the HOD Board! I'm so glad you have had a wonderful year with combining your older 2 in the manner you have, and I would love that to continue for you - so with that thought in mind, I'd continue with your older two with the above plan. I think they will do very well with this, and you will most certainly continue to enjoy this combo and level of plans for the 2.

Your 4 yo sounds like a smart little cookie , and it would certainly be neat to continue to have her listen in on the Storytime portion of Beyond. I think it's important she starts to have her own program though, as this will be more and more important as she gets older, and if she's always so far under the target age range for HOD guides, she will become more and more unable to do the work within those guides due to the level of LA skills and the maturity content of the guides. Plus, she'll miss gradually learning all of those skills she needs to learn through the younger HOD guides to truly thrive with the older guides.

So, with that thought in mind, I would still do LHTH with her, but I would add the Fine Motor Skills books "Finding the Answers", "Do It Carefully", "A Reason for Handwriting K", and phonics for her from LHFHG. Then, the following year, she could do LHFHG along with the first grade options of "Thinking Skills", "A Reason for Handwriting A", and either finish out her phonics or start the Emerging Reader's Set, while your older duo moves on to Bigger Hearts with right side of PHFHG for older. I think this would be an easy way to enjoy your homeschooling, as no one will be stretched too far, each will be getting just what they need, and you will have a beautiful teaching rotation set up, where you will have a year off between teaching guides again. We are currently doing 3 HOD guides and loving it. I find it so easy to have my 3 yo done with school in 20 minutes, my 7 yo done with school in 2 1/2 to 3 hours, and my 10 yo done with school in 4 hours. These time increments fit them well and give the little ones time to just play too. I think you'd enjoy this as well - but I'd love to hear your thoughts about it!

In Christ,
Julie

[Alicia]

Julie,

Thanks so much for your thoughts. I was beginning to get anxious about what to do so I went back to the placement chart and started from there. Then, looking thru the catalog, I got an idea. But I'd really love to know your thoughts on this plan.

My kids' birthdays are all at the end of the year, dd5 in Sept, ds7 in Oct and dd9 in Dec. With that in mind, I was thinking of repeating LHFHG with ds7 and dd5 using the 101 Favorite Stories from the Bible for Bible (different from this year), Our Father's World for science (different), dd5 using the Do It Carefully, ds7 using Thinking Skills, and the rest would be a repeat. Ds7 will be continuing with a phonics program we are using currently, dd5 will be starting the same program next month. DD8 will be doing BLHFHG with DITHOR 2/3. From what I can tell, this will put us on the path to possibly combining all 3 of them at Bigger in a couple of years using the extensions for dd8, assuming that dd5 can do the work. If not, I can continue to combine dd5 and ds7 and do dd8 separately.

I see how it would be easier this next year to keep dd4 (now) in LHTH and keep the other two together. I'm just thinking that ds7 would benefit more with a repeat of this year maturity wise.

I would very much appreciate your thoughts. If you don't have time to get back to me by Friday, hopefully I can get some more suggestions at GHEA in Atlanta. I was very excited to see that HOD will be there. I have quite a few fellow homeschoolers looking into HOD and have fielded all the questions I could with just the one year experience I've had. Nice to have some backup!

Blessings, Alicia

[Kathleen]

You really could go either way, Alicia. I'd ask Carrie & Julie at the conference as I'm pretty sure they'll be the 2 there.

Welcome to the HOD board!
Kathleen

[Alicia]

Thanks, ladies. Looking forward to the conference Friday!

Blessings,
Alicia