heartofdakota.com

Hi!
I have been using HOD this year, and I love it!! I am trying to plan my year next year, and I am stuck for two of my kids. I have the oldest two in Tapestry, an that is great. No worries, then the next two are the question. I had them in two separate programs this year, but now that the younger one is reading and writing really well, (dd - age 6) and the older one (ds - likes to take things a little slower. They will have birthdays in the fall, I am hoping to put them both in Preparing. Is this possible with making sure that they have the appropriate grammar, math and such? She already loves to listen in to his history and science. The rest are younger - 4, 2, 2, and 9 mths. We are also expecting a move, and I am trying to simplify as much as I can. The twins make things interesting...
Help. Please. I can put them in different programs, but I would love to get them in the same thing unless it just isn't the wise thing to do.
Thank you!
Kimberly

We are finishing up Preparing in just a few weeks. Honestly I can't imagine a 6 year old being able to keep up with the level of independent reading that is required in the science and the independent history box. Also the writing is fairly challenging as far as written narrations for the History and the writing project each week that goes along with the poetry. I think you would have to tweak it a lot and probably do much of the reading for her, which would add time to your day. Also some of the content in the read alouds might be too mature for a 6 year old. Those are just my thoughts. You would then have the problem of next year and from looking at CTC and how challenging it is I think it would be way too much for a 7 year old.

Hi Kimberly,

I'm not quite clear if you are using HOD currently. I'm thinking...no. In that case, look at the placement chart on the home page and post back where they actually place. Then we can come up with combining scenarios, based on that information.

Take care.

Kimberly,

Welcome to HOD! It looks like you have quite the busy & blessed household! I agree that it would be great it you could tell us where your kids place on the placement chart. They'd both fit in the reccommended ages for Beyond. Are they currently 6 & 8? Will they be 7 & 9 before you're ready to start HOD with them? Anyway, I'd guess that Beyond would most likely be a better fit for combining them or possibly Bigger if they're going to fit into that age range quite soon.

HOD makes my life teaching my kids quite easy. It's all laid out & I can just open-and-go. I'm sure you'll love that, too, with the little ones that you have to spend time with. Teaching HOD is a breeze...and I feel like I'm accomplishing what's truly important in my kids' lives by pointing them to God & His Word.

Kathleen

Kimberly - if you get a chance to share your thoughts on the placement chart, we would all love to help you figure out the best option for combining your 2 sweeties! Combining is definitely one of the great things about HOD, but proper placement is a big deal for making it go smoothly. We're doing 3 HOD guides and loving it, so I know we'd be able to find 1 guide for your 2 dc and make that work - we just should figure out which 1 guide will make it happen the easiest for both you and the dc. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts when you get the chance!

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you both so much!
It has taken me a while to get back to this. Let's see, I should clarify, I did use HOD this year - and loved it. I am just new to the boards. This past year we have had a wonderful time using Bigger for my eight yr old boy, and Little for my 6 yr old. Things have gone perfectly, and I would really love to just move them up into the next books. However, my life is going to be a little hectic next year,(moving and husband going over seas with the military for about 14 months) and I was wondering if it would be easier to try to combine them both into one book.

I would like to put them both into Preparing. That said, my ages that I am asking about are... 8 - will be 9 in Sept. and 6, will be 7 in Dec. They should be in Preparing and Beyond. I want to make sure that I don't hold the 8/9 yr. back, and the 6yr. old is very quick to pick things up. The 8/9 is asking for independent work, so he is really ready for Preparing. Of course, the next one behind them needs a little bit as well, as she will be 5 in Aug. However, I thought that if she could just listen to whatever the history etc. is for the older ones, I could just work on teaching her to read, and do a bit of math.

I love having a large family, but I will admit that it is a bit of a challenge when I am trying to organize the school year and various other things.

Thank you all for your input. I really appreciate the help!
Kimberly

Thanks for sharing more about your dc here, Kimberly! I do think PHFHG sounds wonderful for your older , but I am thinking that PHFHG would be way too difficult for a 6 yo . I would have said the 2 could possibly be combined in Bigger Hearts, but that wouldn't work as your oldest just did that, and I still think Bigger would be too much for a 6 yo anyway. I think it would be best to either continue on with your oldest doing PHFHG and your younger doing Beyond, or backtrack for just a year and combine them in Beyond and beef it up as you can for your older. I want to encourage you that starting with PHFHG, you begin to really reap those years of HOD teaching you did before in the previous guides of BHFHG, Beyond, LHFHG, and LHTH. PHFHG is the mark of a new stage in learning. It is the beginning of more independent learning, and each subsequent HOD guide has more and more independent learning, which is in keeping with CM's motto of once dc are reading well, they need to be doing the reading and the work because they are able.

So, I say this because teaching PHFHG is not like teaching Bigger Hearts. Your teaching time will be less. You could just do the 1 Storytime if you wanted, only doing PHFHG with the 2 of them. Or, you could have your older child just read the PHFHG Storytime independently and do the Beyond Storytime. I did Beyond half-speed and PHFHG a few years back, and enjoyed that very much. You could also have your 6 yo do Beyond half-speed if you wanted as well, doing the left side of the plans on day, and the right side of the plans the next day. This would work just fine too.

If you are leaning toward combining, Beyond would be the best choice. You could have your older read the Bigger Hearts extensions if you went that route. They won't match exactly, but they are still all American History and would be a wonderful way to beef up the history if you want to combine. However, I'm not sure what you would do the following year then. Maybe PHFHG could be done half-speed at that point?

These are just a few thoughts I had, but you will know best. Sometimes it's easier to do separate programs, and sometimes it's easier to combine. You will know what fits your goals the best. I have prayed for you as you have relocating ahead of you too - I know the Lord will provide though. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you so much!
This really helps. I think that I will use both programs. Since the Preparing is a bit more independent, maybe it won't be as work intensive as I was thinking. It is always nice to combine where I can, so maybe I will just do the one story-time - as you suggest. Thank you so much. That really gets things down into a more manageable size ball. Thank you so much.

In Him - Kimberly