hello- another newbie here! Please HELP :)

[cocomimilily]

Hello, I'm just ordering HOD to start in August with my 3 girls. At that time they will be 5 1/2, 7 1/2, and 10 (in October). I am torn over which guides to buy. I have gone over the scope and sequence/chart but still unsure what level to put them. I only want to do two guides, I just had a baby and don't feel I could handle 3 guides right now. I am so thrilled to have found HOD but I have to say it will be a HUGE change for us. We have tried many different curriculum over the past 4 years and they seem to either be way too much prep for me or too dry for all of us.
Could someone give me advice as to where to place them?? Here is a little info about each one:

All girls have mainly used Abeka math and a little Math-U-See, Abeka phonics/language arts. I am very interested in using HOD as written, including the right side of the guide. I am nervous that Singapore won't give me enough info to teach the concept. I am so used to Abeka's teacher guides which are very laid out for you- word for word. I understand Carrie has info in the guides through level 2 but what about level 3 and up?? Is this hard to teach on your own if you are not a math whiz??
Okay, here's my girls:
5 yr DD- Considering either Little Hearts or Beyond. She is doing ABeka- kindergarten this year. Writes in cursive quite well for her age. Has a great understanding of math concepts. I would really not like to pull her up to the other girls level as she is always having to tag along with the older girls, which is always above her level. However, I don't want her to be bored either, she is very bright and loves to learn.

7 1/2 DD- Finishing 1st grade Abeka, Apologia Science-Botany, writes great Cursive, great reader, is currently reading at emerging level books found in HOD, very bright but also very active and highly distractable. She can sit and listen to read-alouds for a very long time as long as they are interesting to her-even though she may be climbing all over while she's listening. I am not sure if I should put her with the younger or older?? I don't want her to be bored in Little hearts, but not sure if Preparing would be too much for her.


10 DD(in October)Finishing 3rd grade Abeka and level 3 First Lang lessons. Tried Spelling power this year and didn't like it. Last year we did level 1 and 2 of Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading. She loves to read, beginning to dread school each day, becdasue of Abeka math-although she is great at it. So considering using Singapore. I tested her and would probably start her at level 2B to review the concepts in the singapore way I think she could definitely handle Preparing, but not sure if middle 7 yr old dd could go with her-Carrie reccomended using bigger with extensions for my oldest, but I'm concerned she'd be bored. She loves science and not sure if there is enough in bigger for her. Also, would she be ready for CTC the following year?
Sorry, so many questions...I've printed out all of the guides and poured over everything as well as the intros for each. But....still undecided. Are there any mamas with any insight and time to give advice?? Thank you so much!!!
Beth

[momofgreatones]

Hi! I am in the middle of doing Bigger right now with my 10yo (almost 11) DD and 9yo (was 8 when we started) DS. It has been plenty for both of them, including the oldest, especially with the extensions, which are great. If you feel your oldest wants more science it is easy to add in more reading and/or projects. But you might be surprised that the science will end up being more than you think, and you might really love it! I'd say give it a chance as written first and see what you think.

Bigger is designed for 7-9 yo, so your 7yo may fit just great in there along with your 10yo (sorry, I can't remember where you said they fell on the placement chart!) And your 5yo, if she fits placement-wise in Little Hearts, would be really happy there. That sounds like a very doable and fun idea to me!

[lmercon]

I have used/am using LHTH, Beyond, and Bigger. I have not yet used Little Hearts. Based on what you have said about each of your daughters and what I know about the programs, I would recommend the following.

I would use LHFHG with the 5 yo and 7 yo. Do the left side of the plans together and the separate the skills areas for each child according to their needs. That would probably mean using the guide for the 5 yo and using the right side of Beyond with the 7 yo. I would definitely not use Beyond with the 5 yo. It is such a fabulous program, and I fear too much would go over her head. But more than that, Bigger would be way too much, in my opinion, for a 6 yo, which is where she would place next year if you used Beyond this year. Bigger is a big jump from Beyond. I'm using it with my 8 yo - soon to be 9 yo, and it is a great fit. I can see it being great for even a 9 or 10 yo. If in doubt, I like to have the child at the older end of the age range. They get so much more out of these rich, full programs. You would have to purchase the Beyond guide for the skills areas for your 7 yo, but you'll use the whole thing the following year, so no loss there.

For your 10 yo, I'd probably go with Preparing unless you feel that the CM-style of education will be very new to her. If she hasn't had much exposure to notebooking and narration, you may want to go with Bigger. Bigger is really great. There are lots of ways to add to the programs if you need to do so. I think it is a lot harder to simplify a program. I would not recommend Preparing for a 7 yo. In fact, I wouldn't even recommend Bigger for most 7 yos, but that's just my thinking.

I hope this helps. You will get some great advice from others. You will really love the ease of use, Christ-centeredness, and depth of the HOD programs.

Laura

[cocomimilily]

Thanks you so much for your responses! I am so thankful to have such a wonderful support/board to come to! I appreciate your input and taking time to help me find the best fit for our family! What a blessing- I know you are all very busy mamas!
Laura, do you mind expanding on why you wouldn't recommend Bigger for a 7 year old/second grader? It is so helpful to hear from mom's who have or are using the guides-wow! Thanks ladies!

[lmercon]

I'm glad you found the responses helpful. When I mentioned that I wouldn't recommend Bigger for most 7 yos, I am really only going on my own experience with my ds and what I know about that age in general. My ds is a very bright, inquisitive child. He is 8 and will be 9 this July. Bigger has been a great fit for him this year. The history readings are much more challenging than the ones in Beyond, but very good. I'm glad he had a year of narration practice before trying to narrate these stories. I'm also really glad that he had the other year of American history with Beyond because it makes the things we are learning in Bigger that much more meaningful. He's remembering things we studied last year and making connections with what we are studying this year. The history and science notebooking assignments are wonderful, but some of them take careful work and are challenging. I'm glad he had a year of simpler assignments and projects before tackling these assignments. He does such an awesome job and is so proud of his work. I think there would have been a lot more frustration last year trying to attempt some of these assignments. The program takes more time. That was a surprise to both of us going from Beyond to Bigger. There was quite a bit more work to do each day. We got used to it pretty quickly, and it still is much shorter than some programs out there, but that was something we had to get used to. (Ugh - preposition at the end - oh well!)

While I haven't used Preparing yet, I know from my sil that it is a big jump from Bigger, which you would expect. I think it may be harder each year for a young child to do the programs and get the full "effect" from it. Sure a young child could perhaps complete much of the work, but does she really understand fully what she is learning and is able to analyze and synthesize that info? These programs offer so much, I would hate for my child to not get out of them all that is intended. Besides, I despise having to cut out things or water things down.

This is just my "take" on this subject. I'm sure there are others out there using Bigger with a 7 yo and making it work. I don't want to discourage you, especially if that is the best combination for your family. If you combine the older two, just be really careful that the older dc doesn't "dominate" the discussions and narrations because the younger may get even less from the program. I would think that it would also be difficult for the younger to attempt the drawing and writing activities and not compare them with the superior work of the older one. Just some things to think about.

I hope others will chime in and possibly give you another perspective. My sil used Bigger last year with her then 8 and 10 yo dc and it went really great, so I think the programs can really stretch if you need them to do so. Don't forget that from Bigger on up there are extension packages for older children.

hth a little,
Laura

[my3sons]

The ladies are doing such a wonderful job of helping you think through this! I love the way we all help each other out by giving ideas that are sometimes the same and sometimes different because somewhere within those ideas is the placement that fits your family best. I do think that Bigger Hearts can work very well for 8-9 yo's, as well as 7-8 yo's. It truly just depends on the child. We did Bigger Hearts for my oldest ds's second grade year, and will also do it for my middle ds's second grade year. This has worked well for them. I think it depends how well they can listen to living books that have a classic sound to them and have fewer pictures. I also think it depends on their writing ability. I would not have a a 7 yo start PHFHG if she had not done any HOD programs before. So, I think I'd lean toward combining your 7 and 10 yo in BHFHG, and having your little one do LHFHG. Maybe I'm reading into this, but I'm thinking your heart is leading you toward having a year where your 5 1/2 yo can just love school and have it truly be the right level for her. I think this would make everyone happy! BHFHG's extensions include both science and history, as well as the hands-on math lessons for 2A/2B, so you're set there as well for your older. As far as the math, we have found Singapore very easy to teach. The lessons are short, and as long as you really follow the texbook's way of teaching it, you'll be fine (rather than throwing examples in of other ways to find the answers, which was counter-productive for my ds, I found).

Now, the other option would be to combine your younger 2 dc in LHFHG, and your older child could do PHFHG. This would work as well. So, you have 2 options to consider. Either way, HOD is such a blessing to teach. I can honestly say we have absolutely never been "bored" with anything in HOD. If my dc said that, there would be consequences, as the fault would be theirs - with such amazing books and plans, there's no room for talk such as that. How I wish I could have learned this way growing up - it would have made such a difference in the way I viewed learning! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[seekhimfirst]

Hey Beth! Welcome!

I didn't have time to read the replies so if this is a repeat just ignore! I wanted to share our experience since our kiddos have used A Beka as well. We just started HOD a few months ago, they had both used A Beka in a christian school since kindergarten before that. Mine are completing their 4th and 1st grade year, ages 10 and will be 7 in a month. If your kids have done well with A Beka I would recommend that you use Beyond with your youngest and Preparing with your oldest. We started mid-year but our kids would have fit right in these at the beginning of this last school year. I suggest this if I am understanding your 5 year old is finishing kindergarten now and will be first grade in the fall or when you start. The math activities in Beyond have been a little too easy for my first grader but like I said we came into it towards the end of the year. Also, we continued our A Beka math and language because we already had it and it was fine to do that so I'm only comparing the math activities in the guide. For that reason, I think they might be right on for your rising first grader. There are some extra books in the back of the guide you can add if needed for extra storytime. We have done a book a week instead of one over time so we get to almost all the suggestions for each genre. But my first grader LOVES books. Preparing is a great fit for a fourth grader in my opinion. For your middle kiddo I would go either way. If you did Beyond that child could do some of the extra books and even make your own notebooking pages if you so desired, which is what we did for my first grader. Then next year you would be in Bigger for your younger and middle and would always have the extensions if needed. Now, it just depends on the child. I would lean towards Beyond with what you said because some of the reading is a little more intense (lack of good word here ) in Preparing. The storytime reading is a bit longer about 7 units in and if your child is distracted easily that may not be good. Having said that, I now know that my first grader would have been able to handle Preparing just fine but I'm glad for what she is getting in Beyond and it works. My thoughts are that if you do Beyond for your younger and Preparing for your oldest (which I believe would both be good fits) your middle could then go either way once you get them and look over them. This also gives you a year between guides. For my first grader I believe Little Hearts would have been a bit easy with what she was already used to. I feel as though I have rambled on since I'm in a rush, sorry!

[cocomimilily]

Wow, thanks Julie and Seekhimfirst, as well as the previous ladies who responded! What a blessing you have all been to me! It is so helpful to hear others experiences and what has worked/not worked for you! I have ordered LHearts, Bigger, and Beyond to look over. If I feel Bigger is not enough for my oldest I will order Preparing. I think the right side of the page of Beyond will be great for my 7 year old and Little Hearts will be good for my 5 year old. Still not sure who to combine and in which guide, but hopefully after looking the guides over I can decide.
Thank you so much for everyone's help!
Beth

[my3sons]

We're glad to help, Beth! All of those guides are going to look so good to you - it will be hard to choose. I wanted to mention it would be helpful to check out the "Introduction" and the "Appendix" of each of the guides, as there is a wealth of information there that will give you a good idea of how the guides differ in difficulty of skills. Also, here are some insightful threads about the length of time it takes to do each guide, broken down into individual box times. SInce length of time a child is mature enough to concentrate on doing school is often a consideration when choosing placement, I thought these links could be helpful.

PHFHG and LHFHG time it takes:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4244&p=31219#p31219

BHFHG time it takes:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=702

Beyond, time it takes:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4390&p=32417

Have fun looking over your guides, and keep asking questions here until you've fine-tuned your placement!
In Christ,
Julie

[cocomimilily]

Great!
Thanks Julie for the links, I will check them out!
Beth

[Samuel'sMommy]

It looks like the other ladies have given you great advice and you have a couple of options to consider. I just wanted to say hi and welcome you to the boards. You are going to love HOD!