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I am having troube deciding what curriculum to do with a 5yr old(beginning 1st grade level) and a 8yr old(end of 3rd grade level). I did BHFG with 8yr old last year and had a blast! This year i would like to do them together instead of having to do 2 different curriculums if possible. I know they would be in different LA and math, but would like them to study together and do activities together to save time. Can you recommend one. Maybe i will have to wait a year or two to get them in the cycle? Not sure and my mine is boggled on to what to do. Any suggestions would be great!

I'm not sure what to recommend for you....I'm doing something combining my 7 and 10 yo's but it's not what would normally be suggested. Even though my dd did Beyond...as a 2nd grader, I am combining her now with my ds 7 who is going through Beyond....adding in 'extras' for writing, history, science, and some reading. Moving up to Preparing...with your 5 yo in tow would be really tough for that dc, but moving down into Beyond... after just finishing Bigger... may be a step backwards for your older dc that you don't want to take. We are because we have various other 'events' coming up this year and I know I cannot use three different guides at this point. Possibly putting your oldest into Preparing...at half-speed and using something else with your younger child for now would allow you to combine them later down the road when your 5 yo is older.... I'm sure others will be along soon to offer suggestions, and hopefully Carrie, the author, will pop in shortly too with her recommendation.

Seriously, why would you want to do that? Have you looked at the placement chart? I have children 5 and 8, and they are miles apart ability wise.

I would put your 5 year old in LHFHG with 1st grade options, and let your 8 year old do bigger.

Thanks so much for the replys. I did BHFG with 8yr old last year. I would do the Preparing one this year and Little hearts this year with k/1 girl. I'm just not sure i can do both curriculum's at the same time. If i wait a year, then i could do beyond again next year with both of them and then follow the cycle of books together although i know it would be on the lower end of one and higher end for other. Has anyone done this before?

I can't answer your question because I'm not good with placement decisions but I can give you a link that may help in the meantime. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7019

I guess this won't help you much since you have already done Bigger. My girls are 5 yrs old (1st grade) and almost 8 yrs old (beg 3rd grade). I am using the left hand side of Bigger (history, Bible, geography, poetry, etc. and science on right) with both girls. So far it is working just fine with my 5 year old. She may not get as much from it as my 8 year old, but she is learning and she is having fun. Then we separate and do LA, story time and math on the right hand side. I use the Beyond book with my 5 year old for the right hand side. I have not seen the Preparing book, so not sure if you could do something similar and use the left side of Preparing with both then separate and use right side of Preparing for the older and right side of Beyond for your younger.

Blessings,
Teresa

I have a similar age difference (9 yo and 6 yo) and in the same grades but we start official kindergarten at age 6.

We're doing Preparing with the older and Little Hearts with the younger and it's going *wonderfully*. We've done three weeks now, which in the scheme of things isn't long, but it's been so smooth and easy for us. The Little Hearts program does not add much time and is easily fit in around big brother's seat work.

We have had no problems finishing all the main work by lunchtime. We do extra stuff in there (foreign languages, an extra science of interest) and are still done with tons of wiggle room.

There is no way that this particular 6 yo could keep up even remotely with what big brother is hearing. He'd get pretty much nothing out of it. But if I couldn't do two programs I'd do just Preparing with the eldest and do nothing extra for the younger. I would continue with math, reading, bible study, tons of picture book readings, a daily chapter book reading, and free art explorations (play doh, painting, crafts found online). Oh and time outside.

Not sure if that helps but I'm finding doing these two programs together, at least, has been relatively painless!

- Bronwyn

Honestly it would be easier to do 2 programs. Your 8 yo would be majorly back-tracking to do Beyond instead of PHFHG. Having just completed a focal teaching year with Bigger Hearts, you are now on the precipice of reaping the rewards of that in PHFHG! I so don't want you to miss that. In PHFHG, your oldest completely takes over the science readings and the entire box of plans. He also will do the Independent History box totally independently. The "S" part of the plans mean "semi-independent", and we found that they became largely independent after the first few months of PHFHG - I just had to do the follow-up teacher part to them (usually 2-5 minutes).

Not only will your older child be back-tracking, your 5 yo will be struggling in Beyond! What's worse than not doing PHFHG and LHFHG this year, is not being able to do CTC and Beyond the next year. That year, your oldest would be taking over virtually all of the reading, history included, using the guide independently himself, and having you just do the follow-ups for most things, other than for a few key "T" boxes. I spent maybe an hour to an hour and a half teaching time for CTC last year. Looking further down the road, because your youngest will not be in even the youngest age range for the guides, you will not be able to have her read the science, history, etc. on her own when that's intended, nor will she be able to do the LA activities planned, as her reading and writing will nowhere be up to speed to do them. Meanwhile, your ds will not be taking over his reading as he should (CM says by age 9 dc should be independently reading basically everything for better retention and deeper learning). This will result in you growing hoarse from reading tons of pages out loud that were not meant to be read out loud, but instead for the dc to read independently. You will be shortchanging yourself the time freed up by having dc to the independent reading/learning they should be doing as they grow older because though your older ds will be needing it your younger dd will not be ready for it. This will all work together to make your days longer instead of shorter, and no one will be accurately placed.

In your situation, with dc 3 years apart and miles apart in abilities, and with your ds just completing Bigger Hearts and having been able to thrive with it, I really think you'd enjoy doing PHFHG and LHFHG so much more than trying to combine them in Beyond. You can start LHFHG half-speed until you get the routine of it down, but I taught both together and it is honestly very easy to do. These are just my thoughts though - I hope something here helps and pray you find what will work best with each of your dc's needs in mind.

In Christ,
Julie