heartofdakota.com

I am not sure about some grade levels, so I would appreciate some help. Thanks so much!

Here are the ages:


6 month old...just tagging along

2yo and 4 yo (3 and 5 in the summer)....will be starting Little Hands soon. Is it OK for 5 yo to use Little Hands for K or should she be in Little Hearts?

6yo boy...not reading yet. He will be 7 in May and will be 2nd grade next year. It looks like to me he would place best in Little Hearts, but, is that OK if he will be 7 (2nd grade) using it?

9yo girl. Will be 10 in Jan. I am finishing up MFW Adventures for her 3rd grade year. Would it be too much of a repeat for her to use Bigger Hearts for 4th grade? And, if we did use Bigger Hearts, would I need to use the extension pack?


We will most likely be starting Little Hands in the next month, but the older children would probably not be starting a new program until the summer, possibly the fall.

Thank you for your help!!!

I would say that yes Little Hands will be enough for K, however you may find that your dd will want to join your son with Little Hearts - my younger son often joins us for History and science. You may find by fall she is ready to join your son in Little Hearts.

For your son, yes Little Hearts will be enough. Little Hearts has so much to it that it is easy enough for a K to get yet meaty enough for a 2nd to learn lots. I would suggest getting the 1st or 2nd grade science book to use.

Can't help with the questions about Bigger as we are not there yet.

HTH

LHTH is written for 2-5 yo's, so I think it would be fine for the 5 year old. Little Hearts... is written for 5-7 yo's, so it should fit your 6 year old fine. Bigger... is for children 8-10, so a 4th grader would fit nicely there.

However, you do have to consider ability levels as well. If you check out the descriptions for each package, and then look at the books that go with it, you'll get a good idea about what is covered. Also, if you look at the placement chart, this will help you determine where each of your children may fall according to their abilities. I will be using Bigger...next year with my 3rd and 5th graders. I will be using the extension pack with the 10 year old. I have Igniting Your Writing to add for writing if I feel he needs it...not sure 'til we get started if we will. The extension pack does include a Science and History text for extra reading to extend the older child's learning. I hope this has been somewhat helpful. There are those here who are using the programs with children older than the suggested age, as well as those who are starting a bit before their child reaches the recommended age. Hopefully, some of those who are using these programs right now will chime in here too!

Thank you for your help. I guess I am wondering now if going with Bigger will be OK after having just finished up Adventures from MFW (which covers early American history).

Is anyone who has had experience with MFW Adventures able to comment on this?

It is my understanding that people that have come from MFW Adventures go into Bigger. I believe some of the information is an overlap however it is presented in a fresh and different way.

HTH
Sarah

Terri,

I somehow missed your post! Sorry for not responding until now. The ladies have done a very good job of answering your questions.

As they mentioned your kiddos will all be in the correct age range (although on the high end, which is fine) for each of the programs you listed. It is really important to get them correctly placed according to the placement chart. Here's that link:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

So, if the 3 and 5 year old fit best in "Little Hands..." that is what I'd do. If the 7 year old fits best in "Little Hearts...", I would put him there. For your 9 turning 10 year old, if she fits best skill-wise in "Bigger..", I would put her there.

As far as "Bigger..." goes, it is a good follow-up to MFW Adventures. The biographical approach used in the Eggleston texts in "Bigger..." gives you a different feel from Adventures. Our "Beyond..." program is actually more similar to MFW Adventures content-wise and so that would be an overlap with MFW Adventures. "Bigger..." is the next logical step, unless your child seems more ready for "Preparing Hearts.." on the placement chart. Then, she could start there and skip "Bigger..".

If your child is a strong, independent reader, you would want the Extension Pack for "Bigger..". If she is not a strong or enthusiastic reader, then you would not need the extension pack.

As far as HOD goes, getting the correct placement skill-wise for our guides is more important than the age, grade, or history cycle.

Let us know what you're thinking!

Blessings,
Carrie

Thanks so much ladies for your help.

I am sure I will have more questions, but this gives me something to chew on .

So, if I put my 9yo in Bigger for 4th grade, does that mean she would miss out on the last part of the 5 year cycle?

The same with my 7yo for 2nd grade if I put him in Little Hearts?

Should I be concerned about that?

We do school year round, so should I just keep plugging along and try to get that extra year squeezed in during our summer schooling?

Ughhh...

After looking over the samples again I am not sure where to place my children!

Can someone please walk me through this?

I have looked at the placement chart, but am still not sure.

The placement charts are really good. If they are telling you that you should use Little Hearts and Bigger, that's probably a good place to start. Did you look at the sample week for each program? That should give you an idea of whether they are right for you?

And of course your 5yo would be able to do LHTH if that's where she fits best. It's a great program. My 5yo is doing MFWK because I already bought it, then will move into Little Hearts at age 6.

As far as Adventures goes, Beyond is somewhat comparable to Adventures. We only got through week 12 of Adventures and hated it. We used workbooks for the rest of that year and are doing Beyond this year. Bigger would be after Adventures.

Does that help at all? When are you looking to start these programs? Kids change so much in even a few months they may be ready for more than you think.

Terri, I so sympathize with your dilemma. I have been working through many of the same issues myself. I have done the MFW ADV and MFW ECC - just finishing ECC in a few weeks. I have decided to make the switch to HOD next year. I will be doing it with a 5th grader and two 3rd graders. I had concern as well about redoing American History after ADV, but after much research, I have decided that we will go with Bigger next year. It does look much different and much more in depth than ADV was. I am very excited about it!! I love the Extension books for my 5th grader and she is very excited about it as well (after much reluctance at the thought of redoing American). As you know, ADV is a very light overview. I asked my kids some questions to see what they had retained from that year - and it wasn't much. That kind of confirmed it for me.

As far as the history cycle goes, I had the exact same questions. You might check this thread for some help. W2W had a very good perspective on that subject. It is here: http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=670

Also, Carrie helped to realize that most ps kids never get close to the amount of history we are covering before high school. That is true. Even if they don't complete the cycle before high school, we can pick up the cycle at the high school level.

I hope this helps in your decision making. I know what a struggle it is. God has given me peace in our decision for next year and now I can hardly wait to start. It's so hard to finish this year!!

Terri,

The ladies are giving you such excellent help and advice. It helps so much to have moms to help talk through placement options, doesn't it!

As far as the placement chart goes, you will need to pay special attention to the areas on the first part of the chart (reading, writing, and math) when placing your kiddos. These are much more important than the subjects that are on the later parts of the chart. Here's the link to the chart:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

If you are not planning to use our language arts and math, then you have more leeway about which HOD program you choose for science, history, and Bible. But, I would encourage you to at least take a look at our language arts portion and the math, because the way we have them covered in our guide does help cut down on overall teaching time and on the "balance" of subjects in your day.

If you get a chance to let us know if you'll be using the HOD language arts and math and also have a chance to give us a little information about how well your kiddos read and write that would help all of us advise you better!

This is because your 5 year old could be in "Little Hands.." or "Little Hearts...", and your 7 year old could be in "Little Hearts.." or "Beyond..." (not "Bigger..." if he isn't reading yet). Your 9 year old would be in "Bigger..." or "Preparing...". Each of these decisions is dependent on where each child is at in reading, writing, and math.

Blessings,
Carrie