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After several weeks of trying it out full-pace, I'm considering doing Preparing half-speed with 9yo ds, and full-speed with 11 yo dd. DS can do the work, but the amount of it every day is just difficult for him. He gets it done, but I can see that it causes him lots of stress.

Has anyone ever done this - where you do the same program at 2 different speeds with 2 kids? if so, can you give me some advice on how this would look, esp. with the read-alouds? Everyone always wants to listen when we do the read-alouds, and I surely don't want to have to do them twice!!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I ordered Bigger for him last night. DH and I decided Preparing is just plain too difficult for him right now. Bigger will be great. Thanks anyway!

I'm sorry nobody responded to your post. I was going to bump it up yesterday because I was curious if anybody had tried this. Anyhoo, I'm glad you decided to go with Bigger. I hope it works out better for your son.

Best wishes,

Joy

Well, even this morning I had some misgiving about ordering Bigger. I'm concerned it may be too easy. But I guess I'll give it a try for a little while, and see how it goes. I'm very nervous about trying to do three programs at the same time, but am not sure there's another choice. Either way, it seems like I'd have to do 2-3 read-alouds/day, which is my main concern. I may yet repost with this question again, if Bigger's too easy! Thanks for your concern.

Tracey

Hi there! I'm coming late to this post, but here is a thread in which Carrie gave suggestions for half-speed PHFHG:
Half-speed PHFHG, with daily 3 R’s schedule by Carrie:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5431

As far as Bigger Hearts goes, I'd guess if PHFHG was too full, Bigger Hearts should be just right. However, HOD has an excellent return policy, and if you decide half-speed PHFHG is better, then you can always return your unused BHFHG items within 30 days, I believe.

We are doing 3 guides, and it's very helpful to have blocks of time and have the oldest be fairly independent (which they are supposed to be anyway ). If your oldest is fairly independent, you should be fine! At almost 11 yo, your oldest could easily independently read the "Reading about History" box's pages as well, as long as you do the follow-ups (which take around 5 minutes). Charlotte Mason advocated dc taking over the reading at age 9. In HOD, we start it at CTC to be sure, but you could easily have your oldest do this. The science is already independent in PHFHG, as is the "Independent History" box. You can easily just choose 1 Storytime to do with the two oldest, whether you do Bigger Hearts or PHFHG is up to you. The Storytime in LHFHG is super short, and it also helps dc so much with beginning listening and comprehending skills, so I'd do that one for sure.

HTH as you consider what's best for your family!
In Christ,
Julie

Julie - thank you so much for your post. You also had gotten back to me on another thread about scheduling 3 guides at once. I'm expecting Bigger to arrive today, will begin working on a schedule tonight, and probably start all 3 on Thursday. I was encouraged by your statement about Bigger, as I'm still a little nervous that it will be too easy for him. The concepts in preparing aren't hard for him at all, it's just the volume of work, esp. writing. I may throw in some extension reading for him from Bigger - i can get most of the books from the library. And I will keep in mind the return policy. So, thanks again.

Tracey