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Hello! I need some help thinking this out. I am already starting to plan for next year. I did Little Hearts last year with my oldest and loved it! She was not ready for Beyond this year since she was on the young side (she has an early October birthday). So we chose another Kindergarten program for this year. My question is could my youngest, who will be 5 in August, do the History part of Beyond so I can keep them together? She did a lot of LHFHG last year with us. I really don't want to do 2 programs since their ages are so close together.

I appreciate any help you can give me. I thought about waiting another year so both their ages would work, but I am not sure we can stay away that long. HOD feels like home after doing another program.

Thank you!

I would NOT do Beyond with a 5 year old...Sorry.

I would do 2 programs. I have done these 2 together, and it wasn't bad at all.

One of the reasons I say this is that you would REALLY run into a problem when you got to Bigger. It has a pretty vast jump ahead from Beyond.

Thank you! That is what I was wondering about.

Hi there,

I agree. Beyond would not be suitable for a 5 year old....just the comprehension of the read-a-louds let alone the writing and spelling requirements would be too difficult for a youngin'....

Bless you,

Corrie

I agree! I actually attempted to do that this year, but I ended up getting Little Hearts. I am so happy with my decision, and it really is not bad at all to do two programs.

Thank you so much, ladies! I truly value the opinion of those "that have gone before me!" I had planned to do the history part with them together and then the "right side" stuff separately since they are at different levels. Well, I guess now I need to wrap my head around how to schedule my day doing 2 programs? This is why I start researching EARLY!!

Thank you again!

Hi Andrea! I just wanted to encourage you that doing 2 programs is not difficult with HOD. We are even doing 3 and finding our days very enjoyable! I've found it nice to have a year in between teaching guides if possible. You could do LHFHG half-speed with your 5 yo, and Beyond full-speed with your older child. Then the next year, you could finish out the second half of LHFHG and have your oldest do Bigger Hearts. You could do the Beyond Storytime box with the 2 of them, but still do the LHFHG Storytime box every other day with your little one (it's short and fun to do). You could also have a joint time for teaching math. Having them both at the table for this, going back and forth between them as needed to help. Likewise, they can do their art at the same time at the same table, but just with you assisting them in their different projects as needed. This has been fun to do with our dc in various ways over the years. I just wanted to assure you that separate programs can still foster "together-feeling" times.

As it seems you are enjoying being in the researching phase, here are a bunch of excellent links that may be interesting reading:

Let’s Share Our Schedules:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2093
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=95&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=15

Schedule Suggestions by Carrie:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4615&p=34067#p34067

Schedule or Routine?
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5244

To combine or not to combine:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5290

How to decide whether to combine or not:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7019&p=51157#p51157

In Christ,
Julie