heartofdakota.com

Can someone link me to any discussion about using two guides for one child? I need to research a little on how to decide whether or not this is a good option for one of my children and how it fleshes out. For example, if I have a child who is ready for Beyond's "skills" can he join in with an older sibling for Bigger's "content"? The reason I ask is that HOD integrates skills throughout the studies so I think that means that he'd be missing something at his learning level or perhaps Bigger would be too much of a stretch. I am pretty sure that I don't fully understand so that's why I'm asking for some help. I'm not even sure my question makes sense .

I have a son who is really right in between guides placement wise. I am really wanting to stick with using only two guides my first run through with HOD. I will need to place my daughter in LHFHG for Kindergarten but she won't be ready until the fall or a tad later. Though she's close to 5 now I'm starting LHTH with her. My middle child is young for his age. For example, if a guide is recommended for a 6-8 year old he'd fare better in that guide as a 7 or 8 year old. I have been planning on placing him in LHFHG with his sister BUT I am not sure that is the wisest course for him. That means waiting until the fall and he'll be 7 to 7.5 at that point. I'm sure he'll mature somewhat this year and I'm not willing to neglect teaching him in the meantime. I want to start him on the HOD path sooner than that. The oldest boy is more than ready for Bigger and I'm planning to begin this ASAP. We're overhauling our sweet little home school right now and preparing to start fresh with HOD as soon as I'm done. Again, that middle son is just not ready for Bigger (although I'm sure he'd enjoy the stories). Each child REALLY places beautifully in a different guide BUT I don't want to burn out right out of the gate. Using 3 guides SEEMS overwhelming . . .However, one of the reasons we are shifting to HOD is the flexibility and the ability to "fit" each of our children developmentally.

Alrighty, that turned into a lengthy question . Thanks for reading it.

A little addendum . . . I AM open to using 3 guides. Frankly, my entire teaching mindset is going through an overhaul as we are completely changing course. I am used to using a variety of curricula and because HOD is so integrated I think I am forgetting that the guide is replacing many other guides and manuals. In addition, I am used to teaching each child at their learning level anyway . . . If using a guide for each child is the best course I'm open to it. It just seems like I should be able to combine since they're only about 2 years apart as you go down the line.

The LHFHG guide is for 5-7 year olds. My dd is doing it this year and she is 7. It has worked out great for her. It sounds like your ds would fit better in Little Hearts. I didn't do Beyond first because dd needed some maturing time and also, there is a big jump in skills from Beyond to Bigger. I didn't feel she would be ready within a year for Bigger. I was right. Beyond will be so much more fun now that dd is reading a little better and also the History/Bible in Little Hearts starts at Creation, so I think dd will understand history a little better. HTH

Why don't you start him now in LHFHG? I was concerned about using 3 guides this year, but we are doing Bigger, LHFHG, and LHTH... On bad days it takes us 3 hours to get through with all of them, and that includes many breaks with the baby. On typical days it takes us about 2 - 2.5 hours If you have them placed correctly it really just seems to go smoothly.

I've been thinking about some options for you. Could you go ahead and let your 6 yo do LHTH with your 4 yo, but add the right side of LHFHG minus the storytime? You could go ahead and start the k options with him now. BTW, my 7 yo does LHTH along with us (and she also does Bigger as her own curriculum) and really enjoys getting to do it. She doesn't think it is babyish at all, in fact, she insisted that she be included. Anyway, then this fall, when you start your 4 yo with LHFHG, you could combine your boy with her only doing the 1st grade options by then. You would want to get the Beyond guide so you had the hands on math for him. That would also give you the spelling list and the Emerging Reader's list if you wanted to add those with him. This way you'd still just be doing two guides, but everyone would be getting what they needed.

I would really hesitate to put your middle son into any part of Bigger just yet. I have the Bigger manual right now (even though we're not really into the program yet-I use it for Math, Grammar, dictation, etc.) and there is a big jump from Beyond to Bigger. I also have a 6 yo son that seemed to place between guides, and I started the year with him in Beyond with his sister for the same reason that you cited-I just didn't want to be overwhelmed! In a couple of months I realized that he wasn't getting everything out of Beyond that I wanted for him to, and he wasn't going to be anywhere near ready for Bigger next year. I bumped him back into LHFHG, and our days are now going much smoother (and quicker!).

If you really need to stick with 2 guides I'd lean more toward putting your middle son into LHFHG-it's a perfect fit for my 6 yo, and he'll be finishing it when he's 7. However, each child is different, and if yours places firmly in Beyond that would probably be best for all of you-less frustration for him if something's too hard, less boredom if it's too easy--both of those mean less distractions for your other 2 kiddos and less frustration for you!

If you end up using 3 manuals consider staggering when you start them. Maybe buy Beyond right now and get him going in it several weeks before you start your oldest in Bigger and before fall when you're beginning LHFHG.

Ladies,

These are all wonderful ideas and good food for thought. I have all of the relevant guides which is helping me to evaluate placement more easily. Placement is key, right? I'm in the middle of purging a lot of curriculum and we are going to accelerate through the end of the program we are using now. I want to start HOD in about two months, Lord willing! I will pray about it and keep browsing the guides. I will also assess my boys' skills . . . they often surprise me .

I still need a little help understanding the "right side/left side" of the guides thing! Maybe it is using a younger guide but then increasing the 3 R's challenge by using the right side of the next guide in line?

Thank-you again for throwing some ideas out there.

Edited to add: I failed to mention that this middle boy IS faring well with the Emerging Readers. We are in Unit 13 right now and moving forward at a steady pace. He'll easily finish by fall. He loves to read but lacks endurance which will come with time and practice. I really think that he can take short sentences from dictation as well. He takes phrases from dictation when we use All About Spelling (I'm working through setting that aside in favor of studied dictation). He handles the dictation in AAS beautifully! He does have a tiny attention span and an unwillingness to do what is difficult for him or what he doesn't feel like doing . I have to work with him in baby steps, gently pushing/pulling him. He IS required to do his school work regardless of whether or not he wants to. His moodiness can cloud my accurate assessment of where he's at skill wise. One day I think he's completely clueless and the next day he flies through a math assignment. One day he falls apart at the thought of writing 3 words and the next day he writes a sentence with ease and asks for more. I am thinking that the bigger issue is his attitude and his heart . . . I have also compared him to the Classical paradigm which is more rigorous. Because he places so beautifully in Beyond right now it makes me think he's really on target for first grade skills (although he's behind in math but loving it now). I'm still hesitant about Bigger because I want to start my oldest in it ASAP. That boy is right in between Bigger and Preparing and I can't see waiting until fall to begin. Who know?!

Sorry for such a long post . . . bless you for even reading it!

Well, if he's doing great in the ERs, and places perfectly with Beyond, then you might just go with that. You could always go at 1/2 speed in order to give him some time to grow a little bit. Going 1/2 speed would make school not take as long. The big thing with HOD is making sure you have the right placement. From what I've seen, that tends to be more time efficient than trying to combine when it's just not the right placement. You'll spend way too much time tweaking it. I think you'll be fine doing Bigger, Beyond (or even LHFHG) and LHTH.

I just wanted to comment on your understandable apprehension to using three guides.....If three seperate guides places your children properly within HOD, then go for it. I can speak from experience that that makes HOD so much easier and enjoyable than trying to do any combining just for its own sake. If a child is placed in a guide that is too much of a stretch then it may just make your homeschool miserable!!!! I speak from experience!! It really is sooo easy to schedule and carry out the use of three guides on a day to day basis. If you look at my signature you'll see what we are using.....

Just my 2cents!
Blessings to you, HTH!!

Thanks for sharing about your dc here, and you are right to ponder placement - it worth the time. We are doing 3 guides easily and happily right now. I think when just starting HOD it's nice to begin with 2 guides if possible, but then LHTH is so short (but fun!) I almost don't count it in the mix.

There are a few options I can see...
Option 1: Place your 6 and 8 yo together in Beyond, and challenge your older ds by doing the right side of Bigger Hearts for his LA and math. Yes, this would be an easier year for your 8 yo, but the following year in Bigger Hearts, you can always have him do the extensions if you want, and it would allow you to do just 2 programs, with your 4 yo doing LHFHG when done with LHTH.

Option 2: Have your 8 yo do BHFHG, and place your 4 and 6 yo in LHTH, but have your 6 yo continue to do the Emerging Reader's Set and the right side of LHFHG. Yes, it would be very easy for your 6 yo, probably too easy, but the following year the 2 could be together in LHFHG with your older of the 2 doing DIHTOR 2/3 and the right side of Beyond to up the difficulty some. BHFHG will be your biggest teaching time, and it is an important guide to teach, IMO. Teaching BHFHG well means years of solid academic skills and successful independent work to follow in the subsequent HOD guides. Very worth it. So, if you like this option, I'd more than likely place your oldest there and get going with that right away, which I know you already are thinking to do from what you've shared so far.

Option 3: Have your 8 yo do BHFHG. Have your middle ds start Beyond half-speed. You can do the left side of the Beyond plans one day, and the right side the next day. This will be easy to teach and will let your ds grow and mature into the guide. Your 4 yo can do LHTH and when finished with that begin LHFHG half-speed. I've taught all of the guides we've used half-speed at one point or another, sometimes for just a few weeks to get our feet wet, and sometimes we've taken 2 years to do a guide and done it half-speed the whole time. It is easy to do and very flexible. You can go full-speed anytime you want. This option would give you a year between reteaching a guide (not necessary but nice for us moms as teachers), so you'd eventually have one child in LHFHG, one in Bigger Hearts, and one in CTC down the road. This is nice because as your youngers need you more, your older is more independent because the older HOD guides plan for that.

These are a few ideas that came to mind! You could always start with Option 2 and change to Option 3 once you get going if you think it would be better to do that and you feel ready. I hope something here helps! Placement is the only semi-tough thing about HOD, once you're started, the rest is cake.

In Christ,
Julie