Figuring things out

[naturalhomestead]

Hi! I'm new on the board, but I've been reading everything that I can about HOD for the past month and I have fallen in love with this amazing, thought out, Christ centered curriculum. I am still praying over our next school year, which will start when we are done with our current curriculum in a few months. And I just have a question about where you would place, if you were me, my oldest son. He is 8.5 now. But is not yet a really fluent reader yet. He has made great progress over the year though and we are very encouraged by it and so is he. He loves to read now which was a struggle to get him to read last year. He can read easy chapter books and tell me about what he read with some guidance to help prompt him. He absolutley loves to listen to me read though. His personality is more relaxed and laid back about things. He takes his time in learning new things.
My other children are ds 7 just, dd 4.5 and precious dd 8 months. I feel like my 7 year old fits right in with Beyond. He fits perfectly there. And my dd fits perfectly with LHFHG. My only question/concern would be where I would put my oldest. I feel like I could put him in Beyond with his brother but would that be to easy for him? If he has his own math and reading level would that be fine or should I challenge him more with Bigger? I don't have any manuals yet so I can't look at them for myself but when I look at the Bigger sample I feel like that might be hard for my oldest. But then again I am thinking about starting in a few months so he might be ready. I'm not to concerned about doing 3 different ones if that is what best fits my kids. From all the posts I've read it sounds pretty easy to do three I would just gradually ease ourselves into it.
I am so excited to start this journey with HOD if God so will's. And I'm so encouraged by everyone's words of encouragement that I read constantly. It is truly refreshing.

Jennie
married to dh for 11 years
ds 8.5
ds 7
dd 4.5
dd born 6/02/2010

[psreit]

Welcome to HOD! It is a year this month that I joined the board and I remember my excitement when I found this curriculum. It was definitely what we needed You won't regret making the change.

From what you said, it sounds like your oldest would place well in Beyond. Since you checked the placement chart and have concerns about Bigger, you may want to wait. I ran into a similar situation when placing my dd last fall. I purchased Beyond and had planned to do that this year, but after reading what others said about the transition from Beyond to Bigger, I decided to go with Little Hearts. I am so glad I did. I know dd would not be ready for Bigger next year. She is not a fluent reader yet, and also has some handwriting struggles. She will be 8 when she does Beyond. After you begin it, if you feel your ds could handle more, I'm sure there are some who could give you ideas for some extensions. I'm not sure if HOD has actual extensions for Beyond. Those are just my thoughts. HTH

[my3sons]

Hi Jennie, and welcome to the board! I liked to hear you "talk" about your dc - it's neat to hear a mom know her dc so well and love them so much. I think the placement ideas you've shared make sense, and I think you could have your 8.5 yo do Beyond with his 7 yo brother. He sounds like an incredible kid - laid back, encouraged about his progress, relaxed personality, loving hearing you read - so many neat qualities to celebrate in this day and age of uptight, tense, upset, stressed out, somewhat angry type dc. I like the idea of you starting Beyond with the 2 of them and letting him soar. Bigger Hearts on up has extensions, so at any point you can certainly add those if you wish, but personally, I think he has character qualities to love, and I'd just enjoy the journey with him from Beyond on through. It's nice to meet you, and I look forward to hearing about your year with HOD!

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Jennie,

I do think that you could combine your two older kiddos in Beyond, with a few adjustments for your older child. I'd recommend adding Rod and Staff English 2 for grammar for 8.5 year old (if he has not had much yet in the way of formal grammar instruction). Your 7 year old would do the gentle grammar lessons in Beyond on each 5th day instead.

I'd also recommend adding Cheerful Cursive, if he seems ready to start cursive. Otherwise, you could wait another year on that. Your 7 year old would do the manuscript copywork of the poem in Beyond instead. You will likely also want your 8.5 year old to do the manuscript copywork of the poetry in Beyond in addition to the cursive copywork, as there is not as much writing in Beyond as in the higher HOD guides.

Next, it sounds like your older son would benefit from Drawn into the Heart of Reading Level 2/3 for his reading instruction. Your 7 year old will probably do the Emerging Reader's Set following the schedule in the Appendix of Beyond instead.

Your older son will also need a higher level of math. I'm not sure if you use Singapore math or not, but Beyond includes 1A/1B and 2A/2B in it for math.

The last area that may need some beefing up for an 8.5 year old (who will be closer to 9 when you begin Beyond) is the science. There are two activity type experiments a week in Beyond, which will be enough in that area, but the science text used is a grade 2 text. So, you may want a bit more science reading to beef up the science reading area for your older child. Since your son struggled with reading, you will have to decide whether this will add more a struggle to your day. If it would, then do not worry about adding more science reading. If, on other hand, he is now reading well and easily, then you can consider supplementing with a few living science books on any topics that interest your son for him to read on his own. Or, your could add several science biographies or a higher level science text just for the reading part of the science. Your 7 year old will not need anything additional in science.

Blessings,
Carrie

With those additions, you should be fine combining in Beyond.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Bramble]

Welcome! We've only been using HOD since September, so I don't know as much as the others. I think you'll have a great year following Carrie's advice!

[abrightmom]

Hey, I know you beautiful Mama!! I'm soooooooo happy that you are serious about HOD. It's a wonderful provision of the Lord, isn't it?? And, since you're visiting me tomorrow you can look at my beautiful HOD manuals. I have what you need . I'd LOVE to talk placement with you . . . though you are gleaning wonderful counsel here! This is a lovely, Christ-centered place to hang out, isn't it?? Oh, and I adore your four . I have all of the resources for LHFHG and BHFHG as well as the Beyond manual. You are welcome to look over all of them while you are visiting us. Love you dear sister!