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I think I have everything worked out with how I'm going to use HOD, but I need opinions from those of you who are more familiar with the curriculum.

My plan is to use half of BIgger for next year (fourth grade) and the other half for fifth. This way, we'll have lots of extra days available for field trips, vacations, co-op, and extracurricular classes. I want to finish Cheerful Cursive this year, though, and next year, substitute that box with typing and possibly add Latin. I'll also have her copy dictation next year in cursive.

We use other things for Language Arts and Math, so that doesn't really factor in.

My concerns: I'm worried that fifth grade will be too easy. If I add the extended package, will that help with this? She'll be ten starting fifth grade.

If I use one guide for every two years, she'll constantly be above the age range on each guide.

I'm worried about her not remembering the information we learned over the summer break. I'm not sure how to remedy this, other than taking a shorter break, which no one will be very excited about. What do you think?

Just for more info, she placed in between Bigger and Preparing on the chart. I wanted to start her off gently, though, since she hasn't done as much cursive as I'd like this year, and because she's never done dictation.

Another thing I'm contemplating is getting as much done as I can this year, and possibly starting Preparing in the middle of fifth grade, instead of waiting.

Never mind. A very helpful HOD user on another site gave me some great advice. Now to rethink.

Sounds like you now have your plan. I personally would just try to fit most of it in, then finish what you can next year. I am having my son do Typing Instructor this summer while we are on break from regular school. He likes doing anything on the computer, so I doubt he'll dislike it much. My son will also be 4th grade and doing Bigger. It will be his first time with dictation, but I'm not worried.

Glad you got the advice you needed. Enjoy your year with HOD!

Daph,

With your child being a 4th grader, I would lean toward finishing as much as possible of Bigger Hearts in this first year. If you do need to leave yourself a little wiggle room, you could consider going 4 days a week and then finishing the last 9 weeks of Bigger Hearts the following year as a 5th grader, but I wouldn't recommend going at any slower pace than that for a 4th grader as she will really need the skills found within Bigger Hearts to progress in so many other learning areas too.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you, Carrie. I was advised the same from another mom. A five day traditional week is going to be an interesting challenge for me, but I'm excited to get started.