LHFHG or beyond for my 2 children

[big sky]

I'm looking into starting HOD with my younger children. I have previously used sonlight with my oldest k-5th (11 years), but now with my younger children I need something else.... Something with less read aloud time! I still want to continue reading to my children but hopefully combining something! Yet what also draws me to HOD is the specific skill level of the programs...

so what would work for my 6 year old daughter(birthday in dec)- who has started reading the beginners bible, can do copywork, simple spelling, is almost through singapore 1a. We have mostly finished sonlight k books, so she is good listener. I think placement wise beyond is a good fit for her... and I think her younger brother who turned 4 in september could do the left side of beyond with her.... but I am not planning on starting math with him for a while and probably start a reading program this fall when he turns 5. He is just learning his sounds and how to write numbers, together they are doing sonlight science k and he can listen to 5-10 or so colorful pages being read but thats about it..... but looking ahead what will I do for the next year? At that point will the left side of bigger (the history, bible and science) be too much for my 6 year old son?? I also have a 2 year old dd birthday in feb.

Ive thought maybe just doing LHFHG for my 6 and 4 year old but I won't be using the right side for either. and does LHFHG include spelling words for my 6 year old or dictation?? Or maybe just do beyond with my 6 dd and later on combine my 2 and 4 year olds when they are both ready for LHFHG??

Yikes this seems so complicated when I look ahead!

[raceNzanesmom]

I would first check the placement chart and see where they fit. If they fit together fine, but it sounds like they may not. Just turned 5 is at the bottom for LHFHG, so I really don't think I'd want him in Beyond. Like you said, the left side of Beyond might be ok for ds, but it's highly unlikely he'd be ready to move on. Then you end up having to repeat a guide and it gets messy.

You could put them both in LHFHG and use higher math and the ER set for your dd. Spelling and dictation are scheduled in Beyond, not in LHFHG.

Hopefully, someone with more experience can help. I, however, would really go with where they fit, even if that means two guides.

[solagratia824]

I agree that it sounds like your daughter would be correctly placed in Beyond. I'm not sure what you should do for your ds. How is he with listening to stories with few or no pictures? Even the read-alouds for LHFHG do not have very many pictures... I'm assuming that Beyond is similar - so it may be difficult for your ds to sit through those readings.

I'm not that experienced, but I would lean toward placing your daughter in Beyond, letting ds tag along as he likes, but not really counting it as his "Beyond" year. Then start him in LHFHG when he is ready and then repeat Beyond later as a full program? Just a thought.

We are sort of doing a similar thing for LHFHG... my dd is tagging along and listening in when she can, and she participates in most of the hands-on activities. She does some activities from LHTH as well. But next year, she will do LHTH as written, and the year after, she will do the LHFHG guide as written. So she'll have done some portions of LHFHG twice... but I think it's ok, because the repeat won't be back-to-back years.

I have read about some people doing a guide half-pace for their older one, slowing down until the younger one catches up skill-wise. It looks like the later guides are easier to combine ages than the earlier guides. But I'll defer to someone more experienced to comment on that.