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I have a few questions regarding using multiple guides at one time.

1) How do you handle it when 1 is in a 5 day a week guide and the other is in a 4 day a week guide? Doesn't seem fair to have younger do school on the 5th day if older isn't and it doesn't seem right to hold younger back either.

2) Read Alouds, I guess these are the story time box, Do you do 1 set picking which ever guide or do you do both? If it matters my kids place in Beyond and Preparing. Beyond child is dd Preparing child is ds and I will have a 2 yr old running around. From Beyond we have read Charlotte's Web, The House at Pooh Corner and ds has read Follow MY leader. They have also heard Mr. Popper's Penguins, Mountain Born, The Apple and the Arrow, The Trumpet Swan and In Grandma's Attic (although dd wasn't too interested when we read it the first time). From Preparing they have heard The Family Under the Bridge and Twenty and Ten.

3) Is there a placement test/chart for Rod and Staff 3 & 4 or for DITHOR?

4) How do you know when your child is ready to move on from the ER set? Dd has read Owl at Home and the Frog and Toad books and Amelia Bedelia. She is currently going through the Beginner's Bible. I would not call her fluent or reading them smoothly yet.

I cannot answer all of your Q's but I can give some help!
1) You have a couple of options for the 4 vs. 5 days of school. We are currently doing PHFHG, LHFHG, and BHFHG! We are only doing 4 days of school a week for everyone. My husband has off on Fri. and we use it as a field trip/family day. I think some families teach 5 days even if it is a 4 day program and the kids get finished with school earlier. You just need to think about what will work for your family.

2)For the read alouds.. I am doing RA with each of my kids for their own guides. The history themed RA would be too much for my Ker. But really they all listen in on each others Storytime and love it!

3) Not sure but I don't think so -- sorry!

4)The level of difficulty in the ERs increases as you go. If your child isn't fluent yet I'd just keep plugging away at the ERs!

Dawn

Sarah,

I would start your daughter after Amelia Bedelia in the Emerging Reader's Set and follow the daily plans for the Emerging Readers in the Appendix of Beyond "as is" to finish out the rest of the set. For the storytime, I would choose one to do for both kiddos, and since the history set may have a bit of content that isn't as appropriate for your 6 year old, I would lean toward doing the Beyond Storytime with both kiddos. Make sure to do the follow-ups from the Beyond Storytime box too, as they will be needed for your 6 year old's lit. component to teach her how to think beneath the surface of what is read, listen/read with moral discernment, develop Godly character, understand the story elements, and recognize the genres. Since the focus will be on your daughter for this particular guide, I would lean toward doing the Girl Set and substitute The Cricket in Times Square for Trumpet of the Swan. My boys enjoyed having the "Girl Set" read aloud to them. I just didn't tell them it was the Girl Set. Or, you could mix and match to make your own set instead.

If desired, you could have your son possibly read the Preparing Hearts Storytime on his own, or you could read it at bedtime only to him, or you could skip it entirely to have just one storytime per day.

As far as Rod and Staff English goes, in the early years, typically we recommend using Rod and Staff one grade level behind the child's grade in school. So, we would recommend for a 4th grader to use English 3 and a 5th grader to use English 4. If your child has had a rigorous grammar path up to this point, you could instead use it on grade level.

I think I just posted an option on a different thread that you could consider for the 5th day that may help a bit with your dilemma there too.

If you have other questions, ask away! We enjoy helping!

Blessings,
Carrie