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I would like to combine my 9yo dd and 11yo ds, but im not sure where to place them? I know they will have to do Math and LA seperatly (My 9yo dd will be continuing with CLE Math 6 (she's half way through it) and keep using CLE and she's been using R&S LA (is finishing up Grade 4) but im debating to keep this. My 11yo ds is almost done with TT7 and will be moving to VideoText Algebra.) but i would like them to do everything else together, what should i place them in?

I would like to combine my 6yo dd and my 4yo dd, but once again im not sure where to place them? My 4yo is finishing up CLE Learning to Read, and She is pretty much Reading, She also knows how to add. My 6yo has been finished with R&S Grade 1 LA Reading,English,Spelling and Penmanship, and is finishing up Horizons 2 Math.
I want to combine them if i can? but i have no idea about the 4yo the only place she fits is in LHTH in the age, but she's way past that?

I also have a 3yo ds and 2 yo ds and im going to be using LHTH for them

I do also have a 13yo dd and she will be starting 9th grade soon, she just finished R&S Grade 8 LA Combo and is almost done with VT Algebra, id love to have her do HOD, and i was wondering if she could maybe get combined with the 9 & 11yo ? Obviously not for LA or Math LOL But i want to make sure its worth a credit? She wants to go to an Ivy League School

We will be more help if you check out the placement chart and let us know where your children fall. Just off their ages, how would CTC work for the 9 and 11 year old? Would this work for the 13 year old with extensions or does she need RTR or Rev to Rev? Carrie does give ideas for making CTC, RTR, and Rev to Rev credit worthy. Check out the stickies at the top of the main board. My 4 (almost 5) and 6 year olds are currently doing LHFHG. My first grader has her own math and English, and it works well. She is a beginning reader. She could do Beyond, but she is perfectly happy and learning in LHFHG. Where do you think your 4 and 6 year olds would place? Placement is the hardest part. Using the guides is fun!

Hi there, and welcome to the HOD Board! 8arrows gave good advice here - we have used the placement chart to place our dc, and it makes our years go so well. We are enjoying our homeschooling with HOD so much. Placement takes a bit to figure out - but it's a whole year of our life - it deserves some thought. Could you take a peek at the first page of the placement chart and share where each of your dc place individually, as well as some details in regard the chart of their 3 R's? That would help us help you so much better - as each family is so different. We'll look to give combining options where they fit well too. Here's a link to the placement chart, and after you share, we'll all chime in and chat this through...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

In Christ,
Julie

My dd4 places in BLHFHG, dd6 places in BLHFHG or BHFHG. That's why i think BLHFHG would the best fit for them to combine.

Dd9 places in CTC so ds 11 would do CTC with Extensions.

And im not sure about Dd13 i came up with what she could do i thought of after reading the threads:
1*Count CTC w/ Extensions as .5 History Credit and also do ACE 9th grade World Geography for 1 Credit
2*Do CTC w/ extensions and Add Beautiful Feet Ancient History Books for 1 History Credit
3*Do CTC w/ extensions and Add Beautiful Feet Ancient History Books for 1 History Credit and also do ACE 9th Grade World Geography for 1 Credit
4*She also can do a Current Events class watch the news read the papers and pick 1 story every week and do a 2 page report on it for either .5 or .25 depending on how many hours it takes all year
Which one do you think would be best? I'm thinking Option 3 and 4 would be best for more Credit, do you think CTC w/ Extensions is worth .5 HS Credit?
She will also be doing R&S Grade 9 English and DITHOR 6/7/8 and Apologia Biology and Video Text Geometry (finishing VT Algbra) and Many Many Electives


If we do this is what everyone would be doing (when everyone finishes this year's stuff):
DS2 and DS3 LHTH As writen
DD4 (will be 5 about half way through the program), BLHFHG w/o the LA, Instead she'll do R&S Grade 1 LA stuff (besides reading), and Singapore Math 2 w/ HOD's Schedule and Hands-on Stuff
DD6 (she turns 7 on July 4th), BLHFHG w/o the LA or Math, instead she'll do R&S Grade 2 LA stuff (besides reading) and Horizons Math 3
DD9, CTC w/o LA or Math, instead she'll do R&S Grade 5 LA stuff (besides Reading) and she'll continue w/ CLE Math 6 and eventually move on to 7 (she's doing really really well with CLE )
DS11, CTC w/ Extensions and w/o LA or Math, instead he'll do R&S Grade 7 LA Stuff (besides Reading) and Video Text Algebra
DC 6,9 and 11 yo will also use DITHOR.
Does that sound good for at least them?

Already said my ideas for DD13

I think my personality would like option 1 best because it shakes things up a little--a different type of publisher and subject matter. You could use some of the titles from Beautiful Feet for your DITHOR choices, but adding all of it may be too much of an ancient thing. My least favorite option was the one where you added BF and did geography. We might have mutiny at our house (smile). There is a pharoahs book (Unwrapping the Pharoahs) that my older boys did that I really liked. I think Carrie has recommended that one before for adding to CTC.

Im thinking about it more and i dont think i want her to do Option 3 b/c i dont think she has enough time, she's doing a lot of electives! and she's on TONS of sports and teams and groups etc.

I think she'll do Option 1 so she can do Some more Geography this year.
So can i count CTC w/ extensions as .5 credit?

I think i will still buy the BF Ancient History for the books and she can use some for DITHOR and just if she wants to read them, and maybe other kids will read them eventually

Does everything else look okay for the other kids?

Mom of 7 in TX wrote:...Does everything else look okay for the other kids?

It looks like you have a good plan coming together here! CTC with extensions will be a full program, so whatever option you go with, I'd just be careful about how much is added. I was thinking some of these past threads may be helpful in regard to your high school aged dd...
Ways to beef up CTC for high school:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5400

DITHOR Titles for High School:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7765&p=56997#p56997

Three High School Paths within HOD…
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8208&p=59681

I think it sounds like you have a good plan for your oldest 3 dc within CTC. I also think LHTH for your 2 and 3 yo sounds just right - and you could even go half-speed, doing half the boxes on a page one day, and the other half the next day, taking 2 years to go through it. We are doing that for our 3 turned 4 yo, and he'll be at a great age to start LHFHG when he's done with LHTH then.

For your 4 turning 5, and your 6 turning 7 yo, I'd really think about doing LHFHG, and using Beyond's LA/math for 6 turning 7 yo. While it may work to put them in Beyond this year, I don't think it will work to do Bigger Hearts the following year, nor the rest of the guides that follow. Your younger of the two will definitely begin to struggle as the work will become very difficult, and the content too mature, IMO. I think it just makes good sense to combine where best possible in larger families, and you really are putting together a good plan to do that. I'm just looking down the road and thinking that you are going to have wished you hadn't fast forwarded your little one in this pair through the guides when she's not in the target age range for them, even on the very youngest side of the target age range. My 7 yo ds was reading/writing at an advanced level when we began BHFHG with him, and we had to drop to half-speed for him to handle the workload well. That was fine - but I can't imagine a 6 yo trying to do BHFHG, much less a 5 turning 6 yo. Here is a thread that explains the amount of writing in BHFHG...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3005
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1516&p=11829

By doing LHFHG, you'll be making sure that your younger dd will be able to keep up with the work expected of her, an this will help her be able to be independent on the things she is supposed to be able to be independent on in the upper guides. I think this is crucial to being able to do multiple HOD guides.

I think CTC for the oldest 3, LHFHG with the next pair, and LHTH for the next pair would be a good placement for everyone with the family in mind too. But, if you feel strongly you'd like your middle duo to do Beyond Little Hearts, perhaps you could do it half-speed, taking 2 years to go through it. Or, you always have the option to have the 4 yo drop down and join the youngest pair in LHTH too. I hope something here helps!

In Christ,
Julie

I cant decide, looking at the placement chart thats where she should be, she's an "emerging reader" and were not going to be doing the LA, i guess she could do LHFHG, but that says "ready for phonics instruction" and she's past that and the 6yo cant be in LHFHG she is reading indepently and i would like them to be combined. Im not sure
Maybe i should do something else this year with them and then come back for BLHFHG then the 4yo would be almost 6 by then and the 6yo would be 8?
I dont want it to be to easy for either of them, but my 4yo is complicated i want her to be on her level accademically but then it seems like when it gets to "her level" work it's not that its to hard, its just too much.

With all my kid's i focus on the 3R's and usually want to do them daily, so i cant really do it exactly half speed?

Maybe i could split the other subjects into 2 days, looking at the sample of Unit 1 Day 1 something like:
The First day : Geography, Poetry and Rhymes, Storytimes
The Second day: Reading About History, Bible Study, Corresponding Music, And Reading Choices
And then they do their own LA and Math Everyday

I think that would work what do you think?

Mom of 7 in TX wrote:...With all my kid's i focus on the 3R's and usually want to do them daily, so i cant really do it exactly half speed?

Maybe i could split the other subjects into 2 days, looking at the sample of Unit 1 Day 1 something like:
The First day : Geography, Poetry and Rhymes, Storytimes
The Second day: Reading About History, Bible Study, Corresponding Music, And Reading Choices
And then they do their own LA and Math Everyday

I think that would work what do you think?

Yes, I do think that would work! Lots of moms do half-speed plans with daily 3 R's, so you could definitely do that. Here's a thread where moms shared how they are going about doing half-speed, in case it is helpful...
How does half-speed look in your home?
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5600&p=41232#p41232

However you end up going half-speed, I think you've got a plan here m'dear! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

my3sons wrote:

Mom of 7 in TX wrote:...Does everything else look okay for the other kids?

It looks like you have a good plan coming together here! CTC with extensions will be a full program, so whatever option you go with, I'd just be careful about how much is added.

Forgot to comment on this in my last post.

Allthough im adding their own Math and LA they wont be doing the Math or LA in HOD so i dont think it'll be too much?

Yay! I really want to do HOD with them but i couldnt figure out how to make it work, but i think this sounds like it'll work and thats Awesome!

Yeah! Remember to keep posting throughout the year so we can follow along. It is such fun to have a glimpse into each other's lives as we travel down this path together. Enjoy!

Mom of 7 in TX wrote:...Although im adding their own Math and LA they wont be doing the Math or LA in HOD so i dont think it'll be too much?

Well, honestly, I think "too much" is often in regard to time. If the time dc are doing school is kept to a manageable amount, and if dc are appropriately placed and can truly do the work asked of them, then it won't be too much IMO. So, what is too much time? It depends on the age somewhat, but I also think we need to be careful that just because dc are older, we don't overburden their days with too much school. Even though they are capable of the work, too much doesn't allow enough extra time for other important things - work in the form of chores, play in the form of figuring out a future vocation, exercise and time outdoors, and free time to rest and do a few things just for fun.

CTC takes about 4 to 4 1/2 hours to do, but that's with HOD's LA/math choices. Here's a link with the time allotments suggested for each box...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3765

You can see how long each thing takes at the above link. If your LA/math takes longer, then you just know the day will be longer. I can see different math choices working fine, provided the time is kept similar, but for LA, I'd encourage you to consider HOD's choices, as they are excellent and not heavy on time either. Many CM LA skills are planned right within the history, science, and storytime boxes as well. I have been amazed at the progress our dc have made with LA skills done through HOD. Oral narrations, written narrations, dictation, copywork - all of those things sound so good, but until I used HOD I was left kind of unsure how to move dc along in those skills. I think the key to HOD's success with these skills is that HOD moves dc along in these skills incrementally from year to year, from guide to guide. The checklists of skills dc move through in the Appendix of the guides is priceless. It is what makes dc take skills like editing well and put those into their own writing on a daily basis. It also makes less checking for Mom. R & S English partners well with this, as organized clear writing is taught in a step-by-step manner, and grammar is taught not as a separate entity, but rather for the purpose of teaching good writing as well. HOD's ideas to do 2/3 of it orally, to finish Level 6 by the end of Grade 8, to finish Level 8 by the end of Grade 12 (Levels 7 and 8 are credit worthy), and to do some years half-speed in the guides all work together to make doing R & S English through the years manageable. The creative writing program "WWTB" is an outstanding writing program as well - we loved it! My ds grew so much in his writing that year. The dictation is fluid, and builds upon itself year after year in a purposeful manner that really does move dc along in their spelling skills year to year. My ds has gone from being a below average speller to being at an advanced level. Four years of dictation have made a world of difference in his spelling, along with copywork and all the other LA skills in HOD. So - all this to say - maybe consider some of the LA choices in HOD - if not this year, maybe another.

Back to the time consideration - I'd say a goal of not exceeding 5 hours is a good goal to have. I'm planning on trying to stick to that with our dc all the way through, as I think it will help keep them in balance. I hope something here has helped!

In Christ,
Julie

Hi! I think it looks like you've got a great plan going! I just wanted to pop in and welcome you to HOD.

Mom of 7 in TX wrote:I cant decide, looking at the placement chart thats where she should be, she's an "emerging reader" and were not going to be doing the LA, i guess she could do LHFHG, but that says "ready for phonics instruction" and she's past that and the 6yo cant be in LHFHG she is reading indepently and i would like them to be combined. Im not sure

I also wanted to mention in response to what you said here that you could definitely still place them together in LHFHG in my opinion. You can sure go with the plan you've got going, but in case others are curious I'll mention my thoughts. As far as the "reading" section on the placement chart, I think that it's pretty important that your child not be behind what is listed. This will especially come into play as they take over reading more of their assignments themselves in Preparing. But, if your child/ren are ahead of what is listed, I don't see that it causes a problem at all. The "reading" box in the guide just reminds you to do an appropriate reading lesson with your child in the different guides. None of the lessons are listed right in that box - you will either use your chosen phonics program, use the Emerging Reader schedule in the appendix, or follow the DITHOR guide for the day. So, you could VERY easily work with your kids from the LHFHG guide while using the Emerging Readers with them for reading. I love that HOD does not tie the child's reading level directly to the guide! I found LHFHG to be perfect for my 5/6 year old who was finishing phonics and moving on to the Emerging Readers. There are SO many other skills taught in LHFHG that are very important and perfect for 5-7 year olds - even if they're already reading 2nd grade level chapter books on their own!!

Kathleen

Sounds like you've got bright kiddos on your hands! I agree with Kathleen. I think you've got a workable plan with 1/2 speed Beyond, but LHFHG is also a wonderful program, so I would consider it even though your dc's reading levels are above what is stated in the placement guide.

Something to consider also is dc's listening comprehension and attention span, especially for text without many pictures. Even in LHFHG, some of the readings have very few illustrations or photographs. If you can, I would try to take a look at samples for the history and storytime read-alouds for LHFHG and Beyond and see what you think is the best fit for your dc.

Personally, I'm so glad that we opted for LHFHG with my ds who was barely 5 last fall. He could read independently, Singapore 1A was review for him, and he was composing short stories... but LHFHG allowed us to have a shorter school day and it made it a real joy to do school this year. We got the Beyond guide for the emerging readers (and comprehension questions) and hands-on math activities for Primary Math 1A/1B... and it was a perfect fit for us. My ds has enjoyed the history read-alouds, the accompanying activities, the memory verses, and the storytime. It's very easy to sub in the reading and math sections as fits your dcs.

Just some thoughts. Hope it helps!