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I wanted to introduce myself. I have a girl and a boy who will be 6 next month. This has been our first year homeschooling though it's unofficial since here in NC they are not required to be in school until they are 7. I started out the year doing pretty well, but lost a lot of steam and organization by the time Thanksgiving rolled around. We've been very relaxed (or should I say lax ) with our studies since then. In spite of this, they have done well this year and made great progress. Here is a summary of what we've done and where we are now.

We've mainly focused on learning to read and they are both reading now. My dd is able to decode at least a 3rd level though she still is insecure and doesn't do much independent reading. My ds is still an emerging reader and decodes at about a late 1st or early 2nd grade level but is very slow in his reading. He has to take time to sound everything out.

For writing we have done basic writing sheets along with some of the phonics work we did (mainly Adventures in Phonics). My kids didn't like doing them and this is the one area where I think we have fallen behind. I've recently gotten the Abeka Handwriting with Phonics books and they are working through those and making steady progress. Though they spell well and compose their thoughts well orally, their ability to actually put it in writing is not great.

In Math, we've been using Miquon, math literature, and games. We haven't even completed the first Miquon book but when I gave them the Singapore placement test, they easily completed the 1A test.

In history we used History for Little Pilgrims but only completed up to the time of Abraham. We also did a few of the stories from History Stories for Children in particular the ones about the presidents. We did a huge unit lasting about 6 weeks last fall using Stories of the Pilgrims as our basis and Evan Moor history pockets. We read almost the whole Stories of the Pilgrims but I ran out of steam after the first Thanksgiving so we didn't read much after that.

In science, we used a combination of The World God Made and Our Father's World focusing on the days of creation and how they relate to science. We've also done a few Five in Row units that incorporated both some science and social studies.

For Bible, we completed What Every Child Needs to Know and have been reading Bible stories in the Read With Me Bible.

I'm sorry that is so long and detailed, but I wanted to let you have an idea of what we've done so you can help me figure out how to proceed. As you can see, I've used a lot of the same resources as the basis for our study that HOD uses. I know I haven't used them as well or as completely as HOD nor have I included all the wonderful hands on learning experiences that HOD offers. When I found this a few weeks ago, I was kicking myself for not having found it last fall and started with LHFHG then. It would have saved me so much time and energy and my children would have gotten a much more complete, organized approach to everything. So now I've been looking at what to do for next year and I love the detailed plans and flexibility that HOD offers. I've looked at the placement charts and I think my two fall mostly into Beyond and I went ahead and bought the book.

We've covered probably 1/2 or more of the math concepts in Beyond so I'm not for sure what to do about the math. I'm thinking about possibly using the math explorations and continuing with Miquon though I have heard great things about Singapore and I'm wondering if I should switch to it or perhaps do both. Can anyone tell me how long it takes to do the Singapore math on a daily basis? I would hate to overwhelm them, but at least the first half of the year would be review. Hopefully it would just help solidify all of their knowledge and not bore them if I did this. I hate to skip ahead a half year in the book for the math explorations and I really like the hands on math activities presented in Beyond so I would like to incorporate them. I would love to hear some suggestions of how best to handle this.

For reading I'm thinking the emerging reader schedule is the way to go, but I'm not for sure about having both of them do the same reading. I'm not for sure if ds is quite up to the emerging reader titles but I want him to practice reading. He knows his phonics pretty well, but just needs practice so that he can increase his speed. I was thinking about using some of the actual readers like Abeka of CLP (I have some of each), but they are not nearly as exciting as the real books. I fear that if we try to take turns and have them both read the emerging readers together, my dd will be bored with the slow reading of her brother and he will feel badly when he hears her reading so fluently. I don't feel like I can turn her loose quite yet to read by herself (maybe by mid year?). What do you all suggest?

My biggest problem is with the history reading. Since we already did a huge unit on the pilgrims and read most of the Stories of the Pilgrims, I'm not for sure what to do with all of the units on the pilgrims in Beyond. I've thought of doing it again since I'm sure they won't remember everything and all of the tie ins that Carrie uses will be new. I've also thought about getting LHFHG and using some of the history parts in it from where we left off in History for Little Pilgrims during those weeks. I don't want to confuse them though with getting everything out of sequence. I'm torn because I know there are probably great things in LHFHG that we didn't cover and I hate that we missed them. I also hate that we missed the great story time reading in LHFHG. I recently got the Thorton Burgess books used in LHFHG and I'm wondering if I should get LHFHG just to use along with them. I'm not for sure how to fit in that story time with the Beyond Story time if I do this. I already have most of the history and science books for both LHFHG and Beyond as well as many of the emerging reader books and other supplements. I guess I have a lot of the same taste in books as Carrie

So given all of that info (I know it's a bunch
), where do you think I should start and with what?


Thanks!

Hi Patty and welcome! Hello from another mom of b/g twins! Mine turned 7 in Dec.

I'm not really sure about your placement, but I'm leaning toward Beyond for you. I think if you're going to switch to Singapore, you might want to go ahead and do the 1A book just to get them into the groove with Singapore. They're so young, they wouldn't be behind at all. If you didn't make it far in Stories of the Pilgrims, then this would give you a chance to finish that book along with the other great history books for Beyond.

Beyond also helps ease them into writing, narration, copywork, etc.

Hopefully you'll get some other advice....the moms here are just super!
Glad you're here!
Mel

Welcome, Patty! We're glad to have you here! You have a unique situation, since you've already used portions of our key texts this past year. So, I'm going to give you some unique advice!

I would recommend that you use "Little Hearts..." for the "Learning Through History" and the "Storytime" boxes of the plans. I would teach it as is, since you've only done a small portion of "History for Little Pilgrims" and "History Stories for Children". When you're doing the science experiments in "Little Hearts...", you can choose to reread the science pages as they're assigned, or just skip the reading but do the experiments (since you've used "The World God Made" and "My Father's World" this year). I would also add the appropriate level of handwriting for "Little Hearts..." (probably "A Reason for Writing 'A').

As far as language arts and math goes, since you already own the "Beyond..." guide, I would teach the spelling, gentle grammar lessons, and math from the right side of the "Beyond..." guide. If you are planning to switch to Singapore, I would start with 1A and just follow the "Beyond..." schedule as is. Singapore lessons and assignments take us 20 minutes a day at the most. Also, Singapore does get harder once you hit 2A and again at 3A, so you won't want to rush through the early levels. Just enjoy 1A/1B.

I would also start your daughter on the Emerging Reader Schedule in the Appendix of "Beyond..." right away for reading. I would wait to start your son on the Emerging Reader set until he's had more time to gain confidence in his phonics and as a reader (maybe several months). Then, I would start him on the Emerging Reader Set behind your daughter, so they don't compare themselves. I would keep their reading sessions separate (as the Emerging Reader sessions are short at about 15 min./child).

Once you finish "Little Hearts..." for history (which would take a year), I would move into "Beyond..." for history, but begin around unit 20 for the "Learning Through History" side of the plans (which is after "Stories of the Pilgrims"). I would teach the rest of "Beyond..." as is (which would take 14 weeks). Then, I would move into "Bigger..." as is for the rest of the year.

Let me know if I've confused you entirely. Your kiddos do fall in the target age range for both "Little Hearts.." and for "Beyond..." so you won't be going too easy for them by following this plan.

You may have a different, better plan, but that's my advice!

Blessings,
Carrie

I have no advice just wanted to say welcome! It looks like Carrie got you plugged well. So just wanted to say welcome! You will love whatever program you find works best for you. They are all great!

I'm not sure of what you are using for Phonics/learning to read for your ds but you could just continue w/ that until he is more sure of himself. If you are looking for some more practice or for something else to use that would be new, here are some thoughts. The Reading Lesson, just the book, could be used nearer the back of the book to work on strengthening his skills. Also, Reading Pathways (and/or Phonics Pathways) may be a good option. Some nice little readers are the Pathway Readers (gr 1 - First Steps, Days Go By, and More Days Go By) and even the CLE Reader, I Wonder, is OK. But, I think these readers may be at the same level as the Emerging Readers that Carrie has listed. (Maybe she could help me w/ this?)

HTH
K

For more practice with reading you could check out the Easy Readers section at your library. There are several different levels, so you could look at them to help you decide which ones will work for your son. Also, www.starfall.com , has practice with letter sounds, blends, easy books, and a more advanced level for those who are a bit better with reading. And everything is FREE! We've utilized this site with my dd8 in the past, as well as ds4, recently. There are also fun games to play. They've really enjoyed it. HTH

Patty,

Welcome!

Candice

Thank you all so much for your welcome and for the advice. I'm really excited to get LHFHG. I wanted to get it so much when I ordered Beyond, but didn't feel like I could justify it. Now with your suggestion of how to incorporate both LHFHG and Beyond, I feel like I will be using all of my resources to their best advantage which feels really great! I'm a little concerned about using both books at the same time but since I'll mostly be using the left side of Little and the right side of Beyond, I should be able to keep it all straight

I'm unsure about whether to switch to Singapore math or not. It might be too much to do it and the Miquon that I've been doing and I'm not for sure if I'm ready to give Miquon up yet. I think I'll try to check it out in person at our conference and continue reading the boards before I make a decision about it. If I do add it in, I'll go ahead and start with 1A.

That is a fantastic idea on how to handle the emerging reader schedule. I didn't think at all about just delaying my ds a few months and having him read the same books just a few months behind my dd. That should work well and in the meantime I'll continue using some leveled readers with him as well as the Starfall website. Thanks for reminding of that. We've visited that website before but it's been a while. It's a great idea for my ds because he is such a visual learner.

I think by the time we finish Little Hearts and start Beyond we might be ready to read about the Pilgrims again. If not, we'll do as you suggest Carrie and skip ahead past the pilgrims. I really appreciate you suggesting that we do Little Hearts. I felt like we were missing something by skipping it, yet I felt like Beyond was a better fit for a lot of the other things. As I think of it more, I think the history read alouds and story time selections will be much better from Little Hearts for my ds. As I mentioned, he is a very visual learner and doesn't learn well from audio input at all. So the more colorful pictures and simpler/shorter text will be much better for him now.

One thing I'm wondering and I'm sure I'll find out when I get my copy of Little Hearts, but does it start incorporating dictation and narration? I'm hoping to start easing into that this year.

Thanks so much again everyone for all of your suggestions. I can now see it all working together and I feel peaceful and excited to get started.