Intro and plea for advice

[my4sugars]

Hi! My name is Kimi, and I am "Mama" to 4 great kids, ds-7.5, twin dds- 5.5, and ds-19 mon. I have homeschooled all the older 3 for preschool, but we enrolled our oldest ds in a private school for K-1st. Now that the girls are starting K, we have decided to take the plunge and bring him home and h/s all 3. All this to my utter delight and fear! I have such a mental block when it comes to curriculum, deciding what is best, making a final decision, then second, triple, and quadruple guessing myself.

My dilemma is that I can't decide which level would best suit all my kids' needs and ours as a new h/s family. LHFHG will be a great fit for my girls. It is a bit ahead of them, but I feel like we can feel our way thru the challenge without overwhelming them. However, my son is the enigma for me. In the school he attended, he was pushed very hard to achieve a certain level. He is very cabable and rose to the demands, but now I have a 2nd grader who is easily frustrated and "hating" what used to be a delight to him, most all his subjects. I had researched LHFHG and thought by using some outside texts for 2nd grade math and language arts, the Emerging Readers list for reading, and the 2nd grade science from Beyond, that I would be able to use just the one curriculum for all three. By keeping it low-key for him, I'm hoping to rekindle his love of learning and boost his confidence. It would also be simple this first year and allow us to find our "sea legs" as well. I am wondering, though, if by keeping him back in this lower curriculum, will I be doing him a disservice? Would he be better off in Beyond, and how hard is it to juggle 2 programs?

I'm so sorry this is so lengthy, but I am in dire need of advice. Thanks.

[Amey]

Hi Kimi,

First of all, Welcome! And congratulations on taking the plunge! I know your kids will be blessed by it! I think your idea to do LHFHG with all 3 and just supplement your son with 2nd grade LA and Math and the science from Beyond is right on. Especially for your first year homeschooling I think it will be great for your kids relationally to do school together and re-establish that togetherness. I will be doing LHFHG with my first grader this year, so if you do decide on LHFHG we can compare notes throughout the year! Welcome to the boards, I'm sure the other gals will chime in with more advice.

[jsusgrl]

Hi there and welcome:-)
I am new here as well and trying to make these same decisions, only decidint between Beyond and Bigger. I also don't want to use more than one program. I have a highschooler who is using another curriculum, but I am going to use HOD with my 8 yr old and 6 yr old (Lord willing) I am leaning towards Beyond and also like you doing the 2nd grade math and lang arts with my 8 yr old. I'm sure the Lord will guide you to choose the right program for your family. It sounds like your plan will work well though:-)
God bless you.
Angie

[pjdobro]

Welcome Kimi I think LHFHG sounds like a great way to go. It's a wonderful overview of all history which I think is such a wonderful way to start. We'll be doing LHFHG as our core this fall for 1st grade and doing our math and LA from Beyond. One thing I didn't know until I got the LHFHG guide is that there is a list of supplemental books that follow along with the history portion in the appendix. These might be enough additional material for your son to make him feel that he is doing more than his sisters and working at his grade level I think if he has lost his love of learning through being pushed, stepping back and allowing him time to decompress and just enjoy the learning process will be beneficial for him and it will keep your life simpler to use the core of one program for all 3 of your dc. I pray God will bless your year!

[water2wine]

Just wanted to say welcome. And I wanted to let you know that doing two programs is not a big deal if that is the way you want to go. I think your son will love HOD and hopefully it will give him back the love of learning just for the sake of learning. For your older son I would really give the most weight to the placement chart on which one will work best. This will be so different from what he is used to I think you will find that with whatever program is best for him the pressure is off. I think LHFHG could definitely be beefed up with the appendix material but just thinking ahead that Beyond would maybe not be the next best fit for him the year after if it really is the best fit this year. That would be the one thing I might think about.

But whatever you decide I bet your son will love it and really appreciate the different method of learning. Welcome!

[tmcg]

Kimi,
I can understand your concern about not wanting to push your son, but another thing to consider is that you don't want him to be bored either. If things are too easy he may not like that either. I think I would look at the placement chart and see where you think your son is and if something is a little overwhelming just take it slower. Maybe ease into things at first with some review so you can tell him he is doing really well and you need to advance him a bit b/c all his hared work paid off and he already knows "all this stuff." This will help him feel good about himself and then maybe try and take some days to do some fun things he likes that fit in w/ the curriculum (like field trips etc) so he will have a new attitude about school and like it better. Just some thoughts.

Tammy

[Carrie]

Kimi,

Welcome to the board! We're glad to have you here!

The ladies are doing a wonderful job of helping you sort through your options. I agree that it is important to take a look at the placement chart to really "see" where your kiddos would fit best (all combining scenarios aside). Here's the link to the chart:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Then, once you get a good feel for where they fit, you can make a better decision about what you want to do. It will be easier to tell how much tweaking would be needed to keep them together and whether or not it would be easier to just place them in different programs.

So, once you've taken a peek at the chart I linked above, let us know what you're thinking!

No matter which way you go, we pray you'll have a wonderful year with HOD!

P.S. Angie, if you're reading this, you may want to do the same thing! It seems like you are going back and forth too. Once you get a good look at the placement chart (all combining aside) let us know what you find out!

Blessings,
Carrie

[my4sugars]

Thank you, thank you for all the great suggestions. I'll have to admit that after reading your replies I was a bit flummoxed. I've gone thru the placement charts previously and knew that ds was more suited for Beyond and maybe even Bigger, but I already have the LHFHG package and was trying to save a penny. But being truthful, I think he would be bored with the LH. I do think he could do the Bigger, but I think that he will struggle with me based what is expected in that level due to his experiences in school and being pushed too hard. So, all that said, I think that I'm going with Beyond but using the Math that I've already got for 2nd grade and utilizing the Emerging Readers pack. Next year we will give Singapore 3A & B a try. Again, thank you. I have been so excited to get started with HOD. We are going to get started in August after my sis and her family visit from Omaha.

[netpea]

welcome! glad to hear you're finding some peace in your choices with HOD. I suspect that you will have a great year with Beyond and Little Hearts.

[Carrie]

I think that sounds like a good decision! So glad the ladies were able to help you sort through what is good and find that which is best!

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

Thank you, thank you for all the great suggestions. I'll have to admit that after reading your replies I was a bit flummoxed. I've gone thru the placement charts previously and knew that ds was more suited for Beyond and maybe even Bigger, but I already have the LHFHG package and was trying to save a penny. But being truthful, I think he would be bored with the LH. I do think he could do the Bigger, but I think that he will struggle with me based what is expected in that level due to his experiences in school and being pushed too hard. So, all that said, I think that I'm going with Beyond but using the Math that I've already got for 2nd grade and utilizing the Emerging Readers pack. Next year we will give Singapore 3A & B a try. Again, thank you. I have been so excited to get started with HOD. We are going to get started in August after my sis and her family visit from Omaha.

Welcome to the HOD board, Kimi! I think your post here makes total sense, and I'm sure you are going to love doing Beyond... with your ds, as well as LHFHG with your dd's. Doing 2 HOD programs is not hard to do, and having your dc correctly placed just makes everything go so much more smoothly in the long run. One thought I had, since your dd's are on the young side of LHFHG, is that you could do it half-speed with them. You could do the left side of the plans one day, and the right side of the plans the next day, taking longer to go through it. We did that last year and loved it! About 4-5 months into it, we started doing it all because that's when my ds was ready for it all. I also did Bigger... last year and had a good year.

You're in for a great year, Kimi! Glad you are here!

In Christ,
Julie

[my4sugars]

Julie- I like the suggestion about starting out slow with my girls. It has been swimming in my mind that the LHFHG would be challenging for them. I was just going to take their lead and stay cognizant of the fact that they may not be ready to just jump right into a full schedule. Thanks again for the advice!

[Carrie]

Kimi,

We also did LHFHG at half-speed last year with my third son and really enjoyed ourselves. This year we'll be bumping up to full-speed, but it worked well to spread it out.

On a side note, it would be good to do phonics daily though, as we also alternated that (and probably shouldn't have - due to the retention not being as good)!

Blessings,
Carrie

[ftmommy2three]

Hi, my name is Jenea. This is my first time posting on this forum, and I, like Kimi, am struggling with the appropiate level to place my dd in this fall. This will be my 2nd year HS and we used LHFHG last year for my daughter (then 5.5y) and my son (then 4y). The program itself is just what we are looking for with its Charlotte Mason methods, however, we had issues with my daughter and son getting "frustrated" with school and I ended up having to put the Teacher's Guide and history/science books away mid-year. My dd still worked on phonics (Reading Made Easy), Reason for Handwriting K, and both my dd and ds finished both of the Singapore Earlybird/K mathbooks as well as the DO It Carefully/Finding.. workbooks at our own pace. We also read all of the Thorton Burgess books included and the daily BIble also at our own pace. They loved this but could not sit long enough for the history, science, rhymes in motion, etc. Obviously they weren't ready for a "formal" curriculum. I wished I had read these postings first before giving up because it would have probably worked out better if we split the unit days into 2 days of school like some here have suggested.

ANyway, we are getting ready to start year #2 and I really want to continue with HOD but I am not sure if I should go ahead and repeat LHFHG for both ds( now 5y) and dd (6.5y) or should I move dd up to Beyond? Obvoiusly, I will have to modify either way I go since we did complete some of our books last year but I'm not sure if dd would enjoy Beyond more since she has really "matured" this summer with her reading, writing and listening skills. I feel like if I move both up to Beyond, it would definately be too much for ds but dd would probably be ready. Yes, I have looked at the placement charts, as well as read a lot of these postings and I still need some advice. I'm not sure if I am ready to handle 2 different levels of HOD yet and since they are only 18mos. apart in age, I want to combine them as much as possible. Not to mention that we are limited in time each day due to my now "very active" 2yo ds!

I know this is lengthy but any thought/suggestions would be appreciated! I don't want them to get frustrated again this year. I had considered switching to Sonlight this fall but I really am not sure if that is the best choice either ( I think HOD has just as good, if not better, program). THanks for your time and I hope this makes sense!

[Carrie]

Jenea,

I just wanted to welcome you to the boards. We're glad you're here!

The ladies are most likely missing your post on the tail end of this thread, so I'll weigh in here.

I would go back and do the left side of the plans in LHFHG with both your kiddos this year for your history and science. You could either start back at the beginning of the guide, or just pick up where you left off on the left side of the plans. I would redo the Bible memory work with them right along with the history exactly as written, since they tie together so well.

I would also add "A Reason for Writing 'A' for your older daughter and "A Reason for Writing 'K" for your son (as scheduled in LHFHG). I would have both of them do Thinking Skills Grade 1 (as scheduled in LHFHG too).

I would recommend purchasing the Beyond guide to use for math 1A/1B for your older daughter for sure (and for your son if he's already completed Kindergarten 2A/2B), otherwise he should do 2A/2B with the hands-on activities as scheduled in LHFHG. I wouldn't rush your younger one through Singapore as it does get more advanced as you go, so if you haven't already done the hands-on activities in math in LHFHG with him I would definitely go back and do that for his math.

I would also use the spelling lists from "Beyond" and the gentle grammar lessons from Beyond with your older daughter only.

You can use the storytime box and read-alouds from Beyond, if you think your kiddos will sit for those. Otherwise, you could wait on that and have your own storytime type sessions using books of your choice for another year.

Blessings,
Carrie