To combine or not combine

[Cristi]

Next year will be my first year with HOD. I will have two girls, a 3rd grader and a K. My original plan was to separate them and put my oldest in Bigger and my youngest in Little Hearts. But now I'm wondering if I should combine them and put them in Beyond. Looking at the older years of HOD I'm afraid it will be intense doing all the reading and running 2 guides. I also don't love us not being together...I like the idea of us all being on the same page. However, my girls are very different academically...partly because of their ages (will be 6 and 8.5 when we start HOD), but partly because of their personalities and how they learn. My oldest tends to be advanced and my youngest tends to be more average. Any helpful thoughts from mommas who have been there would be appreciated.

[StephanieU]

Personally, I find separate guides to be easier. I am not having to worry about over challenging one child or under challenging another. There is less than four years between my kids, and yet my work load is easier running three guides than trying to only run one or two (and doing school with all three). Starting in Preparing, Carrie schedules some things to be independent. So the most teacher intensive years are actually Bigger and Preparing. Since you would have two guides between your kids, two guides shouldn't be bad at all! I would expect it to take under 4 hours of your time in any given year.

This post has a series of questions and answers by Carrie that I think would really help you:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9344

[countrymom]

With the age and academic differences you mentioned I would not combine. Like the other poster said, it is often easier to run two guides than combine. With the gap you have between your oldest will hit independent work as your younger hits the more teacher intensive guides, so it really won't be too bad.

[Rice]

Yep. Way easier to do more guides than to have even just one of them mis-placed.

We started last year (our first with HOD) with 3 guides; my 2 oldest boys together (despite a 3 1/2 year age difference). After 3 months it was obvious that 2 of our kids were placed too high. We were to the point of tears almost daily. We moved our oldest 2 kids down a guide each and after a month or so (including Christmas break) of adjustment, it was WAY easier running 4 guides than it had been running 3! (As you can tell by my signature, I actually have a younger sibling in a higher guide than 2 older ones! One deals with Executive Functioning issues and our DD really just learned to read last year, while the younger one is way advanced, so it's a strange arrangement, but it's what works best for them, and for me!)

FWIW, although our LHTH and Beyond guides are not going full speed, I'm done my teaching day by noon (8:00 - 12:00/1:00). It's very do-able.

And although we had years with kids combined and I loved it, having them each do their own thing actually works really well. No comparisons (aloud or internal ones they make themselves). And there's lots of listening in on each others' (wonderful) stories and "I remember that!" and "I can't wait to hear that book next year." etc.

Blessings,

[MomtoJGJE]

I agree... You should put them where they fit on the placement chart. And like someone else said, since your oldest is starting in Bigger, by the time your younger one gets in a guide that actually takes time to teach (Bigger and Preparing) your older one will be doing the vast majority of school independently.

I have less than 6 years separating my four who are compulsory this year. They are in four separate guides. The biggest thing I'd suggest is to start your oldest first. Do a unit half speed until you both get the hang of how the guide works, then bump up to full speed. After a week or two full speed with your oldest (routines set, you've figured out what your oldest can do without you helping, etc) then start your younger one half speed.

I have one doing Bigger and one doing LHFHG right now. I tend to have mine start reading some things independently when they are 8.5 or 9, depending on their reading ability. So my Bigger girl will read either science or history on her own. Sometimes she gets bored... I mean, done with her independent stuff.... early and reads the other. But after you get in a routine you'll find that even without reading science or history your older one can probably do cursive, the math work (after you've taught the lesson), listen to the hymn, do vocabulary and the notebooking pages, and maybe even read poetry or the English lesson without you having to actively help. During that time you can get the vast majority of LHFHG completely done. My girls are in unit 24 of Bigger and unit 9 of LHFHG, both full speed, and I can tell you that my teaching time for the two of them is probably 1.5 hours when I read everything to both of them, and that includes interruptions from the three year old.

[Cristi]

Thank you ladies SO much. You have helped set my mind at ease and given me some practical ways to make running 2 guides work well. You ladies are wonderful and I so appreciate you taking the time to respond!