Which guide(s) to use for 2017-2018?

[Jamie]

I was hoping I could get some help with placement for this next school year.

Ages + Grades For Next School Year...

** Son - 12 - 7th Grade
** Son - 10 - 5th Grade
** Daughter - 9 - 4th Grade
** Daughter - 7 - 2nd Grade
** Daughter - 5 - Kindergarten
** Son - 3 - PreSchool

** Daughter - 22 Months
** Baby Boy Due August 2017

I have looked at all the placement guides in the latest catalog but I would love to hear from Carrie and others what their suggestions would be.

Also... What is the reality of doing multiple guides?

Thanks for all your input!!

Blessings,
Jamie

[StephanieU]

What are your currently using for school?
What can each of the older kids read comfortably?
How much writing are they used to?
Where do you think reach one places on the placement chart?

Running multiple guides is definitely doable. The key is to have the kids well placed. It is easier to beef up a guide than it is to modify it to make it work because it is too challenging. It takes more time for you to simplify or help when a child should be independent in things (starting in the Preparing guide). I also don't stress about getting everything done in the guides before Bigger/Preparing. We focus of the basics (math reading, and handwriting). Then or next focus is reading the history, devotional, and storytime books. The rest is icing on the cake for us.

[Jamie]

Stephanie,

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate you taking time to help me out.

We are coming from a year of Notgrass History with my 2 oldest boys + Sonlight Core A with my next 2 daughters. My 3rd daughter is doing simple PreKindergarten work right now.

Reading Comfortably - My 2 oldest boys are reading at or above age level. My 2 oldest daughters are still working on phonics and are what I would consider emerging readers, according to Heart of Dakota's catalog.

Writing - Do you mean creative writing or just dictation/handwriting in general? They are all used to a lot of dictation/copywork/handwriting, but I know that creative writing needs more work around here.

Placement Chart - I was learning towards my oldest 2 doing the Creation to Christ guide, but I was unsure where to put the next 2 (both girls). I think age wise they would fit best in Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory guide, but that one does not mention anything about extensions for my 9 year old (4th grade). Then I also have the Kindergarten girl who I was thinking would fit best in Little Hearts for His Glory and the little Preschool boy who would love the Little Hands to Heaven guide (thinking of spreading that one out over 2 years for both Preschool + PreKindergarten).

I know that is probably all very confusing, so sorry!! It just seems like I am looking at 4 guides, which seems like an awful lot to juggle. I really want to go back to Heart of Dakota for our 2017-2018 school year, but I am just unsure. My other option would be to begin the history/geography/bible cycle with Simply Charlotte Mason and use a lot of Sonlight read alouds + readers as supplements.

Another thought is if I begin my almost 7th grader with Creation to Christ, that would put him finishing up that 4 year cycle in 10th grade and not having enough time to complete the 4 high school guides, so my other route would be to do the Preparing Hearts for His Glory with my oldest 3 children, picking either Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory or Bigger Hearts for His Glory for my 7 year old (2nd grade), and then sticking with the Little Hearts for HIs Glory for my Kindergarten girl and the Little Hands to Heaven for my Preschool boy. But that still leaves me with 4 guides. ???

Thoughts + Advice on how to juggle everyone with Heart of Dakota would be much appreciated.

Thanks!!
Jamie ~ Alabama (Mom of 7 + Baby on the way in August 2017)

[StephanieU]

If your almost 4th grader is not reading independently yet, I would not place her in Preparing. If she was an only child, I would say do Bigger with her. In Preparing, they read their own science as well as some of the history, and it sounds like she isn't ready for that.
Here is my idea:
Oldest two in CtC OR CtC and another "middle school guide"
Next two in Beyond
Youngest two in LHTH

Modifications:
Don't worry about not getting to all of the high school guides if the oldest places best in CtC. Rev2Rev and MtMM are easy to make high school credit worthy. The big changes are making sure you get the right credits in for science as well as government/economics. The history is enough as written, and of course keep math and language arts on level. But running two in CtC vs running on in CtC and one in RtR or Rev2Rev isn't a big time difference. The boxes you help with are mostly skill boxes they would need to be separate for. The exceptions are storytime and possibly Bible study. So place the oldest where he best fits if you can afford two of those levels.
4th grader - Add in Rod and Staff 2, one lesson a day. Also add in some science lab reports (there is a form in the CtC guide you can use even for Beyond). And finally, require narration after many of the history readings.
Kindergartener - Start math, phonics, and handwriting at that child's pace. In the LHTH guide, focus on the Bible stories and devotional for this child, skipping the things that are too easy (letters, numbers, colors) in favor for K math, phonics and handwriting.

That would be 3-4 guides, which should be doable!

[Jamie]

Stephanie - Again, thanks for your input.

Just to clarify... The Preparing Hearts for His Glory is the 1st guide where "independent" work shows up, right?

[StephanieU]

Yes, Preparing is the first guide with independent work. There are things in Bigger your can make independent of your child is ready, but it isn't labeled that way. Starting in Preparing, each box is labeled: I for independent, S for semi independent, and T for teacher led.

[Nealewill]

In reading your post and most of Stephanie's, I would agree with putting the two older kids in CtC. I think that is a great place to start if they are not used to doing much creative writing. You can always add in the extensions for the older child. And it is a very interesting year. For your two girls though, I might consider doing Bigger and just going at their pace. When you wrote that they all do dictation fairly well, I think both girls could probably do the copy work and such from Bigger. Little Hearts, Beyond, and Bigger are all written to five days a week where as Preparing on up is written to 4 days a week. You could spread the length of Bigger out to a year and 3 months or a year and half if you need too. I think that if your girls are reading the emerging readers right now, then they should be ready for Preparing once they finish them. I think Beyond is absolutely wonderful but think your 9 year old would enjoy Bigger more. In addition, as you move up in level, the older girl could then do the extensions if seemed like she was completing the regular assignments too quickly and you wanted to giver her more of a challenge. I don't think she would need to do that at this point though. As for your youngest, you could do Little Hands or Little Hearts. Is that child interested in learning and wanting to do school? If so, then I would recommend Little Hearts. If not, then I would recommend Little Hands. I would pray about which set of younger kids you want to group. And you may not know until they get older which ones need grouping. My kids used started off having my oldest alone and then my younger two together. It go to the point I wanted them each in their own guide and I separated those two. Then it became obvious that my younger two did better together so I put them back together but that meant that my son had to repeat Bigger. While I wasn't crazy about him repeating it, it actually worked out just fine. He enjoyed it the second time around as much as the firsts. So I wouldn't stress at this point about how to combine those younger kids. You will figure it out as they get older. Running 3-4 guides is very doable with HOD! I hope you love it.

[Jamie]

Nealewill - Thank you so much for your reply and honest feedback and information. I appreciate you taking time to help me out.

Blessings,
Jamie