Confused, Struggling

[cbenner0723]

Hello,
I was using HoD for two years, but this year things just didn't work out like I wanted it too. I tried using an online platform but that isn't working for us either. I want to come back to HoD, but I'm just not sure how it will work. I want to bring them back to HoD Jan 4th. My children are as follows:
A: 7th grade son, doing okay in current platform. Completed BHFHG and Preparing (both with the extension packages). According to the placement chart he would fall under MTMM next year for 8th and I believe he would be a great fit, but I'm trying to decide if I want to put him in Rev2Rev since I want to switch halfway through this year instead of waiting to the beginning of next school year. Would he be a better candidate Rev2Rev or MTMM? I don't want to hold him back anymore. The only reason I had him complete the other lower guides was because I couldn't teach 3 different guides with two babies. Now I have more confidence in myself and I'm more familiar with HoD and homeschooling in general.

Da: 5th grade son, he is struggling with his classes and most of these classes are 3rd grade level (he the reason i want to come back to HoD). He completed BHFHG and BLHFHG. I know I want to put him in Preparing because he struggles with learning disabilities and ADHD (though managed through diet and structure, not meds). What I want to know is should I have him complete the extension package or should I just keep him in regular Preparing since he struggles with learning and everything is going to need my attention if not teaching it?

Di: 1st grade daughter, She is finally progressing in school (I didn't advance her out of 1st grade, she been homeschooled the entire time, while her older brothers have not).She Completed LHFHG and BLHFHG. What we are currently working on with her is Sing, Spell, Read, Write and a stand alone Math before we finish last years math. (Had to step away from last years math because she just wasn't getting the simple concepts of Math and wasn't even able to add easy numbers to 10.) We have moved on to a first grade book just on subtraction after finishing addition. She also has learning disabilities (way more than her brother) and ADHD (which we are starting medication for tomorrow as the diet and structure method didn't work for her). I don't think she will be ready for Bigger by Jan. Has anyone had success with starting kids off in curriculum at different times? (My boys will start their books in Jan, my Daughter probably won't start hers until May or even Jun.)

I also have a 3 yo son who i'm teaching without curriculum for pre-K and he is in speech therapy for delayed speech. I have a daughter that is 21 months and another daughter 2 months.

Thanks for any input I can get.

[Rice]

Hi, C!
You have a heavy load there. (When I look back, so did I when I came to HOD, but you do what you gotta do sometimes, right?)

Here's my 2 cents:
A - I'm going to defer to Carrie or Julie, but my thought would be to start with Rev2Rev. In general, if undecided between two guides, start with the lower, especially when you are running multiple guides. The easier it is (without being too easy), the more independently they can work, giving you more time and energy to spread yourself around where needed.

Da - I wouldn't worry about Extensions, no. They aren't needed for 5th, anyway, plus with his challenges you'd be better to keep things simple for now. I wouldn't even worry too much about DITHOR at this point - have him read the DITHOR books, on the DITHOR schedule (15d/genre), but instead of worrying about the workbooks, have him narrate orally for this year. You could add a few end-of-book, 5-day projects, too, if you like. If you really feel compelled to add lit analysis for him, then skip the first unit/genre (narrate only), then have him add the workbook for the second genre - this way you can still get in 4 genres this year, leaving 5 for next. (But I don't use the full program in Preparing; IMO, 4 years of lit analysis before high school is plenty, especially with special needs in the mix, never mind multiple guides for mom!)

Di - there's no way I would attempt Bigger for a first grader (even second time through). Are you sure she did LHFHG fully at her level when she did it? Or was she tagging along with big brothers? If she was tagging along to some degree, could you do it again with her? She would still do math and reading at her level, but you could do the history and Storytime with her, and have her even do more writing than written in the guide (more like what was in Beyond, which you're already familiar with), in anticipation of beginning Bigger next fall. That would also give her a shorter work day, giving you more time to get big brothers "up and running smoothly" and allowing her to be a kid and focus on the 3Rs. (Though it would be without Carrie's amazing guide/activities, you could also pull in some more of the Burgess Adventure books that are free online, if you want to give her some new content. )

I know others will have other ideas for you, but I encourage you to find the simplest way to get back into HOD, so that you can all feel successful. It is such a great program that even when you have to make the hard decision to drop some things (we sadly skip some History Projects and the occasional science lab . . . if they already understand the concept, what to expect, and what the outcome should be), to make sure we get in the needed skills for all the kids.

Welcome back!
Blessings,

[cbenner0723]

Are you sure she did LHFHG fully at her level when she did it? Or was she tagging along with big brothers? If she was tagging along to some degree, could you do it again with her?

Rice,
Thank you so much for your reply. I will certainly take these into consideration.
To answer your question on LHFHG, I never did this curriculum with either boy. They were in public school for a few years so I didn't know where they stood academically to a sense. Since Di never did public school I started her out in LHFHG since I thought LH2H wasn't advanced enough for her. She did great in the guide. Didn't struggle at all. The problem came the second year when she did BLHFHG with Da ( I had to take him down a guide because he was absolutely struggling in the previous guide (Bigger) and wouldn't be able to advance with brother into Preparing). This is where I noticed her struggling. She couldn't keep up, sit still, or even focus. Her attention span went down to only 30 seconds...yes 30 seconds. I pretty much quite working with her. I would even send her out of the room during storytime because she was more disruptive then helpful. That's why I was kinda thinking of doing some of the guide again. Not all of it. But only after we get caught up to the point where she could even start it back up. I want to finish my phonics program with her and get her back on track with Math. She didn't do some of the readings with her brother and me so I may do some of those genre with her but I also have other books in our library here at home I can use. She is starting to get confidence enough to read to me out of pre-readers and level one early readers (not from HoD but still good).
Thanks for the insite.

[Rice]

Sounds like a great idea. I would go ahead with Beyond for her, from whatever point you deem appropriate, but don't cut too much. Preparing is often best for 4th, not 3rd, so doing Bigger starting next fall would not have her "behind" at all.

Blessings,

[my3sons]

So glad you are coming back to HOD and in a better place to do so! My placement advice is very similar to Rice's (thanks Rice, BTW)!

7th grade son starting in Jan.: Definitely Revival to Revolution for all the reasons Rice mentioned, and also because he's been doing online schooling with probably little writing and he's going to be skipping CTC and RTR, which is a mighty leap in reading, writing, and independent skills. I would do DITHOR 6/7/8 with him. This will help him be ready for high school lit.

5th grade son starting in Jan.: Preparing Hearts without the extensions would be great! I would do DITHOR; he can join big brother on kickoffs and projects. Big brother can head up the kickoffs and projects (I have always had the oldest do this! It saved me time, was a good learning experience for them, and the oldest loved being in charge. My job was often just to watch the kickoffs and projects - great fun!) If your son struggles with writing, I'd do 2/3 DITHOR Student Book. If not, I'd do the 4/5 DITHOR Student Book. Any book pack that is a comfort level of reading for him would be appropriate.

1st grade daughter starting?: You can do different start times, but I'm not sure why? I'd personally start Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory in Jan., but I think I'd start it in Unit 10. My thinking with that is she had a strong start to Beyond but then ended up taking more of a break from it as she was struggling (basing this on these comments of yours: This is where I noticed her struggling. She couldn't keep up, sit still, or even focus. Her attention span went down to only 30 seconds...yes 30 seconds. I pretty much quite working with her. I would even send her out of the room during storytime because she was more disruptive then helpful. That's why I was kinda thinking of doing some of the guide again. Not all of it.). The reason I'm suggesting a Unit 10 start is she would then be on the same pace as big brothers (finishing her guide in 140 days like they will). If you're going to go 4 days a week with your sons, she would also go 4 days a week and all can finish together. She could still do daily phonics and math. Your oldest son will be more independent in RevtoRev, which will free up time to work with 5th grader and 1st grader. I'd definitely have assigned playtimes of your olders with the littlers. Helps so much!

What are your thoughts?

In Christ,
Julie

[cbenner0723]

Julie and Rice,
Thank you so much for all the advice. I think I will implement these ideas into my schedule I'm making. I'm doing so much that I hope that I can get it all done by Jan 4th but I'm determined. So done with this online program (making them finish out the first semester with that).
I totally agree with everything for 7th grade son. He is pretty advanced in most areas of reading and some comprehension but we are working constantly on his writing skills. So excited to start him back into HoD because they actually help where school and online failed him. I'm also not liking the other many missing skills with online.
I like the idea of keeping my 5th grader in level 2/3 as we are still struggling with the writing portion with him. I'm getting him thinking for himself and I just dictate what he says into the book to help but occasionally I'll have him write too. I'm also happy to have dictation back. None of the online programs has this.
As for the Kickoffs and projects. We did the projects for these but how would I do kickoffs? Especially if they aren't doing the same book. I skipped this part before because I couldn't grasp it myself. I'd have my son take over if he knew what to except of it, but since I skipped it he wouldn't know what to do either. I'm gonna have to get out the teacher guide and re-read this section again.
For my 1st grade daughter, I can't see why it would hurt to start her into Beyond again. I just didn't think to start in the middle of the book. It didn't occur to me because its outside of my logical step by step approach, haha. I think I can get over that and start at unit 10 and get her back into a routine as well.
I think the only part I'm going to have trouble is getting the kids to play together. My oldest has a huge issue with playing with his siblings. He only likes to play alongside but never with. LOL. He will have to learn.
Thanks So much
I'm going start the scheduling part this weekend so all this helps a lot.

[Rice]

As for the Kickoffs and projects. We did the projects for these but how would I do kickoffs? Especially if they aren't doing the same book.

That's actually one part I found that DID work with kids in different levels - I just made sure they both did the same genre at the same time. Even if they weren't reading the same book, the kickoff is more about the genre of book that they'll be studying.

For example, for Mystery you could have the older one plan a trasure hunt where the younger would have to follow clues (maybe to find his book?), or read a short 5-minute mystery that he finds online (or an Encyclopedia Brown chapter, or...). And there are ideas in the DITHOR guide/TM - you don't have to think them up on your own.

It's mostly to a) explain what the genre is and b) to get them interested/change things up a bit. I find the rest of DITHOR harder to wrap my brain around and schedule (do they read first or do a page first or come talk with me first?).
Blessings,

[my3sons]

Oh good! Sounds like a great plan is coming together! As far as the DITHOR kickoffs, as Rice said, as long as you keep them on the same genre, they can do their kickoffs together. There are usually about a dozen kickoff ideas to choose from, so there's a lot of fun and fresh ideas there! There are quick, easy kickoffs, and there are more involved kickoffs. All of them fit the purpose of introducing the genre and getting the kiddos excited to begin. Hope this helps! Oh, and for the 3 year-old and nearly 2 year-old, here are some really helpful toddler ideas, both for independent play and for group play:

https://heartofdakota.com/board3/viewto ... 4&p=119696

In Christ,
Julie