Help with placement

[cdrx4]

Hello everyone. I am going to be a new homeschooling mom in the Fall and I am looking at the curriculum now. I am trying to figure out where I should place my children in this program, so any help will be appreciated.

I have a son who will be 9 yo in June and will be going into the 3rd grade. He is currently in a private christian school that uses Abeka and is a straight A student and in the highest reading group for his class. For the placement chart here is where he scored:

Age = BHFHG, PHFHG, HFHTT
Reading = PHFHG
Writing = HFHTT
Grammer = PHFHG
Math = I guess I will have him take the placement test on Singapore's web site?
Bible = BHFHG
History = BHFHG
Science = BHFHG (This is where his heart is.....)
Storytime = PHFHG
Poetry = PHFHG (Abeka is HUGE with memorization....)

From that I assume I should choose PHFHG? He is an intelligent kid and I want him to find out that learning can be so much more than just doing "seatwork" however, because Abeka is so accelerated, I dont want him to get bored either. AGAIN, any feedback would help me so much!

My daughter will be 6 and starting Kindergarten in the Fall. She too is using Abeka 4's program. I have purchased the Abeka K phonics and reading program for her already since that is what she is used to, so I am going to be safe and assume she would start on LHFHG?

I am so sorry to ask all of these questions, I thought the hardest part was deciding to homeschool and I was wrong. Its choosing what works or will hopefully work for them. This program looks to be just what I need for next year, I just need to figure out where my kids fit into the curriculum and see if I need to "tweak" it any particular way. I am sorry, I am new at this...thanks for all your help.

Carol Ratliff

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD Board, Carol! Thank you for checking out the placement chart - that helps so much. I think PHFHG sounds like a great fit for your 9 yo. We did PHFHG this year with my ds for 3rd. grade, and we loved it! In fact, we just finished it today, and my son told me it had been a "a great year"! I think you will LOVE the diversity of the program - it was just a super balance of seatwork and hands-on. My ds gobbled up the books in PHFHG, and he especially loved the hands-on history projects. All of the books we read stacked up to be a BUNCH of great reads - oh, are you 2 in for some fun with PHFHG!

For your younger dd who will be 6, she could either do LHFHG or Beyond Little Hearts. Her phonics program would work with either of these. I'm thinking LHFHG too, but could you please share a bit about her reading, writing, and math? I'd like to help you tweak whatever would be beneficial for your dc too.

I'm so glad you are going to be homeschooling, and I'm excited for you to use HOD - it has been such a blessing to our family, and I know it will be to yours as well.

In Christ,
Julie

[cdrx4]

Oh gosh, I just got teary eyed reading a message board. Thank you so much for your encouraging words....you dont know how much I needed to hear that!

My daughter who will be going to Kindergarten, she recognizes letters and numbers and can of course can write them. She can sound out 3 letter 1 short vowel sounding words, thats when she wants to ha ha ha, but not reading a sentence yet. I do not think besides counting and writing numbers, there is much more she knows for Math. Just basics. Also, I bought the Abeka curriculum used, so if there is a better program you suggest that learns with consonant vowel approach, that would be great, I am all ears. I just thought since she "knew" Abeka and their approach, I would keep her on it. But I am so flexible!

As far as my son, that program will keep him on his toes? You dont think he will get bored? I dont know why thats my fear, but it is.

I cannot thank you enough for replying to the post, again, I really appreciate your insight!

[my3sons]

Thanks, Carol! This message board has been such an encouragement to me too. In a world where I sometimes feel like the odd one out, I fit in so well right here, with ladies of like-minded faith and love for their dc. I can tell you fit right in!

I think Little Hearts for His Glory sounds like a super fit for your dd. You can just continue with the phonics you own, and that will work just fine. If you would like a change, either The Reading Lesson or Reading Made Easy are carried by HOD and are both good phonics programs as well - but if your other program is working well and you own it - you may as well use it.

I think PHFHG would be such a breath of fresh air for your ds. He will love the history projects, science experiments, and notebooking. For our boys (we have 3), HOD has been a great fit. It puts that air of exploration into the day, and adds excitement for our busy boys. It also is very solid in LA skills. The way written narrations, creative writing, copywork, vocabulary, and dictation are taught just carries over naturally to other subject areas - and even free time. The notebooking has just enough guidance to make every child successful, but enough freedom to bring out the creative side of dc too. HOD excels at this - providing a framework, but allowing enough open-ended flair for dc to put their own personality into assignments. I think you will be impressed with how PHFHG turns dc into kiddos with a passion for learning.

In Christ,
Julie

[cdrx4]

OK, not too many more questions, I promise.

1) What about DITHOR? Is that something I need for my rising 3rd grader and Kindergartner, or just 3rd grader. I am not quite sure how DITHOR works, is that separate or is that included in the PHFHG?

2) When I am ordering this curriculum, where do I start and how and what do I order? Is it better for me to call and order or order on-line?

3rd and final question) Is this something we could work on during a normal school year calendar and still have summers off or is more of a year round thing? Do you personally homeschool over the summer, or use that as a review time? Again, I am new to this and I know people do a lot of different things. I would like to keep the summers kinda free, will I be able to do that with this program?

Sorry about all the questions...I am super excited:)

[my3sons]

OK, not too many more questions, I promise.

1) What about DITHOR? Is that something I need for my rising 3rd grader and Kindergartner, or just 3rd grader. I am not quite sure how DITHOR works, is that separate or is that included in the PHFHG?

2) When I am ordering this curriculum, where do I start and how and what do I order? Is it better for me to call and order or order on-line?

3rd and final question) Is this something we could work on during a normal school year calendar and still have summers off or is more of a year round thing? Do you personally homeschool over the summer, or use that as a review time? Again, I am new to this and I know people do a lot of different things. I would like to keep the summers kinda free, will I be able to do that with this program?

Sorry about all the questions...I am super excited:)

I'm glad you are super excited - and questions are always welcome here! In response to your questions...
1) Your 3rd grader would need DITHOR, and your K would not. There is a reminder to DITHOR in the PHFHG plans. You would want the DITHOR Level 2/3 Package (link below)
http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-packages.php

You would also want to either choose your own books for each DITHOR genre, or use one of these book packs:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional.php

2) When ordering, you can do it online or on the phone. The light bulb "helpful tips on how to order" link helps you with ordering:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/preparing- ... ckages.php
If you have any questions, just ask on the board or on the phone if you call in an order.

3) We take the summers off and do a normal school year. PHFHG is a 4 day week plan, so we have Fridays off. We love that! It has 35 weeks of plans, so we start near the end of August and finish by Memorial Day. We take 2 weeks off at Christmas. Every family does this differently - HOD is extremely flexible, so however you'd enjoy going through the plans should work just fine.

HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

[Kathleen]

I just wanted to pop in and welcome you, too, Carol. Welcome!

I'm sure that you will have a great year with HOD! This was my first year to use it with my 8 (now 9) year old. We have had a fabulous year doing Bigger! We had a "text-book" background, and I can tell you that he has been FAR from bored this year. We have loved the inspiring books we've read. I can't say enough about the activities! They are my son's all-time favorite thing about school. They're fun, easy to do, really truly use things that I have on hand, quick but meaningful. HOD has a lot of variety built in to the day to day plans. We only have 2 weeks left in Bigger and are excited about taking a break for the summer, but I'm telling you that we're still having a blast!

Looks like Julie has helped you get a good plan going. I'm going to be doing Preparing and LHFHG next year, too, so we can share our fun!
Kathleen

[Carrie]

Carol,

I just wanted to pop-in and welcome you too! Your plan for Preparing Hearts and Little Hearts sounds like exactly what I would recommend too!

We did that very combination at our house this past year and had an amazing year. Both of my boys doing those programs loved their programs and were challenged and excited about their learning. My son was 9 turning 10 when he used Preparing Hearts last year and is a very smart little cookie too. There is plenty in Preparing Hearts to keep kiddo's interest and enthusiasm for learning going. My son doing LHFHG was 6 last year, just like your second kiddo. So, I can honestly say that you'll have placed your children well with that combo.

Blessings,
Carrie

[moedertje]

I also wanted to say welcome to you.
I have used A Beka for my first ds and am most likely going to do RME (Reading Made Easy) upon recommendation of the ladies and comparing the two, with my 2nd child.Especially because RME has worksheets now that go with the lessons, for those children who enjoy seat work. A Beka is great, but can be very time consuming.
Go and look at both TRL and RME to see what would work better for your child the lay out and perhaps looking at a couple of sample pages will aid you in that.
I have not done PHFHG yet, but am looking forward to it in the future, but we had a great time doing LHFHG and my son truly enjoys school and does not complain.
Success!

[cdrx4]

Ok I have a question with the placement test on Singapore....
What is the difference between, Primary Math, Primary Math 3rd and US Edition, and New Elementary Math....
Which of these do I do the placement test on?

Thanks:)

[Kathleen]

You'd want the placement tests for the Primary Math US Editions.

The scope and sequence of Singapore is different from other math programs, so I'd expect your child's level not to match their grade. My son had finished Saxon 2 and math comes easily for him, and when we did the placement test for Singapore he placed in 2A for this year.

You'll want to notice that Singapore says that if they score 80 % or above they "pass" that level, but if they seem to miss several from a certain section of the book, you may want to do that level anyway to be sure to cover that topic. The questions on the placement test have a little number near them to tell what unit the problem is from in the book. Grant technically passed the 2A test, but I could see that there was one unit we hadn't covered in Saxon, so I chose to start him there. It was perfect for us as it got him used to the way Singapore's questions work. They require a higher level of thinking than he was used to. Even though he's done 2A and 2B this year, I'd definitely say the work is equal to his peers that have been doing "3rd grade" in other curriculums.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that.
Kathleen

[Jessi]

Hi Carol! Welcome to HOD!

I dont' know much to help you with your son but my daughter is doing LHFHG right now and LOVES almost all of it. She really likes the Burgess books and we have found the scipture memory work to be just perfect. I think she'll really like it a lot.

I hope you find the best setup for your kids.