Needing Placement Help :)

[jaytam97]

After much prayer, research, and laboriously trying to discern the best curriculum for our family, we have unreservedly chosen HOD. It has been a long process over the last few months, but I am thankful for the Lord's leading! However, I am in need of some counsel on which program to use that will benefit my family this year and in years to come, as we plan to contine with HOD.

When possible, I would love to combine as much of the non-3R's as I can. I realize that this may not always be the case, but for this year at minimum I need to be able to do that as I learn how to most effectively use HOD and DITHR (with my oldest). I do not desire to run a different program per child at any point and will probably always combine at least two. I know that there are ways to use the left side of this one and the right side of that one, etc., but I am definitely unsure about all that! So, I am seeking your recommendations based on what you have done in the past that was helpful/worked well and based on my children's ages/levels.

My oldest is 7 (almost eight) and loves to learn. She is reading independently, yet we have not done any formal reading program - asking questions, narration, etc. We talk about what she has read/is reading, but nothing written up to this point. We have done dictation, spelling, etc. mainly with ETC and she has done well. She has good handwriting skills - ready to continue practicing manuscript and moving into cursive by the Spring. She is on target with Math and is already working on 2nd grade Horizons for this year.

My son is 5 (almost 6) and is now eager to learn (something we have been waiting and praying for!) He is currently working on phonics and learning to read. He is doing much better with handwriting, but is truly just beginning to get some significant practice in that area. He is a math whiz - constantly calculating throughout the day!

My third is 3 1/2 and will be focusing on learning her letters/sounds and working on fine motor skills. I will probably begin Get Ready, Set and Go for the Code with her in the months ahead and move into reading a bit earlier than with my son. She is definitely more ready.

My fourth will be 1 in a few weeks.

So, here are some specific questions to add to any general counsel/wisdom you would share.

- Would you start with Beyond (mainly for the older two)? I was originally drawn to Bigger, but am not sure that would be as easy to work with for both of them. What is your experience?

- Would you use the right side of Bigger for my oldest or just go ahead and adapt the Beyond a bit working through Preparing to Build at a slower pace and focusing more on DITHR with her? It seems like Bigger is written more for 2nd grade (esp. since there is no 3rd grade option for using Beginning Wisely with it). If I did use the right side of Bigger, would I continue to do that each year or eventually use all one program with her when we got to PHFHG?

- Similarly, would I use the right side of LHFHG or just adapt for my son?

- Would you recommend Little Hands to Heaven for my 3 1/2 year old? Does it really only take about 30 minutes? I would definitely be spending that much one-on-one time with her anyway!

I just don't want to be working out of 3 different programs! I know that part of homeschooling as a family is adapting any curriculum to suit your needs. I think that this is most likely a very confusing post! I have so many questions, but do not know how to adequately ask what I need to. I have spent several hours reading other threads and they have been helpful. Now, I am just trying to figure out how it all works in the long term - do you always continue to use the right side of this and the left side of that one, etc. It seems that if I start with Beyond this year instead of Bigger that we will be able to go all the way through 8th grade with my oldest in HOD (and the others following in her footsteps). Is that right?

I am going to close this one out! I know I have many more questions, but will ask them as they arise and in response to your comments. Thank you so much for your help!!!

~ Tammy

[sharonb]

Hi Tammy, and welcome to HOD! We are relatively new here, but I'll tell you what we are doing.

My oldest is 7.5 and just started the 2nd grade. The next child just turned 6 and just started the 1st grade. I have the two of them combined in Beyond for Bible, history, poetry, science, etc (basically, the left side of the plans, plus the storytime box which is on the right side). They are both using Singapore math, but we are on our own pace with that so I'm using the Singapore teacher's guides. I do look in our Beyond guide for activity ideas to go with math though. My 2nd grader is using R&S for phonics, penmanship, spelling, and English. So, we are ignoring the language arts boxes in Beyond too. We are using the Emerging Readers set though, and I'm considering getting DITHR for her when she's ready for it. My 1st grader is using R&S for phonics, penmanship, and reading.

My third child is 4.5. He is in the ETC primers right now, as well as R&S ABC workbooks. I tried to do LHTH with him, but it was boring for him. I bought LHFHG recently, and I'm considering starting him in that half-speed. I actually seriously considered putting my 1st grader in LHFHG with him and keeping those two combined, but I'm having a lot of trouble getting my 4.5 year old interested in anything (other than drawing), so for now I'm keeping the 6 year old in Beyond with the 7.5 year old. The plan for the 4.5 year old is to keep working through the workbooks he has now (he voluntarily pulls them out a does a page or two each day), and then start ETC 1, Singapore Earlybird math, and A Reason for Handwriting K when he starts K in spring of 2010 (he'll be almost 5.5). At that point we will use the left side plus storytime plans of LHFHG whether he wants to or not! But I'm hoping to start those sooner than that and just take it slow.

My 4th child is 2.5, and just didn't care about LHTH yet. With him, if he's quiet and happily playing with something, we leave him alone, because he can be very disruptive when he's not happy! Then there's the baby, who is almost 11 months old. Obviously she isn't in a HOD program yet either.

So, anyway, right now the 3R stuff is different from what is in the HOD guide. At some point I might try to do more of what HOD suggests, but for this year we are sticking with what I listed above, because Beyond was a last-minute addition to our curriculum and we had already started our other subjects (we school year-round so we started in late May).

Hopefully some of that was helpful. I saw your children's ages and how similar they are to mine, so I wanted to at least tell you what we do!

[jenntracy]

LHTH does definitely take only 30min. Sometimes the day with art may seem a tad longer, but not much( more just preparing a little ahead of time). Both my kids were 3.5 when they started LHTH. you could try it slowly and see if it works. it is fun and both my kids have enjoyed it. my 18month old gets into the finger-play. anytime she sees the curriculum book she thinks we are doing the Finger-play!

My experience with my almost 6yrold (in October)is this. we started half-paced in LHFHG end of summer 2008. His 4.5 yr-old sister and he will combine for the History side around October this year. He did the Basics side of LHFHG with some other things we added. So he will be an emerging reader and on to Math-U-See Alpha around October. i consider him to be in Kindergarten with higher levels of reading and math.

it sounds like your son is or is almost an emerging reader.

A thought.... when my daughter is 5.5 in fall 2010, she will be in left side of Beyond with her older brother and doing the right side of LHFHG.
So that option, for your almost 6yrold, might work for this year.

i am not nearing Bigger so i have no advice to give in that area.

Glad to have you at HOD!

Jenn D.

[jaytam97]

Thanks for sharing with me, Sharon and Jenn! I really appreciate it! I know it is not that complicated and that I must find what works best for my family, I think it is just a bit more confusing never working with HOD before or really ever seeing more than one volume of HOD! I just found out about HOD from some friends in Texas and have gone from there. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond and help me out! What a blessing

[my3sons]

Hi Tammy! I found your post - hooray! Thank you for sharing about each of your dc - that helps so much. I think you could easily do your almost 6 yo and almost 8 yo in Beyond together. Your younger ds could just do a handwriting book in place of the poetry copywork. He could also hold off on doing the spelling list until his phonics is complete. The next year, in Bigger, he can copy the poetry and do the spelling list then. For your dd, I'd add DITHOR Level 2/3 and choose to do either the scheduled introductory grammar lessons on Day 5 of the Beyond plans, or do R & S 2. You could add Cheerful Cursive if you wanted as well. For math, you could either continue with Horizons or give your dd the Singapore Placement test to determine what level to start with; here's a link to that: http://www.singaporemath.com
There is a daily schedule for 1A/1B in Beyond using hands-on lessons for the instruction part; and a schedule for 2A/2B in the Beyond Appendix, using the Textbook for the instruction part.

If you would like to use the schedule for R & S 2, the dictation, and the 2A/2B hands-on math plans - then you could get the Bigger Hearts guide and use those parts of it. I know you are not liking the idea of working out of 2 guides though, and I don't think it's necessary provided you do the above things.

LHTH is super easy to do. You could do it just 3-4 days a week to stretch it out a tad so that child wouldn't get to LHFHG too quickly. Or, you could teach it 5 days a week now, and teach it again combining the youngest 2, using the harder Bible and devotional to change it up a bit. Only you can know how you much you'd like to combine those youngest 2, and how you'd feel about teaching a guide back to back. Any of these scenarios are good options, so you can choose whatever your heart is leading you toward. Oh, and there are book packs available for DITHOR if you have the funds and want that convenience. The book selections are wonderful! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[jaytam97]

So, if I start with Beyond for both of them this year - using the R&S 2 with my oldest and waiting on the spelling until my 2nd finishes his phonics - what would next year with my 2nd look like? He is a "kindergartener" this year and would be in first grade. Would I use the Beyond right side with him as we move onto Bigger? I know that I don't need to have all of this figured out right now - I am just trying to get the big picture of what it *may* look like in the future (I know there is always huge potential for change!!). Thank y'all again for all of your help! Several people had told me that the moms on here would be a lot of help

[sharonb]

Yes, you could. I think quite a few families that combine use the left side for two (or more) children, and then use the right side from whichever guide is appropriate for each child.

[my3sons]

So, if I start with Beyond for both of them this year - using the R&S 2 with my oldest and waiting on the spelling until my 2nd finishes his phonics - what would next year with my 2nd look like? He is a "kindergartener" this year and would be in first grade. Would I use the Beyond right side with him as we move onto Bigger? I know that I don't need to have all of this figured out right now - I am just trying to get the big picture of what it *may* look like in the future (I know there is always huge potential for change!!). Thank y'all again for all of your help! Several people had told me that the moms on here would be a lot of help

You'd have a few options at that point - being the lucky owner of both Beyond and Bigger. You could have your ds do whatever fits his needs best. If it's the right side of Beyond - do that, or if it's the right side of Bigger, do that. For example, if he had his lessons in grammar in Beyond and is writing well, he could begin R & S 2 in Bigger. If he finished the Emerging Readers and is ready for DITHOR, he could start that in Bigger. If he finished math 1A/1B and is ready for 2A/2B, he could do that in Bigger. If he could handle the spelling list 2 in Bigger, than he could do that.

Otherwise, he could do the grammar in Beyond Day 5, the Emerging Readers (which is in both Beyond's and Bigger's Appendixes), math 1A/1B in Beyond with the hands-on lessons, and spelling list 1 in Beyond. So, the world opens up to you at that point! I would not push him this year since he's on the young side. See how he does and go from there, but you'll have some wonderful options to choose from then. For now, working out of 1 guide for the 2 of them works fine and makes sense overall. Once you get started with HOD, you'll see how kind the guides are to us moms. Praise the Lord for that - I do every day I teach and flip open the guide! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[jenntracy]

i second sharonb. i know what you mean as far as looking ahead. i am doing that,too my daughter who is going to do LHFHG starting in October with her older brother.. will the next year do Beyond left side with LHFHG right side. then the following year she will do Bigger left side with Beyond right side (and poetry then). She is 4.5 now and even though doing some of LHFHG this year , she will not be registered for" Kindergarten" til Fall of 2010 when she is 5.5yr. Her brother is Kindergarten this year and she is preschool. i just didn't want her to miss out on the great stuff in LHFHG since i was going to combine she and her brother for the History side.
Hope that all made sense. in short she will always be in 2 curriculum books, once for History and one for Basics. Unless of course something changes.
Jenn D.

[jaytam97]

Great! That was what I was thinking - trying to get a grasp on everything I am so excited about this year, rather than completely overwhelmed! Yeah!! I already have Beyond and the main books and plan on starting next week We will be making a trip to the library this weekend! Thank you all, again!

[sharonb]

I'm glad you are getting things figured out.