I am miserable...

[DHT1999]

Well, just thought I'd share that . We aren't using HOD this year and nothing is going right. I am so ill about it. What I want to do is start Bigger Hearts NOW with my 6th and 3rd graders and beef it up for my 6th grader. It's what I should have done from the beginning of this year. I KNOW it is light for a 6th grader and that's why I didn't go that route but now I'm convinced it would have been better than changing curriculum... just so he could cover some American History... . I have tons of extra (history) reading material now so I think he will have plenty to read on his own. His Science curriculum is going well so I wouldn't need to do anything there. We are still following HOD's recommendations for Language Arts and dabbling in DITHOR. But, he isn't doing as much writing (narrations) as he did last year with Preparing and that is really stressing me out.

We started last fall with one curriculum, then changed to another, and then I had to have emergency surgery on Dec. 1st which sidelined me for all of December!!! UGH!

I so need help!!! I want to put them both in Bigger Hearts (with a few extras for the big boy) and then separate them into CtC and Preparing when we are done. I would probably need to slow down the pace of Preparing some for my youngest but that would be fine.

[my3sons]

Donna - I am so sorry you are feeling this way, and I am also sad to hear about your surgery. I have prayed for you, and I will continue to do so. Let me say first you could easily combine your 2 dc in BHFHG with extensions for the older. You have extensions in the areas we'd recommend them, other than writing. There are not written narrations in BHFHG, nor is there a creative writing program planned. You could easily add "Igniting Your Writing" or something similar, and written narrations of your own, as I know you are very familiar with CM.

That being said, I am thinking your dc did LHFHG and PHFHG last year, and that went well. You probably could just have your little one go into Beyond and your older one go into CTC now as a second option. I am thinking CTC is super independent, and already has all of the writing you'd be wanting planned right in it. It would be less tweaking for sure, and it's only a 4 day week plan. Your little one would do well with Beyond too and would have a little more time to be ready for BHFHG and PHFHG down the road. However, this is just a second option. I realize you may want to combine your 2 dc, and that makes a difference in preference as well. Or maybe your older needs American History? Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there too.

In Christ,
Julie

[Tree House Academy]

I made that exact same mistake last year. I actually used Bigger with a 5th grader because I just HAD to do American History. In hindsight, I wish I had placed him according to where he fit on the chart in HOD. It would have made a much better year last year. This year, having learned from that mistake, I came back to HOD and couldn't be more pleased. He is doing CTC this year and just soaring with it. My younger son (2nd grade) is doing Beyond and we are having the best year yet.

If you can finish out this year with what you have, do. If not, I would see where each child places on the chart - order the guide and books for where they fit, and never look back! Good luck to you!

[DHT1999]

Julie, thank you!

My 6th grader is already using Igniting Your Writing 1 along with Rod & Staff English. I believe I could easily assign him written narrations with the books in Bigger Hearts but I am finding that I'm having a really hard time doing that with the materials we are using now. It really has alot to do with the kinds of books that Carrie selects. My youngest son is already using the books in Beyond even though we aren't following the Beyond schedule. I started him in Beyond this year and we have continued reading the books but alot of it was a little too easy for him so I kept adjusting things up for him until we got to the point that we weren't really following the guide very much.

I guess the smart thing to do would be to continue as we are going until next fall and then start them in CtC and Bigger Hearts. I just feel like my oldest is really missing out. He made such amazing strides in everything last year with Preparing & the extensions. I thought it would be easier to adapt what we are using now and make it more like HOD but it's not happening that way . I'm missing the "total HOD package"!! Bigger Hearts was the first HOD purchase that I made and I regret that I didn't just use it this year instead of looking elsewhere for the American History.

Please do pray for me and maybe I'll get some clarity on what is wisest to do, when it's best to make the change back.
Thank you!!

[DHT1999]

I realize you may want to combine your 2 dc, and that makes a difference in preference as well. Or maybe your older needs American History? Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there too.

Julie, combining is not a priority for me. It was the desire to cover American History that caused me to look for something else for him this year. The curriculum I'm using now is supposed to be for multiple levels and at first it seemed like a good thing but now I'm realizing that doing that causes about half of the material in the curriculum to be of little use to either one of the children. I'm sure it's "fine" but we just aren't growing in the areas we need to be growing in. I think using Bigger Hearts with my oldest, even though he's done Preparing (and well!) would accomplish more than what we are doing now.

[DHT1999]

I made that exact same mistake last year. I actually used Bigger with a 5th grader because I just HAD to do American History. In hindsight, I wish I had placed him according to where he fit on the chart in HOD. It would have made a much better year last year. This year, having learned from that mistake, I came back to HOD and couldn't be more pleased. He is doing CTC this year and just soaring with it. My younger son (2nd grade) is doing Beyond and we are having the best year yet.

If you can finish out this year with what you have, do. If not, I would see where each child places on the chart - order the guide and books for where they fit, and never look back! Good luck to you!

Hi, Rebecca! I've wondered how it's going for you now. I am so glad to hear that you are happy! I think I want to continue covering American History this year. But, I want to keep it condensed so we can move on next year and start my oldest out fresh with CtC. The curriculum I'm using now stretches it out over two years. That's definately not going to work. We are coming back to HOD.

[8arrows]

If you aren't worried about combining anyway, you could do the younger child at 1/2 speed in Bigger and the older child at full speed.

[Carrie]

Donna,

It is good to see you again, although I wish your circumstances were different! I'm so sorry to hear about your December. I pray you are recovering and are feeling God's healing touch surrounding you.

The ladies are doing a good job of pondering possible options with you. I do think that you could combine your kiddos within Bigger Hearts (along with the beefing up suggestions that you've already shared that you would put in place for your older son). My concern with this plan lies in the fact that you're desiring to do a condensed version of Bigger this way to have your older son ready for CTC next school year. In thinking about this, I'm wondering how this would affect your younger little guy on his Bigger Hearts path, as a condensed trip through it may make it hard for him to keep up.

One thought I had was that you could do your younger son at half-speed in Bigger Hearts right now, giving him time to really grow into the writing skills and the higher workload. If you did that, then you could have your older child begin mid-way through Bigger Hearts at whatever point in American history you have left off with your other curriculum. Normally I wouldn't advise doing something like this, but since your older son already has Preparing Hearts under his belt, and has likely studied some of the early American history already this year, it would probably work to find the spot he is at chronologically in American history and begin there in the Bigger Hearts guide. This would also allow him to do the rest of the Bigger Hearts guide more closely as written, still finish out his American history for the year without getting overloaded with a condensed version of Bigger with a double workload, and allow your younger child to go at his own pace in Bigger.

Then, when the next school year began, you could have your older child move up into CTC and just keep going with your younger child in Bigger at either half-speed or bump up to full-speed, whatever you felt was best for that child at that time. This would also enable you to keep from feeling like you've lost ground this first half of the year and still be able to accomplish the goals you have in mind. If you did go this route, I'd be glad to share what how we're doing Bigger Hearts currently with my own 8 year old at half-speed. It is very manageble, and I'm seeing terrific progress.

Anyway, if I am way off-base feel free to come back and share more. We'll be glad to help you talk through options until you find what is right for your family.

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

You have some good ideas to ponder from the posts here. I can see some goals emerging from your post and then also from your second post here...

Julie, combining is not a priority for me. It was the desire to cover American History that caused me to look for something else for him this year. The curriculum I'm using now is supposed to be for multiple levels and at first it seemed like a good thing but now I'm realizing that doing that causes about half of the material in the curriculum to be of little use to either one of the children. I'm sure it's "fine" but we just aren't growing in the areas we need to be growing in. I think using Bigger Hearts with my oldest, even though he's done Preparing (and well!) would accomplish more than what we are doing now.

Prioritizing your goals may really help you choose what's best for you to do. I say this tongue in cheek, for this is something I struggle with myself. Everything often seems equally important to me, and I can get caught up in the details. My dh is a big picture kind of guy, and so is my friend my sister, so I go to them often to help me see the forest for the trees. You probably are better at prioritizing than I am, but I was just thinking that identifying what's most important and working down from there may help you choose the best fit overall. So, for example, these are the things you've shared thus far...
*you'd like to start BHFHG now and beef it up for your sixth grader
*you'd like more written narrations like last year in PHFHG
*you'd like to work toward having older ds in CtC next year, and younger ds in PHFHG next year, though may need to slow down PHFHG for younger
*you'd like to do American history
*combining is not a priority
*you'd like to grow in the areas your dc need to be growing in, and have found a multiple level curriculum to be of little use to one or the other child
*your oldest did PHFHG well, but BHFHG with ext. would be better than what you're doing now

Let me say that there is no judgment of what decision is right or wrong here - just a matter of what's right for you and what your priorities are, because honestly, HOD can meet those personal goals one way or another. If doing American History is #1, well then, BHFHG it must be. If growing in the areas your dc need to be growing in is #1, well then your oldest would do CTC and youngest BHFHG (possibly half-speed). If you'd like to start BHFHG now for sure and that's #1, then BHFHG must be the choice. If you want your oldest ds to do more written narrations, then CTC would be the choice. You probably have more goals than you've shared here, and those added to the list will make a difference in your decision as well, but I just thought maybe thinking it through it this way may help you arrive at the final decision you feel best about it. It's just something that has helped me, but please ignore this if it is not helpful to you - I fully realize my shortcomings are not everyone's, and my ways of trying to overcome them are not helpful to everyone for that reason either. I hope something here can help as you think this through!

In Christ,
Julie

[DHT1999]

Thank you all so much for your encouragement and feedback. I have decided what I'm going to do.

We are going to finish this year out with what we are currently using and next fall we will begin CTC with my then 7th grader and Bigger Hearts with my then 4th grader. Our multi-level curriculum isn't feeling multi-level at all and actually, it's really just history that they are combined for now and even that isn't really "combined", it's just that I have one schedule with books for both of them on it. I needed alot of downtime in December and so far for January due to the surgery, so it has been nice to pull out one TM to cover history with both of them BUT I'm feeling alot better now and have more energy. I am going to go back to Beyond for my 3rd grader (we've done a good bit of it already, I know just where to pick it back up) and continue the other curriculum with my 6th grader (just for the rest of this year). That way, they will both be covering about the same period of history (Early American, as they are now) and my youngest will have the full benefit of Bigger Hearts at his own pace. I know my oldest will do great with CTC with the Extensions. For now, he will continue with DITHOR, Rod & Staff 5 and Igniting Your Writing 1.

I feel good about this now. I guess I just needed to reconnect with you all here and get some feedback. I think it will be fine to have a 7th grader in CTC. Believe me, it's much more solid that anything else we could be doing. I honestly don't think I would have him ready for high-school if we didn't have HOD to go back to. I have to be honest, it takes more effort and time to teach two guides BUT they just aren't getting what they need otherwise, so it's worth it.

Thanks again!

[Carrie]

Thanks for the update, Donna! It is good to connect with you again too! I think it is a good idea to keep going with Beyond if you are able to do that right now. It makes sense for your little one to keep moving forward with his skills and will ease his transition into Bigger Hearts next year by quite a bit. It sounds like you are doing a good job of preparing your son for the transition to CTC next year. With his foundational skills from Preparing Hearts already in place, combined with the strong emphasis in the 3R's you're giving him now, he should be ready to go when he gets there. We look forward to seeing you again as you journey and pray your healing is continuing.

Blessings,
Carrie