Combining K and 2nd grader

[CindyK]

I used LHFHG for my ds(1st grade) and my 4 year old dd this past year. (My 4 year old mostly followed along with readings etc.) Because of a busy year of moving and other things we didn't finish the history (we did read through the entire Family-time Bible) and because of rushed for time and trying to just do basics at times we basically skipped most of the artistic expresion, rhymes in motion and we did our own memorizing this year also. They loved the music but it got pushed aside for "more important things". We did the Burgess books and dd totally loved the books (more so the 2nd half of the year) and always wants another chapter read.

I am considering going through lhfhg again with both of them (K & 2nd) with the following differences:
This year using the "101Favorite stories from the Bible" Plus doing all the left side with both of them as written. (also using The World God Made instead of Our Father's World that we used last year)
Doing the right side w/K options in LHFHG for daughter with her listening to the Classics read alouds from Beyond with her brother.
For Ds (2nd) using the right side of Beyond for him with emerging readers (daughter does phonics)
I am also planning to add Apologias Zoology 1 with experiments and maybe Junior notebooks if they are out in time.
Even though we would be doing LHFHG again...i think there are enough substitutions and things we didn't do that it won't feel totally like doing it all again.

The following year they would both be in Beyond with Ds doing the right side of Bigger with the exception of doing the Beyond read alouds using both the girl and boy options. I may at that time also put my son into DITHOR.

My thinking is this: I would be able to keep them together for most things. Also I believe my daughter is more advanced, she is a very detailed person. My son does have problems completing things like handwriting because of staring into space. He's a big thinker but slower at doing things. I wouldn't feel rushed to complete history this summer but could slowly go through it with better learning and enjoyment and most things will feel new to them I believe.

I just wanted to run this past all of you experienced with HOD to get your input in this. I'm a little concerned that even though my son seems to fit into Beyond according to the placement chart that the upper guides will come too fast for him. I could add extensions later if I see that is needed for him.

Thanks for any input!
Cindy

[my3sons]

Cindy - I think your plan is great! It provides a good fit for both your ds and your dd, and they are really close enough in age and ability to be combined for the years to come, so this makes good sense not only for now, but for the future. Doing all the bells and whistles of LHFHG will be great fun and have a totally fresh feel to it, and the changes of resources you mentioned will also provide a newness. You've done your homework - you have a good plan here.

In Christ,
Julie

[Larissa]

I agree! That really sounds like a great plan! I just finished a year of LHFHG while doing the right side of Beyond. It was a great fit and worked really well. This coming school year, I will be doing Beyond with the right side of Bigger. So, we are on that same plan - and it works great!

[CindyK]

Thanks Julie and Larissa for your replies! That makes me feel better to hear that it sounds like a good idea. I keep going back to "maybe I should do Beyond" with my 2nd grader after all but then I will pull myself back and try to convince myself that this is better for now and for the future. I will probably be ordering in the next couple of weeks and needed to get my thoughts organized on this.

I also have a very bright 13 year old dd (will be in 8th) who will be doing RtR with extensions and a few extras. I've been doing read alouds with her but was wondering if this is a suggested thing for her age? It's hard for me to always get to but I'm always glad that I do. I liked someones suggestion of doing things with your oldest first. I think that is good advice I'll try to implement this next year. She feels like some of the books (from CTC this year) were too young for her. (I want to preface this with saying her reading level is off the charts and most likely...okay...likely beyond me. ) We are keeping her in RtR instead of skipping to RevtoRev because both my husband and I really wanted her covering the reformation. We are adding in the One Year Adventure Novel for this year (8th) while doing RtR which has her extremely excited for school to start. She's a big writer. I'm also thinking of adding in some Progeny Press Study Guides for her since she did DITHOR last year. However, I'm thinking that when she hits 9th grade to skip her ahead to Modern Times which follows RevtoRev. (Do the newest programs normally come out in August?) Any thoughts on her skipping ahead would be appreciated. I hate that she feels some of the books are too young for her but I really love what she is getting. Thanks for listening and for any suggestions.

[8arrows]

My daughter is doing RTR as a 13 year old and will do Rev. to Rev. next year for high school. If things are going well, I wouldn't skip a guide. The first 1/2 of American history is a very exciting study!

[water2wine]

Sounds like you have a great plan. I combined those ages together with a younger one that was ahead and a second grader who was pretty much on target but slower to progress. We started at LHFHG and now are finishing Bigger. It has worked out great. I think you are so smart to look closer at ability than age. It really pays off in the end not to push beyond what they are ready for. There is so much in the guides to beef up and we have found that really does work better. Congrats on your decision!

[CindyK]

Thanks for everyones input. I guess with skipping a guide for my 13 year old, I'm also thinking that she would get to do the "American History up to 1900" for her Senior year. Maybe an idea would be to have her read the RevtoRev history books during the summer after RTR. She can always use reading material...it gets harder and harder to find stuff at our smallish library. We have lots of classics here at home but she's read most all those. Is there a reason not to skip that guide if your child is advanced besides missing the first part of the American History? I would love to hear Carries input on this as well. I know she's not for skipping guides but am wondering if in this case it would be a good thing.

WatertoWine, I'm glad to hear you did LHFHG with a K and 2nd grader and feel good about it. That helps alot! I do have a few reservations with them feeling like it is a repeat with some things but I think there will be enough new things that hopefully it won't feel too much like a repeat. We did some in the history books but not too much and I do think it will be very beneficial to redo some. When I was thinking of finishing history up this summer I was trying to find things to skip so that we could get done soon but it all looked so good and I didn't want to skip any of it with them...that helps make my decision feel right.

Cindy

[my3sons]

I also have a very bright 13 year old dd (will be in 8th) who will be doing RtR with extensions and a few extras. I've been doing read alouds with her but was wondering if this is a suggested thing for her age? It's hard for me to always get to but I'm always glad that I do.

At this age, either the parent or the student may read the Storytime books. I began RTR's Storytime by setting the timer for 10 minutes. I read as far as I got for 10 minutes, and then he finished the rest of it. A bit into the year, he asked me if it would hurt my feelings if he just read it all on his own. Little sweetie! I told him it wouldn't because I got to be with him for other things in RTR. I think dc just reach a stage where they grow and mature and want to read on their own. That is a good thing! I'm glad for this, as it will help them have the skills in place they need to be able to handle high school. Maybe you could try the 10 minute timer thing and then go from there? It's just an idea you could try.

I liked someones suggestion of doing things with your oldest first. I think that is good advice I'll try to implement this next year.

We did this last year, and things went so smoothly. I figure the oldest has the most to do, why not begin with him? It went well.

She feels like some of the books (from CTC this year) were too young for her. (I want to preface this with saying her reading level is off the charts and most likely...okay...likely beyond me. ) We are keeping her in RtR instead of skipping to RevtoRev because both my husband and I really wanted her covering the reformation. We are adding in the One Year Adventure Novel for this year (8th) while doing RtR which has her extremely excited for school to start. She's a big writer. I'm also thinking of adding in some Progeny Press Study Guides for her since she did DITHOR last year. However, I'm thinking that when she hits 9th grade to skip her ahead to Modern Times which follows RevtoRev. (Do the newest programs normally come out in August?) Any thoughts on her skipping ahead would be appreciated. I hate that she feels some of the books are too young for her but I really love what she is getting. Thanks for listening and for any suggestions.

When I read this, my first thought is maybe just have her do RevtoRev instead? It would be less tweaking and fit her well now. We've found this to be such a great way to have a good school year.

In Christ,
Julie

[CindyK]

Thanks for your response Julie! I think she would most likely like to do her own readalouds even though she's never said anything. She would probably be afraid of hurting my feelings too. I kept it up just for the "together" memories. I'm glad I've done the read alouds for the last two years (one year was with Sonlight) even though she didn't "need" me to read them aloud but I'm just glad I have those memories with her since she is very independent with her schooling.

Also, my first thought when she "complained" of the books being too young was to skip her to RevtoRev this year also. (I had already been bothered by it a little.) The thought of holding her back when she is so advanced really bothers me. However, when speaking to my husband about it he really didn't like the idea of her skipping learning about the reformation. He also believes it doesn't matter if the history reading material is a little younger as long as she is learning it. I see his point on both things. So that brought my thinking to maybe skipping the level after RTR after covering the reformation and give her some extra learning things this year like the "One Year Adventure Novel" that we had planned to wait a year on even though I believe she is ready for it. She was thrilled with that thought. I'm glad to know you think it is okay to skip a level though. Is there a reason RTR would be better to skip than RevtoRev besides the fact that she would place better in it?

Thanks for everyones responses! This board is great!
Cindy

[Carrie]

Cindy,

As far as your older daughter goes, I can see how both you and your husband would like her to study the Reformation. I had my oldest do RTR as an 8th grader, just prior to high school, even though he is a terrific reader too. I wanted him to have the immersion in the time period right after Christ walked the earth from a Christian, Bible-based perspective. We have note regretted it! My older son will be a sophomore this year.

One thing that I would likely do with RTR is to have your daughter only do the Extension readings but not the Basic Package Storytime readings. The Storytime readings are definitely easier, and are intended to be. By omitting them, you'll move past that feeling of books that are too easy for her.

The next thing I'll assure you of is that by giving up the reading aloud to your oldest child, you are not giving up on your special time with her. This is because we design the guides from CTC on up to have special teacher time with the child interacting in other key areas. RTR has a very important study on becoming a young man or woman of God and also a purity study. You will do this twice weekly with your daughter, along with doing the poetry of Emily Dickinson once weekly, and an art appreciation CM-style picture study once weekly. I still interact with my kiddos doing DITHR, and we have great discussions there. Plus, I listen to oral narrations twice weekly and oversee Medieval Writing Lessons too. The time in RTR becomes so much more personal than the younger read-aloud time. We've enjoyed the switch in the guide's focus in how we spend our time with our older kiddos as they mature! We pray you will too.

One more thought I had was to possibly consider doing DITHR one more year. While you could do Progeny Press guides, you will lose all the Biblical discussions you'd get through DITHR, and I found those to be key and insightful with my 8th grader.

Blessings,
Carrie

[CindyK]

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Carrie! Also, thanks for the suggestion to do only the extension books. I plan to go ahead and order all of them because I have two others that will use them also. I think I will present the extension books as the "main" books which may help with how she feels, however, something tells me she will want to read them all if I have them since she loves to read. I would hate for her to miss out on them but I believe that she won't want to miss out on them either if they are available.

I love the fact that the time spent with her in RTR becomes more personal than the younger read-aloud time. I can see that working out very nicely this next year.

What is your take on us skipping RevtoRev and moving on to Modern Times for the following year (9th grade). Is there any reason that would not be a good idea?

Again, thanks to everyone for their great input!
Cindy

[Carrie]

Cindy,

One guide builds well upon another, and there are quite a few transitional skills in Rev2Rev that will be helpful to have prior to heading into the upped level of rigor in Modern Times. Rev2Rev has weeikly primary source document readings with higher level questions accompanying the sources that are quite difficult and really get the student thinking. The weekly poetry within Rev2Rev is extremely challenging and also is accompanied by higher level thinking type questions. When paired with the history readings, the poems make great sense, but again the skills are what is needed. Then, there is quite a bit of analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating literature that is a part of Rev2Rev's Basic Package. I could go on with many more examples, but what I would likely suggest is waiting until your child has almost completed RTR and then re-evaluating. If, at that time, you feel your daughter would excel in jumping forward to Modern Times, and she fits well there on the placement chart, then she can jump forward. At HOD, our guides do build very well upon one another though, so I wouldn't be in a big hurry to have her skip over a guide.

Without our Modern Times guide being written yet, I cannot say for sure what will be best. So, we'll all know better at this time next year what the best course of action will be. Either way, you'll have two great options.

Blessings,
Carrie

[CindyK]

Thanks Carrie, that's good advise. We'll just see how things go and analyze things next year.

[CindyK]

Carrie, I just wanted to update you on my 8th grade dd doing RTR with extensions. We received our boxes yesterday...yea! what fun!! My dd looked through her books and got so excited! She said, "Mom I don't feel like these books are too young for me like I did last year!" She is so glad that she is doing the medieval period and said that this is her most exciting year so far. I was thrilled and relieved to hear her say that! I'm very thankful we didn't skip RTR and we will just play it by ear for next year whether or not we should skip or go ahead with RevtoRev. Right now I'm thinking maybe it won't be an issue. My college age son walked by when we had all her books scattered out on the floor and said, "How can anyone do all that in one year!" I wish HOD had been around for me to use with my two older sons.

The younger two, K & 2nd were thrilled with all the fun books they got also. The emerging readers and readalouds from Beyond were a big hit! I just love seeing my k-dd hugging her math and handwriting books and wanting to start today.

Thanks for all your hard work Carrie! It is much appreciated! I think the thing I love hearing most of all is my husband saying this is how all kids should learn!

[chillin'inandover]

Although it is not allowed to comment on programs that are not sold by HOD I will be brief in my suggestion. My daughter an avid writer used the One Year Adventure Novel as part of High School Credit. HOD didn't have High School when she was in High School. I see there will be guides for High School with electives so that (OYAN) could be 1 of your High School Electives and combine that with whatever HOD guide you are using in High School. Just a thought.
Tammy