Placement help needed

[Megan]

Hi friends! I would love to get your opinions on where to place my dc. I read the placement chart and based on that alone I would say that my daughter (just turning 9) is a great fit for bigger and my son (almost 7) is a great fit for beyond or bigger. I just can't imagine not combining them. They are so close in age and ability! Dd is strong with reading, art and loves history and Bible...not so strong in spelling and writing and math. We are just beginning cursive with her because she really wants to do it. Ds is very strong in math and is progressing rapidly in reading...he is able to print a sentence, and his handwriting is improving greatly. I don't think he will struggle as much in this area as dd. I think that the main area of difference Is writing...and she is only slighly farther along. Again, with math, she is only slightly ahead of him.

So with that, I'm thinking bigger for both of them...the only thing is that we just finished my father's world adventures. We are so ready to move on and explore other countries! Would preparing be too difficult for them?...im guessing yes...preparing just looks so apealing. I really appreciate your thoughts and insight!

In Christ,
Megan

[netpea]

I have used adventures, beyond, and bigger. Adventures is on the level of beyond in my opinion. I would be looking at bigger, which will set you up perfectly to go inti preparing the next year.

[mom23]

Hi! I agree-Preparing does look very appealing, but, trust me you will all enjoy it much more when they are ready for the rigors of it and place firmly there It would be a real shame to go through it, but know that they are not getting everything out of it that is written there, plus you're setting yourself up for struggle in future guides/years as well. I'd advise Bigger

[my3sons]

Hi Megan, and welcome to the HOD Board! If you are going to combine, Bigger Hearts is definitely the highest guide I would use with the ages of your dc. I'd be very hesitant to suggest Bigger Hearts as a placement for anyone under 7 yo - it is a meaty program that has quite a bit of writing in it. Here is an excerpt from a post where Carrie describes the writing in Bigger Hearts...

Bigger requires more writing in the areas of a once a week history notebooking assignment, a once a week science experiment sheet and a once a week science notebooking entry, along with once a week copywork of a Bible verse, 1-3 vocabulary cards each week, cursive handwriting practice daily, and daily grammar instruction with written practice. It also provides a choice of spelling or dictation passages.

I am wondering if Bigger Hearts is a good fit for ds? Technically, your dc are ages 6 and 8 yo, so you could actually combine them in Beyond Little Hearts otherwise, just doing DITHOR to challenge your 8 yo in reading instruction, doing R & S English 2, cursive, and higher level math for her. What do you think? I do think it is possible for the 2 of them to do Bigger Hearts - but I just am throwing out some more details to help see if you think that is a good placement. If ds definitely places in Beyond, I'd probably do Beyond. If ds is on the fence between Beyond and Bigger, you could begin Bigger Hearts slowly - maybe just 4 days a week - and take a little longer to do it, letting ds have time to truly grow into it. You will definitely know best here! I hope something here helps as you ponder placement!

In Christ,
Julie

[Megan]

Thank you, everyone! Very helpful. I am definitely open to any option that will give us the best year.
They are actually both about to have birthdays (Emma's is this week), so they will be 7 and 9.
I am really going to pray about this...either Bigger with a little less writing for Alex, or Beyond adding DITHOR for Emma. One concern I have (and I know this is really thinking too far ahead but I guess that's the way my brain works ) is that if we do Beyond this year, Emma won't make it to the end of the guides...

One question I have is about doing a 4 day week instead of 5 days. We have a coop that we are a part of for 10 weeks in the spring and 10 in the fall. Would it be feasible to add a little more work into our week during coop weeks...kind of spread day 5 out throughout the week? I just know me...coop wears us out and we never do school on those days.

[netpea]

either Bigger with a little less writing for Alex, or Beyond adding DITHOR for Emma.

One thing to consider for you, if you are reducing the writing for Alex.... By the end of the year, you will want Alex to be able to complete Bigger as written before moving on to Preparing so that he will be ready. If you think Alex will be able to handle it, then Bigger would be great. My 9yo did Bigger this past year with extensions and is now moving into Preparing. I would have done Preparing this past year but she was not ready for the writing.