I can't do two guides

[Kims]

I know you guys all do it and I know it's probably doable but I am not the one that can. I started back LHFHG with my 5yo this week. We love it as much as ever and my 7yo is joining in and getting the skills he didn't get the first time around.
I am not sure how to work it out but I just can't even think of adding in Beyond in there. I only have 11 weeks of Beyond left. We took last semester off.
Plus next year will be Bigger and Beyond. Wondering if my younger could just listen to the stuff in Bigger with us and skip Beyond.
I am so lost. I know me and I know I can't do this.
I have bought everything for Bigger so feel like I can't go another route plus I love HOD and don't want to leave it.
My boys are so close that having one leave the room while I work with the other just doesn't work and is sad. (I am glad they are close) My 17yo is working on her high school stuff and needs to focus on that. I am trying to figure it all out really I just can't see me working out two guides.
Can't I just combine the history, science and read alouds and then have them do their own stuff? I guess that makes me feel like my younger might miss out on something or my older one. I don't see a way to beef up LHFHG or Beyond for my older one either. :-/
HELP!!!!

[Molly]

Sorry, it wasn't really helpful to your situation. My apologies. I pray you find a solution that works for you and your boys.

[farmfamily]

I was wondering what unit of LHFHG are you on & how long until your youngest turns 6? I combined my 5 1/2 and 7 1/2 year olds this time last year. My oldest actually repeated the last 11 units of LHFHG in order to combine with her sister. We then went into Beyond with the girls combined (my oldest had not done any of Beyond) - by then my youngest was turning 6 and my older one was soon to be 8. Combining has worked great for us. We are now on Unit 21 in Beyond. I beef up Beyond for my 8 year old by:
1 - doing math at her level
2 - doing DITHOR 2/3
3 - doing Rod and Staff English at her level (she is in 3)
4 - doing dictation
5 - every week she does a vocab card just like they do in Bigger (I find a word she doesn't know either in our Storytime book or her Dithor book)
6 - once a week she copies the Bible verse on a card & illustrates as in Bigger
7 - she does 1/2 page in her cursive workbook every day.

I think that's it. It looks like a lot when I write it down, but it's been very easy to do. Much easier than separate guides, I think.

If your older one has already done most of Beyond that's a bit of a problem though, because it would be a lot for him to repeat.

As for going straight to Bigger, I can speak a little from experience on that, since my oldest has already done the first 10 units of Bigger (She will have to repeat that when we get there... so all in all I guess she will have repeated 20 units) We tried Bigger with her half speed when she was 7 (she did LHFHG at age 5, and something else at age 6). It was very hard for her to complete all the notebooking involved. She could do it, but the amount of writing took her all day. The notebooking is really a key part of the program so I think your 5 year old would be missing a lot if you skipped that. Also the history book is an older one and while my 7 year-old liked it, it was hard for her to understand & I think it would be very tough for a 5 or 6 year old to get anything out of it. I say this because I think your 5 year-old would be left behind in Bigger, and the problem would continue and maybe get worse with every guide after. It would be better to combine to his level and beef up for the older, which hasn't been hard for us to do. Bigger on up even has extensions if necessary.

[mom23]

I,m also wondering where you are in LHFHG? Bigger and Beyond are a time consuming and difficult combination...if you're near the beginning of it (and it seems to be a good placement for your child!) I'd recommend slowing both children to half speed in their own guides. There are threads on what that means/how to do it if you search. That really helps me during those times of "Icantdothisanymoreimgoingcrazy!" In fact, even if your nearing beyond, half speed would possibly be a good option.

Once you get your feet under you I'd bump your older one to full speed, keeping your younger half speed to build more distance between your guides. You have plenty of time with these younger guides if your child is 5; so don't hesitate to keep him half pace through all of next year, or until your older one has a good start on Preparing.

If you need to combine...Bigger is a very big undertaking for a 5 yo. I can't think of a circumstance where I'd recommend it at all. Even cutting out notebooking and handwriting requirements (which I think would be a mistake) the history readings alone would be really difficult for a 5yo to get much out of;or to sit and listen to for that matter... By pressing ahead of where your child places and cutting thing he can't handle your going to set up every guide to be that way. If he can't do bigger as written he wont be ready for preparing as written either, etc. Your best option for combining would be to place your youngest and then beef it up for the oldest. That would be a tough proposition when your older one has only 11weeks left in the beyond guide. I don't think you'd want to repeat the whole thing with you older, or skip the whole thing with your younger.

Well, now that I look at it that way I guess my only advice would be to slow down to half speed. Something you could possibly look at long term if combining is going to be your best option would be to continue your younger one full speed and slow down the older one to half pace until your younger child catches up. If my math is right that puts them together in about 2years, at which time you could run extensions for your older child and guide as written for your younger. To possibly make this gap shorter maybe you could school your younger through the summer months while your older one did other things? Again, though you wouldn't want to push your younger ds too hard so he does not hit the guides too long before the recommended age for them.

Hope something here helps you! Hang in there; it is doable when you get the hang of it,but in the mean time it can certainly feel overwhelming.

[2plus2]

Hi - just wanted to add that I have combined all of mine in Bigger this yr - ages 6, 7 & 9. I started out in Beyond & Bigger but was also one that couldn't get in a groove with the multiple guides. I know how frustrating that feels when you read on here how everyone manages so beautifully and successfully... When I finally did combine, it worked out great for us. I do own the Beyond guide so I do the Beyond math and Language arts with my 6 yr olds. I am worried about the future though now that my 6 yr olds will have done Bigger - don't really know what I'm gonna do from there. Someone had suggested going backwards & doing the left side of Beyond with them nxt yr, when my olders are more independent. I try not to stress about the future & just do what is working for today... My kids love doing it all together and my youngers do well with it all. I wish you peace in whatever you decide!

[Carrie]

Kim,

It can be intimidating to try to teach a child to read while trying to help another child gain needed skills too, so please know that just because you don't feel like you can't do two guides right now doesn't mean you will always feel this way (or be at this stage in life).

Keeping what you have shared so far in mind, if you feel that you must combine I would encourage you to actually combine your older with your younger child in LHFHG (rather than attempting to push your 5 year old forward too early in Beyond or Bigger). This is because you will be stealing your thunder by allowing your younger child to listen to all of the readings in Beyond or Bigger when he or she is unable to gain any of the needed skills that go along with those readings.

Here's a link that explains this more fully: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9341

I know that your older child has likely been through LHFHG (and also been through much of Beyond), however I still feel that if you deeply desire to combine you could have your older child just join your younger for much of LHFHG. Your older does fall within the age range for LHFHG (and since you have the Beyond manual) you could just continue to use the 3R's from the right side of the Beyond guide for your 7 year old.

After completing LHFHG with your pair, they could head into Beyond together (and you could borrow the 3R's from Bigger for your older child as needed).

There is a list in the back of LHFHG of possible books to use to extend the learning in LHFHG if desired. While this exact list of titles isn't needed, it would give you some ideas of possible topics you could add for your 7 year old. I wouldn't get too worried about extending LHFHG though, as you don't want that to take over your life either.

Just make sure that your 7 year old's 3 Rs are where they should be, and this combining scenario would work (especially if your 7 year old appears to be enjoying joining in with your younger child, and you have taken a whole semester off from Beyond at this point already). Honestly, sometimes the best placement is the one that gets done in the day-to-day.

One other benefit of this plan is that it always leaves you the option of jumping your older child forward if you ever felt you were ready to handle more than one guide, yet it doesn't leave you little one always trailing behind.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Kims]

thank you Carrie you have really eased my mind. My 7yo is very smart academically but emotionally he really still needs to work on a lot of the skills in LHFHG. He still after 2 1/2 years can not narrate to me. My 5yo can narrate wonderfully. Then I am hoping next year we can all enjoy Beyond and I may even enjoy it more as I didn't love it as much as LHFHG last year. That would only put my oldest in 4th grade when we hit bigger and I could beef things up some if he matures. I really do love HOD but was stressing this so much. Oh and my 7yo does not even remember doing LHFHG and probably by next year won't remember much of Beyond if any.
I do already own the whole Bigger program and most of the Preparing. So there is no problem if I have to use any of the right side in any guide for him.
I know that later on I may be able to run two guides but right now I am just at a point I don't think I can.
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond and all the other ladies you have all eased my mind in this. I was ready to jump ship and that made me sad.
Carrie the customer service at HOD is above and beyond and I tell everyone I can what wonderful customer service you have.

[mom23]

I'm glad that Carrie's jumped in here with her advice! Sounds like you've got a plan that you're at peace with now, and that's very important! I wanted to encourage you with your idea that your older ds does not remember doing LHFHG and maybe won't remember much of Beyond next year...I did find that to be true for one of mine. When I started HOD I tried combining my 6 and 8 yos in Beyond and found my 6 yo really not able to handle things. I dropped him back to LHFHG mid year and we went through all of it before going back to beyond with him. When we started that, as you said, he did not remember much at all from it, and when he did have something he remembered (from a History reading, usually) he got excited about it and would start to tell me what he remembered and then we'd finish the reading together and he'd fill in gaps that he'd forgotten about. It was like visiting an old friend for him .