curriculum choices

[jfaulkner809]

Hi,

I have read and read, but I'm still not sure what to do regarding combining or not combining my children. I would appreciate any suggestions that you might be able to give me.
I have 3 children. The youngest is 8 and was adopted from Kaz. at age 5. He spoke Russian and Kazak up to that time.
He has done very well and is a good reader and loves to read. He does have attention difficulty with his listening skills. He just finished 2nd grade(homeschooled), and is at grade level. Because of the late English language acquisition he does have some difficulty understanding more complex ideas.
My next child is 11. She is very dyslexic and most subjects are a struggle for her, especially math and spelling. She doesn't enjoy writing. She should be going into 6 grade levels, but is a year behind in most subjects. She doesn't love reading because it isn't easy for her, but she will read on her own if she finds a book she really likes.
My oldest is just about to turn 14, and she is starting 8th grade level and does very well independently. We especially need to work on her writing skills. She is an avid reader.
My thoughts were that my son might fit well in Bigger, my 11yr old in Preparing, and for my oldest I was looking at R to R. She could do a more advanced one, but since we are just starting with Heart of Dakota I thought it would be a good starting place for her and would give her more guides to enjoy in the future. Is that wise or should I put her more at grade level?
My concern is being new I don't want to be overwhelmed with 3 guides and not have the time I need with each child.
I was wondering if it would be feasible to combine my son and 11 yr old daughter in Preparing.
I really appreciate your time and any direction you could give me regarding placement!
Thank you!

Judy

[StephanieU]

It is possible to combine, but I would lean towards maybe combining the younger two in Bigger. Do the extensions with the 11yo and as written for the 8 yo. They only place 1 guide apart, so they would be easier to combine I would think.

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD board! I am so glad you are asking for help with placement because we all like to help here! The pp gave some good thoughts to ponder. You shared some about your dc - thanks for that! They sound like wonderful dc! I was wondering, have you checked out the placement chart, and if you have could you share about each of them in regard to the first page of the chart especially - reading, writing, grammar, and math? I'd love to hear a few titles of books they have each read comfortably on their own lately, if the older dc have been reading their own history and science or if they have been read to, and how much each of them is used to writing each day (i.e. sentences, paragraphs, pages - and how many times - 1 x a day, several times a day, etc.). Any info on the grammar and math they have done would be great too! Sorry for all the questions, but your answers help me feel like the advice we are giving is as accurate as possible. Here's a link to the placement chart...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

In Christ,
Julie

[jfaulkner809]

Thank you both for your responses. I will give you an idea where each one is.

My son likes to read the Magic Tree House books. He is very quick to read through them though. He did pick up his sister's book Red Badge of Courage and read through 12 chapters. He understood the main ideas of what it was about, but I'm sure a lot of it was over his head. In general though he is very capable of reading chapter books of medium length. For grammar last year he did daily grams and was very good at sentence combining. He did manuscript writing with Reason for Handwriting. Math U See Beta addition and subtraction of up to 4 digits, also telling time, measurements, etc. We did history together from Mystery of History Book One. Devotions together, and also science together. We didn't do dictation or much writing last year.

My 11 yr. old daughter was recently reading Cooper Kids series by Frank Peretti. Tumtum and Nutmeg by Emily Bearn, also Sisters in Time books.
For grammar she did Easy Grammar. Math U See Delta(multiplication and division). Reason for Handwriting Cursive Book E.
Her writing is fairly slow and deliberate, therefore she dislikes writing long passages or more than a couple of sentences. I also didn't do any extra writing with her because all of her other subjects are such a struggle. I would like to do some this year, but we probably need to start slow. I also used Sequential Spelling for both my son and younger daughter. She has trouble retaining information like spelling and math facts. She has trouble transferring info from her left to her right side of her brain or vise versa?
She has been able to learn the math processes though and I have given her a math table per recommendations from specialists, so she can learn the processes and not get stuck. History, science and devotions were done together with siblings.
13 yr old was doing pre-algebra(math u see), A Reason for Spelling F, Apologia General Science, some Write Shop, Penmanship - Shorter Catechism, Government, sentence diagramming/grammar, Words on the Vine, and a lot of reading.
I hope I covered most of it. Thank you so much for your help with this!

[jfaulkner809]

A little addendum:
After re-reading your post and my response I realized I wasn't very specific with my older daughter. She works very well independently. She did all of her subjects on her own except when she joined in for Mystery of History and devotions.
She loves to write creatively and usually worked on a few paragraphs a day aside from the Write Shop. I fell behind though and wasn't always able to give her the help and direction she needed with her writing, so I feel we may be a little behind where we should be in that area.
She is able to read adult books. Lately she has read Pride and Prejudice, The Cat of Budapest by G A Henty, The Hiding Place, and Hind's Feet on High Places.

Thank you!

[crlacey]

Welcome to HOD. It sounds like you have figured out where the kids place best on the chart. If that's the case, honestly, it's going to be the easiest way to have them even if it means 3 guides. I used to try to combine my little guy with his sister, but it felt like I was always working to modify things for him. Once I placed him where he belonged, things went so much smoother for us.
If you have found a math that works for your kids, I'd recommend sticking with it so there are no gaps. It really easy to use your own program for math and still do the rest of the guide as written. We also use Math-U-See for my dyslexic DD and have had no problems going through the guides using it.

[my3sons]

Thank you so much for getting back to me about each of your dc! From what you have shared, I think your 8 yo ds sounds ready for PHFHG. If he can handle the writing in PHFHG, I think I'd combine your 8 yo ds and your 11 yo dd in PHFHG. Here is a description of the writing - and please do keep in mind dc are to grow into this with your guidance using the teacher's guide's helps...

Amount of writing in Bigger vs. PHFHG:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3602

Take a good look at the "I" independent boxes in PHFHG, and see if the two of them can do these independently, or quickly grow into doing them independently with your training...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/PHFHG-sample-week.pdf

I'll do a new post below this for your older dd, as I see you are on the board, and I want you to know that I am getting back to you!!! Please do share your thoughts about this when you get a chance, and keep in mind that if you want to retain reading the history and science to your 8 yo and 11 yo one more year, then Bigger Hearts for the 2 of them would be the better choice. In PHFHG, you read the Reading about History, and they'd read the Deluxe Independent History reading package books. They'd also read the science. Keep in mind the readings are short and quite easy. From what you've shared each of them are reading, I think they'd be fine.

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

A little addendum:
After re-reading your post and my response I realized I wasn't very specific with my older daughter. She works very well independently. She did all of her subjects on her own except when she joined in for Mystery of History and devotions.
She loves to write creatively and usually worked on a few paragraphs a day aside from the Write Shop. I fell behind though and wasn't always able to give her the help and direction she needed with her writing, so I feel we may be a little behind where we should be in that area.
She is able to read adult books. Lately she has read Pride and Prejudice, The Cat of Budapest by G A Henty, The Hiding Place, and Hind's Feet on High Places.

Thank you!

Thanks for sharing about your oldest dd! Based on what you've shared, I think I'd go higher with her than RTR if she can handle the writing and following multi-step directions independently. I think I'd do Revival to Revolution with her, but look carefully over the plans and see if she can do the "I" boxes independently, as well as the writing assignments required. This would be a nice flow for her as far as looking ahead to counting credits for high school. Here is a link the first week of plans of RevtoRev. If you get a chance to print them, and go over them, maybe even with your dd's input unless she would be upset if she gives her input and you decide to go another direction .
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/Rev2Rev-first-week.pdf

Take a look at the books she'd be reading, and the skills she'd be doing in the follow-ups in each box of the plans, and see how you think she'd do. Then, when you get a chance, please let me know your findings! Thanks!

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

I wanted to add that the reason I think I'd choose either BHFHG or PHFHG for your 2 dc is because those 2 guides can be more difficult to teach at the same time. It would be far easier and give you more time to focus on each of your dc's needs to teach one or the other of these guides, especially as you have an older dd that is going to be needing some training at the start as she is new to HOD too. HTH !

In Christ,
Julie

[jfaulkner809]

Dear Julie,

Thank you so much for your response. It has been very helpful. My son hasn't started cursive yet and I'm wondering if that would be a problem with PHFHG. Other than that I think he would grow into the writing that is needed in a short time.
I do think it would be better to start my oldest daughter in Rev to Rev to keep her on schedule. I guess I started looking at RTR because the history is a period that we haven't covered as much as the others.
I am very excited about starting HOD and I appreciate all your help! If you would just let me know whether the cursive will be a problem in PHFHG, then I can make a final decision. I'm very anxious to order our materials!! : )

Judy

[jfaulkner809]

Dear Crystal,

Thanks so much for your post! I noticed you were from CO and was wondering what area. I am also in CO in Larkspur, just south of Castle Rock.
Math U See has really helped my dyslexic daughter to progress with her math. I was wondering if your daughter has difficulty with spelling, and if she does have you found a program that is particularly helpful to her?

[Gwenny]

I wouldn't not do the program because he didn't know cursive. Have him do the Cheerful Cursive along with the guide.

[jfaulkner809]

Okay, that is good to know. Thanks!

[my3sons]

I agree with Gwenny! Just add "Cheerful Cursive," doing about about a page a day, and he'll be fine! You can have him only do cursive in his "Cheerful Cursive" this year, and then next year, he can follow the next guide's (Creation to Christ) directions for which things to do in cursive. This year, in Preparing Hearts, when it says copy "xxxxx" in cursive, I'd just have him print instead. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[jfaulkner809]

Great! Thanks!