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[flash=]farmfamily,

Sorry it has taken me a bit to get back to you. In pondering your situation, if you desired to combine your kiddos (in simply looking at the age of your kiddos), you could ponder combining them with the younger student in mind. In order to do this, you'd need to pull your older student back to combine with your younger student in LHFHG for the left side and probably the Storytime on the right side. Then, you'd need to raise the level of the 3R's to make sure those are enough, probably through using what was working from those areas in Bigger (which you already have). You'd also need to raise the science level as well.

In thinking about doing this though, I really feel it is a long pull back to LHFHG from Bigger! So, I am definitely torn with the combining plan, since your 7 and 1/2 year old has already completed 10 weeks of Bigger! To me, I fear that you'd be pulling your oldest too far back now to go back to LHFHG. However, if you bump your little one up to Beyond now without finishing LHFHG, you'll hit Bigger when she's 6 and 1/2 (which is much too young to thrive in Bigger). You will know best whether combining has now become the most important goal for your family. If it has, then the combo. in LHFHG with adjustments will work well for you.

Blessings,
Carrie[/flash]

Thanks for your reply, Carrie! I really appreciate getting your input on my dilemma!

To my mind, there are two choices for my older daughter - (1) to continue plugging away at Bigger half-speed and see if she eventually grows into the writing part of it - or (2) take her back to Beyond, which is what I'm leaning towards after your previous posts about readying her for future guides. If I do all of Beyond, I think I would definitely want to find a way to combine her with her sister. I would rather "wait" a semester for her sister to finish LHFHG to combine them in Beyond and here on out. While we "wait" we would:

continue with our math program, do dictation & R&S2 from Bigger, and continue with DITHOR 2/3, but do it every day.

I would also have her copy poems from a book that I have for 10-15 minutes a day. And I would add the storytime box from the second half of Beyond (we could repeat it next year with different book selections).

She would do all the left side of LHFHG with her sister - but as you say I would definitely want to supplement.

Here's my thoughts:

For history - read books from the Optional Literature Supplements in the LHFHG appendix? Also I would really like at some point to do some British history with my daughter, since I am from England - and we have relatives there. Would "Our Island Story" by H.E. Marshall be a possible additional literature read-aloud - or is it too "old" for my daughter? Anyone familiar with it?

For science - I would like something convenient to add in. I am not sure about getting books from the library. Our library is not very good. Would Apologia Zoology 1 be a possible supplement? Since we live on a farm with an abundance of birds, studying winged creatures would have lots of application for us. So far science is not my daughter's favorite subject. She prefers history. I would really love any suggestions to "beef up" the science.

Then in the Fall, we would be combined properly in Beyond - of course continuing the raised level of 3Rs for my older daughter and adding in some extra Science.

So - what do you think???

I am sorry for all the posts. I'm going around all day with a glazed look on my face trying to think this through as I do my daily tasks!

Again - thank you Carrie for helping me through this!

ARGH! I am starting to lose major sleep over this!

I was talking about it with my dh last night. He is completely uninterested in curriculum choices, but when I mentioned combining the girls he was suddenly adamant that they are miles apart in abilities. And he is right. They are. When I explained that it would really only be poetry, history, and Bible Study where they would be combined (and science, except I would also do additional science with the elder), he softened a little and said maybe it would work, but he still wasn't very enthusiastic about the idea. He keeps suggesting we remove privileges from my older daughter if she will not stay on task.

The fact remains that my elder daughter is VERY distractable! It drives me nuts. Her sister's history, Bible, read-alouds, art projects, etc. distract her from her work all the time - she pretty much does all of her sister's work already in addition to her own. My Kindergartener can often stay on task more easily than my 2nd grader! Combining them for the more "exciting" subjects for my older daughter, would help us finish our day much quicker. Also the two sisters get on very well and love to do things together.

But, as Carrie says, am I taking her too far back? Before Thanksgiving, I felt like she was finally getting into the swing of half-speed Bigger. She completed everything each day and did a good job (though it was taking too long). I think I was having her work on math too much - we did that every day, as well as reading and storytime (DITHOR and Storytime Box every other day). I figured moving to full speed wasn't that much more. But our long break for Christmas, and then trying to dive into full speed was obviously too much. Maybe we should just go back to half-speed Bigger and cut back on the math a little? I really am in a quandary!

I am so curious farmfamily ......what did you decide?

We decided to put my older daughter in LHFHG along with her sister, while continuing the Grammar (R&S 2), dictation, DITHOR 2/3, and math that she was doing in Bigger. We now strictly limit math to 30 min a day, no matter how much (or little!) is accomplished. We are also adding poetry copywork, where she chooses her own poem from a book that we have and copies it. (She decorates it on her own time - she really enjoys this). We also read one book per week from the Optional Literature Supplements - I bought them used & cheap on Amazon! My younger daughter does all of LHFHG exactly as written (except we do a different math program - she works on math for no more than 15 min a day). My older daughter is now with me for ALL of her work and we don't attempt to do anything independently. She is still very distractable, but we are working on that!!!

I would say that the new way of doing school is working really well. I still wish we were done a little sooner (we usually go from 9am to 3pm - including piano practice, chores & a short recess), but our days ARE shorter than when we were trying to do Bigger - and infinitely less stressful for me! Also my older daughter is doing DITHOR 2/3 properly now, while we were giving it scant attention before.

I often feel really thankful for how things have worked out. It's ironic: I definitely think I placed my daughter "wrong" last fall, but I know that if I had placed her "right" (i.e. in Beyond), I probably never would have been able to combine her with her sister with HOD, since I would not have wanted her to repeat a full year. My older daughter is currently repeating about 10 weeks of LHFHG - and though she remembers some of it, it feels different this time around - plus we have the supplemental readings. I really think the combining is working really well for both of them - they are both really social little girls and they LOVE doing things together. I make sure to alternate the comprehension questions, giving some to each of them and not allowing the other to answer her sister's question (even if her sister is unable to answer it). This way I hope to encourage my younger daughter to think for herself. My older daughter is no longer distracted by her sister's school, because it's her school, too! I am very much looking forward to starting them in Beyond in the late summer, after my younger daughter turns 6.

I truly love HOD and feel blessed that God led us to this curriculum. So thank you, thank you Carrie - both for your wonderful curriculum and for your thoughtful advice on this board! Also thanks to Julie for her encouraging words.

I am so glad things are going better!

Great to hear it is working so well for you.

You might take a look at a book called "Smart But Scattered". It has to do with Executive Function in children and was a god send for my son!

Thanks for the book suggestion - I'll check it out.

Also thanks for everyone's interest and encouragement!