what would be better?

[Betameculia]

Hi Annette!

I wanted to pop in and welcome you to HOD, too! It sounds like you've got your placement figured out for your boys. I had one other idea that you could toss around... You could dive into Beyond and LHTH now and use them 4 days per week. This will extend the programs by 9 weeks (and we've even found that pausing for a summer break didn't bother the way my kids jumped back in and loved what we were doing! ). This would allow your boys to get older before you get to the upper guides & give you more flexibility during your weekly schedule. Preparing & up are written this way to allow you to use the 5th day as you choose, so my little ones will do the same with us as we go.

Kathleen

Thanks, Kathleen! There have been so many thoughtful suggestions as to how to go about everything. The four day recommendation sounds good and fits in with our current schedule. Wednesday is usually our free day (2 days on, Wednesday, 2 days on) and I find this very useful as a catch-up day.

I even thought I could dove-tail Beyond and Little next year until we find our groove.

So many possibilities and what a great forum!

Annette

[Betameculia]

Just out of interest, what is your 'fast speed mini-version'? It had crossed my mind to try something similar.

Basically, I have been doing one unit every two days. Each day, we complete 2-3 days of the "Reading through History" block and 2-3 days of the "Storytime" block. I also read the Bible verse on each of the two days and any assigned devotional, and we do the "Rhymes in Motion." If we have time, we'll do some of the activities from the lower left block, but my main focus has been the Storytime and history. I wish I had known about Hod when ds was 5, so we could have taken our time and savored each day, but I'm excited that we're at least able to get a good taste of the components of Little Hearts before doing Beyond. I'm especially thrilled with seeing how excited ds gets when I pull out the Hod manual.

Whoa! That is fast! I'm so glad you and your little boy are enjoying it all. It is certainly something to think about. Are you still doing Beyond for Basics or are you doing your own thing there?

Annette

[daybreaking]

Whoa! That is fast! I'm so glad you and your little boy are enjoying it all. It is certainly something to think about. Are you still doing Beyond for Basics or are you doing your own thing there?

Yes, it is fast. It only works because my ds is advanced and I know my purpose is just to give a quick overview before moving on to Beyond. As far as the basics, I do them on ds's level, using some of Beyond. We have been doing the Friday "gentle introduction" to grammar and ds just started Singapore 1B. He already mastered all of the spelling in Beyond, so we've been doing sentence dictation with him. For reading, we use R&S Grade 2 Phonics and have also been working through the Emerging Reader's set, which has been wonderful, even with him being well beyond the level of the ERS books. After the ERS, we will move onto DITHR.

[Betameculia]

Whoa! That is fast! I'm so glad you and your little boy are enjoying it all. It is certainly something to think about. Are you still doing Beyond for Basics or are you doing your own thing there?

Yes, it is fast. It only works because my ds is advanced and I know my purpose is just to give a quick overview before moving on to Beyond. As far as the basics, I do them on ds's level, using some of Beyond. We have been doing the Friday "gentle introduction" to grammar and ds just started Singapore 1B. He already mastered all of the spelling in Beyond, so we've been doing sentence dictation with him. For reading, we use R&S Grade 2 Phonics and have also been working through the Emerging Reader's set, which has been wonderful, even with him being well beyond the level of the ERS books. After the ERS, we will move onto DITHR.

It's good to hear that he has enjoyed the ERS books, despite being well beyond the level. That's exactly where my boy's at. He will love DITHOR but is too young for it at present. Handwriting is our only real stumbling block. He's willing, he just cannot do too much at one sitting. What he does, though, he does as best he can (which is pretty good IMO). Spelling - well, I guess like your son, my boy's just picked it up and we're flying through Abeka Arithmetic 1.

Thanks for the insights,

Annette