An intro, and need help with placement

[Wandering]

Hello, my name is stacy and I'm a homeschooling mom to 5 children ages 13, 12, soon to be 9, 5, and almost 3. We have been having trouble this year staying on task with homeschooling. I'm been trying to pull things together myself but have found that I'm not that good at it and all my time goes to preparing instead of teaching. I have been pouring over the HOD website the last couple of days and I'm really excited about what I see. The main concern I am having is placement. I really like to combine history, science, art and music with all my children. Then I place each of them at their own level for the skill areas. I just don't know if I will have enough time to be teaching possibly 3 different guides. Which leaves me to my next question, placement. I am pretty sure that my 12, and 13 year old will do well in Creation to Christ. I've looked over the placement guide and I think they fit nicely in CC. I'm really having a hard time with my soon to be 9 year old. He is a struggling reader. We are still working on phonics we haven't moved passed cvc words yet. He knows all of his letters sounds but he really struggles with blending them to form words. He also struggles with writing. Since he can't read, he can't write either. He can form most of the letters but it is quite a struggle for him. I have no idea where to place him. I looked at the placement guide and most of the sections I circled indicate he should be placed in Little Hearts for His Glory. I think he would find that way too babyish. I was wondering if I could just let him listen in on the lesson I do we my older 2? For my dd5, I'm pretty sure Little Hearts for His Glory would be a good fit but I'm wondering if I should hold her back so I can use Little Hands to Heaven with her and my almost 3 year old. However if I do that I would be using 4 guides and I just don't know if there is enough time in the day for that!

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

[Kims]

I am by far no expert here and there are ladies that are much better at this than me but I would place your 9yo in Beyond. It is not a hard guide and he might enjoy having his own guide. With Beyond you can still do phonics. Plus you can add to the right side of the guide as you need. I Think he would enjoy his own guide. Plus it will help him progress in his skills to be able to move on to Bigger.
As for your 5yo Little hands is a great program maybe you could do it half speed with your dd.
Also if I were you I would not even place my 3yo in a guide at this time. She/he will love the rhymes and dramatic play in Little hearts too. I know that puts you doing 3 guides but the 12 and 13yos will do a lot independently.
I think you can do it even if you have to hold off on the spelling in Beyond for your son. It may help him with his reading though.

I know other ladies here are more experienced and after my total melt down over doing two guides this year I should probably not be giving advice. LOL
Praying you figure it all out.

[LynnH]

The thing with HOD is the skill areas are incorporated into the science and history. There really won't be much science or history for the 9 year old to listen in on with CTC because those boxes are meant to be read and done Independently. The only thing he could listen in on is the storytime. Which might work if he isn't a sensitive child. The history especially in CTC is challenging to understand. I agree with Kim I would put him in Beyond. It sounds like he could fit there skillwise and if you needed to start out half speed you could. Your 2 older ones should be able to do much of the guide on their own with just meeting times with you to go over the follow up activities.

[crlacey]

Welcome to the HOD board!
I think that Kims had some good advice for you. So I'll second that.

I am by far no expert here and there are ladies that are much better at this than me but I would place your 9yo in Beyond. It is not a hard guide and he might enjoy having his own guide. With Beyond you can still do phonics. Plus you can add to the right side of the guide as you need. I Think he would enjoy his own guide. Plus it will help him progress in his skills to be able to move on to Bigger.
As for your 5yo Little hands is a great program maybe you could do it half speed with your dd.
Also if I were you I would not even place my 3yo in a guide at this time. She/he will love the rhymes and dramatic play in Little hearts too. I know that puts you doing 3 guides but the 12 and 13yos will do a lot independently.
I think you can do it even if you have to hold off on the spelling in Beyond for your son. It may help him with his reading though.

I know other ladies here are more experienced and after my total melt down over doing two guides this year I should probably not be giving advice. LOL
Praying you figure it all out.

[countrymom]

I agree with the others to place your 9 yr old in Beyond. You could begin 1/2 speed to get him off to a great start. There are a number of ways to do 1/2 speed, some do one page one day and the other page the other day. You can also do reading and math each day and I would at least do reading and writing everyday with him no matter what you decide. I do think you could combine your older two and that leaves your younger two. I would just let you 3 yr old play and pick up things here and there for two reasons - you need to get off to a good start with your other children and a 3 yr old really just needs to play. Keeping in mind that your older two will have independent work, but will be new to HOD and you need to spend some time with your middle in Beyond, I would consider waiting until next fall (or whenever you begin school) and put your 5 yr old in LIttle Hearts as a 6 yr old. That will space you out a bit and make things easier down the road. You can always do the 1st grade math and reading options if she is ready. Many parents run a guide while upgrading the 3R options. Then wait until your 3yr old is at least 5 to start him or her and you have a manageable schedule.

[Mercy]

Welcome to HOD!

I just wanted to give you peace that doing several guides is honestly doable! It sounds crazy at first, but because you are meeting your students at their perfect skill level, it takes so much less time and energy than other programs that combine kids of different ages. HOD is an amazing tool that helps you have precious one on one time with each of your children. I agree with CTC with your olders, your 9 yo in BLHFHG and possibly loosely doing LHTH with your 5...letting your 3 join in. With this, your CTC students will be working more independently, so you be doing less teaching time and more following-up with them. BLHFHG is a blast! Very easy to pick up and go! They all are really. BLHFHG is fairly quick and easy. It is a great guide to help fim up those skills before they are required to do a heavier workload. You can always add in some of the items from BHFHG if he starts to take off. My daughter is doing the R & S english book and higher math while doing BLHFHG. HOD grows with the children and is flexible, because it is oganized in boxes.

Hope that encourages you a lil.
You can do this!

Please let us know what you think or if you have any questions.

Have a great day,
Mercy

[Wandering]

Thanks everyone for your help! I think I'll put my 9 year old in Beyond. I'm been wondering if I should drop my older two down to Bigger. My ds12 is also a struggling reader, he's probably at about a fourth grade reading level so I don't think he would be able to do CtC independently. Someone suggested to me on another board to put both of my two oldest in Bigger and do the extentions for my elderest. I'm really considering this. None of my dc are independent workers yet so I worry that taking on CtC may be too much. Maybe we can get our feet wet with Bigger. I'm thinking of starting it next month and working through the summer than in the fall transition to CtC? What do you ladies think

I will probably place my dd5, who will be 6 in the fall, in Little Hearts for His Glory. But I have a few months to decide.

Thanks again!

[Wandering]

I meant Preparing, not Bigger, for my oldest two.

[LynnH]

Given what you have shared about the oldest 2 I agree CTC would be too much. Preparing is a great guide to introduce the independent work and move them towards doing more of the boxes on their own. It truly is the training guide for the next 4. CTC is a much more challenging reading level and they need to be able to do the history reading on their own. With Preparing you it is scheduled for you to do the history spine reading and they do the science and Independent history box reading.