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I worried the jump for my kiddos would be troublesome as well. So, we did Italic handwriting most days, even when not scheduled until we finished the K book and caught up with the guide for the 1st grade book. Now we do handwriting as scheduled and I think they are ready for handwriting in Beyond. M...

It really is child dependent. Where does your ds place on the placement chart? Combining has worked well for us because both of my dc placed in LHFHG for everything except age (dd was 4). We also took the guide slow completing 3-4 days each week of the full guide though my oldest did math, reading a...

I think you could combine both in LHFHG with 1st grade options and emerging readers for the oldest. There are also additional reading suggestions for the older child in the back of the guide). This is how I combined my oldest two. In addition, my oldest did the spelling list 1 from Beyond and used ...

The once a week grammar lessons in Beyond were a great way to introduce concepts prior to beginning R & S English 2. :D I would do those first, and start R & S English 2 after that. I don't think I'd rush to try to finish R & S English 8. Some students will only complete R & S English 7 upon gradua...

My oldest two dc are in the last 9 weeks of LHFHG. We wil start Beyond this fall when ds is 7.5 and dd turns 6. At the pace we are going - 1 1/2 years for each of the lower guides, ds is not likely to make it to the last HOD guide. So, do I need to go ahead and start Rod and Staff with him this fall...

Welcome to HOD! There is another thread running on the board right now regarding placement help that was started by momof3boys. I think if you read that thread alot of your questions will be answered. Basically, LHFHG sounds like a better fit for your oldest at this time and most definitely if you w...

For reading, TRL has a key words page at the end of each lesson that kids should have mastered. You can have your oldest read you each of those pages until he starts having difficulty and that's where you can back up and start. If he breezes through all 20 key words pages, then you can just have him...

I agree with the pp that LHFHG sounds like the best fit for your two kiddos. If they like being together, they will be happiest and most successful in that guide. You can easily beef up for the oldest by doing first grade handwriting and thinking skills and adding spelling and math from Beyond. Once...

We school year round. On days we are home all day we do school right after breakfast and chores. Then the kids have free/playtime until lunch. Today they chose to listen to an audio cd and read/look at books on their own. After lunch, I put the youngers down for a nap and read to the olders for awhi...

I have to be quick but want to address two of your concerns. First, we can afford to send our kids to private school and choose not to. In fact, my husband is the one that decided we should homeschool our kids. We all love it and dh is very happy with how our children are being taught. Secondly, whe...

For most of TRL we reviewed one page and then did one new page. About half to two thirds of the way through, we reviewed one page and then did two new pages. Towards the end we just did two to three new pages a day and only reviewed the occasional difficult page. It's fine to slow down when needed a...

If you have the Beyond guide, there are supplemental reading suggestions listed along with each unit. There aren't any questions listed, but the reading level is comparable. We use that along with SL level 2 & 3 grade readers which include several of the supplemental titles listed in Beyond. I had t...

Good morning! So sorry this post has been overlooked. I think everyone is pretty busy, things are pretty quiet here. Go ahead and look at the placement chart and check things there. But, I would encourage you to go ahead and start with LHFHG (unless the chart shows something else). You could even s...

We use HOD with all their recommendations- Singapore Math, The Reading Lesson, etc... I really like the time/workload balance of all the subjects. My oldest ds loved The Reading Lesson and has since moved on to the Emerging Readers. My dd is on lesson 18 of 20. The short lessons and uncluttered page...

This is very timely for me because I see myself in potentially the same boat next year with my 2 oldest boys. My question for Julie is this: If LHFHG, Beyond, and Bigger were all done 4 days/week, how many years approx. would those 3 guides end up being? How about just Beyond and Bigger? I too, wil...