Please help me figure this out...

[stacey05]

Hi. I am new to HOD and am trying to figure out how I can put 3 of my 5 children in this curriculum. My middle three children are almost 7 (1st grade), 10 (4th grade) and 13 (7th grade). I am thinking of putting my 1st grader in Little Hearts for His Glory. (I have read on the message boards here that Beyond is a good 2nd grade curr.) I want to put my 10 yo in Bigger because she has not had any American History so far. I would like to put my 13yo with my 10 yo, because she has not had any Am. History yet either. Plus, I am nervous to have 3 different levels going. Would that work with the extension package for the older one? Is that too young of a program for her? She is not on grade level because she has dyslexia and was a late reader. She does get upset if I try to baby her too much, though. I thought of putting her in Preparing, but I really want her to do Am History! We are doing SL 3 right now with the 10 yo and 13 yo. I like Sonlight, but they can never answer the questions or tell me what they are learning after all that reading out loud...I think they need to be reading more on their own. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Also, I have already purchased Bob Jones Literature program for the two older ones, but I am intrigued by DITHOR! Do yall recommend this program? Does anyone know how it compares to Bob Jones literature? I can't believe I am thinking of switching all of our curr., but it is still the beginning of the year and I my heart is really feeling drawn to HOD! Thanks!

Stacey
six4him@hotmail.com

[water2wine]

I am using LHFHG for my 4 and 6 year old and BHFHG for my 9-11 year olds. I think you could easily do BHFHG with your 7th grader especially if they really need the over view of American. There is a post of how to beef up Bigger for older children I think will help you. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=640&hilit=poor+richard
You may not need the added books but that is just in case. If my dd was going into 7th and I felt like we had not covered American well I would not hesitate to use Bigger. HTH

[netpea]

I agree with water2wine that you could beef it up for the older one because you would break math, reading and grammar at each child's level. If you did the extension package and other reading as desired, it could easily be enough for each child.

[Carrie]

stacey,

The ladies are doing a good job of helping you, and I'm sure more will be chiming in!

If you get a chance to tell us where your kiddos fall on the placement chart, linked here, that would REALLY help:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Pay close attention to the areas of reading, writing, grammar/english, and math. Also, are you planning to use the Singapore math and the language arts in the guides as well? That will make a difference on how we'd advise you.

Blessings,
Carrie

[stacey05]

Thank you for your replies. My 6yo falls into the Little Hearts placement, my 10 yo falls on the Bigger placement and my 13 yo falls into the Preparing placement. I was hoping to only do two levels, though, and I really wanted my older girls to learn American History this year. I already have a math program for my kids, so we will not be using Singapore. I just started my kids in CQLA, but I would like them to go with the HOD language arts recommendations, if possible. I like the looks of R & S grammar and the LA assignments in HOD. Thank you for your help!

Stacey

[Carrie]

Stacey,

I think your plan for doing 2 programs sounds like a good one. I would place your 7 year old in LHFHG choosing the first grade options (Thinking Skills Grade 1 and Singapore Math 1A/1B), or using your own math as you mentioned. I would choose the upper level Bible titled 101 Favorite Stories from the Bible and the upper level of Handwriting (either A Reason for Writing 'A' or Italic 'B').

For your older 2, I think that they could both fit in "Bigger Hearts..". You would want the Extension Package for your older daughter. While your 10 year old could probably do the Extension Package, you may not want to have that child do it, so that your 13 year old would have the Extension just for herself. In that way, she wouldn't feel "babied".

Your 10 year old would probably be ready for Rod and Staff 3 (although 2 is scheduled in the "Bigger.." guide). It would be easy to substitute Level 3 for Level 2. Your older daughter could probably start with Rod and Staff 5 (or 4, depending on how much grammar instruction she has had). Both your 10 year old and 13 year old could do Drawn into the Heart for literature study. Then, you wouldn't need the Bob Jones reading, which can be quite time-consuming both to teach and to do (workbook-wise). Drawn into the Heart.. would also allow you to choose books based on your kiddos interests and to read whole books for their literature portion of your day. We would recommend doing Drawn into the Heart 3 or 4 times each week, to cover half of the genres one year and half the next. If your 13 year old is fairly independent and doesn't mind written work, I'd place her in Level 6/7/8 of Drawn into the Heart. If your 13 year old still needs you quite a bit and balks at written work, I'd put her in Level 4/5. Your 10 year old would fit well in Level 4/5.

If you have other questions, just ask away. We're glad to help!

Blessings,
Carrie

[stacey05]

Carrie,

Thanks so much for your help! I placed my order and am very excited! I am going to go with your recommendations, but instead of ordering the extension package, I decided to let her read the books from SL that we already have for American History. The extension package looks great, and I wanted to order it, but budget-wise, I thought I should use what I already have. I am already changing all my curriculum since I just recently came across HOD. (after I bought almost everything for the year) I just felt that this is what the Lord was leading me too and I am very excited about our up and coming school year. Thanks again for your help. )

Stacey

[inHistiming]

stacey05,

I'm so glad you were able to come up with a solution that will work for you! That's one of the many great things about HOD...it's flexibility! I just wanted to add another word of encouragement. I'll be using Bigger...with my 8 yo dd and my 10 yo ds, adding the extension pack for my son. He could probably have done Preparing.., but I too wanted to try combining and they both needed American History. I feel confident it was a good decision...I'll be adding my K son with LHTH and I didn't think I needed to try to add a third program to that. Some people do it though, and say it works. My son will be reading books at his own level for DITHOR and Carrie helped me decide how to choose those. My dd will be using just Bigger... as it is, and I think it will be perfect for her. She'll also be adding DITHOR for the first time. We're gonna get started with Bigger..., then add DITHOR once we get into our 'groove'. Anyway, I just wanted you to know you're not alone in using Bigger... with older children, and I think it will be a great fit. Looking forward to getting to know you here on the boards this year!

[Carrie]

Stacey,

I think your plan sounds wonderful! I'm excited for you too! It does make sense that your oldest daughter could read the Sonlight books that you already have, in order to help keep your costs down.

We pray you will have a wonderful year with HOD! Keep us posted on your progress. We love to share!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Samuel'sMommy]

Stacey,
Congratulations on finding a way to make everything work! You and your kids are going to love HOD!