Newbie with a question!

[Tuki]

Good morning everyone, I am new to this site. I need some guidance, please! My DD's are 7 & 9. We are currently doing A Beka, but I'm looking to switch us to HOD PHFHG next year. I have been all over the internet and on the HOD site researching this curriculum and I feel that it will be a better fit for us. I have a question since I'm not very familiar with HOD.

I know that I can combine both DD's on PHFHG next year. Here is my question: Once DD7 is done with this curriculum, do I move her to the next level or do I keep her on PHFHG for another year doing the same thing? Forgive this naive question, but I'm really not sure how that works.

[LynnH]

First have you looked at the placement chart to see where they both place, not thinking about combining, just looking at their skills? 7 is very young for Preparing. The guides are very skill based and each guide assumes that the skills learned in the previous guide have been mastered. You only do a guide once and don't repeat so you would then have an 8 year old going into CTC. I think that would be very challenging. My son did it at 11 and it was a very full, challenging guide. The Charlotte Mason approach will also be very different for your dc since they are coming from Abeka. Written and Oral narration are tough skills that take some time to master. You might find that placing them both in Bigger with using extensions for the 9 year old would be a better choice.

[raindrops]

...or even both in Beyond, adding Dithor and "extensions" (which I suppose actually you'd have to pick those out on your own or peruse one of her interests more deeply... there aren't actually Beyond extension books, are there? Can't find my catalog at the moment.) for the 9 year old?

7 is very young for Preparing AND it will be her first time using HOD. But I am by no means an expert at placing children. I do know it would help if you share with us some of what each child is doing now. Is it very important to have them in the same guide?

[Tuki]

Thank you for the replies. I should have mentioned that DD's will be 8 & 10 by next fall (youngest DD will be 8 in April and oldest will be 10 in January). I'm just trying to get a head start for next year. I'm not familiar with dithor or the extensions. As I mentioned, I'm very new to HOD. Looking through the site was a bit overwhelming last night, LOL! So would you ladies recommend that I start BHFHG for younger DD and PHFHG for older DD? I know it's a bit early to start looking at curriculum for next year. I like to be prepared and look through the entire thing to familiarize myself with it. Thank you so much for your kindness in anwering my questions. I really appreciate it!!

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD Board, Tuki! Thanks for clarifying your dc's ages at the time you will be starting the guides. As the ladies shared, starting PHFHG with a 7 yo, and certainly doing CTC with an 8 yo would not be advised. The youngest suggested age for each guide is really the absolute youngest age the guide would be advised to do - especially with CTC on up. So, your sharing your dd will be a little over 8 when she starts HOD is very helpful.

I am wondering if you got the chance to look at the first page of the placement chart? Here it is...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

If you could share about each of your dc individually with the placement chart in mind, that would really help us better help with fine-tuned placement for your particular family. This is a wonderful part of HOD! It can be customized to fit each family's needs well, as well as to fit each individual student's needs. So, could you please share about each of your dc's reading, writing, grammar, and math skills with the placement chart in mind? For example, what kind of books are each reading well independently? How much writing are each of them comfortable doing each day? Are they both writing cursive? Have they had diagramming in grammar, or are they ready for it? Has your oldest read her own history/science? Would your youngest be ready to read a portion of her history and all of her science provided the books were shorter? Have they had a formal reading program - including genre study and story elements study? Are they ready for that if they haven't? These are just a few questions that come to mind, and don't feel like you have to answer each one in great detail or even at all - but any such information as this would help so much! We want to help each family start of on the right foot and have great placement if possible, and blessedly with HOD, we have many options to achieve this. Please do share more and we'll all give more specific advice we'll feel better about giving. In general - I think you will LOVE HOD! It has been an incredible blessing for our family, and I love strong academics that also keep Christ at the center. I also love the heart to heart talks, the deep discussions, and the neat projects, experiments, and beautiful portfolios we are making with HOD! Once we all chat about your placement and you are set, you are going to have such a terrific year with HOD!

In Christ,
Julie

[Tuki]

Oh bless your heart, Julie!! Thank you for that guidance. We are into our 2nd year of home-school. Both DD's used to attend a Private Christian school that used A Beka. We couldn't afford to send them back which is why they are now being homeschooled. Both DD's currently read chapter books. They are both very good readers. I do quite a bit of comprehension questions with both just to make sure they understand what they are reading. I don't really follow a formal reading program right now. I have them read suggested books from Veritas Press for their ages. I also have them write a short summary of what the stories were about. As far as grammar, DD who's 9, has been doing Shurley Language since 1st grade and DD who's 7 is in her second year of Shurley. They both enjoy doing Shurley and have a good understanding of sentence structure. They are both right on target with their math for their ages. The only struggle DD9 has at the moment are word problems. I hear from different moms that this is a struggle for their kids too. Both have been doing cursive since Kindergarten and do quite a bit of writing each day. We do Veritas Press Bible and History. Unfortunately, we don't do any type of worksheets for this. We do A Beka 4th grade science together. We all really enjoy it. DD7 always wants to do the reading.

My biggest issue is time management. Our school day starts at about 9am and we usually end anywhere between 3-3:30. I guess I'm just getting a bit burned out. I love that everything is scripted, but most of my time is spent at the board going through each lesson for both DD's. I'm looking for something that can simplify our day, but without compromising their learning. When you mentioned the "heart talks and deep discussions", it almost made me cry. I don't have enough of those with my DD's because we do so much work and I just want to be done with our day. I have my two treasures at home and I would love to enjoy my time with them. With A Beka I'm just not getting that! I really feel the Lord placing it on my heart to continue homeschooling versus sending them back to their school. I want to do what's best for them, not me. I want our school days to be fun and enjoyable, not tiring and frustrating. Both girls are very disciplined and rarely complain. I guess it's just me. I feel like I'm not giving them my personal best because of the workload. I'm more concerned with getting the schoolwork done and "checking off my lists" than really focusing on their hearts and enjoying my time with them!

So sorry for the long post. I guess I just poured out what was on my heart and why I'm looking to switch them both. I'm not opposed to changing their curriculum tomorrow if need be. Any help and guidance would be so welcome, you have no idea. I truly appreciate you taking the time to help this frustrated mommy!

[mommyofmany]

Awww, just chiming in to give you a big (((hug))) and send some encouraging prayers your way! Your girls sound like little sweethearts! I'm using Bigger with my ds8 right now and am personally getting so much out of the daily bible reading/devotional/hymn signing time. My ds has a lot of behavioral issues and it is so uplifting to me to spend that sweet time with him! If you *did* want to make a change right now rather than waiting it sounds like your girls might place nicely into Bigger. I'm not really an expert about placement but it sounds like it may be a good fit for your family. You can stick with Shurley for grammar rather than switching to Rod and Staff if that is working well for them. I don't know how much time that will add to your day since I'm not familiar w/Shurley. I've ended up crossing off some of our work in CLE Language Arts because it's just too much and my ds doesn't need that much repetition in LA. I'm hoping to switch to R&S English 4 in 4th grade and follow the plans in Preparing for that. It's easy to substitute your math as well if you are already using something that is working well for them in that area. There is a great post about how much time each subject should take in Bigger to keep you on schedule. We end spending extra time on our math- but that's my ds's weaker area.

Here's the link to the post:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14220 (hopefully I linked it correctly, lol)

Your day would end up being much shorter (and enjoyable I'll bet!) using Bigger with your girls.

Whatever you chose, I pray the Lord will give you the strength and joy you need to face each new day!

[my3sons]

Oh, hugs to you - I'm so glad you shared! No worries - they are young and you have time on your hands. The Lord lays things on our hearts as mamas at just the right time, and then we just have to respond. This is just what you are doing here! I soooooooo long for you to do HOD. I am very excited for you thinking of all of those heartfelt times ahead!!! Honestly, Bigger Hearts or PHFHG - they are both awesome guides. All of HOD's guides plan for both strong academics and heartfelt talks that this mama loves. I can tell you they have helped me (and are still helping me) hang on to my teenager's heart. What a blessing in these up and down times of emotions!

As far as whether to do Bigger Hearts or PHFHG, I'd look at the placement chart with just your turning 8 yo in mind. Can she do all of that? Also, look at the PHFHG "I" boxes in the plans. Can she do those independently? Here's that link...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/PHFHG-sample-week.pdf

Finally, really consider the amount of writing 7 turning 8 yo can do. Here is a thread that may help...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3602

Let us know what your thoughts are - we'll figure it out together!!!

In Christ,
Julie

[Tuki]

Emily and Julie, thank you so much for the hugs and prayers. God is so good! I spoke with my husband yesterday about possibly switching our curriculum. He was on board as long as I was sure about our change. Thank God for a trusting husband. I prayed yesterday and asked the Lord to reveal His will for us. Well, we went to church this morning (it was wonderful) and had lunch with some dear friends afterwards. I was talking to one of my friends about switching to HOD and she mentioned that she had the BHFHG set that I could borrow if I wanted to start using it! Whoa, really?! She went home, picked it up, and brought it back so that I could review it. She spent lots of time showing me the lessons, books, reading, etc. It looks awesome! I am starting both DD's on this tomorrow!! I think that by starting them both on BHFHG, it will give them a good foundation and feel for how HOD works. I told DD's about changing and they were ok with it! Those girls are just way too easy! I cannot wait for tomorrow morning. Please pray that our first week goes as well as I think and hope it will. I will give an update on Friday of how it all went for us.

Thank you again for your time in answering my questions. I am really looking forward to a wonderful relationship with HOD!! I'm also hoping to be an active member on this board when time allows!

Blessings!!!

[mommyofmany]

Wow! What an amazing blessing and answer to prayer! God is so good!! I can't wait to hear how you guys are doing with Bigger- I think you're really going to love it.

[MomtoJGJE]

My suggestion was going to be to start Bigger now! How awesome is that!

I know some people who used abeka and switched to HOD. I want to warn you that your tendency will be to do MORE... It's such a short and sweet program. I know my friends were literally taking all day, like you said you were, schooling with abeka, so when they were getting done with HOD in just a couple of hours it threw them off. But I just caution you to enjoy it. It is truly enough.