Extension packs

[JosephsAprilAnn]

Are the extension pack books scheduled in their respective guides or are they just supplemental books?
Are there extension activities?
In preparing hearts and/ or creation to Christ do the students do any work independently?

[LynnH]

The extension books are for dc that are above the recommended age range of the guides. The reading is scheduled in the appendix and the suggestions of doing follow up activities such as alternating written narrations and oral narrations. As far as Independent work in Preparing and CTC. If you look at the example first week for those guides the boxes are coded. I means Independent, S means student led and T means teacher led. You can see that there are a few I boxes in Preparing and then in CTC the I boxes increase when they take over their own history reading. In each guide after CTC the I boxes continue to increase.

[JosephsAprilAnn]

Thank you that is exactly what I needed to know.

I have ALMOST decoded what I am going to do for next year! Lol

I think I will do little hands with me 3 and 6 yos and do preparing with my 8 and newly 11 yo. I think...

[Gwenny]

Have you thought about Little Hands for your 6 yo? It is such a great program and I love having that one on one time with my guy who is kinda in the middle. Since he is 3 years apart from the next one, it's a little harder to combine that age gap. It doesn't take very long, and you could even do it 1/2 speed for awhile if you'd like. Anyway, maybe you've already looked at that, just wanted to throw it out there.
Blessings!

[JosephsAprilAnn]

I have thought about that! I have the first two guides. My 6 yo would do better in the 5-7, but I don't think I could do 3 programs. Would it be better to up my 3yo or down my 6 yo? If it matters.... When school starts the 6 will be 6.5 and the 3 will be almost 4. Maybe my will be 9 yo daughter could teach my 3 yo his program?

I appreciate any and all thoughts on this!

[Gwenny]

I would do the Little Hearts and not worry as much about getting the Little Hands done with the 4 year old. 6.5 should start Little Hearts I think. Little Hands is too young. You could just fit in a box or two with the little guy, have your older do some also. When you get to the youngest doing more school, your oldest will be in guides that are mostly independent and it won't take you very long to work with them. So you will really only be "doing" 2 guides.

[TrueGRIT]

Based on what you shared I would do Little Hearts for your 6 yo. You could add Little Hands for the youngest as able.
It is so short & sweet it is not like doing an extra guide. For awhile I did it in the evening as a devotional time with my youngest. Then the two olders actually fought over who was going to teach it. So, for the last part my youngest had 3 teachers which made it only about 10 minutes on my part. We also went a little slower to begin with until we found a rhythm.
At this age I would focus more on 6 yo for actual school time. if your oldest fits in Preparing they would actually have some independent time, making most of your time spent with LHFHG. Once you get a routine going I honestly don't think you would personally have more than 3 hours into school with those 3 guides. Your oldest will only have about 4 hours.

[JosephsAprilAnn]

I'm feeling very needy! Lol

Okay. My oldest is 11, going into 6th. I was thinking to do preparing hearts bc I also have an 8yo, almost 9 when school starts. Should I do CTC instead?

I'm so....I don't even know!

[StephanieU]

Where do the oldest two place on the placement chart? That is more important than age.

[my3sons]

I like the idea of Little Hearts for His Glory for the 6.5 yo, Little Hands to Heaven (when ready) for the almost 4 year old, and for the older 2 dc, I'd look very carefully at the first page of the placement chart with the 8 turning 9 yo in mind. If the 8 turning 9 year old doesn't place strongly in Creation to Christ, I'd do Preparing Hearts for His Glory for that child and also for the older child, adding the PHFHG extension pack for the older child, as well as choosing older LA/math options. This is not hard to do and work well. What would be difficult, is doing Creation to Christ with the 2 of them, if the younger child doesn't place squarely there, as that child will then not be independent on the things he/she is to be independent in, and that means more of you as the teacher stepping in than intended. The extension package books are awesome! They are independent, have their own schedule in the Appendix, match the weekly theme, and have a good rotation of follow-up activities that are independent as well. With HOD providing multiple levels of excellent formal reading instruction in "Drawn into the Heart of Reading," providing multiple levels of English in guides through multiple levels of R &S English, providing multiple levels of spelling instruction through multiple levels of dictation, and finally providing multiple levels of math in each guide - extending a guide has never bee easier! Here is a link to the placement chart - when you get the chance to check out the first page, let us know what you find in regard to PHFHG or CTC fitting the almost 9 yo better...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Also, take a look at the "I" independent boxes in each of those guides, and see what 8 turning 9 yo could truly handle well...
PHFHG first week of plans...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/PHFHG-sample-week.pdf
CTC first week of plans...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/CTC-First-Week.pdf

Finally, here is a comparison of the skills in PHFHG and CTC...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12582&p=90658#p90658

If you get a chance to share your thoughts, that would be great!
In Christ,
Julie