combining children

annegirl1919 · Post by **annegirl1919** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 8:09 pm

just wondering if anyone does this. i am thinking at least a year out (i have moments of ridiculously far out 'planning'). this year i'm going to do 'beyond' with my will be 7 year old, and 'little hands' with my will be 4 yr old. this seems feasible to me because 'little hands' can be done in 20 minutes or so, but i can't fathom having an hour and a half of dedicated time for each of them after that-since they'll still be at ages where they are doing very little independent work.

it's worked well for my younger to tag along with the older this year (we weren't using heart of dakota this year), but when he's needing more legitimate interaction and instruction, i'm just curious what others have done. have you combined kids or done more than one course from heart of dakota at a time? if so, how have you done it, how much time does it take, etc?
thanks in advance for any insight!

6timeboymom · Post by **6timeboymom** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:48 am

Here's a thread about combining two into Little Hearts

Here's one about Little Hearts combined with Bigger Hearts

Here's a thread about grouping kids together

Here's another thread about two programs

Here's a thread about combining

I hope some of that helps!!

I can give you my input as to what I'm doing this year: we have Jake, who's 14 and in 8th grade; he uses DITHOR. Jesse (12) Jamie (9) and Ben (7) are all combined into Bigger. It works because Jamie is a more accelerated reader, Jesse is a struggling reader, and Ben is an emerging reader. Then Greyson (4) is doing Little Hands. A lot of times, for me, Jake does "school" with Greyson. Gabe, who's just shy of 2, tags along and listen to Grey's work-the songs, the hand rhymes, etc. I had to buy him some finger paint so he could do the craft projects, too!

I have found that even when I do every single thing in the guide for the day, and if we go straight through no stopping, it takes about 3 hours. Even for all 3 boys. Then Greyson seriously takes like an hour or less if we go straight through. We rarely do everything at once, though, so it takes us the better part of a day.

Tansy · Post by **Tansy** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:31 pm

I'm bumping this thread up.. I can't help but I'm sure some one out thier can!

Kelly · Post by **Kelly** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:38 pm

We are doing Beyond for my 7 yr old son and Little Hearts for His Glory for my 6yr old daughter. It takes us about 2 1/2 to 3 hrs. I am amazed that I can be done with school by lunch and have the rest of the day free for cleaning, going out, etc.! It is not as difficult as I thought it was going to be!
HTH,
Kelly

my3sons · Post by **my3sons** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:12 pm

Hi! We're doing Bigger, LHFHG, and DITHOR now, and it's pretty relaxing. This would be what you'd eventually be doing down the road with your dc. Doing several HOD programs does NOT have the stress that doing several other types of programs potentially can have. When you look at the overall time it takes to do each curriculum, remember that they overlap in time. When you are doing read-aloud time with one curriculum, the dc doing the other curriculum can be doing a more independent part of that curriculum, and vice versa. This year we finish in about 3 1/2 hours, and that's with my dear little baby taking up a very large portion of my time too. I think you'd find it to be very manageable, and more than that, FUN to do! We do DITHOR 3 days a week instead of 5 days a week, taking 2 years to go through each level, but other than that, we do the complete programs as they are written. Does this help you out at all? Or did you have other questions that this didn't address? Be sure to keep posting - you'll find the HOD board a very cheerful, stress-free place to be!!!

In Christ,
Julie

Post by **Carrie** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:09 pm

annegirl,

The ladies are right that our programs are structured to allow you to comfortably do more than one of our programs without taking all day. As the kiddos grow, they can also take on more of their learning themselves. So, our guides will help move them in that direction.

However, if you are a mom who loves to combine and make her own path, then HOD will also allow you to do that. You'll see moms combining kiddos with HOD very successfully as well. So, I just wanted to assure you that no matter what style of teacher you are, the HOD guides will help you achieve your family goals. We strive for structured flexibility!

Blessings,
Carrie

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:11 pm

I am not sure I completely understand your question so add that to my answer.

But I am thinking you are asking about the future and what do you do when you have a situation with multiple children on multiple levels and is there a way to combine some. I think that is what you are asking so that is what I am answering...hahaha!

Ok so you have two things to me that really matter and factor in to who you can easily combine and who is harder and therefore possibly not worth combining. In the younger years it depends a lot on the phonics level and a little on the age level but more on maturity how fast you can move them. Phonics levels and reading levels are key from what I am seeing in HOD. In LHFHG the differences can be bigger and you can move it at whatever level your kids are easier. You could have from learning phonics to emerging reader and be fine with that program. When you get to Beyond is a critical year it seems because there you have some deeper LA beyond just phonics being integrated into the program so combining with a phonics level child becomes harder so it seems there you want them to be pretty much done with phonics and matching Carries chart on phonics becomes more crucial. I look at it and see some wiggle room there for us but it will require a bit more creativity. When you get to Bigger it seems the tolerance level for combining becomes wider due to the extension pack and the ease at having LA separate and math separate. Hopefully that all makes sense.

So I have a just 4 and a just 6 year old in LHFHG and then I have soon to be 4th and a sixth grader doing Bigger. The two grade span is working well. The younger two require more juggling. The question is on the reading level and also maturity level of my youngest who at this point is really ahead of herself by nature. Either way my plan is to combine and I have different plans depending on how they progress. The Beyond year is the tricky one and then after that I think we are OK as long as we progress after my youngest was able to do Beyond and beef up for my older after. For them it is really a wanting them together for ease but mostly for bonding. I want them to have the group experience the older kids are getting.

I will tell you this that Carrie is very bend over backwards to help you find what works best for you. So look at the placement chart and see what you think would work then run it by her. She will get you fixed up. She understands different families have different goals and the programs are just tools for helping families meet their goals.

netpea · Post by **netpea** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:48 pm

I don't think you'll have any trouble doing 2 different programs. Next year, we'll be doing Bigger and Little Hearts here. I'm not worried. They should mesh well.

annegirl1919 · Post by **annegirl1919** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:15 pm

thank you all for you responses. they are very helpful. it helps to get some different viewpoints and see people doing things different ways. it's comforting to one of you say that you can do 2 programs (with a baby taking a lot of time) in 2.5-3 hrs. it also makes total sense that once they past the learning to read, combining will be easier. that helps me a lot in my thinking. my little girl (the oldest) has always tended to be advanced, and her little brother is probably not going to be in school work, from what i can tell. he's very smart, but i don't see him being as 'ready' to do school type stuff as she was.

so anyway, thank you all a ton. and i realized after posting this i never introduced myself before i asked the question. hopefully that wasn't terribly rude!

looking forward to this next year!

Post by **Carrie** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:57 pm

Well, welcome then annegirl!

I didn't even get to say that as I just jumped right in with advice!

We're glad you're here!

Blessings,
Carrie

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:02 pm

Two programs is no problem at all. So if you are thinking between two and one there is no question you will be fine either way. Some ladies do three and are able to do that well. I personally could see three very easily but since I have one with special needs that adds extra stuff to my plate, I really try to keep it at two. And even at that I have stuff that I add in here and there that we just do no matter what program we would use and we are able to have that flexibility as well.

So all that babbling to say, you will be more than fine either way even with a baby.