Should I go ahead and put dd in Preparing???

[sharonb]

Although we've been very happy with our 3 oldest combined in Beyond this year, I can't help but think about the future, wondering when I'd split them up. At some point it would have to be done. If I wait until dd is in 9th grade, she'd miss out on quite a bit during middle school (like RevToRev and the Modern guide). I definitely don't want to keep her combined with her brothers through high school because I want her to be able to do high school level work without having to tweak or add extensions. So, that leaves splitting the dc up sooner rather than later. I combined the 3 dc this year because of dh's wishes. After having a chat with him, and explaining how the progression of the HOD guides works, he told me that I need to do what is best for the dc. Turns out he told me to combine the oldest 3 because he thought it would make things easier on me.

I'm wondering if I should go ahead and jump dd ahead to Preparing now. We are about 30% through with her 4th grade year. I already own the Preparing guide because we are using it for dictation. I don't really care if we have to finish it up the first part of 5th grade because we are using our own math, and that's the only subject I insist we finish on time each year! I think we might actually be ahead in R&S English because she does R&S 4 daily. Same with dictation.

Or, should I keep things as they are, and put dd in CTC for 5th grade next year, and have her brothers do Bigger together? (If I do this, I won't bother buying the extensions because my oldest ds is very young for his grade, so even though he'll be in 4th grade, I don't think he'll need the extensions. He and my next boy are only 16 months apart.) Would it be hard for dd to jump into CTC without doing Preparing first? Besides doing Beyond right now, she also is in MOH 1 (she draws a picture after we read each lesson, and then we do the quizzes orally) and Apologia Botany (with notebooking).

(If I put dd in Preparing now, we will drop MOH. We'll keep Botany because we are enjoying it, and it does not take very long each day.) I really hate changing things mid-year, but if it would be better for dd to go through Preparing before CTC, I'll go that route.

Please advise me!

[Tidbits of Learning]

I combined my oldest 3 in Beyond last year and beefed it up for my older dd's. This year I decided it didn't benefit any of them for me to try and make combining work. My now 6th and 5th grader are combined in CTC while my 3rd grader is actually going back and finishing Beyond. It is amazing how much more he does without his sisters automatically knowing the answers. He had kind of wilted into the background while combined with them. I am using some of Bigger's right hand side as well with him.
I would probably say to combine your 4th and 3rd grader if they are close in ability and keep your 1st grader in a guide to himself. I can't say whether you would feel the need to do Preparing before CTC.
I would probably change both older kids now instead of later and try Preparing. I have found the child who loses out the most with combining is the youngest child especially if it is in lower grades where they are still working on reading and comprehension. I wish that I would have uncombined last year when I started to really notice that my olders needed more and that my younger was feeling complacent or even feeling inadequate combined with them.
Anyway, this is my experience. You know your children the best. I hope you find the best placement for all of your kids.

[beverett]

Honestly if I were in your situation I would consider a couple of things. How much is she willing to write? And do you feel like she fits into preparing on the placement chart? If so then I say go for it! In my opinion I would not just place her in CTC next year after only having done Beyond with the extensions you mentioned... we have only gone through Bigger and CTC and are now in Preparing this year, I think it would be a good idea to allow her to go through Preparing first then move into CTC for next year . I even think I would have her start at the beginning of Preparing guide. Since your boys are in Beyond which is a 5 day schedule and Preparing is 4 days it may be that you end up finishing at about the same time? I think this would give her a chance to work on written narrations slowly before going into CTC, and also get some good oral narration in (I did not see where you were doing narrations with her?). I have not done Beyond, but it just seems to me that Preparing would be a good place to go?

[mamas4bugs]

I also would not go straight from Beyond to CTC. Way too many skills taught in the guides in between.

Besides, Preparing has been our favorite year so far, so I wouldn't ever recommend anyone skip it!

[sharonb]

My 1st grader does let his older siblings answer most of the questions for him, so I do think he could benefit from them splitting up.

My 4th grade dd places in Preparing without a doubt. My 3rd grader is the question. I was leaning towards keeping him with the 1st grader in Beyond, because my 3rd grader just turned 8 in August. When we are doing notebooking for Botany, he always asks me what he should write (as opposed to the 4th grader, who is able to work much more independently). His stamina for writing is not as good as hers, either. He is very bright, and his love for reading has really taken off the last few months, though, so I do wonder where he should actually be placed. Here are some details on the 3rd grader; maybe you all can help me decide whether to put him in Preparing or keep him in Beyond.

ds is a wonderful listener when I read. He's pretty good at oral narration most of the time. But if I ask him to write down something he has learned, he has trouble figuring out what he should write. He is finishing up Unit 2 of R&S English 3. We use the worksheets for lessons that have them; for other lessons he writes a little, but we do quite a bit orally too. He is learning cursive right now, and does a really nice job when he takes his time. He is on about passage #40 of Dictation Level 2. We are using a different math program, so that is not affected if we switch levels.

(Oh, and here's a question about English- if I switch dd (and possibly ds as well) to Preparing, should I give them a break from English for a while until we get to where they are in the guide? We haven't been following HOD's schedule for English since we've been using the Beyond guide. So, they are both about 1/3+ finished with their English for this year. I'm thinking it'd be nice to start following HOD's schedule though.)

[LynnH]

I think putting your 4th grader in Preparing would be a very nice fit. Preparing is a great guide for getting dc ready for the workload in CTC. It doesn't sound like your 3rd grader is ready for Preparing however. There is quite a bit of writing in Preparing and the expectation is to be more independent with the work. Even if he did Preparing then he wouldn't be ready for CTC the following year as that is a huge jump in writing and reading comprehension. I think I would stick with Beyond for this year and then move to Bigger next year which will be a nice year to continue to build the writing skills. I'm wondering if at some point you might need to slow things down for your 1st grader and let your 3rd grader continue at a normal pace. Of course that would mean that eventually you would be doing 3 guides and that may not fit what you want for your family.

[beverett]

I would say definitely put daughter into Preparing! For your dd I see she is doing level 4 for Rod and Staff? With her you could pause and go ahead and get on the Preparing schedule. Then she would be right on schedule (i think) to do half of level 5 for each CTC(5th grade) and RTR(6th grade) and then half of level 6 for Rev to Rev(7th grade) and the new Modern guide(8th grade)... the only guide she will skip is the Geography guide, but this would put her right on track to start the highschool guides and also level 7 of Rod and Staff at the same time!

As far as your son goes, where do you think he places on the placement chart? Does he fit in more boxes on the placement chart for Beyond or Preparing? I am not sure he would be if he would be ready for Preparing, although he may be?
You said:

But if I ask him to write down something he has learned, he has trouble figuring out what he should write."

If this is the only thing you are worried about then I wouldnt be concerned because the guide teaches them slowly how to do a written narration.

Anyway, if he does place in Preparing this year, then I would say pause his Rod and Staff also and start with the schedule in preparing and he would be right on schedule with the guides for everything!

[sharonb]

As far as your son goes, where do you think he places on the placement chart? Does he fit in more boxes on the placement chart for Beyond or Preparing? I am not sure he would be if he would be ready for Preparing, although he may be?
You said:

But if I ask him to write down something he has learned, he has trouble figuring out what he should write."

If this is the only thing you are worried about then I wouldnt be concerned because the guide teaches them slowly how to do a written narration.

I think my 3rd grader would really place best in Bigger, but since I don't want to run that many guides, I looked at the placement chart again. You know what? He really fits Preparing better than Beyond. I think sometimes he gives the impression that schoolwork is too difficult, when in reality he is trying to rush so he can move on to other things (like playing!). I think he could handle Preparing if we go that route.

I told myself I wasn't going to make major changes in the middle of a school year again; I really hate for my dc to see indecision in me! But, the more I think about it, the more I think i'm doing my dc a disservice by keeping them combined. I have dh's blessing to split them up whenever I think is best.

[sharonb]

I just had a conference with my oldest two. As expected, my dd is so excited about the possibility of going ahead and doing Preparing. She enjoys the stories in Beyond, but she says it's too easy. (If she wants to, she can always read the Beyond books for fun in her spare time, and I suspect she will.)

I spent some time talking with my 3rd grader, and told him he really falls right in the middle (in Bigger). I told him he can either stay with his 1st grade brother in Beyond, and it will be easy, or he can be more challenged and work in Preparing with his sister. Surprisingly, he said he wants to do Preparing! I have to admit, I'm a bit surprised. But then again, he has shown quite a bit of growth this year. I can really see him maturing in many ways. So, I think Preparing will be good for him.

I figured out which books we still need for the first 9 units of Preparing (I can't order everything at once), so I guess I better place an order. I'm hoping to start next week.

Oh, I also told the dc that they'll get to take a break from R&S English for a while. They were fine with that. And I figured out that we will have 113 days left in Beyond (by the end of this week), and there are 136 days in Preparing, so we really won't be as far "behind" in Preparing as I thought (in relation to our school year), because we'll go ahead and use Preparing as a 5-day guide. At the end of the school year I think we'll probably continue with Preparing till we finish it, and give my 1st grader a break when he finishes Beyond. That way we can start Bigger and CTC at the same time.

[beverett]

My first thoughts when I read about your son were that he would do great in BIgger. I agree with you though and understand why you do not want to do three guides (especially back to back guides) at this time ( I prob would not either with the ages of all your kiddos). Down the road you would have several guides going ... anyway i think you have a great plan and I also think your oldest two will be thrilled with Preparing!! Hope all goes well!

[Larissa]

It sounds like you already have a good plan in place, I just want to mention that Preparing is AMAZING! I started my oldest son in Beyond for 2nd grade, Bigger for 3rd, and his now a 4th grader doing Preparing. There is a lot of writing in Preparing. My son is just getting to the point that he doesn't mind it as much. The writing in Bigger was a lot more than what was required in Beyond and the whole year was hard for him in respect to the writing that was required. The training, however, was thorough and he was fully prepared for what is required in Preparing. Now, he does it most joyfully. It is a blessing indeed! We both love doing Preparing. The only thing I would mention that you may want to give even more thought to in regards to your son ... is the future guides. I would be a little hesitant to put even an advanced child into CTC at only 4th grade. That, of course, is only my opinion. I am doing Beyond this year with my 2nd son, and he is super advanced ... however, I have chosen to beef up Beyond by adding English, DTHOR, and some extra Science. I really understand why you don't want to run 3 guides. I certainly would not presume to know your children better than you ... you are an expert at your own children! I would be more inclined to keep him in Beyond than I would to skip Bigger and go straight into Preparing. Bigger provides a great deal of instruction that more than adequately prepares them for Preparing. I am amazed to see the fruit that Bigger produced in my son - even though - working through it was difficult for us at times. I am currently running Beyond and Preparing right now. At the beginning of the year I was also running a modified Little Hearts, but changed my mind on that and will wait until the following school year for that. Running 3 guides is tough! I hope that whatever you will choose to do, that it will be a blessing to your family! I look forward to hearing how the change goes. I am willing to bet that the transition will go very well for you even in the middle of the school year!

[sharonb]

Thanks for your thoughts, Larissa. I figure since we'll be running Beyond and Preparing, if ds needs to drop back to Beyond with his brother, then that's fine. His math and dictation won't change. I'm letting the oldest two take a break from R&S English for a bit so that we can use Preparing's plans for that. If ds needs to drop back to Beyond, we'll just pick back up in English and follow our own schedule for that. Even when told that there will be a lot more work, ds decided he'd like to try Preparing with his sister. We'll see how it goes!

[my3sons]

It sounds like you have a good Plan A in place, and I like this Plan B if ds is having a harder time keeping up with the writing requirements in PHFHG...

... I figure since we'll be running Beyond and Preparing, if ds needs to drop back to Beyond with his brother, then that's fine...

I think you'll be able to tell a month in for sure. Have fun with PHFHG - we are doing it now with Riley, and I just always love this guide.

In Christ,
Julie

[sharonb]

I'm excited to get started. I've had Preparing on my mind for a couple of years now (thinking how great it would be for my oldest), but had to give combining a try. I'm SO glad I had that talk with dh and got his blessing to separate the dc into their own guides.

[Larissa]

OH, I agree! You have a Plan A and a Plan B - you can't go wrong! You are going to LOVE Preparing. I can't wait to hear how it goes for you!