Another Placement question

[jen_good]

Hello.

We have decided to start homeschool next year. I've seen a lot of questions about placement on the board, but I feel like I need reassurance for my particular situation (I hope you don't mind)

We have a son who will be 9 in Sept (currently in 2nd grade, public school) and a daughter who will be 7 in Nov (currently in full day Kindergarten, public school). They are both reading 1 grade level ahead and are strong writers. They are good listeners, love to be read to, and have great attention spans. For math, they are at grade level.

After looking at the Placement Charts, I think my daughter might be able to do Bigger; however, I don't believe she has had much exposure to parts of speech or anything more than basic math (i.e. 2+2). She does tend to act and think older than she is. As for my son, I think he could almost fit into Preparing, although he hasn't had cursive yet and I'm not sure how strong he is at knowing the basic parts of speech. And... he is average at math.

Because this is will be our first year homeschooling, I was hoping to do a combined program for them just to make things easier. I was thinking about having them both do Bigger, but I don't want my son to become bored or held back in any way. I also don't want to push my daughter into something that she might not be ready for.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

Jen

[Samuel'sMommy]

I don't have any real advice since I only have one kiddo and he's younger than yours. But, I wonder if you could go ahead and do Bigger with both of them but do LA and math on your daughter's level instead of as written in bigger. Maybe you could get the beyond guide and use the math and LA from it, and then just have your son do math and LA as written in bigger. I'm sure some of the more experienced ladies will chime in and help you out!

[momofjka]

I won't give advice on what levels to put your dc's in, because there are more experienced ladies that can help you with that. But I will give you the recommendations given to me when I asked (several) questions on placement:

Look carefully at the HOD placement chart, especially the first five boxes. The skills listed are the skills they are supposed to have mastered to go into that level, not the skills they will be learning (there is a great post from Julie on this, but I don't know how to link you to it). They also recommended that it is better to start on a less challenging level than to put them in a level that is too challenging (& frustrating!). Also, several ladies recommended the above levels for my dc's because we would be new to homeschooling, new to the Charlotte Mason style of teaching, and my ds had never done narration or dictation.

I don't think your son will be bored with Bigger. I am going to be using it with my ds who is the same age as yours and going into the 4th grade (he has been in private school since pre-K). I also have a 6 yr. old going into 1st grade who will be using LHFHG w/ first grade options as well as the guide for Beyond to use for Math and spelling (the hands on math activities for 1A/1B and the spelling lists are in it). This will be our first time homeschooling too and I just received my order and am thrilled with the materials! They will definetly be challenging enough for both my dc's. The books are amazing!! You can choose the English that is the right level for your dc's and can do the same for math too. (I would definetly recommend doing the placement test for the Math on the singapore website).

I hope the above helps, blessings as you work through placement and welcome to HOD!

Jennifer

[Carrie]

Jen,

The ladies have given you great advice. I would definitely take one more look at the first page only of the placement chart and weigh where each of your kiddos would fit best as individuals, before you look at any combining options. It is possible that you could combine your children, but from what you've shared so far, I'd lean toward placing your daughter in Beyond and your son in Bigger Hearts. Before placing your daughter in Bigger, along with your son, you'll want to be sure that your daughter can truly handle the skills and upped level of writing within Bigger. It takes a very academic 7 year old to succeed in Bigger Hearts, as her reading, writing, grammar, and listening skills will need to be very mature.

Often when wanting to combine kiddos, we lean toward looking at the younger child's placement and combining an older child within that placement, so with that in mind, it may work to combine your older child with your younger child in Beyond (by borrowing some of the 3R's from Bigger for your son to raise the level for him).

Feel free to pop back and share your thoughts once you've checked out the placement chart, so we can advise you better.

Blessings,
Carrie

[jen_good]

Thanks everyone! I will definitely take your advice to heart as we continue in our decision process. I'm looking forward to looking at both Bigger and Beyond next weekend at CHAP.

Jen

[holyhart]

As someone who has been using Bigger this year with a seven year old 2nd grader half-speed, I would have to agree that I think Beyond would probably be a better fit for your younger one. There is a lot of writting and other skills in Bigger that she probably won't be ready for coming out of K. I think that putting her straight into Bigger might discourage her (and you, especially as this is your first year homeschooling). These guides are deceptive in how simple they look....they are VERY full and rich. Beyond will prepare both your dc for what is expected of them in later guides without overwhelming them now.

What if you combine them both in Beyond and buy the TM for BIgger with R&S 2 along with the appropriate level math for your ds? (Combine both on the Left side of Beyond, and story read aloud, dd does manual as written, ds does Right side of Bigger for LA, math and DITHOR level 2/3).