Placement questions for 4th, 2nd, K, pre-K kids!

[Bonnie A]

We are new to HOD; last year was our first year of HS, using Adventures with MFW. We loved the program but felt it was lacking in certain areas and I love the extra activities and interaction with HOD. I have a daughter going to 4th grade (she will be 10 in Nov), a son who is going into 2nd (he will be 8 in Sep), a daughter who will be in Kinder (6 in August) and an eager 4 year old son who wants to do pre-k.

I have looked over the manuals, S&S, and placement charts for all ages- here is what I am thinking:
Pre-k son- Little Hands to Heaven
Kinder daughter- Little Hearts for His Glory
2nd grade son- Bigger Hearts for His Glory
4th grade daughter-Combinging with BHFG and putting her in the appropriate Math, Grammar and Reading options with DITHOR or placing her in Preparing?

I would be working from 3-4 different manuals ?! (is that even doable?) I like the idea of continuing a biographical study of the development of America and would like to wait until next year to let the older two do an overview of world history together using Preparing. I want to make sure my older daughter is getting what she needs, and she could use the extra help with writing, dictation and narration from Bigger so I am hesitant to put her in Preparing. Last question, Preparing and CTC look very similar, what is the difference and are they meant to follow each other?

Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated! - Bonnie

I would be grateful for any help in this area. I look forward to using this curriculum and getting each child set up in their appropriate level, even if it means more work for me!

[leimarie]

Welcome. Your age range and situation sounds very similar to mine! This will be our first year with HoD (second year of homeschooling as well) and we will be venturing through 3 guides. I will have my 4th grader in Preparing, 2nd in Beyond (he's not ready for the rigor of Bigger yet) and 1st and K4 combined in Little Hearts. While my children are close in age their skill levels were WIDE apart! I was apprehensive at first to think of splitting them all out but after much consideration (and actually looking through the guides we'll be using) I'm quite comfortable with it. Is combining your K and PK little ones possible by using using the "learning through history" side together and assigning their skill-level appropriate resources for the "learning the basics" side? That is our plan in combining my 6yo and 4yo.

As for the similarities you see in Preparing and CtC, Preparing is a year-long overview of history from Creation to modern while CtC is in-depth of that specific period.

This is also my first HoD year so I can't give you any BTDT words yet, but the other mommas here are sure to have lots of great feedback!

[Jessi]

Not that I am an expert but would it be possible to to LHTH with your Prek and Ker and just have your Ker to appropriate math, reading, handwriting to supplement. Keep it simple for them. Easier for you too. Then they could move up through the guides as they age together and you could beef up programs for the elder.

The 2nd grader and 4th grader should do well in bigger together with the extensions for the 4th grader. I have heard a lot that Bigger teaches many key skills that will help your daughter do well as she begins preparing. This would be good if you were trying to simplify as much as possible.

However I also think you could keep 2nd grader in bigger alone, and put 4th grader in preparing as your daughter would start to do a few subjects independently which could free you up to work the the two littles more and if you kept preker and ker together in LHTH I think you could handle 3 guides just fine!

Good luck!!!

[8arrows]

I like the idea of keeping the Pre-K and the K together, and I also like the idea of keeping the 2nd and 4th grader together, especially your first year with HOD. If they are using grade appropriate math and English, you should have a great year!

[MomtoJGJE]

I think it looks good! If your 4th needs help with all those subjects I would definitely keep her in Bigger and just add when/if needed. Bigger is a great program!

I agree that if your K and pre-K kids are pretty close then you could combine them... my K and pre-K are not close enough to combine... I started them out combined with LHTH and adding in K stuff for my older, but it wasn't enough for her. I split them up just after Christmas and it's perfect now. My pre-K is almost halfway through LHTH with added in fine motor skills books and my K'er is 2/3 of the way through LHFHG with first grade options.

In the fall I'll be doing 3 guides... Preparing, Beyond, and LHFHG half speed... It's totally doable and actually no problem at all once the kids are properly placed.

Sorry if this doesn't make any sense, my 4yo is working on her map skills... asking me "what spells G-E-O-R-G-I-A?" and then finding the flag at the bottom of the map.... it's crazy making!! haha I think we've gone through all 50 states....

[Bonnie A]

Thank you, that is very helpful! So grateful for all the helpful feed back. I think I will keep my 4th grader in Bigger along with my 2nd grader, as she needs more help developing into an independent worker. I can use the extension packs to supplement for additional reading if need be. As for my pre-k boy and kinder girl, she is ready for formal phonics, math and handwriting and can sit long enough to listen to history. My son on the other hand, while he enjoys "doing" school and surprisingly knows by sound and recognition his abc's and basic numbers, I am not convinced he has a long enough attention span to sit thru the LHTH for Kinder's! I will look thru the manuals again though! Thanks again for the feed back.

[Bonnie A]

Lisa- thanks for your feed back and input! Sounds like we are in a similar age range! I hope that your year goes well with HOD, I will be interested to hear how you schedule your days and progress through three manuals!

[beverett]

Hello Bonnie ,
I was just going to say that we did(and are still doing) Bigger this year with a 2nd grade boy and a 4th grade boy and absolutely LOVED it!! While I could have put my 4th grader in Preparing, i decided to put them together so that i could just do 3 guides. He actually is doing wonderfully in Bigger. So I think your daughter will enjoy it very much and still learn plenty!! As for the younger 2, if you feel like the kinder daughter is really ready for LHFHG and the son is not, I would go ahead and start the daughter in that guide and put your son in LHTH and just see how he does there. It is very doable to do the three guides you are looking at. I know that LHTH only takes about 30 minutes each day. I have not done LHFHG, but I think I have read it doenst take very long either (maybe 30- 1 hour?). You would spend more time with the older kiddos in Bigger.

[Bonnie A]

Thank you Brandi, I appreciate your input- I truly think my youngest will love getting the time alone to do his "preschool" work, as will my kinder-age daughter. I feel bad for the younger ones, as they tend to get overlooked as I work with the older kids. Hopefully that won't be the case this year I am encouraged to hear that your two children in Bigger enjoyed their studies and that working from 3 manuals should be doable! All the programs look wonderful and I am so excited to start each of them in their upcoming learning adventure!

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD Board, Bonnie! I agree that your older 2 sound well-placed in Bigger Hearts. As far as your younger 2 dc, you could start with your K aged child in LHFHG, and your PreK in LHTH. Then, if you are finding it to be too much to do LHFHG and LHTH, you can easily drop your K aged child down to LHTH to be combined with preK child, and just keep the LHFHG K fine motor skills, math, and phonics going. I think you'll know once you begin. I actually did BHFHG and LHTH (and RTR) last year and had a terrific year! I shared my schedule on the last page of the schedules' thread in case it may be helpful, but here's a link to the whole thread as it's full of many great ideas...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2093

In Christ,
Julie