I've noticed the last few months that there are a number of people returning to HOD, and this family is one of them. We have been away from HOD for about a year and a half and will be starting full time in the fall with CTC for my 5th grader and Bigger for my 3rd grader. I originally took a year off to give my boys a little time to mature into the next guides and get them to the upper end of the range. We did a state history and nature study that year in the same pattern as HOD, still using the recommended resources for math/English and using a lot of the story time/DITHOR books set in New York. It was a good year combining them in history/science/storytime/poetry, but I was all set to return this past fall with Beyond for my 2nd grader and Preparing for my 4th grader. Anyway, I'm not sure what happened (temporary insanity?
), but we ended up going a different direction over the summer with a curriculum that allowed my to keep combining my boys. The funny thing is, I prayed about the change and felt at peace with it....for about 2 months. Long about November, I started to realize that my oldest was being held back and while combining had worked well for their 1st/3rd grade years, they were miles apart in 2nd/4th grade. And I wasn't good at coming up with ways to challenge my older son while not pushing my younger son past where he should be. It was then that I started looking through Preparing (yes, I had bought it last spring and just couldn't bear to part with it, so it was still sitting on my shelf
). At first we thought we would just finish the year out with what we had and then start back in the fall with CTC and Bigger. But those wonderful books kept calling to me. I realized that Preparing was exactly what my older son needed right now and after a few days of discussion with my hubby, we decided we were going to start in with Preparing and see how it went. Well, we're still doing Preparing and I have pulled out Beyond for my 2nd grader. I'm still utilizing some of what we started out with this year because it's actually just a geography study, but it is very clear to us that HOD is where we belong long term. Having the boys mostly separated for school is what is going to work best in this family for the long run. (Although my younger guy will always end up showing up on the couch when we start to read our Preparing history.
But he enjoys having his own "mom time" too. As a matter of fact, a few days after I started Preparing with my oldest, my younger son asked if he was going to have his own school time alone with me.
) Yep, I think this is going to be just what we need. Why the detour this year? Not sure, but I'm thinking maybe the Lord just wanted to make it clear that my boys each needed their own guide suited to exactly where they each are academically. And HOD is it. So happy to be back!