Advice from those running three guides

[doubleportion]

Would appreciate some advice and possibly sharing schedules for those running or who have run three guides.

I'm doing LHFHG, BHFHG, & Rev to Rev along with a 2yr old in the mix and 25 wks prego with boy number four. Having a hard time juggling it all.

We school year round. Right now, I am alternating days with HOD and Sing Spell Read and Write for Phonics for my K ds. We are doing BHFHG at half speed to start with for my 7 yr old ds. Full speed of course for Rev to Rev with Apologia Science for my dd. But there never seems enough time in the day or enough of me to go around.

I will also say that I spend a good amount of time on meal prep too due to complex food allergies in my boys.

We used to do more school at nap time when my youngest was taking two naps. But now with only an hour or 45 afternoon nap, there isn't much uninterrupted time from the 2 yr old. And he is an extremely busy extremely social 2 yr old.

Thanks,
Edie

[MomtoJGJE]

My advice is to start out with the oldest... make sure that one knows what they are to be doing... then send them off to work on stuff. Then start with the Bigger child and get that one finished with something.. history maybe, or science... whatever side you are doing that day. The LHFHG child can be playing with the 2 year old while you do that. Whatever box you do shouldn't take more than 15 minutes or so. Then teach the math or handwriting sections. After that half the two younger ones switch to a different activity (the Bigger child is working on math or whatever while you are switching the younger ones). While they are busy for that 15 minutes you do another section of Bigger... storytime or Bible maybe. Then the Bigger child is mostly done (because you are going half speed). Whatever doesn't get done in that time you can do during nap time easily. When you are done with the Bigger child for the day you could let the Bigger and LHFHG child play for a few minutes (snack/recess/whatever you want to call it) and you can devote a few minutes to playing with the 2yo to fill up his Mommy time. After that, the Bigger child would do a couple/few 10-15 minute activities with the 2yo. While that is happening you can get the bulk of LHFHG done. Again, whatever doesn't get done can easily be finished during nap.

When you are done with those two, you could check in with the oldest and make sure everything's going well, and perhaps quickly go over any teaching stuff there while the 2yo eats something in a high chair. (I don't know what is teacher led in Rev to Rev... math, grammar, writing... I'm just not sure)

At that point you could let the R2R child work by you for a bit on finishing things up, and then that child could take the 2yo while you fix lunch and prepare for supper as much as possible.

My advice on the food situation... first, figure out things that would be "quick" meals. ALWAYS have those on hand. Whether you use them or not. Those will be good for sanity saving days. Second, prepare as much as possible when someone else is there to play with the 2yo. So weekends, evenings, etc. Keep a running list on the fridge of grocery items. Let your oldest help as much as possible! Including coming up with a meal plan and grocery list! That will come in SO VERY handy when you have the baby.

Also, try to not let the guides rule you. Remember that it's ok to just stop somewhere and pick up there the next day if it's a rough day. HOD is such a thorough program that they will not fall behind doing this even once or twice a week.

[MelInKansas]

I know exactly how you feel. Exactly. I am running into this with being 17 weeks pregnant, and my 2YO is also very busy and very much a distraction to all of us. Interruptions are the norm. I try to minimize them as much as I can, especially during things like read-alouds where it really disrupts the train of thought. I have to make my oldest go away to do things (and then still have to check on her every little while because she is a daydreamer and very distractible). I totally feel like there is not enough of me to go around. And I have blood-sugar issues during pregnancy and my youngest was allergic to dairy until just recently (I still try to limit his intake but I do not have to be sure to keep all traces out anymore). So I can even relate on some level on the meal prep thing. Due to nausea I am cooking a lot of things that I want to eat, rather than what is quick and easy (and I think cooking from scratch is so much healthier and makes us all feel better too).

My 2YO has been down to 1 nap for a while now. Sometimes he does not even take a nap. So I have had to cope with him awake during school time for a while. I think it helps that we have a solid routine, he is used to the fact that he does not get a lot of my attention right after breakfast and right after lunch. Usually with a full tummy he is willing to entertain himself or play with an older sister for a little while (as long as the sister is being nice to him). He also does "table time" with us when the LHFHG girl and Beyond girl are doing some of their writing/seatwork and math. If there is a hands-on math activity he participates as they usually involve food, he messes with dry erase markers or crayons (hopefully keeping them on the surface he's supposed to be writing on) he paints, he does lots of things with us. He loves the Rhyme in Motion. We keep the snacks flowing. I have even been known to sit him down with a lollipop when I just need 5 minutes to get through something with someone else. Whatever it takes, huh?

I also just have to relax and not expect things to always go smoothly and "just keep swimming." I try to have about 45 minutes to an hour with the older ones at a time to focus with them on what they need to do. Doing more than one subject at a time I think makes it flow and minimizes transition problems. But interruption free just isn't a reality. And what MomtoJGJE said applies with me too. Sometimes I just call it done and say "we will finish up tomorrow." With one of the youngers, I add it into the next day. With the oldest I may cut back what's expected and put her to 1/2 for a couple of days or something. If it's her problem, she wasn't being diligent or something, then she has to make it up and finish it on her own, on her own time. But if it's due to the rest of the family, or to me being tired or unavailable, then I cut her some slack and have to be OK with a bit of a slowdown. Her having 4 day weeks helps, sometimes we can finish it up with that "extra" day.

Also you are adding in things that may be taking up a lot of time and making it a lot harder to accomplish what you need to. A few years ago I was encouraged to look at just HOD and cut out extras, and I did and it made a big difference. It seemed like we got done so much earlier! Although alternating LHFHG with SSRW is probably balancing that out a bit. Do you have many other extras you are adding or substitutions for what HOD recommends?

As to food prep stuff, do you do any freezer cooking? Any kind of diet you can use with freezer cooking, I have now learned enough of the concepts of it that I know how to take any recipe I like and do as much prep as possible, freeze, and then have less to do for meal time. One big key for me is NOT cooking meat before I freeze. So I do as much prep as I can to it before and then freeze it uncooked, then when I thaw and cook it it's more like fresh. I have one recipe for me that is a "go-to" in time-pinches. It is freezer to oven, does not need to be thawed and takes about 2 hours to bake. I can usually figure out 2 hours before dinner time that whatever else I had planned is not happening, so I pull one of these out. It should be fairly allergen free (ingredients, chicken, butter or cooking oil, honey, mustard, and a few spices) so if you would like the recipe let me know.

[doubleportion]

Thanks for the advice. I've streamlined food prep a long time ago. When I say complex food allergies, I mean super complex. If we just avoided gluten and dairy my life would be easy. One ds is allergic to 30 something foods and the other can not eat just about as many but opposite of his brother. I make four different meals at every meal. That is how complicated my family's food issues are. Not looking for food prep advice but just scheduling all the hod work into a day without going too late after school hours for dd in rev2rev. I still do r&s, dictation, bible memory, and math with her.

Edie

[MelInKansas]

That does sound really complicated. It sounds like you are pretty used to it though, and I am sure that does take a lot of time in your day.

Do you have a schedule that you use for school? You seem to be saying the 2YO is a major time problem, any other things that seem to take a long time or really disrupt things? I know for us transitions are really hard and can really lose a lot of time for us. That's why I try to do several things in a row with one child, and then when my oldest is doing independent work have her with a short list to accomplish on her own (of course she has to come to me if she comes across things she doesn't know how to do or has trouble with).

[my3sons]

Would appreciate some advice and possibly sharing schedules for those running or who have run three guides.

I'm doing LHFHG, BHFHG, & Rev to Rev along with a 2yr old in the mix and 25 wks prego with boy number four. Having a hard time juggling it all.

We school year round. Right now, I am alternating days with HOD and Sing Spell Read and Write for Phonics for my K ds. We are doing BHFHG at half speed to start with for my 7 yr old ds. Full speed of course for Rev to Rev with Apologia Science for my dd. But there never seems enough time in the day or enough of me to go around.

I will also say that I spend a good amount of time on meal prep too due to complex food allergies in my boys.

We used to do more school at nap time when my youngest was taking two naps. But now with only an hour or 45 afternoon nap, there isn't much uninterrupted time from the 2 yr old. And he is an extremely busy extremely social 2 yr old.

Thanks,
Edie

Hi Edie! It's so good to hear from you - I enjoyed our last phone conversation so much! You were so helpful with me grieving the loss of my Dad - thank you again for that. I want to help! I have a weird - maybe innovative though - thought to share. Since you school year round, and we all know the 2 year old phase is a toughie, could you possibly have your older dc rotate through a time to care for 2 yo each day? Maybe standardly from 9 AM to 11:30 AM? Something like this...

Monday - half-speed RevtoRev, half-speed Bigger, full-speed LHFHG:
9 to 10:30 AM: RevtoRev child is responsible for 2 year old, doing something different with him each half an hour or so that is planned and the same each time; during this time (plus 45 minute nap), you could get LHFHG and half-speed BHFHG done.
10:30 to 11 AM: LHFHG has a playtime with 2 yo.
11 to 11:30 AM: BHFHG has a playtime with 2 yo.

Tuesday - full-speed RevtoRev, half-speed Bigger, half-speed LHFHG
9 AM to 10:30 AM: BHFHG child is responsible for 2 year old, doing something different with him each half an hour or so that is planned and the same each time; during this time (you can teach half-speed LHFHG during this time)
10:30 to 11 AM: LHFHG has playtime with 2 yo.
11 to 11:30 AM: RevtoRev has playtime with 2 yo.

Wednesday - half-speed RevtoRev, half-speed Bigger, full-speed LHFHG:
9 to 10:30 AM: RevtoRev child is responsible for 2 year old, doing something different with him each half an hour or so that is planned and the same each time; during this time (plus 45 minute nap), you could get LHFHG and half-speed BHFHG done.
10:30 to 11 AM: LHFHG has a playtime with 2 yo.
11 to 11:30 AM: BHFHG has a playtime with 2 yo.

Thursday - full-speed RevtoRev, half-speed Bigger, half-speed LHFHG
9 AM to 10:30 AM: BHFHG child is responsible for 2 year old, doing something different with him each half an hour or so that is planned and the same each time; during this time (you can teach half-speed LHFHG during this time)
10:30 to 11 AM: LHFHG has playtime with 2 yo.
11 to 11:30 AM: RevtoRev has playtime with 2 yo.

Friday - full-speed RevtoRev, half-speed Bigger, half-speed LHFHG
9 AM to 10:30 AM: BHFHG child is responsible for 2 year old, doing something different with him each half an hour or so that is planned and the same each time; during this time (you can teach half-speed LHFHG during this time)
10:30 to 11 AM: LHFHG has playtime with 2 yo.
11 to 11:30 AM: RevtoRev has playtime with 2 yo.

Each week this would accomplish 4 full days of RevtoRev (full-speed), 2 1/2 full days of BHFHG (as it's half-speed), and 3 1/2 full days of LHFHG. Of course this all could be altered a lot of different ways in regard to days, times, responsibilities, etc. But maybe if you set your schedule for 9 to 11:30 AM or so to be covered for the 2 yo each day, I think this could be huge! What do you think? Crazy? Or a possibility?

In Christ,
Julie