I am so torn over what to do....

[melissamomof3girls]

My girls did MFW for K, 1st, oldest did ADV, and they did ECC. Then we switched to HOD for 2 years. My oldest did Bigger and Preparing. My 2nd did Beyond.

This year we came back to MFW for Creation to Greeks. It has gone well. But we are on week 23 and I am feeling the usual mid year burn out a bit. Life is crazy around here with a 4 year-old who can hardly entertain himself and a 10 month old who loves to be needy during school time. But, it's worked for us. I came back to combine my girls so we could all be "on the same page" and to lighten my load a little.

They each do their LA, Math, Spelling, and Writing on their own.

This fall, I was completely planning on just continuing into MFW Rome to Reformation. But I cannot get HOD out of my mind. I would LOVE to just combine the 3 girls into HOD Res to Ref, but I know that isn't the best thing. My oldest would be great for it. She is 12, 6th grade right now, and basically able to do anything I throw at her.

But, dd2 will be 11 this coming school year and dd3 will be 9 this fall. They are both very very bright, but writing isn't their forte right now.

My thought is, if I switch back to HOD, putting oldest in Res to Ref and the next two in Preparing together.

I already have MFW K for my son to do this fall.

But that would be 3 guides. Can we do this?

Anybody have anything to say about comparing MFW RTR and HOD RTR?

Thanks so much for following my long post and helping me out!

[Rice]

[quote]But that would be 3 guides. Can we do this?[unquote]

I don't know anything about MFW but 3 guides IS doable, when they are properly placed.

3 guides for 4 kids was torture for us last fall when 2 were in over their heads. Now we're doing 5 guides: 2 moved down so we were doing 4 guides for 4 kids and now my 9yo has started LHTH with our 2 preschoolers! It's always a challenge to juggle everyone and make sure everything is getting done but they have confidence in what they can do and they can complete a Day in a day now, which was not possible before. HOD works well with multiple guides.

Blessings,

[melissamomof3girls]

But that would be 3 guides. Can we do this?[unquote]

I don't know anything about MFW but 3 guides IS doable, when they are properly placed.

3 guides for 4 kids was torture for us last fall when 2 were in over their heads. Now we're doing 5 guides: 2 moved down so we were doing 4 guides for 4 kids and now my 9yo has started LHTH with our 2 preschoolers! It's always a challenge to juggle everyone and make sure everything is getting done but they have confidence in what they can do and they can complete a Day in a day now, which was not possible before. HOD works well with multiple guides.

Blessings,

I did do 3 guides 2 years ago before I was pregnant with #5. We did MFW 1st, Beyond and Bigger at that time. It worked well then, but now I will have 4 children in "school" with a toddler!

[Rice]

I did do 3 guides 2 years ago before I was pregnant with #5. We did MFW 1st, Beyond and Bigger at that time. It worked well then, but now I will have 4 children in "school" with a toddler!

Yeah. 5 guides, incl. 2 with, not special needs but definite challenges, 2 preschoolers and a toddler. It's certainly a juggling act, isn't it? But it would be with any curriculum. With HOD I know I'm no longer missing things (as I was missing my areas of weakness before) and even if it doesn't all get done one day, it's still there to pick up tomorrow.

Blessings as you decide which will be right for you!

[Nealewill]

I have not done MFW RTR but I have completed MFW K through some of ECC.

I also can understand your hesitation with doing 3 guides but it is very doable. I am doing CTC, Bigger and Little this year. I only have about 4 hours a day I can devote to teaching time because I work from home and I am very busy. We do great and I feel like running multiple levels of HOD is very easy to do.

As for your decision, If you did MFW only, you would be doing K and RTR so you would have to run multiple levels anyway. If you did HOD for the older kids, your choice about time would be is MFW RTR more teaching time the HOD Preparing and RTR? I can honestly say with out a doubt, yes! I left MFW actually because I have such a hard time getting everything done. The projects were all longer. There was a lot more prep time (book basket, getting the supplies every week for the projects, I had to read ahead and make lots of notes). I find that with HOD, I have the supplies on hand most of the time. I also found that with MFW, the hands on projects took a lot longer and I had to help with them. In HOD, the hands on projects are scheduled over the first three days in plans. They are also completed independently or mostly independently. I found that with MFW, they always scheduled their plans to 5 days a week with one day being light. I could never really squeeze that 5th day into another day successfully without causing a very unbalanced day or days. Starting in Preparing, HOD creates a true 4 day a week plan. I now never have that issue of getting done in 4 days with their work. With my younger 2 kids, their plans are 5 days a week in HOD but so were MFW K and 1st - there was no light day. So those are similar in schedule too. I find that because my kids are SO independent with the guides Preparing and up, I am not spending very much time on "teaching" them. This is where I think you will experience the greatest blessing. You already spend time helping your kids with math, spelling, grammar, and writing. Then in MFW, you are helping them with history and science too. Not so in HOD. In HOD, your oldest child will do most every by herself except for the 3Rs. Then with the other 2 in Preparing, you will again be helping with the 3Rs but only reading a portion of history and a story time box to them. I find that my teaching time is SO much less with HOD because of the independence they do in other areas. Plus, because HOD is written to a true 4 day a week plans, you will have that extra day off saving you even more time.

I must admit, I came to HOD because I had finally started combining everyone using ECC and I was very unhappy. There were a few other things that bothered me - like no one ever wanted to finish their hands on projects because they took so long, I had a hard time getting the library books, my kids weren't nearly as engaged in the books (in HOD - my kids LOVE the books), I like the LA and science for HOD much more, and I had a hard time adjusting material to each child's level. Every year it seems like we all reach a point where we may feel burnt out on what we are already and we start looking around. I can honestly say that now that I have done HOD, I don't actually feel like that about this curriculum I love it! My kids love it! The things that have actually kept me with HOD are the fact that my kids work so hard independently, they love what they are learning, they are growing in so many skills and SO incredibly well, I love the books and the way Bible is intermingled through every guide, and I just love the LA and science so much more. I never realized I was just a CM style homeschool mom until I started using HOD. But sure enough, I am So for me, I can't recommend it enough to everyone. I can see that you did enjoy before I can complete understand why. I will be praying for you though with your decision. It is tough sometimes picking and choosing when the future seems a bit unknown. But I do hope some of my comments on how HOD will actually save you time were helpful.

[Mumkins]

Just came to encourage you that it is doable! Your plan for guides sounds like a good fit. I hope you'll come back to HOD and have a great year!

[my3sons]

I'm doing RTR with my 11 turning 12 yo, BHFHG with my almost 8 yo, along with WH High School for my 10th grade. I work part time, and my dh travels for business for long stretches of time. YES! You can do this, for sure! The KEY is to choose guides that actually fit your kiddos. What makes doing multiple guides hard is when someone is placed wrong and cannot do the "I" independent boxes they are mean to do independently, well... independently. Also, if you are reading aloud everything that is meant to be read by the child, that automatically makes the day go long. So, if your 12 yo places well in RTR, and if your other 2 dc place well in PHFHG, I think you are going to have a wonderful year! I cannot speak for the other guide you'll be doing, as it's not HOD, and I haven't done it. I did PHFHG and RTR at the same time years back, and I though it was wonderful! Not hard at all. They are both 4 day a week guides too. We have great memories of them, and HOD gets to the hearts of my dc as well as to their minds. Pretty important. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie