new HODer needing help

[mamaloves4]

Hi,

I am brand new to this board and to HOD. I am using DITHR with my 9 year old and LHTH with my 3 year old--I love both of them and wondering why I didn't discover it until now!!! I am also using MFW Adventures with my 9 year old and 6 year old. Okay, this is my question/s: If I decided to use HOD with all my kiddos--(9-fourth grade, 6--first grade, 3(almost 4)--preschool, and an almost 2 year old) What levels would they be put in? I have the catalog, but would appreciate some live advice. I have also read the threads comparing MFW and HOD. My plan was to start MFW 5-year cycle next year, but I gotta tell you, I love the format of HOD and I am excited to see the new guide for next year. One of the things that drew me to MFW was the ability to multi level teach, is it possible to do that with HOD or is it better to put everyone in their own level? Could someone explain in real life experience how the age range on the guides work? (It seems completely silly to be confused by that, but I may as well be transparent here) Do you keep going through it another year or just move one? Does everyone buy all the books or do you use the library? Okay--I hope this is readable and I would greatly appreciate the time anyone takes to help me.

Jessica

[AboveRubiesMama]

We're not quite to those ages yet and we're not officially starting until July, but I ended up putting my dd exactly where she placed and then I put my son (who placed in between levels) into the lower one to combine with my 3rd child but will include aspects of the level above (just the "right side).

I'll try to get back later to see if I can come up with any other input. I'm sure the more experienced ladies around here will be able to help you more than I can. My kids are all running around at the moment and they need to settle down.

[water2wine]

Welcome! I have a similar age span as you except I do not have the 2 year old who I am thinking can just be 2 for now. I think the first thing is to really look closely at that placement chart. Look at the ages but really look harder at the skills to see if combining is possible. http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

I would think your 9 year old would either place in Bigger and Preparing and they may kind of fit in both so really you may be looking at if they are done with American or you think they need more type of thing vs ready for a tour of the big picture with Preparing. I think your younger two be combinable depending on where your 4 year old is and how advanced your 6 year old is. I am able to combine both into LHFHG very comfortably and possibly you may be able to do the same.

What I do and some thought on the one size fits all program with the age span you have...

I am using BHFHG with 4 kids ages 9-11 (grades 4-6) and within that I am accommodating a special needs child in that level. That works great for us. Then I have my 4 and 6 year old doing BHFHG and that also works well because it is a very flexible program and there is additional material in the appendix. That has allowed me to slow it down for my 4 year old (even going half speed for part of the time) and still be able to beef it up for my 1str grader so all are accommodated at their level. And that brings me to what I think about the all in one program that "accommodates" all at once, that is in my opinion they never really can accommodate all and a lot of the fill in the hole make it work translates into a lot of work for the parent to make it fit. What I found is that nobody was really being met at their level perfectly and I was spending a lot of time trying to make that perfect fit with something that looked like a boot but I wanted to fit like a sock if that makes sense. There were always holes and frustration by the older ones that had to wait for the little ones to get it and by the little ones who could not compete with the older ones (even though there is not a competition it started to feel that way). It just creates a lot of unnatural dynamics that were hard to work around. It ended up taking a whole lot more time to implement than just meeting everyone at their needs. In my experience two grade levels apart combines well in most cases but more than that starts to be more trouble than it is worth. With HOD I can add to it whatever I want and still educate six at their level in a very reasonable amount of time. I love being able to do that and the result is a much deeper learning.

On the other question we buy the books and I suspect you will want to as well. To me it is harder to use the library and since almost all will be recycled again with my littler two it makes complete sense to do that. Essentially I will only be buying tow programs once then my little ones homeschool for free except for the consumables we have added to HOD. It's extremely economical. But I guess that would depend on your library and how well you like using it. One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of libraries do not carry the Christian books and that can be a problem in availability of what you will need.

Ok I think this is the last question you have. You go through a new guide each year so if you did LHFHG and Bigger this year. Next year you would do Beyond and Preparing. There is one exception to that. Some people spread out LHFHG to accommodate a younger child. You could use that for longer than a year as I have to accommodate my younger child and hopefully have them both be pretty ready for Beyond when we get there. I have done this by doing 1/2 a days work and adding things from the appendix (some of which you can get from your library and here I would recommend doing that) and then doing phonics/reading and math at their individual level. We will probably end up using it for a year and a half this way because we did half paced and now we are at full paced. So there is a lot of flexibility in HOD. But in general the age range is just a guide that gives information along with the skill set but the guides are only gone through once with each child.

Hope that helps and welcome to HOD!

[Kathleen]

Welcome Jessica!

It's so nice to "meet" new moms here. If you are loving LHTH and DITHOR, I think you'll love all of HOD's things. They're all great - so easy to use and the same well-chosen activities and books!

The age ranges on the guides are to help moms be able to place their kids better in the right program. (The placement chart water2wine linked you to is great in helping you decide where your kids 'fit'.) I actually wondered the same thing you did about whether that means the child stays in the same program for 2 years... What I found out was that you keep the child moving forward. When you're done with LHFHG, you move on to BeyondLHFHG, and then to BiggerHFHG, etc. Now, several moms here take more than a year to go through any given guide. If you started LHFHG with a 5 yo, you'd have a year of 'wiggle room' to still finish the HOD guides before high school. So you may take a year and a half to do LHFHG and the same for Beyond or something like that. The guides really aren't written for a specific "grade", like Bigger is 2nd grade or 3rd grade or 4th grade. (Actually it could work for any of those, so the age range works better in describing it. )

You'll have to look at that placement chart and tell us what you think after "placing" your kids. THe ladies here, and even Carrie herself, are great about helping you find a way to make HOD work for your particular family.

Kathleen

[mamaloves4]

Thank-you to all of you who replied so promptly! It is fun to 'meet' new friends!
You all have helped calm some of this brain swirling that has been going on these past few days.
I looked at the levels and decided that it wouldn't work to combine my two oldest--their skill levels are too different and at first I was bummed because I think it would be easier to teach them together(easier for me)--however----I got to thinking about my girls and their personalities and my dd#1 has a type A, powerful personality and dd#2 is much more easy going and I don't see her retaining as much as her older sister because she can just let her older sister do it all--does this make sense? I think she would fit into Beyond next year. My oldest dd would probably be Preparing with extensions, but I would like to reserve that opinion until I see the new guide that is coming out. Anyway--I just wanted to say a big thank-you for answering my questions! My brain is still swirling with questions, but I don't feel overwhelmed by them anymore!

Jessica

[Carrie]

Jessica,

Hello! Welcome to the board! I am late to the thread here, but I just wanted to encourage you that in our family we've found it easier to separate our kiddos for many things, rather than combine them. The age span among my boys is pretty big (ages 12 turning 13 soon, 9, 6, and 2) and it's often times harder to combine across a large age span then it is to get the right fit for each kiddo by keeping them separate for many things.

The wonderful thing about HOD is that moms are encouraged to take a look at their individual families and dynamics before choosing which HOD path will suit them best. This means each family's guidelines for which program to place their kiddos in may look different from another family, but in the end you are really getting a customized fit with HOD that will work best for you!

I think your idea to place your 6 year old in Beyond and your 9 year old in Preparing sounds good. There are many moms doing 2 programs or more, myself included, and it is definitely able to be done without schooling all day.

If you have other questions, ask away, as we're all glad to help you talk through your options.

Blessings,
Carrie

[inHistiming]

I won't repeat all that has been said here. Everyone has made some valid points. My main advice would be to check out the placement chart as recommended in a previous post, and try to place each child appropriately. It gets a bit easier when they get to Bigger...on up to combine them if you want to, because there are extension packs available for history and science for older kids. But, the best thing is to put them in the level where they 'place' on the chart. And as the author (Carrie) mentioned, there are several Moms here who are doing 2 or more programs with their dc successfully. It really just depends on your lifestyle and what you feel up to doing. I look forward to getting to know you here on the boards.

[Samuel'sMommy]

Hi Jessica!
I don't have any answers for you, but I wanted to welcome you to the boards. The ladies here are all wonderful and you wil get lots of support as you choose what is best for your family!

[mamaloves4]

Hi!

Thanks again for the great responses! I took a leap of faith and posted some of our other curriculum for sale last week. My prayer is that if it sells, we will jump into HOD --I am really excited!

I love coming and visiting this board! All you ladies make me want to sit down with you over a cup of coffee!!!

God bless you today,
Jessica

[my3sons]

I am having coffee and wishing I could have you over right now so you could chat and look at my Preparing and Beyond guides! I really do think you'll find separating your 2 will be easy. I'm doing Preparing... and LHFHG now, and I'll be finishing LHFHG in a few weeks and starting Beyond... then. It is not hard to do, and I think you are wise to consider personality in your decision. I prayed your curriculum would sell! Whenever you begin HOD, I'll be happy to hear how it's going!

In Christ ,
Julie

[mamaloves4]

Hi!

I am quite excited--my curriculum did sell so I will be ordering on Monday!! Yay! Thank-you for praying! I think this is God's hand moving! I came across some 'found' funds this week so I will get use that as well!

Anyway, Just had to share!

Jessica

Ps. I love this board and can spend waaaaayyy to much time here. But what a great way to spend the time!