Combining HOD and Five in a Row?

[Magyarlany]

Hi, I posted yesterday regarding which program would best fit my son, and got so many helpful responses. I have another question that I would love to hear answered from the perspective of those who have been using HOD. First, let me give a belated introduction. My name is Amanda and I have three children--ages 6, 3, and 21 months. We've been homeschooling from the beginning, and up to now we've mostly used Five in a Row. We really enjoy it, but it's a lot of work for me to pull it all together every week. Plus, I seem to gather all kinds of materials and plan all kinds of great projects that just never get done. So, I was thinking about doing Beyond with my son and doing Five in a Row as well, but mainly doing it conversationally. I also thought I could jump off and totally get immersed in a Five in a Row unit for a week here and there, but not have to rely on it 100% of the time. I even thought it might be possible to match up the Five in a Row books with the topics we're doing in Beyond. Does this sound like it would be too much? Thanks in advance for your help with all my questions--I know eventually it will all come together.

Amanda

[Kathleen]

I haven't ever used FIAR. (I actually bought the Before Five in a Row book to use with my little gal last year...but I lost it. I have no idea how it vanished! But, it's still driving me a little batty! ) HOD is flexible, and you are free to do whatever you want to. I know from the HOD guides that I'm using that HOD is very complete, solid, and balanced. There is absolutely no need to supplement it with anything else. But, if there's something that you're wanting to do or enjoy with your kids, by all means go for it!! I'm guessing that when you get rolling with Beyond that you may so enjoy the ease of the open-and-go guide that you may not want to try to mix in something else that takes more planning.

Kathleen

[MainelyJen]

I used Before, FIAR, and a few Beyond units with both my kids when they were younger. My own experience was that FIAR gave my children a great love for reading and books, as well as an appreciation for beauty. I love that about their products. I enjoyed the conversational nature of using FIAR and that closeness with my kids we developed during that time.

I do think that HOD and FIAR are vastly different. FIAR, for me, was more of an appreciating the beauty of life kind of course. I always had a pile of things I was using to cover the three Rs, to add more in for Bible, and so on. It wasn't the meat of our program, more like the gravy. Does that make sense?

If you love both HOD and FIAR, I suggest you try using both. I would do something like a 8 on/1 off rotation with HOD - do 8 weeks of HOD plans and then do a FIAR unit the next week. Pick the FIAR books you love the best and schedule these in first. This will keep things fresh in your homeschool, and you will be giving them skills they need with HOD and then enjoying the beauty of other children's literature with FIAR. And as you progress, I think you'll really see that these two programs can compliment one another, because HOD is the meat and FIAR is the gravy. It doesn't have to be an either/or situation.

[Tansy]

I really like Jen's Idea!

I loved b4 Fiar with my youngest (I even did a swap quilt with other Fiar moms) but My dd1 was not into it. It also is a huge amount of work that requires the purchase of books or good co-ordination with books on hold at the library. All these things kept turing me off of Fiar, I also was scared i would miss some important thing i was supposed to be covering. Which is why I started to look else where when we finished.

That said I really love the unit studies and to take a break from regular school and do one unit here and there would be great fun.

[Magyarlany]

Thank you all for your insight and advice. I've decided to just take a deep breath, realize that it truly doesn't have to be "either/or" and enjoy the best of both worlds. I plan on schooling year round anyway (going very light during the summer), and much of the year we only school 3 days a week so starting Beyond this spring and breaking to do unit studies whenever the mood strikes should work just fine. This is going to be a fun year!

Amanda

[netpea]

When my kids were 5 and 3 and LHFHG was the only program we were using, we added FIAR in regularly. It was great to have both. Now that they are a bit older, they are involved in more extracurricular activities and I rarely get around to adding FIAR in. We do it more in the summer than the rest of the year, although my kids both enjoy it and still ask for it. I think if your family enjoys it, it's easy to add in.