need some help..planning on Preparing...

[Lisu]

I have been pouring over the HOD site. I am 95% sure I want to do Preparing... this coming school year. I have some questions and issues I need help with.

The two children I'm asking about are 10 months apart. They are 10yob and 9yog. They are both in 4th grade this year so will be in 5th next year. The boy is the older one (10) -- again only older by 10 months.

He does not do well doing school with her. I have them do their school seperately now. He gets frustrated when she "gets it" before he does. I am wondering how doing school together is going to work with this.

They both read on a Grade 6 level. I've looked at the packages avail. for Preparing... I guess reading level wise, I should purchase the self-study expansion pack; however, in looking at the books, I kind of think they would enjoy the self-study for the newly independent reader. Any thoughts on that?

Then how do you handle said self-study time? Do you just assign them to do it at different times? They will be reading the same pages from the same book.

I am probably making this a lot more difficult than it should be. I appreciate your time in helping me think through this. We have always used text books so this approach is new to me but I like what I read about it.

Thanks,
Lisu

[my3sons]

I guess reading level wise, I should purchase the self-study expansion pack; however, in looking at the books, I kind of think they would enjoy the self-study for the newly independent reader. Any thoughts on that?

Then how do you handle said self-study time? Do you just assign them to do it at different times? They will be reading the same pages from the same book.

He does not do well doing school with her. I have them do their school seperately now. He gets frustrated when she "gets it" before he does. I am wondering how doing school together is going to work with this.

Welcome to the HOD board, Lisu! We're doing PHFHG right now, and you are going to really love it! We're doing the self-study for the newly independent reader with our 9 yo and loving it. It has pages mapped out for them to read, and then it has neat independent assignments for them to do, like history notebooking, Draw and Write Through History, etc. The directions are all self-explanatory for them. This package is for 8-10 yo's. The other extension package for 11-12 yo's has a schedule of pages for students to read independently in the Appendix. These books are at a mid-fifth to upper seventh grade reading level. The Appendix suggests doing this rotation with these books: oral narration, 2-3 paragraph summary, draw a picture and write a 1 paragraph summary with your picture.

If you are wanting to do the self-study for the newly independent reader package, I think you should, and I think you'd love it! It fits their age range just fine, and it has great daily planned independent things to do. Since you are coming from using a textbook approach, I think it would be nice to have these directions and assignments.

As far as finding separate time for them to read the above books - you could easily do this by having one of them doing the Independent History Study box (which is the self-study for the newly independent reader package books), and having the other one do the Science Exploration box (which is also read independently and has independent assignments to go with it). Then, they could switch. Or, if they are different skillwise in math (or grammar), you could do math with one, while the other did the independent history and then switch the 2.

As far as ds being frustrated if dd gets it before him - I'm wondering what frustrates him the most? We don't have our dc combined, but when we do other non-school-related things together, I know my middle ds finds it very frustrating if older ds always answers the fastest. If that is what your ds finds frustrating, maybe have their names on equal amounts of slips of paper in a jar. Draw a slip of paper out of the jar and whoever's name it is gets to answer. Then, the other one can add more to the answer if they want (or not - whatever you think). If it's frustrating because dd finishes assignments before ds or because dd does neater work than ds (I'm just guessing here), they could work at separate work areas to have their own space. If I totally missed the boat here, and these are not the reasons ds gets frustrated - maybe if you felt comfortable sharing more about that we could all brainstorm some more ideas together to help.

PHFHG is an absolutely wonderful program! I think you and your dc would love it. I hope some of this helped, but if not, more ladies will probably chime in, and you can post more questions too! Praying for you as you think through the details!

In Christ,
Julie

[Lisu]

Julie,

I had typed this once and hit the wrong button and it's gone.

Thank you for taking the time to reply and type all of that out. You helped very much. I understand the self-study time better now and it makes perfect sense.

Honestly, I'm a little "scared" about leaving the text book approach even though I really like everything I see in HOD.

[my3sons]

Honestly, I'm a little "scared" about leaving the text book approach even though I really like everything I see in HOD.

Don't be scared of this Lisu - you are going to think this is a cakewalk! The PHFHG guide is super easy to use. You just open it up to the day's 2 page spread of plans and wah-lah - all of the subject's plans are right there! There are a few things the daily plans direct you to look at in the Appendix of the guide, and I just mark those with a sticky note, so they are quick to find. When you get your PHFHG, take a bit of time to read through the Introduction. It explains everything very well.

I think it would be a great idea to start your guide half-speed for a week (or even 2). You can just do the left side of the plans one day, and the right side of the plans the next day. That would be a good way to ease yourself and the dc into it. I did this when I started the Bigger Hearts guide last homeschool year, and I thought it made the first week super easy. It was nice to have him label all of his supplies and get them in order. I put the guide with the resources in a tub in the order I needed to grab them. I was also starting LHFHG with my middle ds, so that week of easing into Bigger Hearts was nice. It is not necessary to do this, but if it would make you feel more ready for full-speed ahead, and you have time to add 1 week to your school year, why not? PHFHG has 35 weeks of plans, and there are 4 days worth of plans a week. So, there's an extra week there anyway, if you think of a typical 36 week school year.

Whether you do it half-speed week 1 (and maybe 2) or not, you will love the ease of using PHFHG. We finish school in about 4 hours or so, the first month it took us longer than that though, so expect the time it takes to get less and less as you and the dc become familiar with the routine. It has awesome books the dc love, and the activities and projects are short and simple to do, but they are fun and the dc learn so much from them! I am 100% sure you can do this and love it!

In Christ,
Julie

[Kathleen]

Lisu,

Hi! I wanted to pop in and welcome you to the HOD board, too. I'm going to be doing Preparing this coming year with my oldest. From what I've read here from the other ladies using it, I can hardly wait. It's going to be so much fun!!

We are loving HOD, and this is our 1st year journey over from text-book land. We're not going back! I love the discussions we're having and everything we're learning is so interesting to me and my son. I know that he's picking up way more in the connections he's making to the great books we're reading. I'm sure that your kids are going to love HOD's projects! My kids would never let me get rid of those, and they're easy on the mom, too. They really truly use things I have around the house, they're quick, they're doable, and they're memorable!

And I have to tell you I totally agree with Julie here...

I think it would be a great idea to start your guide half-speed for a week (or even 2). You can just do the left side of the plans one day, and the right side of the plans the next day. That would be a good way to ease yourself and the dc into it.

I took this advice from someone here on the board, and let me tell you, giving myself "permission" to ease into Bigger this year was incredibly helpful. My ds was able to much more quickly learn what was expected of him in each area of the guide and it was much less overwhelming to both of us. We're planning on taking this approach again at the beginning of Preparing. I'll also have a little one beginning LHFHG and we're going to half-speed it for a while there, too.

Kathleen

[StillJulie]

Has anyone used both the deluxe package and the extension package with a single child?

I'm tentatively planning to require the deluxe package, but also have the extension books available. If they interest her, and she wants to read them, great, if not, that's okay too...

Does that sound reasonable?

[my3sons]

Has anyone used both the deluxe package and the extension package with a single child?

I'm tentatively planning to require the deluxe package, but also have the extension books available. If they interest her, and she wants to read them, great, if not, that's okay too...

Does that sound reasonable?

I agree it is a good idea to first require the deluxe package. If you have the extension titles and she wants to read them as well, I think that's just great. If she does choose to read those though, you probably won't want to do the follow-up suggestions in the Appendix (oral narration, summary, picture w/caption). That would be doubling up on the work since the deluxe package assignments have similar assignments.

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Lisu,

The ladies have done a great job of answering your questions! I'll just pop-in to welcome you to HOD. We're glad to have you here!

Blessings,
Carrie