Really Struggling...and need help!

[10Newtons]

First let me say that after 10years of homeschooling, I am so thankful for finding HOD!! I have tried just about everthing out there! lol This seems to be a true perfect fit for us, but I am struggling with what to do. Hoping that I can get some advice here!

Here are my children and details.

DD#1 (13): She is highly motivated, but dsylexic so reading is hard for her. She has been doing Preparing basically on her own. In her words, it's too easy, but she has had trouble doing some of the reading on her own. Reading level is about 5.3 or so by the on-line tests that I have given her and what she chooses to free-read.

DD#2 (11): Not motivated, reading level of about 5.6 or so.

DD #3 (10): Struggling...everything is a battle because she wants to do everything perfectly, the first time, all the time. Tears OFTEN. Reading around grade level (4th).

DD#4 (almost 9): Auditory Processing problem. FINALLY reading on 1st grade level...not yet ready for the emergent readers even. Generally good attitude about school and is willing.

DS#1: newly 7. Reading and Math are well above 3rd grade. Says that the Emergent Readers are too easy...typical boy though! Lots of wiggles!

DS#2: 5...have not started much formal schooling yet, but he is going to be like DD#3. He won't even write letters because he says he can't do it right!
DD#5 almost 4...also have not done much formally. She can write the first letter of her name...so far

SO...HELP! My concern is that my oldest needs to be ready for high school by this time next year! I have thought about putting my oldest 3 in Creation to Christ, starting now and doing both CTC and RTR before next summer. Pretty sure that DD#1 will not be able to do the extension program on her own, since the reading level seems high.

Then doing Bigger (??) with my younger 2?? I am really not sure that I can handle 2 entire programs and get everything else done~!

Any one have similar circumstances?

[dajihernandez]

First of all let me say that we are new to HOD studies but not to homeschooling and not to unit studies with lots of assigned reading. So I can't really speak as to how this will work exactly with HOD but this is what we have been doing this year and it has worked great.

Second I am also working with a child that is dylexic. One of the problems that we have run accross is that giving her things that are to easy only makes her feel less competant. So we choose to give her things that are at or above her current level of ability. One way we do this is by having her read the selected chapter or pages (for times sake I usually let her read less then the assigned but she catched up on the weekends with her reading, remember the curriculum is written as a guide not rule book, make it work for you) . We have her read her assignments out loud to herself or someone else. If she happens to be reading alone on that particular day we have highlight any words or phases she has trouble with. Then we go over what she read and her comprehesion. By doing it this way she has been able to improve her reading ability and her comprehesion is off the charts for her age. This is one of the things that really helps her confidence (Which in my humble opinion is one of the greatest battles with children who have dyslexia). She is reading at a higher level and learning a ton.

We are also still working through Wilson, RFAL, and doing frequency passages with DD as well. She will be 10 this summer. She started off by reading at a less than kindergarden level and this year we are putting her into R to R and she will read some of the read alouds and we will read some of them. I know that she is capable of reading them already because we have purchased most of them and she has read to me the first couple of pages. I also want to say that is has not been easy and you do have to find what works for you, but for our family giving her a challenge has made all the difference. She is still slow and it will take her a lot longer to do her work than her older brother. But that is ok with her and with us. We will give guidance and help where needed while letting her be a little independent as well.

Hope this helps. I also just want to send you lots of hugs and let you know you are not the only one!

[Kathleen]

Hi and welcome to HOD!

I wanted to pop in and say that I really think your plan sounds do-able. HOD has the kids moving towards more independence by CTC, so you won't be needed for everything in their day (which gives you time to work with the younger ones coming up that need some of your time ). Checking out the placement chart will be the best thing for you to check to see if you're on the right track, but from what you've shared your plan sounds pretty good to me.

As far as extending CTC for your ones that are just above the target age range, I'd just choose to do the history set of read alouds for all of them. Carrie says that to extend their learning you should either have them do the extension reading (which would be an issue with your oldest) OR listen to the history set of read alouds. So, I'd opt for the read aloud option.

Bigger sounds like it would be a good fit for your next 2. We had a wonderful year with that program! I think that it's probably the program that takes the most of your time as the teacher because it's the highest HOD level that's not having them move to doing several boxes independently. But it does a GREAT job of teaching your kids the skills that they'll need as they move on to doing more things independently the next year! I think it will be well worth your time to encourage your daughter to get over her perfectionist idea of things, too. (I'm saying this as a now-recovered perfectionist... ) I was this way as a child! I never wanted to attempt to do anything that I didn't think I could do perfectly. I missed out of learning & enjoying so many things because I was too afraid to try and fail. Anyway, I think Bigger could really help with that. There are many assignments and discussions and hands-on things without "one right answer". They encourage thought and individuality. Really encourage her to do her best - but remind her that NO ONE expects perfect work. (Her drawings do not have to look like the book illustrators who has practiced for years. )

I think that I'd start your year by getting your kids in CTC going - helping them get the hang of the things they do independently. Then you could add in Bigger. Even going half-speed by doing 1 page per day for a while until you get into the groove. If you thought you had time in a month or 2, you could add in Little Hands to Heaven for the little ones. This only takes 20 min per day to do, and we have loved it at our house! I'm pretty sure that Julie (my3sons) is currently doing just this: CTC, Bigger, and LHTH this year and finishing close to lunch time every day. (Now that's after getting into the swing of things, but I sure think that even if you had to work for a while after lunch time, you should still be able to get it done in the day-to-day.)

Kathleen

[my3sons]

Welcome to the HOD Board, 10Newtons! I think you have come to the right place, and I am the one doing CTC, BHFHG, and LHTH. We started full-speed with CTC, at a slower pace with BHFHG and LHTH, but now full-speed ahead. We are enjoying it, and I've found that doing the 3 programs is actually much easier on me than trying to combine them since they finish the programs in an appropriate amount of time for their ages and skill levels.

I would love for you to take a peek at the placement chart with each of your kiddos in mind, as many different combining scenarios could work. We can definitely get you to 2 programs along with LHTH happily. LHTH only takes me 20 minutes a day to do, and it's the best 20 minutes ever as it gives me mommy time with my youngest and keeps him happy long after I'm done. This will be perfect for your 4 and 5 yo. It's for your other dc that I'm interested in getting your thoughts about the placement chart, as many things could work, but certainly a fine-tuned fit placement would be best.

I think it would be best to look at the chart freshly for each child, just one at a time, paying the most attention to just the first page of the chart. You can even print it and circle where each child seems to fall in the columns on the first page, and then see where they fit best. You may also want to consider who would work well together, and who may not. Here are a few possible scenarios that could work for example:

Scenario 1:
7 yo, 9 yo, 10 yo, and 11 yo could all do Bigger Hearts (extensions for olders)
13 yo could do CTC

Scenario 2:
7, 9, 10 yo could do Bigger
11 and 13 yo could do CTC

Anyway, I'd love to hear what you think after checking out the placement chart! Here's the link:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

No matter what you end up with for HOD programs, I can tell you that HOD is mighty easy on us teachers. I'd never attempt to do 3 programs of anything else than HOD. It is a very happy way for us to homeschool, and my dc are enjoying it as much as I am. I also wanted to mention that stagger starting your kiddos will be a wonderful way to begin. We've done this before and enjoyed it so much. You could start whomever is in Bigger Hearts first, since that is a 5 day plan, and get them into the routine of it, teaching the routine order you want them to do it in, and teaching them to use the manual, checking off their boxes as they do them, as well as teaching them what's expected of them for each box. This pays big dividends, as the plans in the boxes rotate, so once they get them down right, it just gets easier and easier for them to do. I'd say 1-2 weeks in Bigger Hearts would work well. Then, you could start whichever dc are in CTC, since that is a 4 day program. You could start half-speed and work up to full within a few weeks. Last, I'd start your little ones in LHTH. This will be easy to do! So, by 1 month in, all your dc would be in a good routine of doing HOD. Just thought I'd throw that out there!

I'll check back whenever you get a chance to share about your thoughts about the placement chart for your dc! You are going to love doing HOD - can't wait to hear your thoughts on this!

In Christ,
Julie

[Tansy]

I wanted to address the I won't do it because I can't do it right the first time scenario. I get this with my kids. One won't do it becasue she wants to fail. The reason is 2 fold. 1 because she gets more attention. (sibling rivalry) 2. Its a safe place. (I mean if ur the bottom of the barrel you never have to perform. Success is far more scary for her)

I have anther one that cries due to Never wanting to fail because she was told in China if she fails her new parents might send her back. She also has this streak of pride/rivalry "I'm smarter/better than my sister."

As you can see one was doing it for what I call "face time" with Mom... The more help she needed the more of my "face" she got and her sister got less. Meanwhile her sister was getting praise for being so good at everything. Once I figured out the heart issues I could more easily handle the tears.

I handled Miss Prefect though a bible study of sorts, She really loves Jesus.. in a nutshell it went like this Jesus was the only perfect man who was without sin. We all sin. Can we be perfect? no not really we will all make mistakes and that is how we learn. I then brought up the issue of R's (she wouldn't say them because she couldn't say them perfectly) And brought it back to the issue at hand. So you think your as good as Jesus? That you can never make a mistake? That your perfect? Why do you think you can be as good as God? (said gently!) It has made a huge difference when we run into "I won't because I might get it wrong." We now joke about hte perfectionism... and she says "BUT ONLY JESUS WAS PERFECT! " Its helped.

Now I'm a rug puller If they are getting the better of me I pull the rug out from under them.
In the case of her sister I needed to something more tangible. I'm warning you I'm a bit funny when I decide to pull a rug... In this case I made a really not nice tasting vegan meal I botched it on purpose. *giggles* When it was a complete flop. I acted just like her Boo hoo no one liked my food wha wha wha.. the next day I refused to make any food Since I'm so terrible at it I'll never try any more... they got cold cereal for breakfast, had to make their own lunches, and I made them make a dinner of a simple salad. Cause you know I'm so useless In the kitchen... It was so Funny I had to go in the bed room and stuff my face in a pillow a few times.
They were both concerned they gave me lots of extra attention tried to make me feel better By saying I really can make good food... then over dinner I pointed out I had been play acting and what I had done was exactly what they were doing in school. My hubby and I burst out laughing when we saw their faces. Then we all had a good laugh and a serious discussion. We talked about Appropriate attention seeking and if My dear one starts to act out in this way if 'm in a good humor I make her "pay a penalty" which is to sing a song for everybody. thus getting the attention she wants but in a positive manner, If I'm not in a humorous mood she ends up in a time out.

I can't say it has stopped the problem but I can say It has helped and made it manageable.