Do you have a large family?

[wow8kids]

If you are doing this with 5 or more children in school, could you please post here how you've divvied up the work load? How many guides are you using?
Thanks!
Stacey

[water2wine]

Hi I am two short of you but have six kids doing HOD and we run three HOD programs. One of my children has special needs so she adds some extra stuff because of that I have CTC with my oldest at two optional time periods. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2093&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=90 I am on page 7 for this year's schedule.

The biggest key to me is alternating independent time on one program with dependent time in another. Some programs do not have time labeled as independent but LA and Math are as soon as you get things explained and they get going. That is really what I do. I recommend writing up a trial schedule and keeping it next to you. Go through a couple of days and write down how much time it takes you to do each section and change anything that clashes. I tried my day a couple of ways at first and it was really obvious which one was best. Now in all honesty I have not looked at my schedule in ages. Once I get a groove I don't need one really. I just know the order and I know what I need to have done by mid morning and lunch. The rest just flows for me. Now that being said if I looked at it more often Spanish would get done. But on the other hand our day flows really well and we get everything else done.

Hope that helps a bit! It is really more daunting looking at it and wondering if it will work than it is rolling with it and trying out a few different things. But it is really helpful to write out a trial schedule and put ti to the test. I found writing down how long it took me to do things helped. I could coordinate things better and see if time was being lost.

[momofgreatones]

I have seven ages 14 down to 1, and we are doing three programs (counting LHTH), and we will be adding Little Hearts in a few months. CTC with my older two is done mostly independently, so I spend about 40 minutes a day with them. I am doing Bigger with the next two down, and this takes about two hours. LHTH takes me about 30-45 minutes, but sometimes one of my older girls does it with them instead of me. Then I spend a little while with my 6 yo doing phonics and math.

We've been at these programs only about three months, so we have tried out different routines. I sometimes have my older girls take 20 minute turns with the littlest ones so that I can have uninterrupted time with the middles in Bigger. I need to just pick a schedule at this point and stick to it. It all works out if I start on time and just keep going through the boxes.

At this point we are doing separate storytimes with each program, although I know some moms combine the storytime for two or more programs. I may try this in the future for time's sake, although I hate to miss out on any of the books.

I know it is a lot of work sorting through all your options at first, but you will have a great time once you finally get started!