making up time after half speed

[mamaduke]

I am planning Bigger at half speed, at least to start, for the fall with my ds8. He is not strong in reading and writing and I'm a bit nervous taking him into this guide while teaching/mothering my littles too. I thought half speed would be the perfect option so we could just take it easy and focus on his reading and writing, helping him grow into the harder guide. At 8 for Bigger that will be his 3rd grade and I thought of even taking 2 years with the guide making him 9 for the second half and 4th grade (upper most age recommendation). If I do that and continue with a guide a year through high school, he will be 18 before starting the last guide (June b-day). That seems a bit late. I was 18 in Oct of my senior year, but I would like to see him graduate on the early side instead of so late. Should I be thinking about this now? Dh says it's no big deal.

Dh also said maybe I can just go half speed for a while even one whole year if necessary and then switch to full speed the following year. But that will leave us off early. I could just start the next guide then, but I sure like aiming for summers off between guides (even with shorter summer breaks than ps). I like the completion feeling when a guide is done in late spring and the fresh feeling of a new guide in fall. It would seem odd to take a longish break in the middle of a guide. I "could" just school through the summer, like 3 days or so. Hmmmmmmm. Maybe half speed only for one "semester" instead of the whole year?

Julie, I know you said recently you started Bigger at half speed with your ds and somewhat lately switched to full speed. I'm wondering how you plan to end the guide. Will you finish by spring/summer break? Do you aim for finishing a guide at that time?

I will maybe have my twins starting in LHFHG either this fall or next. I'm reallllllllllllllllllllly nervous about the two harder guides. My dc are not as attentive as I would like. I'm stressed out by noon with just these two simple guides I'm doing now. I actually thought about starting the girls at half speed too! But would that get too weird with doing right side of both guides one day and left side of both books the next day? Since they tend to listen in on each other, would it be better to stagger: left of one right of the other and vise versa the next day? KWIM?

Just wondering what other families do to catch up after going half speed for a while, but not a full year. How do you finish "on-time" ?

Thank you!

[Tree House Academy]

Ahh...but as the guides get harder, the kids get more independent. No worries!

I would NOT be worried about what guide you will get to in high school right now while your ds is in 3rd grade. For one thing, they do not have to finish all four high school guides to graduate. If he can fulfill his graduation requirement by just adding personal finance, economics, and a few electives (or whatever your state/cover school/path dictates) to the 3rd high school guide, then he can graduate. No big deal there.

The most important part of homeschooling, for me, is meeting my kids where they are academically. My older ds is going to be 12 in August. He is heading into RTR after a wonderful year with CTC and I feel like he is fully prepared. He will face the same thing with the guides that you are talking about because he started so late in HOD...but that is okay. He is working on finishing R&S 5 as a 6th grader. That, too, is okay! He is finishing Singapore 4B right now...as a 6th grader. He is good in math, but he needed to go back because of the way Singapore teaches vs the way his last program taught. Again, it is OKAY! He is learning tons, testing in the top 90% of the nation on his Stanford Achievement tests, and doing great. Meeting him where he is and not sweating the small stuff helps us all to breathe a little easier. I would much rather go back (or slow down) and give him a firm foundation than rush him through something and end up with gaps.

[my3sons]

Such sage advice here...

Ahh...but as the guides get harder, the kids get more independent. No worries!... I would NOT be worried about what guide you will get to in high school right now while your ds is in 3rd grade...The most important part of homeschooling, for me, is meeting my kids where they are academically...Meeting him where he is and not sweating the small stuff helps us all to breathe a little easier. I would much rather go back (or slow down) and give him a firm foundation than rush him through something and end up with gaps.

I totally agree! I think choosing the pacing that fits best as a child moves through guides is important, more important than exactly how many guides dc get through, and more important than how long it takes them to do so. With that being said, yes, I'd planned for Riley to finish Bigger Hearts this year, but he needed half-speed longer than I thought he would. I'm gauging we'll have around 5 weeks left or so at the end of this school year. That's alright. Half-speed was the right decision for him then, now full-speed is, double-time pretty much never is (IMO). It's been a good year of solid learning and progression forward, and it's ben FUN too! Because we always take our summers off, I admit I would enjoy getting him on the guide a year plan, but not at the expense of what pacing is truly best for him. I think what I'm going to do is have him take the summer off, and next year he'll finish out Bigger Hearts at the start. Then, he'll begin PHFHG. I may have him do school on the fifth day each week to finish out by the end of the year, while Wyatt does 4 days a week, or I may not if that's too much for Riley. I am trying to be flexible. Though it is not always in my "wanting to plan it all now" nature, it is what's best for my sweeties.

Remember, all that quality teaching you are doing in the younger years pays huge dividends in the older years! While in many curriculums a teaching parent's role is exactly the same year after year, at HOD, our teaching time changes with our dc's needs. Our older dc should not need us to read aloud their core books to them anymore, for example. They can read, so they then need us to teach something else. This teaching how to teach and what to teach when, is a HUGE blessing of using HOD!!! HOD makes our teaching years varied, interesting, and specific to skills dc need as they grow and mature. Diligently and consistently doing the incremental teaching planned in the guide sequence is what helps dc truly master concepts and gain needed independence over the years. This ownership of learning happens when dc move through HOD step-by-step. It is a wonderful thing! Just do Bigger Hearts right, teaching all that you need to carefully, and PHFHG on up will begin to ease your teaching time, freeing up time to teach those younger dc. I hope something here helps, but you are on a good path, enjoy the journey!

In Christ,
Julie