How many programs are too many?

[blessedmomma]

Hello!

I am just beginning to get ready to use LHTH with my almost three year old and I am so excited! It looks like something that she will absolutely love. I have been thinking of changing to HOD for all my other children also. We are currently using a different curriculum that just isn't a good fit for our family. I have two girls in High School, so I know I will have to find something else for them. The other girls are 11, 8 and 6. I am going to keep my littlest in LHTH. In looking at the other guides and knowing my girls', it looks like they would be hard to combine. Is it possible to use 4 guides at once? Is that crazy? What would the day look like? How can I make it work? I am also expecting another little one in the fall. So, I am hoping to find some way to make it work. I really like what I am seeing with HOD and am looking forward to ordering everything soon.

Thanks for any answers.
Blessings!
Amy

[pjdobro]

That might be a large range to try to combine but maybe not. If you could take a look at the placement chart: http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php and let us know where each of your dc place, that would help us figure out a plan for you. There are quite a few ladies doing at least 3 programs and I've heard many of them say that LHTH is so quick and easy that it hardly counts, but still it would probably be best just starting out with HOD if you could get the number of programs down to 3 with LHTH. I'm thinking it's possible that you could combine your 6 and 8 year old or your 8 and 11. More than likely, it will be the 8 and 11 year old dc in either Bigger or Preparing with extensions for the older dc. Let us know after you take a look at the placement chart and we'll try to brainstorm with you.

[blessedmomma]

Thank you so much, Patty! I am so sorry. I should have mentioned where they placed on the placement chart.
Here is how they placed:
Katie (almost 3): Little Hands to Heaven
Kyla (11, almost 12): Creation to Christ
Khloe (8, almost 9): Bigger Hearts for His Glory
Karly (almost 6): Little Hearts for His Glory

Thank you so much for your advice and help.
Blessings!
Amy

[pjdobro]

Hmm....that's really tough. It looks like they all are placing about 2 programs apart. I'm wondering how close your dd8 is to being able to do Preparing? You say she places in Bigger now. I wouldn't want to stretch her too much, but I'm wondering if she would possibly be able to move into Preparing by fall? How is she at reading? Does she like to write? Is she very independent? How is she with narrations? Were you thinking of starting now or in the fall? I'm thinking stepping back to Preparing for your dd 11 and using the extensions would probably be a good placement. Have you been doing a CM style education so far? Both Bigger and Preparing are really meaty programs that help build a lot of those Charlotte Mason skills like oral narration and dictation then going on to written narration in Preparing. Though there is only a two program difference in DD6 and DD8, Bigger and LHFHG are much farther apart skill wise unless your dd8 is barely placing in Bigger. Will you be using R&S grammar and other language arts that HOD recommends? Maybe if you could share more about the specific skills of your dc especially in the area of independent reading, writing, how well they are able to read and follow directions, oral narration, written narration skills, etc. that would help us figure out if possibly they could be combined. It might be that they would be better in their separate programs. The good news with that though is that CTC is a pretty independent program with at least 1/2 of the work independent. LHFHG only takes about 1 1/2 hours to teach. Bigger would take the most of your teaching time. It would definitely be a full plate and you would probably have to ease into it if you do that many guides, but I'm sure it would be possible. As you can see by my signature line, I have two but they are together in one guide so I don't personally have the challenge of running several guides so that's easy for me to say! Actually though I have read many of the other ladies stories who do it successfully and I'm sure they'll jump in and give you ideas too.

[8arrows]

Remember, you have high schoolers too. Thus, that is really 5 programs (if the high schoolers are doing something similar). Otherwise, it might be even more. I think you need to find a way to combine some. It is too late for me to make a deciany recommendations, but I will check back in later.

[Samuel'sMommy]

I only have 1 DS so I don't have any advice for you, but I did want to pop on and welcome you to the boards! We love HOD here! I'm sure that with the help of these ladies and Julie & Carrie you should be able to figure out something that will work for your family.

[8arrows]

How old are your children in high school? It is possible to use the older guides for high school. Have you looked at the new one? My daughter will be using it for 9th grade. Carrie posts ideas about adding to it for high school credit. I think it would probably be more plausible to combine the almost 9 and almost 12 year olds unless the almost 6 and almost 9 are closer in skills. I think you need to combine somewhere or you may be taking on to much. Is there any possiblity that the 9 and 12 year old could combine in Preparing? Preparing has extensions that the 12 year old could use and independent reader add-ons for the 9 year old. Can your high schoolers or 12 year old help you teach the 6 or 3 year old? I have 8 children myself. I know there is a lot to be done in a day. I don't think I could handle four guides plus my high schoolers. I will only have 2 guides plus my high schoolers and little one. I am sure Carrie and Julie will have some great ideas for you.

[beverett]

I just wanted to agree with Patty, could you share a little more about why they place in the guides according to skill? I will share that we are new to HOD and at first I was dead set on doing 4 programs. I am soooooo glad that I did not start out that way (after listening to the wisdom of the lovely ladies here). We are doing ctc (9th grade ds), BIGGER (7 and 9, or 2nd and 4th gr), and LHTH (4 turned 5 ds) and I have a 20month old. LHTH takes very little time (about 30min.) My 9th grader is practically independant, I just check everything and he has to come to me for reciting poetry, bible memerization and narrations. I also help with his math and science and LA when needed. BIGGER is my biggest chunk of time, and if my child in CTC were younger I would bet that it would be a little bit more time needy. It really is probably doable to try 4 guides, but you have the older children also. So if there is anyway at all to do 3 I would try that to start. Or if your two in highschool are completely independant then it would be easier, because LHFHG I think also does not take to much time (not sure though). I may be totally wrong these are just my thoughts? As a side not even with all we do, if I try reeeeally hard (with interruptions and everything) we are usually done around 2:30 or 3 each day. I dont time myself though so not positively sure. Again, I do have a baby to chase and many other things going on each day as most of us do.

[my3sons]

Hi Amy, and welcome to the HOD Board! Thank you for sharing about each of your dc. "How many programs are too many" is a good question, and one with layers of answers. We are doing 3 HOD guides now, and I find it very manageable. However, I only have 3 dc and no baby in the mix - I do have a dh that travels a lot and a part time job - but still, a smaller family and no baby . I do believe that the size of the family and whether there is a baby in the mix makes a difference. I also have used HOD for many years, and I added 1 child at a time to my teaching days. So, in general, to answer your question, I'd say I would probably not begin with more than 3 HOD programs. Once you have a year under your belt, 4 is probably doable.

LHTH is a breeze, and often fills a need in a simple way - we began it early with our last son as it was the easiest, happiest, most fun way to get in my "mommy time" with him. The younger HOD guides require more teaching - rightly so - as dc are learning very important skills and cannot work well independently yet. So, Beyond and Bigger especially make sure to give us the opportunity as teachers to lay the groundwork in learning for years to come by having us teaching more. PHFHG on up slowly eases dc into more independent skills - again rightly so - which in turn lessens our teaching time. This progression of skills and recognition of our role as a teacher changing as our dc mature is what makes it very manageable for me to do 3 HOD guides. So, let me ask you a question - let's say it would be a good idea to consider starting HOD with 3 guides? Which of your dc could most likely be combined together? Keeping in mind HOD's rich teaching methods - it's usually a good idea to choose the younger of 2 programs and beef up for the olders by using extensions or by upping LA and math. When you get the chance could you try to share your thoughts on that? HOD is such an amazing way to teach dc - I do think you'll find a good fit here - it's just really worth the time to figure out placement. Looking forward to getting to know you here!

In Christ,
Julie