Making 3 books work

[witheagerhands]

I am slowly building our curriculum sets for this year, our first HOD year ever! There is no emoticon that can properly show my excitment!
We are using LHFHG with my 5yo (will be 6 Sept 2-i consider him super-young) Beyond for my 8 yo beginning reader, and Preparing with the extensions and DITHOR 4/5 for my 11.5yo.
Aaaaannnnnnd, now to figure out how to make this work I have to assume that for a while, I will be working with all three for all their work, at least until the oldest becomes accustomed to how all the assignments work. The Beyonder isn't even close to reading to the level to do work by herself, though I trust that this will happen in its own time (patience is a virtue, my mama always says!) The Little Hearts guy is definitely not reading! So, looking maybe a couple months (is that too long?) down the road, Preparing girl will be more indie and I can spend more time on the others.....except come October-end, we'll have a 5th bean! (and I haven't even mentioned the firecracker little almost-3yo!!!!)

I have read some through the schedules post and I guess it's just overwhelming -- I am struggling to find something similar to my own situation. Maybe I shouldn't be looking in that way?
For those that have run this course -3 books at the same time, 2 or more requiring your near-constant assistance- what worked for you? At this point, I am all-HOD. I have Prima Latina that we started, but I'm willing to ditch that for a while, and I am not even considering my CM lovies: art, composer and the like. We'll get to that later.

Thank you!

[Molly]

Are you able to take steps into doing all three programmes? What I mean, is starting Preparing and working side by side for a week or two and getting your oldest settled into the guide. By then you would be able to start your girl in Beyond and get her going for a week or two and then add in LHFHG. One thing I would suggest especially with a new one arriving is to not worry about getting the guides done within a year. I think if you are moving through it, that would be enough. We have hit a bit of a stumbling block this year, in that we are suddenly going to have to move home which is not what I expected and we have been hit with winter bugs over the last few weeks, so I am just making sure we are moving forward even if we are not completing a whole day's work each day. I figure for us, we will have time to catch up later in the year when life isn't quite so chaotic, and even if we don't move through each guide in a calendar year, I'm not going to worry. We too have a two year old dynamite, so that I completely understand.

[raceNzanesmom]

The above is good advice. Starting one guide at a time allows everyone to ease into the year and know what's expected.

[witheagerhands]

Thank you everyone!

[my3sons]

I like the advice you've received so far! Stagger starting your dc will help you get your oldest in a rhythm first, then your next child, then your last. For your oldest child doing PHFHG, you will want to help her begin to learn to use the PHFHG guide as a student planner, reading the directions for her "I" independent boxes herself, and initialing the corner of each box as she finishes it. I would have a certain routine order for her to do the boxes in, as this will help her settle into a good routine from the start. Giving her a type written or handwritten list of the order of this routine will really help keep moving her along. It also cuts down on the constant question "What do I do next, mom?". Training her to read through an "I" box's directions carefully, get her supplies out, think through the order she will do things in, and then read through the box's directions step by step as she does one step at a time will help her learn to be a good worker. At the end of finishing an "I" independent box, I have my dc read through the box one more time to be sure they did it all. This would be a great way to begin training your oldest dd first in PHFHG. I'd say 2 weeks would be more than enough training for this.

While you are training your oldest to do PHFHG, you can have your 8 yo practice having a playtime with each of your younger dc. We have found 30-45 minutes to be a good time frame for playtimes. Your 8 yo can have a playtime with your almost 6 yo, and then have a playtime with your 3 yo. Likewise, your 6 yo can practice having a 30 minute or so playtime with your 3 yo. These are important training times for them, as they will help you out immensely in the flow of the school day. Having a planned snack time and a few other independent things can help too - i.e. an independent playtime for 3 yo in a safe childproof area, possibly an educational video and/or an educational game on the computer, maybe have 8 yo have a time to read a few books to the 3 yo, maybe a book on tape time for some of them, etc. Fostering some good independent playtime and activities really helps out in the day to day of homeschooling.

Next, you can train your Beyond child. This should not take long. I'd say a week or so. Finally, you can start LHFHG with your next child, maybe starting half-speed. Meanwhile, during this time, your oldest 11 yo can begin taking a playtime with each younger sibling as well, or with a pairing of dc if that's easier (i.e. 3 yo and 6 yo while you work with 8 yo). Your 11 yo will have the most work to complete in a day, so the playtime can be less if needed - whatever is most helpful is what you can choose. You could have your 11 yo teach LHTH to the 3 yo eventually, at least part of the time, if you wanted too - but that's maybe further down the road.

A rotation of times for me when I will work with each child REALLY helped me get into a good routine and know who I was focusing on teaching when. Here's a copy of our last schedule for RevtoRev, PHFHG, and LHFHG half-speed, in case this helps make it more visually understandable what I'm trying to explain about teacher blocks...


Or, if you prefer, this is pretty much the same above schedule after I typed it as more of a routine than a "schedule" later in the year...


These are my best tips for happy homeschooling with multiple dc! Having a routine, having teacher blocks of time, and having the olders take turns playing with the youngers - works great! Makes it so much easier to homeschool without the stress. HOD really is just an open and go curriculum - pretty much no planning or prep to teach each day. So, if you just put a little time into stagger starting, doing some training of independent things other dc can do, and set up a routine order of teaching blocks, you will be set all year for smooth sailing! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[witheagerhands]

THANK YOU, JULIE!!! So,so,so,so much help here!
now to figure out how to train a strong-willed almost-3yo to stay put
I can't thank you, and the other members of this group how much you have helped me in this. I had thought about start MG (my 11yo girl) first, but really past that, I hadn't thought much on how to make it roll. Knowing her, I am already trying to consider how to respond when she realizes taht she is the only one doing schoolwork. Which is mostly books (it's like God sent Ms. Mason down for her, I tell you!! She loves books!), but it would be the point of the fact, you know?
I will work on this...but any suggestions detailing the training of the 2 yo and 5 yo would be greatly appreciated! (note: i love to read the blog, HodgePodge,and while she's not a HOD mom, she believes in training the children up right from the start to have that scheduled indie time in their room or elsewhere. How I wish I had started that from teh beginning!!)
Thank you!

[my3sons]

...but any suggestions detailing the training of the 2 yo and 5 yo would be greatly appreciated!...

Glad to help! Here are a few tips to try...
1) Childproof a few different areas first (i.e. childproof the plug-ins, gate across open door if necessary, toys down low, etc.)
2) Start with short amounts of time (like 15 minutes) and work up to longer (like 30 to 45 minutes). Set a timer.
3) Have all toys, supplies, etc. in the area so dc don't have to run around the house to get things
4) Help the older child learn how to set up the area before starting the playtime with the younger child (i.e. show older child how to help younger child choose what to play with, set out the things to be played with, etc.)
5) If younger child grows tired of playing with the first thing, show older child how to first help younger child pick up, then choose another thing in the play area (which is why you probably want a shelf or cupboard or totes of options available in play areas). Remind older dc that younger dc's attention spans are about 10-15 minutes, so activities may need to be changed every 10-15 minutes.
6) When the timer rings, all who played should help pick up. Train older child to assign 1 simple pick up responsibility for the younger (i.e. Please put all the legos in this basket). Dc may not leave the play area until it is all picked up. Plan on checking this yourself at first.
7) Follow up the play time with snack time. This is a great thing to do because you can say that the snack is something they get if they play well together until the timer rings without interrupting your teaching.
8 ) Have the next sibling's playtime with this same younger sibling be somewhere else doing something else, and sandwich something independent for the little one between the playtimes. Variety keeps things fresh and keeps the little one happy.
9) Choose a variety of things to do to keep little one's day interesting. Here are some great threads to get your creative thoughts flowing...
What to do with toddlers while schooling:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=198&p=33557
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4987&p=36744#p36744
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9569&p=69865#p69865
10) Consider trying learning stations for the 5 yo...
My post about learning stations for Emmett:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10565&p=76777

HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

[lissiejo]

Thanks for this also! I'll be running 3 guides next year (LHTH, LHFHG, and Bigger). My oldest will be 7 and is already quite independent this year in Beyond, so I'm hoping that will help. The littlest BEGS for lesson time for her so it will be good to do something more formal. I had tried making a schedule like Julie posted, but didn't include the column for me. That's such a fabulous idea!