I Can't Decide! Help!

[Dustybug]

I thought I had figured out what I want to do next year, but I just don't know. My DD is asking to do a year of world geography next year with her brother (he doesn't want to do it. lol) which would mean taking a year off of HOD and coming back the next year. Part of me thinks this could work because they are both at the younger end of the age range for guides and it would give them time to age up some. Then the following year, my DD would go to Bigger for 3rd grade and my DS would use LHFHG for 1st.

I love HOD and don't really want to leave it, but I worry about hitting Preparing too soon for my DD and I don't really like the idea of slowing the guides down. I'd rather wait until they were able to go full speed to use them. Blame my Type A personality there. She is doing excellently in Beyond this year, so I'm not worried about her not being able to tackle Bigger next year.

I also worry that waiting a year, my DS would then be beyond the skills in LHFHG and so we'd have to skip that guide entirely with him.

I need to make a choice because I have to start gathering materials for the next school year now. I've purchased things for both Bigger(some of the reading books, etc.) and for a year of geography, but I have to stop being wishy washy about it.

[psreit]

Given the age of your children, a year of just geography seems out of range. My dd had a geography class in co-op recently. That went 7 weeks and they covered one continent each week. Yes, they could have taken longer on each continent if time allowed, but I think for that age, it was enough. I know there is so much more than briefly talking about each continent, but I think for the younger kids it could be too much information. HOD's variety in history/geography for that age is good. You could take some time to expound on the geography, if there are certain places your dd is interested in learning about. If she's interested in the people, you could add some extra books from the library that talk about the people groups, or animals if she wants to learn that, etc. But, IMO, I wouldn't do a whole year at this young age. There's plenty of time for that.

You said you don't want to slow down in the guides, but that would be the route I would take if you are concerned about getting to Preparing too soon. But, it sounds like your dd is doing fine. If your son is ready for LHFHG, don't let that pass you by. You mentioned your personality. The joy of homeschooling is to allow our dc to enjoy learning by not feeling we have to accomplish certain things in a certain period of time. I went through some of that for a while, but having a child who has some learning difficulties, I'm learning to just allow her to take the time she needs to really grasp it. There are some days when I want to complete a full day of HOD and we end up not getting a few things done. I get frustrated when that happens. But, I was recently reminded that I need to focus on those areas where she is struggling (even non-academic stuff), and that means slowing the guide down. It really takes a load off me to just take things in stride and not feel we have to finish something in a certain time frame. Don't stress yourself out that way. Slowing down can be a good option.

[raindrops]

What about HOD 3 days a week and geography twice?

[TrueGRIT]

I agree with the previous poster. Doing geography 2 days a week would be about the limit, if you wanted to stretch it out over a year.
I speak from experience (as the student) when I say this. Especially if your son doesn't really want to do this. Two days should be enough to hold his attention,
while not overwhelming him. If you added a recipe trying out from the country/ies you are studying, he should like that.

That would also extend the guides to a 'middle' fit. It really isn't that bad! It also may be really what they are needing.
To a degree you should listen to your children and their 'wants' but as the parent you should know the proper way to go about it, while still doing your best to
give them some of their desires. I think at her age once she got into it daily for a year, she would get tired of it very quickly.
Maybe this is the answer? Hope this makes sense.

Keep us posted as you decide.

Mikki

[8arrows]

I would just keep going with the HOD guides. However, I would take her desire to learn geography into consideration. Seterra is a free geography download that my children have enjoyed and learned a ton from (independently). This, plus giving her a book or two a week for free reading about a specific place should satisfy her desire and not add much to the next guide. Do you think something like that could work?

[blessedmomof4]

One thing a friend of mine does for world gepgraphy is simply to have her young kids write to penpals in foreign countries I'm not sure what resource she uses to get the penpals, but it sounds like a fun way to cover geography with a personal touch! This is something you could easily do once a week or so while still continuing with HOD.

[Dustybug]

Thank you all for your suggestions! I think I might be leaning towards keeping with HOD, but maybe every 4 weeks or so, taking a week off and doing one week of geography or something similar. I was planning on using a geography curriculum geared to K-2, so I wasn't really worried about it being over their head. I may just ditch the geography all together too. I don't know! lol

[pjdobro]

I'll just chime in here and tell you something in retrospect that I wish I had done. If I had it to do over again, I think I would take LHFHG, Beyond, and Bigger at a pace of 4 days per week. Then I would have that 5th day to add in other things that we wanted to pursue and stretch those 3 guides out over 4 years. Since we've been in the upper guides, I have loved having that 5th day to pursue other interests like field trips or a special art program, etc. That could be a great way for you to include another geography program or explore other special interests. You could just have it be the 5th day program that you do once a week. That would slow down your progress too so that you don't hit Preparing when you feel your dc are too young.

Some of the things we've done along the way that has really made some of the other cultures of the world come to life for us along the way is plan a special meal from that country. We did this for a while and had at least one night a week that was a theme night. My kids helped me find out about the country, their customs especially pertaining to food, and their music. Then we would prepare the meal, listen to music from that country, and generally just enjoy a fun night. It didn't take a lot of time and I'm sure it something they will always remember. Just tonight they were telling me that they want to start doing it again. So I guess it's time for us to take another trip around the world!