heartofdakota.com

Hello

I am a long time HOD user. We were blessed to find it when we 1st started homeschooling and so it's all that we have used.

As we progress through the guides (and more children are being born) I'm struggling with how many guides that we are using at one time. I really would love to combine some of my children, but I'm just not sure how, or if it's even feasible.

I have a 9 year old (4th grade) - she has done CTC this year and we've enjoyed it. It has been a challenge for her, but not too much of a challenge and has gotten a good grasp of what we've learned.
8 year old (2nd grade) - He has done Bigger and it's been quite easy for him.
5 year old (K) - I have done a tiny bit of LHTH with her. Her birthday wasn't until August so I haven't felt the need to be super structered with her curriculum. And in all honesty I've spent so much time on the other two that she's kind-of been put on the back burner
3 year old - He won't be ready for K for 3 more years because his birthday is in December.
1 year old - Another December birthday.

I don't know how to combine the 9 year old and 8 year old (two years apart in school) without her repeating a guide. And I don't know how I would hold back the Kindergartner long enough so she could be in the same guide as the 3 year old. Yet start her schooling in earnest and keep her challenged (she's just biting at the bit to learn anything I give her.) I guess I could go outside HOD but I REALLY don't want to do that. I've thought about taking the 9 year old down to 1/2 a guide a year. But that would be over two years of doing that. And she would need to keep up with math and Language Arts? One of the key elements that HOD is so wonderful for us is it's ease of use.

Do I resign myself that I'm going to have 4-5 guides going? Is there some magic fix that I haven't thought of yet?

I would love any thoughts. Thank you!
Julia

Julia,

Have the 9 and 8 yo completely finished CTC and Bigger?

I really have no advice. I'm sorry. I'm just in your shoes but I think you'll be okay. your oldest will gain more independence and then the one moving up to preparing will as well. preparing hearts will be less teacher intensive than Bigger. and RTR less than CTC. so as you are needed more by your Middles, your okders are needing you less and if you thunk about it....your littlest ones are needing less constant attention as time passes as well. so more guides doesn't mean more work foe you.

now, this fall... ill be doing CTC, bigger, kindy, and almost 3yo . can I have a peek at your schedule from this year?

Mom2Monkeys wrote:I really have no advice. I'm sorry. I'm just in your shoes but I think you'll be okay. your oldest will gain more independence and then the one moving up to preparing will as well. preparing hearts will be less teacher intensive than Bigger. and RTR less than CTC. so as you are needed more by your Middles, your okders are needing you less and if you thunk about it....your littlest ones are needing less constant attention as time passes as well. so more guides doesn't mean more work foe you.

now, this fall... ill be doing CTC, bigger, kindy, and almost 3yo . can I have a peek at your schedule from this year?

these are my thoughts as well. This year, with one in RTR and one in Preparing, they will need less help from you and you can focus on the Kindy child more.

We are almost done with CTC and Beyond. We have 4 weeks left in each of the guides.

I guess my fear is that the eldest wasn't as independent this year in CTC as I thought that she would be. She would skip over some of the instructions or just go really slow and I would have to keep spurring her along. She's completely capable of doing everything. I guess I've contributed it to her age and that she's on the young side of the guides. Which makes me nervous that RtR won't be as independent as I would hope either.

Schedule... I would upload my schedule but I can't figure out what file extension the post will accept. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Julia

personally, if she isn't.as independent as needed in CTC, that issue will continue and.the gap will only widen. my suggestion is to start half pace with her in.CTC now, and maybe even slower. Taking.time and attention.yo totally train her in.each box as well as allow her more time.to mature. honestly, id call it a year when you finish your current unit and.pick up this fall going.half pace for 8 weeks to complete those last four units with solid training and a.few more months under her belt maturity-wise. then, take a week off to prepare what you need for RTR and build her enthusiasm. then start it half.pace taking.time.to really fully train her for each box. help her fins her groove and set a timer foe the alloyed time.planned.for.that box by HOD. That gives her a feel foe.how long it should take. Also have check ins planned with her and.otherwise step back once she's in her groove and let her learn some.time management. when time.is up, put it away and after school time, she can complete unfinished work from earlier. Good incentive to use time.wisely.
By slowing down, I think.there is much time to.gain by that. it may take longer to finish but she will finish better each day and learn more in each level, smd you won't be needed as much. if you aren't ready to stop totally now you might cobisder half pace just three days a week except for math. Anything to give her time.to learn and mature for The next guide.

I have a schedule written up for our year but haven't used.it yet since we haven't yet started. ill see.if I can post it but have no idea how. maybe you could tell me if the flow looks right

sorry foe typos and extra punctuation. learning.new phone.and space bar and period are side by side. lol

I agree with mom2monkeys - I'd move to half-speed CTC for the remainder of the year, and then start RTR half-speed next year. I think it would be a great goal to complete the rest of CTC through RevtoRev in 3 years, spreading those guides out to achieve that pacing. She just needs to grow a little, and mature into those skills. This will give her time to do it, and it will also give you time to work with your littles. We started a "meeting time" last year in RTR with our ds that was sooooooo helpful for staying on top of his work. We met in the middle with our coffee (for me) and tea/snack (for him) and had our meeting time. I started with my "T" directed boxes like grammar, math, writing, etc., and then after doing those, we went through each box he'd done together as a checkpoint (i.e. for Bible, I had him recite his memory work, for history I listened to his oral narrations, for written narrations I had him read them aloud to me and we edited them together, for boxes with questions I asked them, for Storytime I did the follow-ups, for History Project I had him show me what he'd done or tell me what he was planning on doing, etc.). Whatever he had completed we did the follow-up and I read the key idea, whatever he had left to do we looked over together and made a finishing plan. Worked great! I think slowing down the pace and adding in the meeting time will do wonders for dd's independence. As she becomes more successful with independence, your teaching time will go down, and it will be easy to have more time to work with the youngers. We did RevtoRev, PHFHG, and LHFHG half-speed this year, and had a super year. PHFHG is more independent than Bigger Hearts, and you will find RTR on up more independent too, as well as easier to keep tabs on with the meeting time. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

PS - Here is a link to my latest schedule that worked great, in case it is helpful...


In case you don't click with my schedule, here is a link to a great schedules thread...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2093