heartofdakota.com

Hello! I could really use some wisdom here and I hope somebody has some to share! I have 4 wonderful children and just found out that we are expecting #5 in January (yes, it is very early and I normally wouldn't post it on a public forum quite yet, but I really need some help with school decisions now!). My oldest two are doing HOD separately and it is going quite well. My 3rd will be ready to start in the fall. The way I have things set up right now, I will eventually end up running 5 guides in our home. Is this feasible and/or advisable? I believe I have seen it recommended to combine children in larger families and I am trying to determine if that would be best for us. The tricky part is that I started my oldest two on their own HOD tracks and now the only way to combine them is for one to skip something or one to repeat something. Here is where they are right now:

dd7 (Julie, will be 8 in June) - finishing Beyond with LA from Bigger (R&S2, DITHOR2, dictation), very strong in reading and writing but not as mature as her peers at this point
dd5 (Melody, will be 6 in Sept) - half-way through Little Hearts with ERs and spelling from Beyond, an advanced learner (teaching herself cursive despite my efforts to wait!)
ds3 (Joseph, will be 4 in Dec) - ready for LHTH in the fall
dd1 (Clara)
d? due in January

The only way I can see to combine my oldest two is to put them both in Beyond for history/Bible/science/storytime and do LA and math on their own levels. That would mean Melody would miss the second half of LHFHG and Julie would repeat Beyond. OR, Julie would have to do something else while Melody catches up, but I have no idea what she would do. One thing that makes me nervous is whether Melody will end up over her head down the road, and if so, then what? Having the girls locked together makes it harder to adjust speed, etc. Also, Julie would then end up missing the last High School guide, which doesn't please me. And would she be bored repeating Beyond? There is also something special and wonderful about that one-on-one time between child and Mom that you get with each child in her own guide. I'm also already thinking about Joseph and Clara and wondering the same things for them down the road. As you can see, I have been going over and over this, but so far I have no peace. I guess my conflict is that I don't believe it is ideal to combine them, but I am also running out of time and energy to meet the demands of all the younger children and the home. What do you think? How many guides can a family run at once? At some point would a child be so independent in a guide that it would make it easier than I am thinking? I would GREATLY appreciate any wisdom you have to share. Thank you so much!!

Blessings,
Erica

I certainly hope it's doable and feasible! because I will be for about 2-3 years running 5 guides! Although my hope is to pass off some of the teaching of the one due in Oct to my oldest two who will be roughly 14 and 12 when the youngest one starts. Like reading history and/or storytime every other day, or each one reading a separate part.

I wouldn't worry about it. By the time your baby gets to school age, your oldest will be doing more independent work with you supervising as will the second child. I think you'll be so used to HOD and so familiar with the younger guides that it won't be an issue.

I would definately look to combine Clara and new little one down the road.

Thanks for your replies. Let me ask you all this. If I were to combine my two oldest, how would I go about it? What guide would I use? If I could figure that out, it would really help me know if combining is the way to go. It seems like combining is easier to pull off if a family comes to HOD down the road rather than having started each child in HOD as he/she was ready. For us, my girls are close enough in ability that I think it could work, if I could just figure it out! As it is, dd5 listenes to all dd7's storytime readings and is more than capable of answering questions and doing activities. She did the same thing when dd7 was in LHFHG last year. Now that she is in it herself she remembers a lot of things, but it is still different since it is her program now.

Thanks for any advice you have to share!

Erica

Given the ages of your older two and where they are currently at, I don't see a good way to combine them. I would not want to repeat a guide for a child; I think there would definitely be the potential for the child to lose interest. I would stay as you are and look at the possibility of combining the youngest two. I would also consider beginning LHTH at 1/2 speed with your 3 yr old in the fall to keep in within the age range for future guides. You could eventually go to full speed or just stay 1/2 speed the whole time. That would give you some breathing room timewise with the youngers and new baby.

If you were going to combine the two oldest, the best scenerio I see is to repeat Beyond with different storytime books and keep the oldest progressing in her own DITHOR, R & S, math and dictation. I might even add one of the Apologia science books to make the year seem different for the oldest. Although it is not technically the right order, we loved Swimming Creatures. Maybe the 8 year old would even like the notebook. It is only one year and then you have the ease of combining. It sounds like Melody would be fine skipping up to Beyond for the fall.

When I read your original post my head started spinning, but then I realized we've got 5 guides going here and it's fine.

deltagal wrote:When I read your original post my head started spinning, but then I realized we've got 5 guides going here and it's fine.

This is exactly what happened to me!! It sounds insane when you see it in print, doesn't it?!?! . But it really works well here. I do combine 2 of my kids, but the others are in separate guides.
Angie

I'll be doing five, if not six, guides eventually with no worries. The kids and I prefer our individual times. I definitely think it's doable.

For this coming school year, I'll have one in Rev to Rev, one in Creation to Christ, one in Bigger, one in LIttle Hearts, and one/two in Little Hands. My last two are the only ones that would just be one grade apart were they to attend public school, so I would consider combining them, but haven't decided for sure yet.

We've been using (and loving!!!) HOD since the 2008-2009 school year.

Thanks so much! I'm so glad to hear that there are families out there who use separate guides for 5 or more children and thrive in the process. That is very encouraging! I also appreciate the suggestion as to how to make dd7's year more interesting if she did end up repeating Beyond (change science, different storytime books). At this point, it seems like I will probably keep them going in their own tracks and take it from there. If we get in over our heads in the future, I can always slow my oldest down then, but once I slow her down there will be no speeding her back up to where she was. I am hanging onto the hope that once we reach CtC and up, I can hand dd the guide and she can do a lot on her own, other than the things that I would have to teach her separately no matter what guide the kids were in. Not that I want to be detached from her learning in any way, of course, but I think you know what I mean. Having numerous little ones in the mix puts us in a rather mom-intensive season of life and time is hard to come by sometimes!

Thanks again for such helpful posts!

Erica