WAHM of three, considering HOD..how to do it?

[debbyjg]

Hi!
I'm hoping for some direction from those who have been there...I am a mom of three, grades for next year K, 3rd, and 5th. I also run a licensed home bakery business (wedding and special events cakes) that keeps me really busy in the afternoons and most especially on Thursdays and Fridays.
I've been using MFW for the last several years, but last year about halfway through, we just..well, gave up. We were so, so, so tired of learning even more about Eygpt. The kids were bored, I was bored, we needed a change. From Christmas on, we started using Amanda Bennet unit studies. Which I still enjoy, and I think we will continue to use them occasionally as a routine break, but I'm still drawn to the open and go, all in one curricula. SO after getting bored with the pace of MFW, I started looking into HOD a few weeks ago.

So far I have purchased the LHFHG for my K'er. It looks like the perfect program for her. (She will be 6 in November. We tried using MFW K last year for her, but it was obvious really quickly that she wasn't ready for formal lessons.)

Now, my concern is twofold: as of now, I'm leaning toward getting Preparing for my almost 8ds with extensions for my 10dd. It seems to be the best fit for them, and I like the idea of a sweep through history.
My question begins with how to go forward from this in following years? I don't see an issue with doing two programs this year, since the LHFHG won't take too long every day. But as she gets older, she is out of the range that the older two can fit into together, so it looks like I will always be needing to do at least two programs (and three, once my oldest is in the HS level). And that's a serious concern. There is no way I can do school for more than half a day, as my afternoons (and Fridays) are already maxed out with my cake business.

This was the most compelling reason for me when going with MFW - after the 1st grade year, all the kids are together until HS, and then the HS level work is mostly independent. But, as much as I REALLY wanted to love it, we just ... don't.

Am I setting myself up for failure by considering HOD? Is there anyone else on here who has multiple children/levels and who is a WAHM?

It would be really helpful to me if HOD was going to be at the Ohio convention I'm going to in a week, so I could see the material other than the first day, but they aren't going to be at CHEO and from what I've read, HOD isn't distributed by anyone else either, so if I go with HOD it's going to be completely on faith and the recommendations of others. I've already gone ahead with getting LH, but I'm mostly concerned with looking past next year into coming years. I don't want to keep jumping around through curricula.

Comments?

Thank you!
Debby

[MomtoJGJE]

Im not sure what you meant by saying that you'd have to separate them when your oldest gets to high school?

Your 10yo is still in the age range for Preparing, so you wouldn't have to do extensions unless you thought you needed to.

Have you looked at the placement chart?

I'm not a WAHM, but we are doing Preparing, Beyond, LHFHG, and LHTH and we get done easily in a morning. Plus Preparing on up is a 4 day per week program.

[debbyjg]

I mean that eventually (once they come out with the high school guides), my oldest will be doing the HS curriculum while her younger brother and sister would still be in the earlier programs. (And then two years later, my son would be doing the high school program, but by then my oldest daughter will be beyond that.)

You are able to get ALL of those programs done in the morning? Because I was looking at the catalog this morning, and it said, for example, that Beyond Little Hearts takes about 2-2.5 hours, and Bigger Hearts takes 3 to 3.5 hours...which sounds good if I were *just* doing that program, but then if I'm also doing (looking ahead a year) CtC (4 to 4.5 hours) while my littlest is doing Beyond (2 to 2.5 hours), then that means just that year alone, I'm looking at teaching for at a minimum 6 hours! And then when all of my kids are in the older programs, with 4 to 4.5 hours each, that's a minimum of 8 hours a day. KWIM? THAT is what is overwhelming me.

I just can't wrap my head around how I would do two or three different programs, doing justice to each of them and my kids, as well as keep my business.

I like the idea of teaching a different program to each of them, so that a) I'm not having to adjust so much, overwhelm the youngers or bore the olders, and b) because the material looks so interesting that I would hate for one of my kids to miss out on some of the material by combining them. But in reality, I just don't see how this is possible for any homeschooling mom of more than two kids, let alone someone who runs a business from home as well. This is really the only reason I gravitated to MFW, but the content is just not keeping our interest.

Debby

[debbyjg]

Oh, and it being a four day program is definitely a plus - my Fridays are always nonstop caking from the moment I get up until about 2 am every week (since most weddings and events are on Saturdays).

This is one of the reasons why, even though we've been doing AB Unit Studies since Christmas, I feel like we need to go back to a program that is 4 days a week scheduled. The "one week studies" from AB usually have been taking us a week and a half, because of the amount of content and the fact that it is a 5 day, so I'm always feeling like I'm behind.

I just don't want to buy a whole new curriculum only to find out 6 months in, like last year, that it just doesn't work with our lives.

You'd think that being 7 years into homeschooling, I'd have gotten this curriculum thing settled, but SIGH.

[blessedmomof4]

Besides being a 4 day a week program, once you and your children get into a "groove", Preparing is only about 4.5 hours a day, if you are using all of HOD's recommendations for every subject. The higher level guides don't exceed 5 hours. Also, starting with Preparing, HOD begins training your children to be independent learners, increasing independent work each level up-by Rev to Rev the student is doing almost everything independently-so that although student school time increases, mom's involvement time does not. You will not be sitting and teaching for 8 hours a day! Remember, Heart of Dakota is written by a WAHM-Carrie is a very busy woman but homeschools her 4 boys You can do this! Also, I don't see why you would have to separate them later-they can continue moving on in the same guides, adding extensions for the older if needed to beef up for high school-many HOD moms are using guides as far down as CTC for high schoolers with some modifications-the important thing is to meet your child at their skill level, and then progress from year to year-it is not necessary to "skip ahead" to the high school guides just because the older child reaches a certain age-just keep moving forward

[blessedmomof4]

Also-if you want to keep fridays free, you can stretch out the younger guides by doing them only 4 days a week-this makes them last about 9 weeks longer, but keeps you moving forward while keeping a free friday. While your older's are doing independent work, you can give focused attention to the youngers. Many on here have posted great schedules showing how they manage multiple guides and still have free afternoons.

[MicheleW]

I do not work at home, but I work as an RN about 24 hours a week. I work every other weekend and 2 evenings a week 3-11 shift. I also have a son with autism, so we have lots of appointments which eat into our time. This year I had 2 in Bigger (5th &6th grade), one in RTR (8th grade) and a high schooler doing an eclectic curriculum which I put together myself. (He does do the RTR history as an elective course.) It certainly does not take 3-4 hours times 4!

They all work on school at the same time. I do math, dictation, and grammar with each child. I read extension history and science aloud to the 2 in Bigger (mainly for the benefit of my ASD son who doesn't read well.) Other than that, I don't do their school with them. They read their assigned pages. Then they do an oral narration, a written narration, a notebooking assignment, or whatever is assigned. If they are supposed to orally narrate, they come find me and do this. Otherwise, they come show me their written narration or notebooking page. I have my own check list where I check off that I've seen their work (otherwise I forget to even make sure they've done it!) So while I am doing math with the 5th grader, the 6th grader is doing laundry, the 8th grader is reading his history assignments, and the 11th grader is working on his English paper. Then I switch and do math (or grammar or dictation) with a different child.

Little hearts will be one-on-one obviously, but Preparing will be a mix of "Teacher-led," "Independent," and Semi-Indedendent" activities. The extension books are read independently by the child.

If there is something that takes a little longer, like history project, we tend to save that for a day I don't work. So on non-work days, we may go a little longer (maybe even read a few extra pages) and get done around 3 or 4:00. On work days, we have to be done by 1:45. We just make sure we get going right away in the morning, stay on task, and get things done early that will require mom's help. If they have some independent reading to do after I leave for work, that's fine.

I would just caution you to check the placement chart carefully. A lot of people find the writing in Preparing to be too much for an 8year old. My DD did Preparing in 4th grade (she is a summer birthday, so she had just turned 9). She was an advanced reader, but found the writing assignments too long or too difficult. She was sometimes frustrated by the vocab in the science readers. She was used to reading stories, and had a hard time reading the science books. I wish I had waited another year and done Preparing in 5th grade (even if we had to use the extension to give her extra reading material.) But other people have used Preparing for 3rd or 4th and been successful, so you may be fine, but just be aware that it is a big step up from Bigger in terms of writing and independence.

Good luck!

[MomtoJGJE]

Like the previous posters said, you wouldn't have to skip ahead to the older guides just because your child is entering high school... you'd just keep going with what you are doing, adding in extensions if necessary.

Also, I've found that those times are for when you are just starting with the guide and everyone's getting used to it. But I start training them to be independent with things in Bigger. Like with cursive... there is absolutely no reason for me to have to sit there while they do their cursive page. So they do that at the table. Same with English and Math... after we go over the lesson they sit at the table and do their work, then I check it. Starting in Preparing they have more and more that is independent. I do other guides while they are doing independent work. So while my Preparing child is off doing her work that she does independently, I can get all of Beyond, LHTH, and most of LHFHG (or all of LHFHG and wait on LHTH, however it works out for that day) And if it's a day where my Beyond child is copying spelling words, then I do LHTH while she's doing that and her copy work.

I don't foresee my teaching time really taking that much longer in the coming years because as they get older they get more independent. So while next year I'll be doing CTC, Bigger, the rest of LHFHG, and LHTH plus some workbooks, I'll have less active teaching time with two of them than I do now.

It all works out. I'd say just give it a try. Do make sure you check the placement chart with each child. Because it's very important when you are doing more than one or two guides that the children are properly placed. In my opinion (and CM) it's much better to do a little bit perfectly than a lot without doing your best. So if you think that you might have to change something (anything) to make it a better fit for your child, then it's better to go down a guide level. For instance, my 2nd grader COULD do Bigger right now, but I'd have to not do any vocab for a bit, I'd have to drop back on the math, I'd have to help her with notebooking and experiments.... but instead she's doing Beyond where she has absolutely no trouble at all with any of it. I expect that by the time we get to Bigger this fall she'll whiz through it as well without me changing up ANYTHING