heartofdakota.com

I am using (and LOVING!) Julie's picture posts of her setup for Bigger and for Rev2Rev. I think I'm feeling okay with those two at the moment.

Creation to Christ is the one I'm a little concerned about. This will be for my almost 11 yo DS. He's used HOD all the way back to Little Hearts, so he knows the drill. However, I did help out with some of the reading in Preparing last year. By the end of the year, he was doing the independent history study and the science independently. We didn't start that way, though. Sometimes we'd take turns reading a page and/or paragraph. I didn't trust him to actually do the work if I didn't have a little more oversight. I'm worried about whether or not he'll be able to keep up with the reading in CtoC... also wondering how to start off... Should I start with the "taking turns" approach with the Story of the Ancient World? with the Illustrated Bible too? with both? neither? How about science?

My oldest child (who I would consider to be the most trustworthy and also have the highest "above grade level" reading ability) has not always been honest in her independent work, and I didn't catch it. That's my concern.

If I only had one or two children, it would be easier to keep up with everyone and monitor things more closely. As it is, I'll have a 7th grader (RevtoRev), 5th grader (CtoC), 3rd grader (Bigger), 1st grader (Little Hearts), and two preschoolers.


Any advice/thoughts/suggestions?

Does anyone else have problems with their children checking stuff off and saying it's done when they haven't actually done it?

How do you help to prevent that from happening?

As far as the reading in CTC I would have him read the Family Illustrated Bible on his own right from the beginning. It is easy reading and very engaging with all the pictures. As far as The Story of the Ancient World I think you could start out taking turns a page at a time, because it is a challenging read. In fact I think it is one of the most challenging books that my ds has read so far. I am a goal setter so I would probably set a specific date when I would turn the reading totally over to him. I would also have him do the science on his own. It also is pretty easy reading. Another idea is you could start off with him doing everything as written, but do it half speed. That might give you time to make sure he is doing the work and knows what is expected of him.

For not doing the work, but saying they have I think I would come down with some pretty heavy consequences. That is really a character issue that you want to address. I honestly haven't had that issue with my ds, but I also only have 2 kids to keep up with. My friend has had that issue quite frequently with her ds and dd. In fact her ds ended up loosing his entire Christmas vacation because he had many pages of history reading to make up. One way I can see keeping this from happening with HOD is to make sure you do all follow up activities in the boxes. You will be able to tell right away if they really did the reading or not, if you just skim the reading yourself. Yes the key idea is in the guide for them to "cheat" with, but you should be able to tell if that is all they are telling you. Since you have multiple kiddos doing multiple guides you could schedule a morning meeting time and an afternoon meeting time with each dc and have them do the follow up activities then. If you find that they aren't doing the activities and saying they are then in my house that would mean getting the Principal, my dh, involved.

I'm glad the pics are helping for getting ready for the guides! I think you are amazing, StillJulie - you really are good at managing your family and homeschooling so well! I think LynnH had some great thoughts already. The DK Bible is easy enough for ds to read. You may want to begin "The Story of the Ancient World" by taking turns reading, but I'd do so with a goal to ease off on that as the year goes on. The readings are not long, and the sections are short, so he will soon be able to take that over.

I agree the not completing work is a character issue, and it's a tough one. I realized after CTC that my sweet, responsible ds had stopped memorizing his Phil. verses and writing them in his common place book somewhere around month 6. I didn't realize it until much later in the year (as in at the end ), and I was so disappointed as he had been checking it off like he had done it. I realized I needed to be better about making him accountable for each box of the plans. I added a midpoint meeting time, and we have been doing that the last 3 years. It has worked out so well, and not added time to the day! I tried to describe it here...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12123&p=87511

I would add a meeting time or two such a this, and look at that as your time to check that each box has been done, as well as look at it as your time to really connect and enjoy discussing learning. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you so much, Lynn and Julie. Your ideas sound great, and I will look forward to implementing them. I wrote "First day of school" on August 20th on the calendar, so it's coming up!!! We have our vacation this coming week, and I plan to freeze 80-100 quarts of sweetcorn the following week.

I've been doing a little work here and there at getting the kids' shelves ready (each one has a shelf or section of a shelf), but I'm certainly not done yet.

Thanks again!!!

my3sons wrote:I'm glad the pics are helping for getting ready for the guides! I think you are amazing, StillJulie - you really are good at managing your family and homeschooling so well! I think LynnH had some great thoughts already. The DK Bible is easy enough for ds to read. You may want to begin "The Story of the Ancient World" by taking turns reading, but I'd do so with a goal to ease off on that as the year goes on. The readings are not long, and the sections are short, so he will soon be able to take that over.

I agree the not completing work is a character issue, and it's a tough one. I realized after CTC that my sweet, responsible ds had stopped memorizing his Phil. verses and writing them in his common place book somewhere around month 6. I didn't realize it until much later in the year (as in at the end ), and I was so disappointed as he had been checking it off like he had done it. I realized I needed to be better about making him accountable for each box of the plans. I added a midpoint meeting time, and we have been doing that the last 3 years. It has worked out so well, and not added time to the day! I tried to describe it here...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12123&p=87511

I would add a meeting time or two such a this, and look at that as your time to check that each box has been done, as well as look at it as your time to really connect and enjoy discussing learning. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

We have three full weeks completed now, and this idea has been a HUGE blessing!!!! I am so thankful for you suggesting it. I love how much more it connects me to what they're doing. It is worth mentioning over and over to everyone doing the upper guides. I really do consider it essential.

We're off to a great start. We did start a couple weeks before public school so that I could give myself permission to take off from the HOD guides this week (our county fair, and my children are very active in showing stuff/making projects/etc.). It is really helping to reduce the stress level. I love the flexibility we have as homeschoolers. Last year we finished the first week of May b/c I was always pushing, pushing, pushing. This year I decided that I'm not going to stress myself out over the pushing. It's okay to take some time off here and there to make life go more smoothly. I do want to finish in May, but the end of May is just fine for us.

Thanks again!

(and thanks so much to Carrie for writing these wonderful guides!!!!)

my3sons wrote:I realized I needed to be better about making him accountable for each box of the plans.

We've had this issue too. I forget to check their work because I want to believe they have done it but they are children. My dd who is usually very conscientious took to scribbling in her cursive workbook and blaming it on the 2yo so she wouldn't have to do the page. I now make sure the 2yo is busy before she does cursive so she can't sneak that one by me...

StillJulie wrote: We have three full weeks completed now, and this idea has been a HUGE blessing!!!! I am so thankful for you suggesting it. I love how much more it connects me to what they're doing. It is worth mentioning over and over to everyone doing the upper guides. I really do consider it essential.

We're off to a great start. We did start a couple weeks before public school so that I could give myself permission to take off from the HOD guides this week (our county fair, and my children are very active in showing stuff/making projects/etc.). It is really helping to reduce the stress level. I love the flexibility we have as homeschoolers. Last year we finished the first week of May b/c I was always pushing, pushing, pushing. This year I decided that I'm not going to stress myself out over the pushing. It's okay to take some time off here and there to make life go more smoothly. I do want to finish in May, but the end of May is just fine for us.

Thanks again!

(and thanks so much to Carrie for writing these wonderful guides!!!!)

This is so good to hear StillJulie!!! I know adding a meeting time or two made a big difference in our day too, and surprisingly, really didn't add more time. I think it's because I wait to "check" things and discuss them with Wyatt until one time rather than doing it all sporadically throughout the day. I am so glad that you have found it to work well in your day too! You are right, we need to say this more for the upper guides, as I do think that would help others too. Sounds like you are off to a super start! I am trying to take a slow down approach this year too. It is easier said than done! But, I feel I need it, as well as the kids. I am making my schedule right now and hoping I can create more of a "slow down little bit of summer left" feel to the day if possible. I do realize that school will take time, especially at the upper levels, and especially considering the work is compacted into a 4 day week instead of a 5 day week - but I think it's ME - I need to take it down a notch. It was nice to read your post here and feel like you may be feeling the same way. Thanks so much for getting back to me here! It means a lot. Have a wonderful rest of your week... or YEAR, for that matter!

In Christ,
Julie