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I tried to implement HOD last year combining my kids and it was kind of a flop and we stopped part way through. I ended up purchasing LHFHG, BLHFHG & BHFHG last year trying t make it work. So this year with the help of a few ladies on the board I decided to split them up into their own guides and it's going well. I am running LHTH, LHFHG & BHFHG.

Sooooo.....I have accumulated SO much curriculum over my 3 years of homeschooling--it was INSANE! I was driving myself crazy pulling this out, putting it back, pulling it off the shelf again and putting it back. Even while trying to get HOD to work I kept feeling the need to supplement here and there and it was just so overwhelming.

What I did yesterday and today was clean [everything] out of my closet besides my HOD books AND GOT RID OF THEM!!!! . There I said it, I actually donated every single thing that I had. This was the only thing that I could do to help from driving myself crazy with supplementing and switching back and forth between curriculums. I was making myself sick with it all. Do I use Rod and Staff English, Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Primary Language Lessons, Queens Language Lessons, Easy Grammar, Simply Grammar and the list goes on. I think I had everything out there and tried everything out there.

With that said, I am so ashamed and disgusted with the amount of money that I have spent over the years and am SO happy that the Lord led me to HOD. I also wanted to mention that I did this even though we are so broke I have so much confidence in HOD that I felt okay getting rid of everything else (no more temptations to try something else). Some may think that I could have just had a yard sale or something. I don't know how many times over the years that I have boxed things up and put them in the garage to have a sale only to have every single book come back in the house 2 to 3 at a time and end up back on the shelf. I felt so crazy and couldn't seem to get off the roller coaster. At times it made me just want to give up and put them back in school because I felt like I could not get it together no matter how much or how hard I tried.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I am praying that I will now be able to have more peaceful school days. I am so blessed to have found HOD. This feels really good!

We're two peas in a pod. Last year was the first year I did HOD from cover to cover. Prior to last year's school session, was the first year I sold everything that I used or didn't use. This year I again sold or donated EVERYTHING ELSE! And you know what? IT IS FREEING! My mind is calmer. I have no more guilt. And I know there will always be something neat out there or an aspect of a program that is neat. But there's too much stress over it and I no longer have it! I don't feel I have to use it because I bought it, because it's gone. I spent oodles of money as well. It's a loss in that I didn't use it, but it's also a gain in knowing I found what I want, that I don't like certain programs and will never use them again and frankly some just are absurdly expensive and I've learned that lesson. So in that aspect, I got my money's worth.

annaz,

Thanks so much for sharing. It's good to know that I am not the only one because to be honest I thought I was alone and it was really depressing. YES!!! It really did feel good to let everything go. I haven't felt like this in a very long time. I have also decided to stay off ALL the other boards that I used to lurk around--with the exception of HOD of course I am pretty sure that it will help.

This is what I did and am doing as well. I have donated so much homeschooling stuff. I want it all out of my house. It is so freeing. I even threw out all those half used workbooks that I kept feeling guilty about. It was hard but again it was so liberating .

You go girl!

YIPPIE!!!!! The very last bag is GONE!!!!

But.....Oh my! I forgot about all the pdf's that I purchased and stored on my computer. The thought of hitting delete....yikes!

keyjoh wrote:YIPPIE!!!!! The very last bag is GONE!!!!

But.....Oh my! I forgot about all the pdf's that I purchased and stored on my computer. The thought of hitting delete....yikes!

PDF's are my most biggest peave! I don't do free downloads of any curriculum, unless is part of the program I am using. Those are the ones I never knew I had. In fact, I delete bookmarks monthly and dejunk my computer, desktop, files, etc.

Everytime a free download comes or a cheap one (sorry Currclick) I look for the delete button. I cannot possibly keep my mind clear with those. And for me, I never, ever used any of them. Free isn't freeing. Free is cumbersome and a guilt trip.Hit delete!

I think this is incredibly poignant...

annaz wrote:We're two peas in a pod. Last year was the first year I did HOD from cover to cover. Prior to last year's school session, was the first year I sold everything that I used or didn't use. This year I again sold or donated EVERYTHING ELSE! And you know what? IT IS FREEING! My mind is calmer. I have no more guilt. And I know there will always be something neat out there or an aspect of a program that is neat. But there's too much stress over it and I no longer have it! I don't feel I have to use it because I bought it, because it's gone. I spent oodles of money as well. It's a loss in that I didn't use it, but it's also a gain in knowing I found what I want, that I don't like certain programs and will never use them again and frankly some just are absurdly expensive and I've learned that lesson. So in that aspect, I got my money's worth.

What an excellent post, annaz! Such an encouragement to others - thank you so much for sharing this.

keyjoh- I am so proud of you! What you have done is not easy - so congrats! And I now hereby challenge you to... delete... delete... delete... and feel the weight lifted.

In Christ,
Julie

annaz wrote:
Everytime a free download comes or a cheap one (sorry Currclick) I look for the delete button. I cannot possibly keep my mind clear with those. And for me, I never, ever used any of them. Free isn't freeing. Free is cumbersome and a guilt trip.Hit delete!

Well said, thanks annaz!

Wow! I really needed to read your post! This is exactly what I have been doing for the last three years. Maybe I should do the same as you did.

joyfulhomeschooler wrote:Wow! I really needed to read your post! This is exactly what I have been doing for the last three years. Maybe I should do the same as you did.

I say go for it!! As hard as it was, it feels really good to be F-R-E-E!!

Ladies,

I know how you feel! Talk about a cluttered mind! As I've been writing guides the past many years, I have managed to accumulate and store an immense amount of curriculum and books...books... books. I never wanted to get rid of any of it, just in case I wanted to use it in a future guide! Over time, it does really weigh you down, doesn't it!?!

Yesterday, my husband and I cleaned out our shed, and I got rid of everything that I am no longer pondering as a possibility for a future HOD guide. We just donated it all too.

I had no idea I had accumulated so much! I feel so much less cluttered and clearer in my mind. I could hardly think anymore where to put all of the high school resources we are working through now as we go forward with that.

I am a new woman! What a timely thread! I have decided clutter weighs me down.

Blessings,
Carrie

Excellent thread ladies!

We put our homeschool on a diet this spring/summer as well and we're getting closer to our "goal weight" . I have a few shelves/piles/boxes to go and instead of letting guilt rob me of joy I am choosing (with my husband's blessing) to view the mistakes as "teacher training". Choosing curriculum is very hard and for some of us it takes time to use a curriculum to find out whether or not it fits. I wanted and needed to try a LOT to truly learn about myself as a teacher, my children as individual learners, and our family as a group.

I am re-inspired to continue to PURGE this week. We are starting our school year a few weeks late due to a significant loss to our family that disrupted our summer. Lord willing we will be ready in the next 1-2 weeks for a full schedule. In the meantime, as I'm putting notebooks together and sorting books, I will continue to throw out or donate what we truly no longer need.

WHERE did you guys donate your homeschool stuff? I have stuff to get rid of too. Did you just use Goodwill or is there a place that distributes it to families in need?

Great post! I have been doing pretty well with letting other curr items go but what about all those "reading" books on the shelf. How do you decide what "extra" reading books to keep. HOD is so full and uses such great books that I keep wondering if I should get rid of these "xtra" books. Will they won't to read them or even have time to? How do you decide about these?