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I currently have three children ages 6, 4, and 2. I'm expecting another baby in six weeks. I've been researching various curriculums and styles to find something "easy" to do while I'm taking care of a newborn and nursing a baby for a year. I started with Sonlight earlier this year, but it was too overwhelming and my daughter was bored with "just reading". Then I thought about using textbook/workbooks because my daughter could work more independently of me. She's a really good reader. Well, now I'm looking into HOD Beyond Little Hearts for my 6 year old. It looks more managable and less expensive than other programs I've looked at and definitely more interesting than just using textbooks. I would love to hear from others who have successfully used HOD while balancing the needs of a newborn, toddler, preschooler, and 2nd grader.

Hi,
I have six children, ages 1-11, and once had a 6, 4, 2, and newborn. We weren't used HOD then, but I did use Little Hands, Little Hearts, and Bigger Hearts when I had a 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. Unfortunately when I had a newborn, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, I errored and left HOD for something else for a short time. We missed HOD, though. I love that HOD is open and go, and uses common household items for projects. I love the variety of activities. I am currently using Beyond with my 7 and 9 yr. old and it is very manageable with the little ones around. I actually find homeschooling with a newborn easier than homeschooling with toddlers LOL I think you would be very pleased with HOD. Just make certain that your 6 yr. old is best suited for Beyond and not Little Hearts. Proper placement is the key to success.

I agree that homeschooling with a newborn is usually very easy for me. Newborns aren't too demanding at our house. So, I usually worry more about homeschooling with a 2yo.

That said, I enjoy HOD and we're using Beyond right now. We have a baby due in Spring, plus a 1yo, 2yo, and 4yo and I'm using Beyond with the 6, 7, and 8yos. The oldest is basically independent. Anyway....Beyond is great because it takes no prep time, really. I find it fits in nicely with our day, and only takes a short amount of time. If we are having a stressfull period (pregnancy or really tired mama), we just do phonics and math, and cover the rest when the stress has past. This works for us, and I can pick up Beyond after two weeks or more of not using it and the kids still remember the history stories or the science that we've covered.

I'm not a slave to it, and skip what I want or add in more if I want, but doing it as written is easy and it covers all the bases.

Homeschooling with my newborn was easy and stayed easy up till she recently turned 3... She is less easily directed these days.

But HOD works well with all sorts of families.

I think you'd enjoy HOD so much! We have found it to be totally open and go. I have used HOD through the last decade through health concerns of my own, health concerns of my parents, total bedrest, newborns, toddlers, and working from my home. I still love it, and have found it to be my best friend when it comes to getting my homeschooling done consistently no matter what is happening in my life. I also am so thankful that it is very sound academically, covers all my bases, and yet is Christ-centered. It gets to my kiddos' hearts as well as their minds. Not to mention, it is fun. I could not go back to textbooks and workbooks, my kids would never stand for it. They really enjoy their days with HOD. You have received good advice about checking out the placement chart for your 6 yo though. Make sure she is ready for Beyond, because Little Hearts is better sometimes for some 6 yo - just depends on the child. Both guides are awesome, so the only way to go wrong is to put dd in a guide she's not well-placed in academically. Here is the placement chart so you can see where she best fits...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Also, so you can compare - here is the first week of plans for LHFHG...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/little ... t-week.pdf

And here is the first week of plans for Beyond...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/beyond ... t-week.pdf

HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

I had a 6, 4, 2, and newborn and was doing Beyond! It was quite simple. I even had LHTH that I occasionally did

After you get used to it, it works well I always found that doing school with a newborn to be much easier than doing school with an older, mobile, baby.

Now we have 9, 8, 6, 3.5, and newborn. Somehow what needs done gets done daily. I did skip school or do half days a lot while training my girls to do chores around the house to be able to help me out more. I think that might have been the best idea I've ever had!!

HOD is so nice because there's lots of things you can curl up together on the couch and read while nursing a newborn, but they aren't so lengthy that you can't get up and change a diaper when you're done with that...Set your younger ones up with a coloring page or set of blocks or something to keep them busy (at my house that's a tractor or truck, but that does get a little noisy!) We've used HOD through a pregnancy and a newborn and I agree with others, the harder age for me comes when they get a little older!

I have a friend who's using HOD right now with a newborn and a nearly 3 yo at home, and it's going well for them. She adds in other things (like longer math, singing/music, and writing I think) and she tells me, "We always get through our HOD stuff, it's so quick and fun. The other stuff doesn't happen every day."

Thank you all for the encouragement!

I just wanted to pop in and say hi because I'm in the exact same situation as you! My kiddos are also 6, 4, and 2 and I have a newborn due in 8 weeks. The ladies have given you some great encouragement and advice. I think you'll really enjoy HOD!