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Hello, my name is Shelley and I am considering using Preparing Hearts this school year with my 8 and 10 year old daughters. What I am trying to figure out is how do you manage the independent work with only one manual? I have visions of both of them needing it at the same time or one of them carrying it off to do an assignment and then me not being able to find it. How do you manage 3 people using 1 manual? I'm not used to sharing my instructor's guide!

I believe that the recommendation is IF POSSIBLE to buy a guide for each child doing the guide. This gives them ownership as well as flexibility in when to do their independent work. Otherwise you would have to schedule the time and make sure it worked for one to have the guide to finish their independent work and then the other. And you can't even use the guide yourself, as you are noting, while one of them needs it for independent. If both kids have one, then you could work with one using their guide while the other has their own to do independent work.

I just put mine on a counter. When they need to peek at it, they just go look at it. If they need it for a few minutes (such as copying a part of a poem), they just use it right there. Although it might be ideal for each to have a guide (and I have come very close to buying each a guide), I had three in the same guide, so this worked for us.

I made student accountability sheets for the kids. You can download them from the HOD Preparing Facebook page. I had three in Preparing at the same time. It worked fine. If one student needed a book the other was reading, then they had to just choose something else to do. It was a great chance to do math or LA with the one.

Surprisingly, my dc did well sharing the same guide and most books. One typically would start before the other, but even if they did start at the same time, one would start with history and the other science or some other independent activity. We typically kept the guide on the table so it was accessible for everyone. When it was our scheduled time for work together, they would usually bring the guide and necessary books to me because we usually do a lot of that work on the couch. When my ds broke his leg, it was more challenging because he was confined to a recliner downstairs while my dd did her work in the den upstairs. They still managed to share it though. They worked it out, usually without too much fussing. I considered getting a second guide for this year so they could each have their own guide, but I think the cooperation that they have learned in sharing the guide and books has been good, and I'm pretty for sure my dd would be loosing hers a lot and using my ds anyway. LOL!