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My dd 8 (9 in a few wks) has completed 6 wks of PHFHG & previously used HOD from LHFHG on. We both love this guide, but have had numerous challenges. Early on, she was seeming to procrastinate alot, so I completely re-did the schedule which helped. Now she tends to be more diligent in getting things done, but I've since caught her not reading directions & 'cutting' corners/not doing a thorough job....which I find disturbing (as she hasn't done that before)!

My biggest challenge though, is how to schedule day to day since this is the 1st guide that the boxes take different time allotments from day to day & it is only a 4 day schedule. We have a 'great' schedule on paper that works some days, but then you throw in creative writing, science experiment or written narration which take longer & we often get all messed up!...and the 4 day/wk just leaves us confused as to what we need to do on the 5th day, cause it's never the same (so far, we've always done math & often have various other subjects that haven't gotten done during the week-most of which usually require my help!). My state requires tracking hours, so doing nothing on the 5th day isn't an option . Without the consisitency in the schedule, we are having a hard time getting into a routine which I desperately need as I have 3 other younger kids (1 an infant) that need their own routines!

So how does everyone deal with the lack of routine in PHFHG while still providing routine to other dc? I'm eager to hear all ideas as I really want to make this work!

Well, if you wanted to do PHFHG 5 days each week then I would just keep going. So that means that after you do day 4 on Thursday then on Friday you would do the nest unit day 1 and so on. Your days will not line up with the days of the week though. So Monday will not always be day 1 of a new unit.

But for us the 4 day week works so beautifully. Our Fridays are IEW writing class (which I teach to small groups), math for everyone, and science for my oldest because she is doing rev2rev with the exploration education advanced which requires an extra day of science. Then 2 of mine have gymnastics. I feel like Fridays are a fun day for everyone but we still get so much accomplished.

As for tracking hours, don't forget to track extra things your dc does. Reading before bed? Church? Sunday school? Family devotions? Exercise? Art projects? Could you add typing or physical education on Fridays? Just giving you some ideas. I can't really offer any help on the other part of your question about scheduling.

I remember spending a lot of time in the guide while planning things out. I can't find the worksheet I used, but I would look at the things that throw you off schedule and put them on Friday. The written narration, science experiment, creative writing assignment on day 2, and vocabulary cards are all things I would put on day 5. I would also do reading, math, and dictation, and finish up anything for DITHOR that needed attention. I think you will find pulling those things out will help your schedule. I looked at doing a 5 day schedule at first and that was my plan. I ended up going 1/2 speed since my son was barely 8 when we started.

countrymom, thanks for the suggestion...it's good to know that other's have though about this to! I actually tried exactly what you suggested

countrymom wrote:... I would look at the things that throw you off schedule and put them on Friday. The written narration, science experiment, creative writing assignment on day 2, and vocabulary cards are all things I would put on day 5....

but then realized that all those things that I was carrying over required me, meaning I was needed more on Friday by that child than the other days & it was taking away from my other children's time with me.

So how did you arrange things for 1/2 speed...I've been contemplating that also...with 1/2 speed, did you do anything on Fridays?

Well, she's on the very youngest age range to be using Preparing. I think she may be a little overwhelmed. Have you considered slowing things down a bit, adding in some library books, and taking each day a little more gently? I have an 8 year old, soon to be 9, who is currently using Bigger at half-pace. Because I don't really want her to hit a middle guide until 5th grade, we are able to take the rabbit-trail route for Bigger and Preparing (which we will start around November) and it's been a lot of fun. We are able to watch short clips about the history material on youtube or take the occasional library trip to read subject matter books. She has also had more time to work on online timed math games and read more chapter books and science encyclopedias. All of this can be "scheduled" just as would be done under a "math lab" or "reading time" in a brick and mortar school. We have a fairly scheduled day and I write "free book time" or "SumDog online - 15 min" or "free science reading".

My state that I just moved from required hourly tracking as well. I think you may want to ask around how other moms actually equate hours at this young of an age. It is not a literal term in most homes in 3rd grade. It is a term for subject matter/day. Homeschooling at this age is like one on one tutoring. Think how much more gets accomplished per minute than in a class full of 8 years olds (no hand raising, no lining up for the drinking fountain, no lining up for the potty, no lining up for the lunch room, no lining up for....you get my point).

Keep in mind that in the middle school years, it is definitely a literal time (out of necessity). I did use Preparing 4 days a week with oldest dd during her 4th grade year and had no trouble getting my "time" in. Also consider that "field trips" can be counted if you feel insecure using a subject per day as an hour of class time.

I was going to suggest 1/2 speed as well. As far as Fridays, just keep going. It is not necessary to keep a Monday through Friday schedule for a unit. I think you will have less frustrations if you don't feel you need to have a unit completed in a week. It sounds to me like you need a half speed schedule. Maybe your dd is cutting corners because she knows it is taking long to get everything done. You want her to continue enjoying school. For your hours, as a pp said, count field trips, extra reading, cooking, PE, clubs, music, etc. We don't need to record hours, but if I had to, I would be careful to log anything she does that could count, even educational videos or educational computer time. When we begin Preparing next fall, I will start out half speed probably, and then play it by ear as far as going full speed. But, we will just go at a pace that my dd will be able to handle. When we did LHFHG and Beyond, I pushed to get them finished in a year. If I had to do it over, I would not do that. It takes the fun out of school when doing the work just to get the guide completed. Enjoy Preparing.

I guess my original post wasn't very clear...I'm not so concerned about the 'hours' as I am a consistent schedule. So, yes, we can find other educational things to do on the 5th day, but then the schedule is totally different than the rest of the week. A different schedule 1 day/wk makes it hard to establish a routine for dd8 while trying to maintain the regular routine for the younger 3 dc...maybe it's just me but I find it stressful & confusing! I kinda like the idea of just keeping going (doing the next day 1 on day 5) but I'm also worried about getting to the next guide to fast.

I'm seriously considering 1/2 speed for this reason...I feel like this is exactly what's happening for us:

psreit wrote: It takes the fun out of school when doing the work just to get the guide completed. Enjoy Preparing.

So does anyone have a 1/2 schedule that has worked well for PHFHG?

It sounds like half-speed would be the way to go. I am not good at finding old threads, but I'm sure there are some out there giving half-speed schedule suggestions. Some do the left side one day, and the right side the next. Many like to do math every day. Looking at the first week of Preparing, if we do half-speed, I will probably opt to do it that way. The left side boxes seem to all tie in with the history and storytime readings, so I think it would be good to do those boxes the same day. I will do math every day. I'm just brainstorming, but hope that gives you something to go on.

I'm not really good at searching for past threads either, but I know I posted about half speed Preparing at some point with my schedule. I found we couldn't do left side/right side with the half speed thing because there was "too much" reading one day and "too much" fun stuff the other day. We dreaded the left side day (we much prefer math/English/science here).... let me see if I can remember. It's been a while since we went half speed.

The biggest thing for me was spreading out MY time. Math and LA we didn't necessarily do on schedule, just whenever we wanted to do math we did math and whenever English we did English. And I really struggled to do DITHOR on a regular basis.... when I was on my game I had her read one day and do any work the next.

So it was somewhat like this....

Day one:
Reading about history
Science Exploration
History Project
Poetry
Math/LA

Day two:
Story Time
Independent History
Bible Study
Rotating Box
Math/LA

At her age I would recommend half speed. Then to increase your hours for the state add in some fun and independent things. My kids have enjoyed art lessons with See the Light Art DVD's. I wanted them to get some instruction in art to help them with HOD projects and I feel that these did that. You will not need to help her on these. Maybe add in Typing. We have used Typing Instructor for kids. You can also add in Spanish. Maybe work on writing if you think she enjoys it by using Igniting your writing (recommended by HOD to be used with DITHOR for those who only use DITHOR.)

Lora Beth,
I like your schedule. I was looking for a way to break up the left side, but my concern was that the rotating box ties in sometimes with the history reading and sometimes with storytime. Was that not a problem? I guess the independent history box could be put on either day. I can only see the first week here on HOD's website, and it looks like the rotating box only ties to the storytime once in the first week. Would you say that is typically how it is? I am trying to have a 'routine' for my dd. This year our science and history are light, while we focus on reading and math. When we get into Preparing, I need to have the days planned out and stick with it. Doing half speed, I don't want to jump around. We will be doing math and LA regularly, because of my dd's dyslexia (we currently are using a LA program for dyslexia), so I will break things up similarly to yours. I like to try to balance out the boxes according to time, but I don't want to split boxes that may be important to do together.

montanamom-I hope something here helps you bring together a half-speed schedule. I think your dd's days will be more enjoyable. I remember that overwhelming feeling myself, just trying to get every box done in a day. My dd needs a lot of one-on-one with her struggles in math and reading. So, I feel the crunch personally, because she needs me for so much. Even this year, though not doing a guide, I have to be careful not to add all other subjects to the math and reading too often. It's too much for her to process some days. Each child is different. So, my advice is to find a balance, and have a great year with Preparing.

There is a post by Carrie that says a really good way to do Preparing half-speed, but I can't find it.

There is also another post -
How does half-speed look in your home?
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5600&p=41232#41232

I have to run out the door, maybe when I get back I can look for the other post if no one else has found it.

Hope this helps some.

For 1/2 speed I do five days a week. I agree with the previous poster for splitting (below). I always like to split the history up when I do 1/2 speed because it gives us opportunity to review briefly. I do math, reading, and English everyday as well.

Day one:
Reading about history
Science Exploration
History Project
Poetry
Math/LA

Day two:
Story Time
Independent History
Bible Study
Rotating Box
Math/LA

I think I did do a few weeks of half speed when starting Preparing, but eventually what I found the most success with was just setting a time for school to take (my goal was to be finished by lunch that year) and we did as much as we had time for, and then finished up any remaining boxes the next day, as well as starting the next days' boxes as time allowed. I hope that makes sense!

The thing I liked about this was that it worked my dd into doing full speed, without her ever feeling like she was doing more work; because we were still taking the same amount of time! She was often able to do all but a couple of the boxes. We would try to save things that didn't necessarily coordinate with the History Box, so our theme wasn't dis-combobulated . This was also nice because it often saved a light work load for Friday; and it moved us through the Preparing guide slightly quicker.

When we ran Preparing our practice was that everyone did school on a school day. So, if the younger kids had a 5 day week, so did the oldest. We often ended up working around my husband's work schedule with Monday's off and if we did a family fun thing, no one did school that day so it would be a 4 day week. Occasionally (very rarely) we did finish a couple of things up on a Saturday when Dad was at work. This year, I'm trying to be more consistent with 5 day school weeks for my Bigger and LHFHG kiddos, and am really trying to have my dd finish up her CTC work each day. So, I'm rewarding her with a day off if she's working hard enough to get her work done in 4 days. We can use Fridays to bake with Mom, or have a piano lesson (if Mom can get disciplined enough to teach her every week! ) Also free reading time to enjoy a book of her choice. At least, that's the goal. Hasn't exactly happened yet in 3 weeks.

We do the timer thing too!

After we move from half speed I pick how long I want that child to spend doing school work and once that time has been reached we stop. She finishes what she is currently doing first, but that time is all we do.