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This may be a dumb question but it's something I've been wondering for a long time. As I'm looking at curriculum, I see all these options for subjects that can be done all together (i.e. Science, history), and I wonder how that could be applied with HOD -- or really, how it works with any curriculum.

My thought process is this... If you're a family who already has kids at school age and you make the decision to pull them out of public school or whatever so you can homeschool instead -- in a situation like that, I can see how it would be possible to put 2-3 kids in the same book if they're close enough in age, so you can save money on materials.

But what about those families who homeschool from the very beginning? If my oldest child starts K at 5-6 years old in the LHFHG book -- and the next child is 2-3 years behind -- my assumption would be that by the time Child 2 is old enough for LHFHG, Child 1 would have moved on to Bigger or Beyond. So how does this whole concept of having some subjects that can be done all together work for this type of family?

I've been wondering about this for some time and this is the only avenue I could think of to ask, so thank you in advance for any answers given. I'm mainly wondering about this because I like the idea of doing subjects like science and history together to cut down on the school day, but not sure how that works when a family homeschools all the way through.

My short answer is: HOD is not really designed for this use. While there are many who use it this way (or combine children when they are close in skills or age), it is designed for you to meet each child where they are at, where each one is doing something at their level and growing in specific skills and knowledge over their school years. I think there is a trade off. On one hand, it may save you as the teacher some time to do history and read-alouds together. On the other hand, I think you would spend more time trying to ensure each student had learned what was appropriate for them from a reading that is at the level probably of someone in the middle. If you wanted there to be hands-on activities to cement learning you would have to find or create them for many different levels (I am assuming big family like mine with many varying ages here, this is where people seem to think this saves the most time).

Because HOD saves me so much time in planning and with a child who fits right into the program I can just open it up, read the instructions, and do it, I feel like this is a very fair trade-off for not being able to do all their history and things together. I see each of my children learning and growing, taking ownership of the learning they are doing, excited about a little one-on-one time with me during the day (the 2YO is the one who gets shorted in all this quite honestly), and I feel this kind of a program challenges them appropriately and contains content that is appropriate for them at each age.

Also in the early learning stages it is very difficult to combine children because they change SO much over the course of one year. What a 5 year old can do is so very different from what a 6 year old can do. When my oldest was in LHFHG I was trying to figure out how to combine the first two since they are "only" two years apart in age. In looking through it all, I realized I would have had to either do something else for about 2 years so my younger daughter could mature, or really hold my oldest back. Neither of those seemed like good options to me so we kept going. I am really really glad we did! I think if you are starting out with older children, as you said, it is a lot easier to adapt these programs to fit a span of 2-3 years well.

Thank you so much for your insights. I definitely see where you're coming from. I hadn't thought about it in that light but it makes a lot of sense. I didn't think about the planning aspect and how that can save a lot of time with HOD.

I wanted to add to what Melissa said - I know some families who are very bent on keeping the kids together would just have a child repeat a level. So for example, with Little Hearts and Beyond, you probably wouldn't need to repeat. But with Bigger, you could probably repeat it a second time adding in the extensions. And then as the kids get older, one child would always do the extensions and have their 3rs adjusted to their level. Another option would be - take the the first couple of levels, Little Hearts and Beyond, and go 1/2 speed until that younger child catches up to the level. But HOD is very "level" oriented. You don't necessarily go by the age range, you go by the level.

For me, I like HOD because I actually like to keep my kids separate. The parent time spent per child is very low once you get into the upper grades. And even with the lower grades, most parents aren't spending more than an 1-1.5 hours of their time with the kids. Bigger is probably the only level you might spend a little bit more time. This is all provided that a child is properly placed. I know for myself, I spend about 1.5 hour with my youngest dd, 2 hours with son and 1.5 hours with oldest. I teaching about 5 hours per day total. And the times I gave were generous. I don't always spend that much time with each child, that is a maximum. I chose HOD because I love that the kids can learn on their own and I love seeing each child be perfectly challenged. I have tried the "together" curriculums and they just aren't a good fit for me or my kids. My kids fight the whole time and one child isn't challenged and then another gets left behind. Not a good fit here. HOD is great because once the kids can read fairly well, they take on reading their history and science to themselves. They also take on the responsibility for hands on activities. My oldest has a hard time focusing and following written directions. I usually get things out for her at the beginning of the day but she really does her own projects and such. My other 2 I don't think will have these issues. And my oldest is still in the youngest age range. So I do hold her hand a little bit more than probably needed.

But HOD is great! We love it! My husband is very impressed with how much my kids are learning. I love that my kids love what they are learning. Honestly, I just love that they are actually learning and retaining things. It has been a huge blessing in this home. And for the record, I have homeschooled from the beginning. While nothing is ever "prefect", this is the most prefect thing I have found for us We love it and we are never switching

Here is one more thing that I'm not sure people consider when they say "combine." Yes, for some subjects, like history or science, it is easier to combine kids of varying ages because of the fact that the activities and concepts can reach to a wider range. But for the other subjects, you definitely want to have it at their level, and you want to make sure they can each do their own work - math, reading, spelling, grammar, writing. (Even if you did have two kids that are at the same level in those subjects, you may still work with them independently at least partially because they need to do their own work, you need to grade it and make sure they understand it.) So for pretty much half of their subjects, you will probably have all your children in separate levels whether you combine or not. The "extra" read-aloud time for the history and science is only mainly an issue in the younger guides, as Nealewill pointed out. It is most intense in Bigger and Preparing because those two guides have the most content in them and the child is not reading most of it independently yet (they start to do this in Preparing).

Because it is so easy to use, several guides at once is very workable. And again, I do see a lot of benefit from it.

Its pretty understood that when people talk about combining students, they mean combining them in history, science, read-a-louds, etc, but keeping their math and LA at individual levels.

We combine our 10, 8, and 7yo in Preparing (the 8yo and 7yo do math and LA from Bigger, and their own independent science - which is reading through the series that Carrie schedules in the earlier guides. They've heard them before, but haven't read them independently). They've been combined since the beginning. I started Little Hearts when my current 10yo just turned 6yo and my current 7yo was 3 1/2 yo. We did Little Hearts spread over two years and then moved on to a guide a year. The 7yo is brilliant. Lol. I'm not sure if its because he's been listening in with his older brothers since he was little, or what, but he is, by far, my smartest child. I plan on combining as much as possible. I have two groups of three boys that were born in 2 1/2 years. So, I just chart it out, which guides we might do over the years, where everyone will be, etc. I plan on starting Little Hearts with my three little guys when my oldest one in that group is 6. We are working through LHTH right now, so we will probably do MWF Geography guide with that group when my three middle guys get to the WG guide.

This won't work for everyone, but I don't mind using the left side of one guide and the right side of another with a particular child.

Hi DeannaF! Some people combine using HOD, and some do not. It depends so much on your family and your dc, that each situation really must be looked at on an individual basis. There are some really great threads on this topic, and I'd love for you to read them and then share your thoughts that are specific to your family...

To combine or not to combine:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5290

How to decide whether to combine or not:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7019&p=51157#p51157

When you get the chance to share a bit more about your kiddos, their ages (even if you have a baby it's helpful to know), their skills, and any special family considerations we should be aware of (i.e. health concerns, if you work outside of the home some of the time, if you are widowed or single, etc.) - we'd love to help more!

In Christ,
Julie

I plan on combining my younger two, who are 20.5 months apart. We are just "holding" the older one back on the HOD guides until the youngest is ready. Since it is only going to be 1 year of holding back, it isn't an issue at all. We are just moving him at his pace in the 3Rs until she is ready for LHFHG. But, i think with a larger age gap (more than 2 school years apart), it would be harder to combine. Like the others said, some times it is easier to separate them. I have actually even penciled in separating my younger two sometime between Preparing and RtR, depending on how the youngest is doing. If she can keep up with her brother, then we will keep going with them together, but I know I might have to slow things down for her once the guides get independent.

StephanieU wrote:I plan on combining my younger two, who are 20.5 months apart. We are just "holding" the older one back on the HOD guides until the youngest is ready. Since it is only going to be 1 year of holding back, it isn't an issue at all. We are just moving him at his pace in the 3Rs until she is ready for LHFHG. But, i think with a larger age gap (more than 2 school years apart), it would be harder to combine. Like the others said, some times it is easier to separate them. I have actually even penciled in separating my younger two sometime between Preparing and RtR, depending on how the youngest is doing. If she can keep up with her brother, then we will keep going with them together, but I know I might have to slow things down for her once the guides get independent.

Thanks for sharing this, StephanieU! I was going to mention that in general, this is a good way to go about combining if you are homeschooling with HOD from the start and your kiddos are within a few years' age of one another. This is well worth a try - and why not? It could be a wonderful combination the entire way through to graduation!!!

In Christ,
Julie

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for all of your advice. These are some great things to think about. I was mostly asking for the future so I have options to consider, but currently we have 1 child (working on #2) and he's 2. We are doing some of the activities from LHTH 2-3 days a week, depending on how he's feeling. So I know it's a few years down the road for us right now but this whole concept of combining has always been one I've wondered about. So thank you for the ideas.

Incidentally, as we've just recently begun LHTH, I'm discovering how much I like this curriculum! My son turned 2 in June and he's already able to identify most colors, several letters, and a few numbers as well. He's learning do much! I can't wait to go back through LHTH again and see how much he's grown.

So glad you are enjoying it. Whether you ultimately decide to combine or not, I am sure your kids will still have a great learning experience with HOD. I can't believe the blessing we have seen by doing this program. And my kids absolutely love their school work! I personally am going to sound VERY mean right here - but I am not a sensitive person and don't really care if my kids "like" school. I want them to learn. I want them grow in abilities. And I don't want them to "hate" it, but I never really cared if they "liked" it. However, after finding HOD now, I do love how much they love it. I love how much they learn! I love how each level grows in skills! It is pretty much a perfect fit for my family, way better than anything I was coming up with on my own. And when I started last year, my two youngest were combine and now they aren't. I would definitely read through the links posts by Julie about whether or not to combine. The beauty of it is, you could always decide to combine and then switch to not combining. Or visa versa, you could start out not combining and then switch to having them combine. I think ultimately, once you have the second child, you can see their abilities and how they deal with each other, and I think that will be a guiding force in your decision. Realistically though - I think for most families, to combine or not is very individualistic and is made one way or another for a wide variety of reasons. Either way, there is no right or wrong and to me, that is a very liberating and wonderful freedom as homeschoolers