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So just out of curiosity, am I the only person who uses the program exactly "as is"? We are on unit 5 in LHFHG and we absolutely love it. It is perfect for his skill level, attention span, and interest. He is learning so much, and we all have fun. But sometimes I get frustrated/discouraged because I see everyone else adding things in or expanding activities. More books, videos, games, crafts... I am just thankful that we actually finish a day. It never even occurs to me to try to do more! Am I completely in the minority with this?

Side note...we love all of the ball activities with the Bible verses. I can't believe how much better my boys' passing/catching skills have gotten!

I don't add. Well we do piano for my older girls, but we don't add to school. It is complete and if you do everything as written it is much more than you think. You are doing well to complete it each day and each week, so you should be proud. If some parents/kids want to do more, great.

I don't think you need to add at all! It is plenty. I think sometimes parents are combining kids and they want to adjust. I also know that some parents are going to modify anything they do. I have been very happy with each level and as the kids get older, adding is difficult. I will say, all my kids take piano, we participate in AWANA and my kids are learning Latin. Other than that, we follow the program to a T and like it that way

I don't add, it is plenty full as is. The only thing I have done different is we are 1/2 speed with CTC right now but my ds loves science and wants it everyday, so we are doing it everyday. That means we will get ahead and need to add in another science book at some point.

I don't do completely "as is" only because we started a phonics program last year so my guy in LHFHG isn't following that and we use different math for the older 3 kids (this is our first year with HOD so didn't switch math). However, we certainly don't add and are lucky to get a day done in a day. We got 2 days done in 2 days and then today we're back to having (at least) 2 subjects for each of the older students (LHFHG can usually finish). We have yet to add anything to school. (One is in piano and they all attend a kids or youth group at our church, outside of school.)

So don't despair, you are certainly not alone! If we ever do something else it will have to be very organic to our day and something they want to pursue and that I actually have time to make (or let) happen, including clean-up!

Blessings,

I can't say we do it as is, but we also don't add to it, if that makes sense.

Like, we don't do phonics, and I'm not doing handwriting. I didn't do print with Julianna, she's doing cursive now with Bigger simply because she wanted to learn cursive. I'm also going to skip print handwriting with Evie too.

Also, we don't do DITHOR with the guide... we school year round and about every 6 weeks or so we will do a genre of DITHOR. We also keep working math and grammar during that time, so we are completely off with those subjects too.

Anything else we do is for fun really. We are part of something similar to a co-op with our homeschool group and the kids take classes with that. Jayden is taking NC history because I don't want to have to teach it and is in a book club, Grace is taking US Geography and presidents because my kids are weird and love that stuff and also is in a book club, Julianna is taking OT and Ancient Egypt because I love the teacher who teaches those classes (they also take NT and Middle Ages the years those are offered), and Evie is in a world history class to give her a few more pegs to hang stuff she learns in LHFHG when we start after Christmas. The biggest thing about these classes really is that they learn how to give presentations to people other than our family. We also do AWANA and chores as part of our school day.

Anyway, we don't add in games or drills or extras to learn about whatever we are studying at the moment. And I don't stress about making sure we get to everything every day honestly. Sometimes I will, sometimes we catch up (like once they get in CTC I'll make sure they have all the boxes in the student pages filled out), sometimes we don't do something because I forget, and sometimes we just don't do it because we just don't.

But even with that they get SO MUCH out of it. It's truly amazing.

The first year of HOD I tried to add some things, but after that I realized it wasn't necessary. It is very complete as is. We do a different math, but I don't consider that adding since Carrie has the guide set up to use a different math if the parent chooses. The only thing we add now is a vocabulary program that takes 15 minutes to do, but we only do that 1-2x's a week and only because my ds has some learning challenges and vocabulary has been a very weak area. We do a co-op on Fridays, but I only sign him up for classes that don't have homework. He takes gym, musical theater class and voice lessons. The farther up in the guides you go you will see that eventually everything gets covered and the skills build so wonderfully from year to year, that you really can relax, do the guide as written and know your dc are getting a very complete education.

Is your son 4? I would imagine people adding stuff have children who are older and can handle more. For little hearts we would add a bible cartoon to go with the history, if i could find one to match on youtube. But... i do not remember adding extra books other than maybe a child devotional if it fit the theme.