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Hi, All! Such a long time since I've been here on the board-I feel a bit lost. We have made some big changes in our homeschool this year-one of the biggest was a move away from HOD. Last year was completely overwhelming to me and I felt I needed to completely change things and come to a new year with a completely new start. I've realized a couple of things in being away from HOD-sometimes just that change in perspective helps you see things more clearly, ya know? One of the biggest things-sorry for being so surprised at this! -was just how well HOD educated my children (in all areas) but LA was the one that really jumped out at me. My dd entered public school this fall and I had been so worried that she was behind in her writing skills and grammar (she was doing a lower level of R&S than recommended for her guide) but this has really let me see how very adequately prepared she was for all of these things, even though our approach was very gentle! I know this is an area of struggle for one of the boys I still have at home, and questioned whether the gentle approach of HOD was maybe not aggressive enough to beef up his skills. I now think it's probably exactly what he needs. (Along with some vision therapy that we're anticipating beginning with him very soon.) So, that's a really long way of saying that I appreciated HOD when I left, and now having stepped away, appreciate even more the quality of education it accomplishes with such a gentle approach!

Now, my question. Forgive me for being so blunt here-I truly mean no offense at this-how do you implement HOD (more than one guide) without becoming a stressed-out-box-checker? I read a statement recently that most problems with homeschool curricula are not problems with the curriclum at all, but rather a problem with our approach to it. I really feel this was my issue with HOD. I just found myself stretched so thin and frazzled all the time, completely overwhelmed with all the things we had to get through everyday. In complete honesty I have to say that has been much better since I've left-I combined the boys for History, Science, Bible and picked individual programs for spelling, writing, math, and they each do a certain required amt. of reading each day, often associated with our chosen history program. I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit, but was surprised to hear my boys both express the other day they like HOD better and want to return! I should say that I do not feel combining my children in HOD is a good option. They are just too far apart in skills to make it serve either of them well. They also seem to like doing their own thing better than being combined.

If you were to look at the placement chart today, where would your kids place? That migth help us figure otu a good way to navigate 3 guides without being stressed.

For now we'd be looking at 2 guides-Preparing and either Bigger half-speed or Beyond full speed. My oldest is at public school, and I'm not ready to start anything formal with the youngest yet.

The combination that about killed me was CTC, Bigger, LHFHG.

Last year was my first year with HOD and I did Beyond and Preparing. Running those 2 guides went very smoothly and my teaching time was kept to around 4-5 hours a day 4 days per week. For me, I loved the fact that my oldest was doing quite a bit independently. And I loved that my younger 2 weren't overwhelmed by the volume of Beyond. It was a perfect amount of school.

As for being overwhelmed and scheduling, I would check the schedule forum. I had placed a schedule on their for my time with Preparing and with Beyond. Most days we were done by 3:00 or so but I work from home and didn't start school till 10:00 AM where I had to do the teaching. I also found that meeting regularly with each child through out the day was a must. This helped everyone keep the flow much better.

And yes - this year my days are full. I am doing CTC, Bigger and Little (LOL). But I have noticed that my son is starting to take on some stuff on his own. My oldest dd is doing SO much independently and that has helped tremendously. And with my youngest, she is interested in doing school and getting it done! My oldest is my slow poke child but it doesn't affect my schedule, only hers and her amount of free time. And we also don't schedule much during the day most days. We do co-op once a week and then I may or may not schedule 1 field trip a few times a month. But if I schedule a field trip, I have a certain number of days a year that are free days. Other than that, if we go on a trip, they need to make up the school. But I found that my schedule in particular is key to getting everything done. I think I have a schedule in the files as well for that year but that won't help you now LOL.