heartofdakota.com

I'd like to hear from the large family moms, ones who've been homeschooling awhile.

I have my three middle boys (will be 6th,4th and 3rd next year) combined in Preparing this year. They have been combined since the beginning. The year has gone well, but I've tweaked Preparing as needed. Only the oldest did the independent stuff, the other boys did read their own science and make notebook pages and narrate, so they are used to the routine, but they used a lower level of books than in Preparing. *I did have the soon-to-be-third grader begin to read the Preparing science about halfway through the year. He didn't do the assignments, but read and narrated. So, he can read at the Preparing level. Neither of the younger boys didn't did written narrations, as I start those when they are 10. My soon to be 3rd grader is bright, and could handle most of the work in CTC, except just for attention and a desire to do it. My soon to be 4th grader is being remediated in reading, and won't be ready for the work in CTC. My plan was to keep them together, tweaking as needed, all the way through. I could always give them their own science and history to read, but keep them doing guide work for the other stuff. Obviously, that's a big tweak, but it keeps us working together in one history period as a family, while using HOD as our base.

I've used HOD with my oldest for 7 years, and I've tried to find another CM curriculum that I can use for the whole group, but I just love HOD. I love the way that its laid out, and everything makes sense to me. So, I really do not want to change curriculum at this point. I have to find a way to make it work.

If I don't combine, I could let the 6th grader start CTC next year, and take another year to get the younger boys' skills up to par, starting them in CTC next year. RTR is almost entirely independent, and I know that if I uncombined them, I need to do it now. If I continue with combining, I'll be tweaking and tweaking for awhile. To uncombined this year won't be hard. They will work on the basics, plus a list of assigned reading. Next year, it might be harder on me, as I'd be fully running CTC and RTR plus whatever I'm doing for my younger set.

In moving forward, and trying to figure out how to use HOD with multiple children, I'm considering spending grades 1-3 working on basics, using various guides as helps, but NOT sticking to the first three guides for history, etc. Then when each child enters 5th or 6th grade (depending on the child) starting them in CTC, as its more independent. I can run multiple upper level guides, because they are not teacher-intensive. But I don't think I can run multiple lower guides, with me reading several books from different history periods for different children.

Thoughts??

We have 8 children whom we have always homeschooled. 2 are out of the house with college and marriage, so I think I qualify as a large family who has homeschooled for a long time. Multiple guides do not work well for us. I combine as many in a guide as I can and shoot for the middle instead of the youngest as HOD would suggest. I also try to combine history time periods. For example, HS World History with Preparing or RTR. It is amazing how this has worked out for us. Next year I will combine my oldest three at home--8th, 9th, and 12th in the geography guide and my youngest three at home---1st, 3rd, and 5th. I will keep everyone combined throughout as best I can, tweaking when needed. It is the only way for me. If you combine, are you going to read the history and science to them? While this is possible in CTC, it would get lengthy in RTR. I have at times read more than listed as T aloud, but the children have been able to read the material themselves. I also have limited writing assignments, but they have always been able to write. Do you feel they will catch up to the skills in the coming year if you combine? Is the youngest just going into third? If so, that is young for CTC. I have added a BJU text for an older child before. That worked well one year. If you look through the guide ahead, you can see what skills are coming next and just keep working towards those goals even if they all do not get there at the same time. That is what happens at our house.

Which guide are you using for the younger set? Do you plan on using HOD through high school for the youngers? What do you do for LA? Do you think you will use the notebooks in the upper level guide when you get there with the youngers? Will you do science combined (orally) when you get to that point with the youngers?

Just curious. Lol.

I'm really going back and forth. My husband wants me to continue as we have been doing, but I can't wrap my head around how it will play out over the years. I can wrap my head around next year, but I just can't seem to SEE how it will look for all 8 kids for the rest of our homeschooling journey. Sigh. I guess I should just take it as it comes, and not try to plan ten years in advance.

Yes! I definitely take one year at a time. I will either combine the girls in Bigger or I might use another curriculum with them for a year to keep everyone on the topic of geography. The following year the three girls will do Preparing. My older boys will be doing world history. Yeah! My youngers use Rod and Staff for English (Some of my olders did CLE before we came to HOD.). I think most people on the board would suggest putting your younger two in Bigger next year while letting the 6th grader move on to CTC. That is very legitimate advice worth considering. I have tried splitting mine up before, and I always feel stressed. Sometimes, only you as the mom will know what will work in your own home. I do not use HOD exactly as written (although some years it is very close!), but I do love HOD. I do plan on using HOD for the younger girls throughout high school, but it is possible that I will use something else a couple of years to keep everyone together. I will most likely use the notebook pages as they are beautiful. I have used them every year but one with my older group who have used HOD from Preparing on up (minus CTC). I did miss them the year I did not use them!!!

I don't have a large family so please feel free to take or leave my comments.

When I found HOD, I use them for a few reasons but one is that the guide is truly open and go. For some, they may not mind tweaking but I have found that I absolutely love using them because their guide is open and go. Once they get older, it really helps because you can give them the guide and they can go with it. If you tweak now, you will always have to tweak. I work from home and so I need something I don't have to tweak.

Are you opposed to repeating a guide? If you aren't, I would probably take the younger 2 and have them do Bigger but have them do it as independently as possible. I have found that even if my kids were to repeat something, if it has been a full school year, then it is probably 2 years since they heard it last if that makes sense. So from this September to the September when you started Bigger originally has been a full 2 years. They can forget some stuff by then and this would be them doing everything somewhat independently. It would be a whole new world in that sense and a completely new experience. I would then move the oldest up to CTC. For storytime, I would pick either the boy or the girl interest pack and keep story time together for as many as you can. This will cut down on teaching time. If you 8&9 already know cursive, I would have them copy the poem in cursive each week. If not, then I would have them do the cursive book. Do they do the same grammar, if not, I would have them do the same book. This will also help tremendously with your teaching time. So even if that means that your 9 year old has to repeat a book, I would just have them repeat a book and stick them on the same schedule as the 8 year old. Then, even though they already did Preparing, I would repeat it again too. Since you tweaked it this year, it will again seem like a whole new experience. Some books would be repeats. But if you had them all use the history and science books as is, it will be somewhat different I am guessing. This way, they would be 9 and 10 years old when they start Preparing (I am guessing they turned 8 and 9 during the year and will start Bigger when they are 8 and 9). I would plan to just keep them together like this moving forward.

For the 4 and 5 year old you have now, I would try and find a way to put them both in Little Hearts once the 4 year old is ready. If you think it is going to be a bit of time, I might continue on with the 5 year old the way you are doing it but then I would do this with intentions of repeating it once the 4 year old shows signs that he/she is ready for school.

I would do this same pattern for the 2 and 3 year old. I might let the 3 year old listen in on some activities with the 4 and 5 year old as that child grows but then plan to have that child stay with the 2 year once this child is ready for Little Hearts as well. Does that make sense? By following this pattern, you would then have all of your kids a guide apart. It would look like:

2015-2016: 16-AH, 10-CTC, 8&9-Bigger, continue on with Little Hearts for 5 year old as is or even move the 5 year old down to LHTH for history and science, 3&4doing LHTH, 2-keep eating crayons
2016-2017: 17-final, 11-RTR, 9&10-Preparing, 5&6 - Little Hearts, 3&4-LHTH
2017-2018: 12-RevtoRev, 10&11-CTC, 6&7-Beyond, 4&5-LHTH
2018-2019: 13-MTMM, 11&12-RTR, 7&8-Bigger, 5&6-Little Hearts

I have personally found that kids able to work alone is priceless! So having them placed perfectly really helps aid in this. It would give your other two kids (the current 8 and 9 year old) time to mature into their guides. And then you would not lose the independence of the guides as they move up. I would also (if it were me) try and follow the guide as closely as possible. I would try use as many HOD recommended resources as you can. I only mention this because I noticed that it looks like you use AAR. Do you also use AAS? Both programs are high teacher time. Are you opposed to other programs? I guess I am just asking because I would pray about what phonics program would work best for you and your kids. I think one of the books (I think it was TRL) was very similar to AAR. It didn't cover quite as many phonics rules but it did cover a lot. And then HOD recommends explode the code for any kids who need just a little bit more. My oldest used Abeka but I didn't know anything about HOD at the time. My youngest actually taught herself to read with Bob Books so I never really did a formal phonics program with her. I did use living books with my son for a period of time but ended using AAR for him because of his learning disability. However, it was so intensive and IMHO, I don't know that I think all kids need that level of intensity to learn to read. Also, I had a love hate relationship with it. The structure of it is set up in a way thelp a kids step by step when they need a lot of help. But it seemed like forever before I could go to the library and just get a book off of the shelf because of the way it taught phonics. Don't get me wrong, I am glad I used it for my son, but for my other kids, I am actually glad I didn't use it. Again, JHMO and I mean no offense.

My other questions is, do you have the older kids help any of the younger kids? I know all kids want mom. I only have 3 and they make comments about this to me. I can't even imagine if I had 8! You (and 8 arrows) already completely amaze me! But that might be one way to help create some flexibility in your schedule. Once you are running 4 guides, maybe the older ones could help with youngest ones in LHTH or even LHFHG. Plus, even though HOD is meant to be done over 4 days, with running this many guides, you could easily spread it out over 5 days. This would significantly lessen your time and their school time each day. I know at my house next year, I am probably going to do just this. I will have a child in R2R, Preparing, and Bigger (my youngest should have been in Beyond this year but I did Beyond last year with her so I put her down in Little rather than moving her along to Bigger and modified Little Hearts to make it similar to Beyond-she is ready for Bigger). For me to be on a happy schedule I have a lot to consider. I work from home (between 20-40 hours), I like to work out at the gym mid morning most days, I usually have 1 meeting per week outside of the house that I go to and we are going to do a half day of co-op. We will probably do some field trips this year but we limit them. If they are a really good one, then we go. But many times I find that field trips really don't extend my kids learn very much and I can't justify taking lots of days off for them. If we have the day off, my kids (and me) just want to have fun! So......all this said to say we are going to try modifying our schedule a little bit next year in hopes of balancing everything out. Mondays and Fridays will be half days. I will do DITHOR and spelling only Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. And then I will probably have my dd in RTR complete the Shakespeare study on Fridays each week. If I ever needed an extra day off, I would probably just have my kids do a full day on either Monday or Friday but in general, I probably won't. I would rather just extend the year by a couple of days due to a field trip rather than extending the day of school on either of those days.

Nealewill,

We use AAR because we discovered that my 9yo was really struggling with reading. While I don't usually call it dyslexia, that's what it is, I just avoid the term. Since dyslexia is inherited, each kid of mine has a 50% chance of having it. AAR has been amazing, and I won't ever use another reading curriculum. We used TRL with the three middle boys, when they were little, and it works fine for natural readers, but is insufficient for right-brained kids, struggling readers, and dyslexics (*in my opinion). We will be using AAS with any struggling readers, but will use dictation for natural readers/spellers. In three months AAR has given my 9yo amazing results. His dyslexia screening scores jumped by 24% - 45% in four areas in THREE months.

I add this not to discount TRL or try to sell another product, but to emphasize the absolute importance and benefit we get from AAR. I'm married to it. Lol. It is my biggest priority to work through all of the AAR levels with my 9yo and my youngest four children. This all was discovered, researched, and implemented in January and February, so our whole homeschool plan has changed. I imagine that I will have to skip some of the younger HOD guides in order to make time for AAR/AAS. That's okay with me. I can always pick up in Preparing or CTC with older children, which is what I'm learning toward. Oh, just a silly note. AAR feels so similar to DITHOR to me. Honestly, its almost like Carrie wrote AAR, and its the perfect lead into DITHOR.

I truly do not have any desire to do multiple guides, except for the guides where children are almost 100% independent (so the guides RTR and on.) I just can't juggle multiple guides, or at least not until there are no toddlers/preschoolers around. Lol.

I totally understand your thoughts on AAR. For my son, I do feel like he needed it. However - funny story - we used AAS and it was a major fail for him. My oldest used AAS because she really struggled with spelling. It was right what she needed and we used the first 4 levels. But I used it for my middle child and it went horribly. I found out dictation was the key to spelling for him LOL.

And I completely understand on your thoughts on how you feel. You have a lot of kids and a lot to think about. I can't even imagine how my day would be if I had toddlers around here.

A friend of mine used both AAR and AAS, and the AAS was a fail for her too. We haven't started AAS yet, because I can only add one thing at a time or I get overwhelmed. I'm thinking that since I know the rules now, I can supplement any spelling instruction with the rules.

That is interesting

With my oldest, I had tried lists for about 2 years. She was in 3rd grade and still missing simple things like "back." It was a source of high frustration for her and she was crying every time she would go to write something because "she didn't know how to spell it." She did struggle with reading too. But she just practiced a ton and got better with time. I think a lot of it is that she just was having a lot of trouble with keeping her place on the page. But there may have been more to it. For her, I did AAS when she was in 3rd grade and levels 1-3 gave her a huge step up in spelling ability. By level 4 though, she is reading much better and she has basically out grown learning rules. There were just too many exceptions at that point. AAS was focusing on the words the followed the more varied phonics blends (like ph, ea vs a silent e, ough, etc). But at this point, she already knew how to spell those words. She had even to gotten to the point that she was starting to spell exceptions according to the rules and that was when we stopped. With my son, I had never really tried anything other than AAS. I think he needed way more practice with seeing words. There were a few rules that I think I would like to teach him eventually at some point but not many. He completed level 1 and 2. And it went okay. But now I am actually to the point that I am using the HOD plans for spelling and he is working through the Words lists in Bigger. His spelling has drastically improved since doing this. I love that the words lists have high frequency words. Because of the way that HOD does the lists, he is seeing it and writing it a few times. Then I quiz him on it and he does well. But.....my favorite part is that he will spell these words correctly when he is writing them in his sentences for vocabulary and write ups for his science. I think I underestimated the power of seeing the words correctly and how important this is. He is doing so great with this method that I am really glad I switched.

I used to tease and call my oldest my test baby Now I have decided.....they are all my test babies LOL.

I teach my six all separately, and it does make for long days... especially since I often do the extension readings too since we enjoy the books so much. I'm also reading the Living Library to my oldest b/c she missed Storytime so much. I just really cherish this time with my kiddos and know that it's going by so quickly.

I do stick strictly with Little Hearts = first grade and go one guide/year from there. We start each guide full speed and complete each guide before Memorial Day. It's just the way I do things (highly structured some might say).

I would really hate to skip Preparing with any of my kids b/c I think it's such a great guide and the skills build so much. Preparing is where written narrations are introduced, and I think that's such an important year.


I've only skimmed through other responses. I have used HOD since my oldest was in Bigger (she completed World Geography this year), so if you have other specific questions I could help with, please let me know.

Julie, can you post or send me a copy of your schedule? I don't believe there is any way that I could run that many guides, especially with three preschoolers/ toddlers running around. Every minute that I'm occupied with a big kid is a minute that they need to be supervised.

I am not highly structured, and just the thought of a day like that makes me break out in hives.

Motherjoy wrote:Julie, can you post or send me a copy of your schedule? I don't believe there is any way that I could run that many guides, especially with three preschoolers/ toddlers running around. Every minute that I'm occupied with a big kid is a minute that they need to be supervised.

I am not highly structured, and just the thought of a day like that makes me break out in hives.

I don't have a set schedule, but a typical day can go something like this, starting punctually at 8, at the couch:

60-90 minutes with my fifth grader, mostly me reading to him (he is behind in reading ability and not doing all independently that is listed for him), also doing dictation, Rod & Staff lesson, explanation of math lesson

30-45 minutes with seventh grader - stuff like storytime, dictation, Rod & Staff, math, Biblical worldview, etc.

60 minutes with first grader - most of Little Hearts, phonics work, math

30 minutes with kindergartener - me reading mostly, also phonics and math

This takes us to about 11:00 or 11:30. My oldest and I move to the kitchen where she prepares lunch under my direction while I read her Living Library out loud.

Also, while I'm at the couch with individual students, everyone is piling up completed work next to me which I check while doing dictation, overseeing some math work, and things of that nature.

Around 1:00, I'll work with third grader for about 90 minutes.

After that (or sometimes before), I'll work with the oldest to teach her math lesson.

If everything runs smoothly I might possibly finish around 3, but it's usually more like 4. Other kids will need to ask questions sometimes, or orally narrate something... stuff like that. Sometimes I do oral reading (storytime, living library, extensions readings) for an hour or so in the evenings.


Also, we're a farming family, so fall and spring are particularly hectic with the older kids often in the field and me running meals out to the field, which takes an extra 40-60 minutes at lunchtime.

I definitely make it a point to check all work daily and require corrections daily. I've learned the hard way that if I don't, bad things happen. LOL

Another thing... I would definitely assign some of those middle kids to "little kid duty" keeping them occupied and out of your way for stretches of time where you can work without constant interruptions. My fifth grader is wonderful at that. My oldest can be, but she usually has too much of her own schoolwork to have time for that.

Occasionally my third grader will read to my kindergartener to free up some extra time for me too.

Julie, good tips in there for me too It is sometimes hard to figure out how to mesh everyone's work. I too have found so much relief in realizing it is okay to have the kids be responsible for chores and helping eachother.

Jennymommy wrote:Julie, good tips in there for me too It is sometimes hard to figure out how to mesh everyone's work. I too have found so much relief in realizing it is okay to have the kids be responsible for chores and helping eachother.

It never crossed my mind to *not* have them do chores and help each other. LOL