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What is the best way to schedule multiple guides? Should I do the first box/subject with each child before moving to the next or should I complete one child's guide each day before starting another guide with another child? Hope that makes sense. Seems like I'll be running 8-5 each day... I have grades 3, 1 and pre-k.

Your day definitely will not take from 8-5!

I find that I try to schedule my time with each child for set lengths of time and based on their ages and the guide, I give breaks in the morning and afternoon if I need to? Which guides will you be using this year? If we know the guides, then we would better be able to help you schedule your time.

Bigger Hearts, Little Hearts, and Little Hands??

I ran LHFHG and Bigger last year and was able to complete those 2 in about 3 hours....then added in RtR for an older one. We still were done by 1:00pm (and sometime by 12pm) most days. My goal was completing it all in the morning.

This year I am doing Beyond with PAL (for LA for a non-reader), Preparing and RtR (fall semester, will switch to Rev to Rev in the Spring). I know our day will be longer this year.

Bigger takes 2-3 hours. LHFHG normally takes about 1.5 hours. And LHTH takes about 30 minutes. So if you have absolutely no overlap, that would be at most five hours once you get a few units in. The first few units normally take longer as your get used to the guides and the flow. But, you will probably find that it take closer to 4 hours or less, as there are some things that can overlap. For example, you can have all three kids at the table at the same time, the olders doing math or handwriting while the younger is doing anything from LHTH that is on paper that day. You can get the oldest going on notebooking (two days a week) and do a box with the second child.

Like Stephanie said, once you get going you'll see how to overlap.

Generally, if the child is placed correctly (and after you work out all the kinks), a child in Bigger will be able to do cursive, math after the teaching portion, copywork if you choose to do that, vocabulary, notebooking, and probably some other things that I can't remember right now, independently. You can use that time to completely finish LHTH. After the reading portion, when you are doing the pages in LHTH, your LHFHG child can work on handwriting. Then everyone can do the fingerplay and rhymes in motion from LHFHG together (all of mine have always enjoyed those things).

At that point, I would let the Bigger child play with the LHTH child while you finish LHFHG. Then the LHFHG child will play with the LHTH while you finish Bigger.

We don't do DITHOR with the guides, so I can normally take about an hour off the suggested total time for Bigger and above. Probably about 30 minutes off if you are doing DITHOR. Beyond and LHFHG I normally finish in 30-45 minutes less than the suggested time.... depending on what is happening each day. So with Bigger/LHFHG/LHTH I'd probably be done in about 2-3 hours (keeping in mind I've been using HOD for 8 years... starting my 9th year). But like Stephanie said, if you are just doing the guides as written back to back with no overlap, and your time is consistent with the suggested time, you shouldn't have more than 5 hours total.

I do similarly to Lora Beth. Finish the youngest while the older ones work on something else independently (LHFHG doesn't really have any independent things, but that one could play, listen to an audio book, etc). Then work with one of the older ones, then work with the other older one. I will say, I am not as "efficient" as Lora Beth and many other moms on here who cut the time down lower than the suggestion. I guess we take more breaks, or have more interruptions. And we also really relish the read-alouds and the discussion that goes with them. Or my kids are slow and dawdle (I KNOW this is true). Anyway, I don't like time pressure and I don't like having to keep on everybody to stay on task. But just know, it does not need to take all day, or if it does take all day (as mine often does) it's because you've had several leisurely breaks to go for a walk, tickle a toddler, or whatever. You do NOT sit at the table and work on it all day.

Lora Beth is the boss at efficiency!! lol I marvel at her ability to get in there and get it done.

wow... thanks!

Yeah, if we don't keep all distractions to a minimum or if we have too much discussion (as in any other than questions/narrations) then we don't do a full days worth of school for that day. My brain can't do that So we have to keep to simply what's written during our school time. Further discussion and acting things out and art and whatever can happen not during our school time.

It also helps that we've done HOD from the beginning... so I know exactly what's going to take longer. I know the things that don't fit what we believe (we aren't YE for example) and so I'm not caught off guard during those topics. I already know how to explain those things. And since we've used HOD I can almost sense what is going to be trouble for which child.... For instance, Julianna did her first written narration today. I knew she was not going to get what she was supposed to be doing for a while. So we finished up day 4 yesterday except for math, science reading, and the narration (we read the history passage yesterday, so it was really JUST the narration today) It took an hour for her to do those three things. More than thirty minutes of that hour was writing the short narration.