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I had a question concerning completion of guides. This year has been full for us, and although we have been diligently working on school daily, we have been focusing more on our three R's and making strides there. In fact, my daughter went from barely able to blend a three letter word to reading chapter books. We really struggled in that regard and I was beginning to look heavily into vision therapy. I cannot take any credit there, however, as she just blossomed overnight! When I placed my children, I placed them in guides I knew they could feel successful in and enjoy. Now I find we are "behind" in the guides and as I'm looking into next school year, I wonder how to wrap up this year. I have my 5th grader/11 year old in CTC, 2nd grader/8 year old in Beyond, & kindergartener/6 year old in LHTH as he's struggled with letter recognition (with a 3 year old tagging along). It was our first year to do HOD. We are currently only on about Unit 16 and may complete about Unit 28 - 30 by the end of the year. I just looked at the guide placements for next year, and I think skill-wise my children will be well placed in the next guides up, but will I be missing too much if we are unable to complete the last six weeks or so? Should we try to cram it in, skip certain things, or just call it quits and start new guides in the fall? Thank you for your advice.

I would finish CTC personally because the history timeline would have a gap otherwise. Maybe you could do it over the summer or at double speed in the fall.
Finishing the other guides isn't as important, but often you want to finish the stories! There have been times we have rushed through the end of a guide because life happened (death in the family, new baby, etc). It isn't ideal, but it can be done.

You are not behind. My son is doing CtC for 6th grade. You are right on target. Even if you don't finish the final high school guide, it isn't a big deal. HOD is a very challenging program. There are things that you can tweek as you look toward the future and adjustments you can make for when they are in high school and you are seeking to help them receive all of their credits. That is what I plan to do with my son. He is on target to not complete the final guide and I am okay with that. We will just just adjust when he takes speech and I will finance and economics in during a different year.

I wanted to jump in and add how the guides have gone for us.

We have done it where we finished a guide stayed on track. Worked great!
We have also had some full years where we were not as on track and just stopped for summer and picked back up for the fall.
We have also worked on a guide and not finished it and move on to the next guide in the fall.
We have also skipped a guide.

So all that to say if you feel like your kids are ready to move up when you come to your break time then you can. If you feel like they aren't quite there pick back up where you left off. We all have gaps in our education for one reason or another but the Lord will fill those gaps in. You want to teach to where they are not where the world thinks they should be. You can read stories in the summer if it fits but I wouldn't cram anything in. You are a busy momma and cramming will make everyone stressed and not enjoy school. Speaking from experience. Pray for wisdom.

I love HOD and want to do all of it but sometimes that isn't what the Lord wants me to be doing and sometimes you have to make it work for your family and the season you are in. They are learning no matter what!

blessings,
Stacey

Does it help you feel any better to know that my 5th grade / 11yo is finishing up Preparing and my almost 9yo 3rd grader is in the middle of Beyond? If the guide is working for them and they are progressing then they are not behind.

FWIW, my kids also score well above grade level in their yearly testing. The ONLY time this hasn't been true has been for the past two years with my now 3rd grader. She has/had some processing issues that made reading nearly impossible. This year she figured it out. Her 1st grade year she placed below K level in reading, but 3rd to 4th grade in everything else (she was doing math daily and LHFHG half speed at the time). Her 2nd grade year she placed at 1st grade 7th month in reading, and 4th to 5th grade in everything else (reading leapfrog books about once a week, math daily, and finishing up LHFHG). This year I'm really excited for her to test since she can actually read now. So all that to say that HOD is really well ahead of what typical daily studies look like for the different ages.

MomtoJGJE wrote:Does it help you feel any better to know that my 5th grade / 11yo is finishing up Preparing and my almost 9yo 3rd grader is in the middle of Beyond? If the guide is working for them and they are progressing then they are not behind.

Now that does make ME feel better tho it was intended for the OP. I too have a 5th grade/ 11 yo DD in preparing & I've been trying to assure myself that it will be fine, it's where she fits best etc. We aren't even close the the end of it tho, so now what..... but life happens & its been crazy so I'm hoping it will all work out .....somehow......

kidsforHim wrote:

MomtoJGJE wrote:Does it help you feel any better to know that my 5th grade / 11yo is finishing up Preparing and my almost 9yo 3rd grader is in the middle of Beyond? If the guide is working for them and they are progressing then they are not behind.

Now that does make ME feel better tho it was intended for the OP. I too have a 5th grade/ 11 yo DD in preparing & I've been trying to assure myself that it will be fine, it's where she fits best etc. We aren't even close the the end of it tho, so now what..... but life happens & its been crazy so I'm hoping it will all work out .....somehow......

She was supposed to finish before Christmas... she still has 3 units left. Life happened here too. I know she's learning and progressing. I'm so beyond not worried about her. If she had been my oldest I would have been panicking.

Year round?! I think you should finish it, and start next guide then.
I behind and I will do summer because we had a mayor hurricane, moved from one town to another (only one month clases last semester) and this semester my father got in the hospital several weeks and died, so we are half way yet. I just tell you because I asking my self the same question.
Life isn't a straight line, things happens, God is in control, so I decided to finish what we started when we can finish it.

Shei