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I am considering using Preparing for my 9 & 11yo this fall (they will be 10 & 12 by August). My 7yo would place perfectly in Beyond. I’ve previously used LHTH-Bigger with older kiddos. While these guides are great fits for my daughters, we’ve been using curricula the past couple years that have had family subjects. So, we’re used to having Bible, Read Alouds, History, and Science together. Is there a way to run separate guides while still maintaining some “family subjects time”. Sorry if that’s a crazy thing to ask! Is the only option to use Bigger and combine all three w/extensions if we want to all be on the same page? Any ideas?

Many families combine for a morning basket time. You can work on the Bible verses from both guides during this time. You can read the poems as well. And you can do some of the storytime together (Beyond especially - read it together and then do the follow-up with just the child in that guide). I also allow my kids to sit in on anything I am doing as long as they aren't busy. So my younger ones have listened to parts of guides they aren't in. Normally they don't listen to whole books, as they get bored, but they often listen to some. My oldest often also grabs favorite books "from the past" and reads them if she notices I am reading them with the younger ones.

Thank you for your suggestion, Stephanie! I think that may work for us!

I am wondering the same thing. That is the main thing that is keeping me back from coming back to HOD.

I think this link gives such a good overview of the homeschool philosophy that is inherent in Carrie's design of Heart of Dakota's guides...

https://www.heartofdakota.com/education ... osophy.php

We have had so much family time homeschooling these past nearly 20 years - precious memories! Our children have always been in separate guides, but the sharing with one another is still daily. Each son has just been thriving as the 'star' of his guide; we are still unified in our homeschooling every single day. The sharing is natural, not mechanically planned. It is a way of life we love. We will always look back on our Heart of Dakota homeschool journey as having completed it wholly as a family. We are always listening in on each other's narrations, sharing "I remember when I did that", clapping for the speech or the poetry recitation, hopping in to help with the science experiment, leaping into compete in the Olympics history activity, praising each other's artwork hanging on the fridge, throwing on dress-up clothes and grabbing nerf guns to re-enact the battle, putting on DITHOR project shows together, laughing, talking, sharing - all a part of our homeschool days. Always. We are still a family homeschooling in a family way; every one is just doing it at the right head, heart, and soul level. I wouldn't have changed a thing.

In Christ,
Julie

When the kids were younger I often read one of the read-alouds from Beyond, Bigger, or the Boy or Girl Books from CTC aloud at lunch. When I didn’t have time to do that, we switched to listening to an audio of one of the read-alouds at lunch, listening to a chapter a day.

When we had kids in Bigger or MTMM, we sang the hymns from that guide together at lunch before we ate. Other years, we read and discussed the poetry from Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, RTR, Rev2Rev or MTMM at lunch.

Some years I had my older artsy son have a scheduled time daily to do the history projects with one of my younger sons. They also did the painting together for CTC.

Every year, my older kiddos had scheduled 30 min. playtimes daily with my younger sons. This is where they really developed shared interests! My older boys 18 and 14 still do a daily 30 min. time together in the middle of school as a break!

I often just take a look at the inspirational subjects in my guides for that year and see one or two things we could share for the year easily at lunch. It is important that these are things that I need to do anyway. Then, I look at ways to pair kiddos up at least once during the day to build bonds! I always look for ways that will save me time. We used to do outdoor recess together every school day after lunch too!

The last few years we added a 30 minute family reading time at night. We set the timer, and everybody brings a book to our living room to quietly read. We cozy up with our books together. Sometimes we share after we read. Often the kiddos grab their guides, and read either their DITHR books or their Living Library or Lit books for the next day of HOD.

Once you start thinking of ways to be together while still doing school, the ideas will flow! Just be sure not to add more time to your already full day!

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you so much for all of the helpful tips, Julie and Carrie! We’re praying about what to use for the coming school year!