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Guess I'm chomping at the bit to get into something other than American History (ahghghg). LOL. It was suggested that I take another look at Preparing for use with my rising 2nd and rising 5th grader.

We've read all the books except Grandpa's Box & CHOW in the economy package. We read up to chapter 16 in CHOW and just was struggling with it (I think we need Carrie's integration of Bible & History). I have no problem reading The Great Ice Age again. My children love that book. We have three volumes of Hero Tales and read volume one this year. Would it be possible to use one of the other volumes or do is vol. 1 scheduled for a particular reason?

So the big question is this....Is it worth redoing these books? Looking at the entire package (including extension pack, etc.) we've read probably 15 of the books listed. Now we pretty much read them and did narration. HOD schedules some wonderful activities that definitely would have added to the fun. I'm a bit worried about it being too light for my daughter. Are the extension lessons just scheduled independent reading or do they have assignments, etc??

If we go with Preparing, what's next? Do I do the 4 year history rotation and just not finish until the end of my daughter's 9th grade year? Do I not finish a 4 year rotation?

Hi, Daisy! I can answer a few of your questions. I think it will be fine to use another volume of Hero Tale as that is what I'm planning on doing since we have read Vol. 1 as well. Carrie will be able to answer if it needs to be Vol. I, but I am thinking it will be fine to substitute another volume.

With the Extension reading, the student is to do oral, written, or picture narrations each day after the assigned reading. We have been doing that with Bigger Extensions this year and it has really worked for us.

As far as the cycle goes, I'm in the same boat and just posted a question about that. I'm not sure if Carrie's Extensions for the later years will be high school level or not. If so, then I will continue to use the books as they are written through my dd's first two years of high school. I certainly hope that is the case as I cannot stand to think of not using some of the TM's coming up!

Whatever you decide, I don't think you can go wrong with HOD. It truly is special and unique. I could not be happier using it!

Well, I'm no expert as I'm trying to decide between Ancients and Preparing myself, but I'm wondering if it would be feasible to do a condensed version of Preparing before starting Ancients in the fall. We've already read several of the books in the Preparing package, too.... and yet there's much there that I think my girls could benefit from. Even my 7th-going-on-8th grader would enjoy the art, poetry, and Bible portions of Preparing, and could do them with us.

OTOH, if I were to wait and begin Preparing in the fall, then I'd just plan on my middle dd doing the final year of the cycle as a 9th grader. I just really hate to miss out on Preparing entirely.

I had actually tried posting this question earlier but was having posting trouble, so here we are!

kayrenee wrote:Well, I'm no expert as I'm trying to decide between Ancients and Preparing myself, but I'm wondering if it would be feasible to do a condensed version of Preparing before starting Ancients in the fall. We've already read several of the books in the Preparing package, too.... and yet there's much there that I think my girls could benefit from. Even my 7th-going-on-8th grader would enjoy the art, poetry, and Bible portions of Preparing, and could do them with us.

OTOH, if I were to wait and begin Preparing in the fall, then I'd just plan on my middle dd doing the final year of the cycle as a 9th grader. I just really hate to miss out on Preparing entirely.

I had actually tried posting this question earlier but was having posting trouble, so here we are!

Hey kayrenee! I can answer that one even though I have not quite done it yet. The answer is yes because I already bugged Carrie with this one. It is possible and we are going to do it. It would be a mini tour with Grandpas Box, CHOW and we will be throwing in The Great Ice Age as well. This will be Summer and may slightly bleed into the next year. I do think it will take about 2 1/2 months from looking at it for us and will not be such a big deal that my kids will not feel like they had a vacation. I probably will not be able to resist the Bible box but I will ignore all the rest. It kind of depends where we are on our Bible reading on our own what I do with that but I know when we get to the Psalms we will use it. Carrie's advice to me was to use CHOW and Grandpas box only for a tour but she might have knows I would add at least one thing to what she said. Anyway I think it will give us a great over view. Just perfect to get us back on track age wise for my oldest. Then it goes back on the shelf and waits for my two youngest girls who will be doing the entire version of Preparing.

Daisy- I had no idea you have read so much of Preparing. I pray I have not made you wrestle more on this. Praying for God's perfect answer for your family! I will tell you one thing that may be shocking. I do not worry about the fact that my oldest will not end up perfectly on the history cycle. My plan for high school if we do it on our own will be heavy government and US/World History on a much deeper level, some very deep theology courses and a very through few tours of the Bible. We will of course fulfill any credit requirements but that is essentially my plan. I can do it no matter where we land. It was a thought that freed me from the history cycle and I have not let go if it since. Just a different way of looking at things. I have a feeling you will be doing this plus your history cycles.

I'm actually thinking I'll get Ancients and have Lydia do it, as written. We'll see how Ryan does tagging along.

He'll have R&S English 2, Spelling 2, CLE Math 2 and DITHOR also. I worried about it for a minute and almost thought about getting him his own level ($$$$), but I realized that he is only in 2nd grade!!! He is reading at late 3rd grade level. He already does his own quiet Bible time with Dad. He memorizes a ton with Awanas. I have his language arts & math lined up. Honestly, everything else is cream.

I'll find him age-appropriate books on ancients (like Trojan Horse, etc.) and I'll probably just read him AIG Dinosaur books for science since he is obsessed with dinosaurs. He can tag along for the Bible, projects, read-alouds, science experiments, etc. Sounds loosey goosey but honestly the boy has learned more in the last 4 years that way then if I overplanned it. That's where I'm at tonight anyway. Give it 24 hours and I'll probably change my mind. LOL.

Ladies,

I'm going to ponder this a bit as well and respond when my mind is more fresh, but my response on this thread may be of some help as you're going through the thinking process:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2901

Blessings,
Carrie

Ha, I can see I'm going to bounce back and forth on this one for a while.

Daisy wrote:Ha, I can see I'm going to bounce back and forth on this one for a while.

Daisy that is what good mommies do.

Daisy wrote:I'm actually thinking I'll get Ancients and have Lydia do it, as written. We'll see how Ryan does tagging along.

Give it 24 hours and I'll probably change my mind. LOL.

Ok can I join in that as well. I woke up this morning and thought of you. I really think that you are not going to be happy with anything but having them in Ancients together. Just in now knowing how much of Preparing you have already done and knowing how thorough you are with what you do. I think you have fed your children a diet of higher level stuff and they are used to it and like it. I am now just thinking about it and for you (and I do think you are unique in this because I think it might pout other moms over the edge) the tweaking that would be require would be like breathing for you. I was comparing it to what I do with my dd that has special needs. I keep her at a higher level than she could even do on her own and I do it naturally. There is no other choice for us in my mind so it is second nature. I think you have already been doing this with your son as well. I have a lot of the resources that are in the program and I think it is pretty much the level you are used to doing with your kids. Having them ahead of the game is normal for you. You are all very bright and I think it is almost necessary for you. So just in thinking about it I think Ancients may be your level. It may require some tweaking a bit for this year and the next but in all honesty I do not think it will be an issue for you. In all honesty I think if you had to have your son do something a bit different on the independent stuff it would be two seconds to the thought of what that would be and you would send him on his way to do it. I don't think that stresses you out like it would most people. So that is my thought of the day. I was going to send this to you privately but I decided to let others that know how you school chime in on this as well. In my mind I think you would be the perfect person to pioneer seeing how doing HFHTT Ancients will work with taking a bright younger child for the ride.

I hope I have not messed with your head too much. I really think you would love doing HOD with your children and I really want you to have the best fit and be happy with it. If you have that I know you will love it. This is always the hardest part figuring out where to start with HOD. It is not run like the rest of the stuff out there and it does make it harder sometimes to know which program is right. But it is really worth it. The actually doing the program is the joy of it. Ok that's it. Don't shoot me.

I'm being careful because I really think Carrie has some wonderful points about giving children individual instruction. There is a point where we can force "combining" on a family in such a way that it undermines the very reason for homeschooling. Hubby's in a public school classroom everyday and knows what it's like for 20 kids to all have to keep to the same pacing. So I totally agree. Hubby looked at Bigger and Ancients last night and really thinks our family could go that route. So it is on the table. He also knows we could tweak Ancients to make it work for Ryan.

Preparing is pretty much out for us (I think). Since we've JUST read some of those books, I'd like to give them a rest. If we go the Bigger route for Ryan, I can see using Preparing for his 3rd grade year. I just think that even with the extension pack, I'd have to tweak Preparing too much for Lydia because she has read the vast majority of those books already.

So Lydia is definitely ready for Ancients. We'll wait and see what the sample week looks like. I'll decide then whether Ryan tags along or I pick up Bigger for him. Honestly, he's going to listen to any book I read aloud though. My kids are book magnets.

We'll be in much prayer about it and will, of course, take you along on our family's epic saga called curriculum choosing. We are commited to using HOD. I've fallen in love with every aspect of it. LOL.

Daisy wrote:I'm being careful because I really think Carrie has some wonderful points about giving children individual instruction. There is a point where we can force "combining" on a family in such a way that it undermines the very reason for homeschooling. Hubby's in a public school classroom everyday and knows what it's like for 20 kids to all have to keep to the same pacing. So I totally agree. Hubby looked at Bigger and Ancients last night and really thinks our family could go that route. So it is on the table. He also knows we could tweak Ancients to make it work for Ryan.

That sounds ideal. If two programs are possible financially and you can be happy with that. It does sound ideal. If you can't then I think you could combine but you will be in tweaking mode for a log time. I have to tell you that honestly I absolutely love meeting them at their level. It adds so much to it that you really do lose when you stretch it.

Daisy wrote: We'll be in much prayer about it and will, of course, take you along on our family's epic saga called curriculum choosing. We are committed to using HOD. I've fallen in love with every aspect of it. LOL.

Yeah! I just didn't want you to completely miss out on HOD if you had to do one program. I really think you are going to love it when you find the right fit. My last reply was in those terms of having to pick just one program. I think your comments today are the absolute best idea if possible for your family. You would be surprised how much closeness just doing HOD as a family brings even if you are not in the same program and the joy they have with something that really is designed for them where they can thrive at their level. I agree that is the point of hsing. But either way I am confident you can make it great. I will be excited to hear what you decide but I will officially stop fretting over your placement.

And let me be the first to say "WELCOME FELLOW HODie!"

Daisy,

I think that your current plan sounds like a good one. I know the decision of whether to combine or not is a difficult one. I had always planned on combining my kiddos and had a real shift in my thinking when I realized that wasn't going to work well for us. It actually took me quite awhile to really accept that I could possibly do my kiddos separately, as so much of what I'd read and heard in homeschooling said you should combine for as many subject areas as possible.

At HOD, we want people to have the option of combining or not, depending on their family dynamics. While this is a wonderful option, it can be tough to decide which way to go.

I believe that circumstances change from year to year and that children change from year to year, meaning that our plan needs to be a fluid one that is able to grow and change with us. Only you and your husband can truly know what your upcoming year will hold as far as your desire to combine your children or not. I will pray for you with your decision.

The good news is that you are enjoying your look at HOD and that you're excited as you think about your options. Most moms find that the toughest part with HOD is placement and figuring out the answer to the combining question for their family. After that they usually find that using the guide and the program is the easy part!

Blessings,
Carrie

Daisy -
I also want to encourage you, and I have been praying for you in your decision. I think that you are wise to weigh this carefully, and it is wonderful to hear that you and your dh were able to talk about it. There are pros and cons to either choice. Keeping your dc separate would allow you to meet them at their levels and give them individual attention. Combining would allow you to keep your dc together, which both you and your dc have enjoyed in the past. If it helps at all, I do not think time is much of a factor in this decision - meaning, if you combine and tweak for ds, that would probably match the time it would take to teach 2 separate HOD programs.

I think you would enjoy doing 2 different programs because you have an advanced 4th. grader, and your other ds is young, that widens the gap. It would also allow you to really work with your ds on individual skills of writing, narrations, reading comprehension,discussions, etc. - where in the past his sister has probably been more able than he, he could shine in those areas at his own level. You've read the responses in your post why not to combine - so I'm not going to go into detail about that here.

However, and this is a big one - you have enjoyed combining in the past. One thing I'd like to throw out there - PHFHG is obviously easier to combine for the ages of your dc. I've been thinking about that. If you didn't do Grandpa's Box, and you only got to I think it was Ch. 17 or something of CHOW, those are the 2 main spines of it - Life in the Great Ice Age is gone through quickly, and you could sub in a Hero Tales. It is powerful to go through history using Grandpa's Box with CHOW and with the Bible - I think Grandpa's Box (and the way the Bible is part of it) would make CHOW a totally different experience. I actually read through CHOW earlier with my ds (when he was much younger), and I feel it has been a completely different experience doing it the way it's done in PHFHG. I know you'd mentioned you'd also done some of the other books - maybe quite a few. I'm wondering which ones, and if you'd gotten a chance to look at the Storytime and Independent Reading selections - all history-based as well. Maybe there would be enough titles there (also looking at whatever you haven't done in the Extension Package) to make a well-rounded year - there are a LOT of books there. I also know Carrie would be willing to give any ideas she had for books that you may be able to use in place of those you have already read, though the pool of great books has been dipped in generously already with the PHFHG selections.

Anyway, just some food for thought -

In Christ,
Julie

Daisy,

I just wanted to pop in and say that I am so happy to see you here at HOD!! I have often read your blog and your curriculum plans and thought "Well that is HOD for the most part!" LOL I was just reading your blog tonight in fact and read your "What I really want them to Learn" stuff. I think you will find that HOD fits well in your pursuit of those ideals. I know that you and your husband will seek the Lord's will and all will be fine with your final decisions. I won't weigh in on what I think you should do but will say that combining levels in HOD is very easy. The very nature of HOD is that it can be taylored to each child's level without wearing Mom or children out.

I'm in decision mode myself right now. Because of recent events surrounding my oldest son I will have to decide if I want to skip Bigger and go to Preparing next year. I think that might be the easiest thing to do but I just LOVE all the manuals that I almost can't bear the thought of missing Bigger. Oh the decisions. What would we do without the leading of the Lord

Welcome to HOD and I'm just giddy that you are here. So many of my internet friends are coming to HOD and it just feels like family here in HOD land.

Blessings to you and I'll be praying for you!

Thanks, Anointedhsmom! LOL. I hadn't looked much at HOD because I kept thinking it was for younger kids. I'm very nicely surprised!

Thanks for your kind thoughts about my blog.