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Okay, I posted this morning a fairly comfusing post trying to get some advice on planning. The basics of our situation are as follows: I have 2 dd in school, K and 2nd. We have completed 19 weeks of school and have 14 left (based on finishing Math and LA, our state does not have any requirements). We have not started HOD yet (even though I have all the books and the manuals and am drooling over them!) because I can't get over the fact that if I start now, my 2nd grader will not finish the program by the time the PS gets out for summer. So because of that silly hangup, I am just staring at this wonderful program, waiting until the fall when we could start when the PS starts and finish when they do. Why can't I get over that and just start NOW and not care what they are doing? Does anyone else just progress as they progress and not care about what the PS is doing or EXACTLY what grade your child shoud complete by what date? I know you are out there....help me become one of you!!

Ummm...YEAH! LOL We don't go by what PS does. I don't take snow days just because they do. I don't take vacations when they do. So, why would my kids get "out" when they do? My kids have a full summer, but we do school in the summers too. It may just be English and Math everyday...or it may be something the get interested in on their own...like a unit study or what have you. We garden, we can goods, we go to the park, we take our lessons outside. We live. And not by anyone else's schedule but our own.

You.can.do.it.

Tree House Academy wrote:Ummm...YEAH! LOL We don't go by what PS does. I don't take snow days just because they do. I don't take vacations when they do. So, why would my kids get "out" when they do? My kids have a full summer, but we do school in the summers too. It may just be English and Math everyday...or it may be something the get interested in on their own...like a unit study or what have you. We garden, we can goods, we go to the park, we take our lessons outside. We live. And not by anyone else's schedule but our own.

You.can.do.it.

This is what I plan to do as well. Right now my oldest is still technically pre-k, but we don't stop learning in the summer. My dd begs me to do school with her! Of course, part of "school" for my kiddos this summer will be playing with sand and water at the beach!! Still, my oldest and I both love doing some of the more "stuctured" activities too and will continue those year round. We will still take brakes though, but it will be when it is convenient for us, not by what the public school children do. It is somewhat hard to break out of the "what grade your child is in" mode, and "when school begins" mode, but I really feel that it is a lifestyle of learning. There is no beginning and end to learning. I will use what fits my children best right now, and will move onto the next level when they are ready. Really look at what you want for your children and pray about it. Pray that you will be able to give them the best fit for where they are at right now! Maybe that will be finishing your current curriculum, or maybe what is best is to begin HOD.

Yep - I'm right there with you. I just decided on HOD a couple months ago. I'm on week 7 of Beyond with my 7 and 5yo and planning to start Preparing with my oldest on Monday. This was my harder choice because I wanted to start him on CTC in the fall, but I wasn't happy with what we were doing this year and didn't want to just cruise through/waste the last ~10-12 weeks of this year.... so I got Preparing thinking we might only do 12 weeks of it.... but it looks so good I think we'll do it all (even if we don't finish until Christmas?) and start CTC after that.

Where I have a mental block is how to file paper work. I'm not required to keep all their work, but I do. I tempted to look at the school work we've done so far and say it is representative of enough "paperwork" for the year and start notebooks for our HOD work as though they were next year's notebooks. - clear as mud? Again - just my own mental hangup. As far as scheduling goes... I plan to have us do some schoolwork during the summer (maybe half pace? isn't it nice to have that ready option?) because my dh will deploy sometime this winter and we will take a little time off with him before he goes.

FWIW, in 14 weeks, you would almost be halfway through the curriculum and then maybe you could continue halfpace through the summer?

HTH and welcome to HOD!

We don't follow the ps schedule either. We do take a summer break though! We're going to stop this year at the end of May. We will actually have put in more than a "year's" worth of days by ps standards this year. I thought I'd let you know that there are many moms here who take a summer break and pick back up with one of the guides that they've already started. I really don't think it disrupts the learning much at all. (It may actually make it easier to get back in the school groove for the kids.)

I'm planning on using LHFHG with my dd who will be 5 this year. We're going to ease into it, and then follow a 4-day week like my oldest who will be doing Preparing. We won't finish the guide during next school year. I'm planning to pick it up the next year and finish it and move into Beyond when we're done, and so on. I'm kind of hoping to get 4 years out of the 1st 3 guides so that she moves into Preparing when she's 9...but I'm perfectly content to go with the flow of what God has for us in the years to come.

So, I say go for it if you want to dive in!!! If you want a summer break (which I love...possibly even more than my kids , but probably not ), take it, and then pick up where you left off in the fall.
Kathleen

I've only been hs for 6 weeks, but I'm doing my own schedule as well. We started in Feb. because once I received my books, I couldnt' wait either! lol I don't really have a set plan for if or when we will take breaks. I plan to just sort of go with the flow and take things as they come.

[quote="Lynnw"]Yep - I'm right there with you. I just decided on HOD a couple months ago. I'm on week 7 of Beyond with my 7 and 5yo and planning to start Preparing with my oldest on Monday. This was my harder choice because I wanted to start him on CTC in the fall, but I wasn't happy with what we were doing this year and didn't want to just cruise through/waste the last ~10-12 weeks of this year.... so I got Preparing thinking we might only do 12 weeks of it.... but it looks so good I think we'll do it all (even if we don't finish until Christmas?) and start CTC after that. quote]

That is exactly what we did too! I picked up Beyond because with my other curriculum that is where we were in US History and planned to just get us through to the end of the year! To my joy we all fell in love with it! Now we will continue with it until the end and then go from there! NOW, 2 of my kids are older so we use a different & advanced math, additional science and -of course - all of the extension goodies!

I know that we faced a similar situation with my oldest son when we were using Sonlight 3 during his 3rd grade year (years ago) and knew it wasn't a good fit. I had a very hard time beginning a new program 12 weeks from the end of the year, but we did and it actually was a breath of fresh air. I felt like I was redeeming the time I'd lost for much of the year with a program that I was tweaking to death. It also made me more comfortable going in to the next school year with him continuing on with the program.

I pray you'll have peace with your decision whatever that may be!

Blessings,
Carrie

Thanks Ladies!!! I could fill the rest of the year with lapbooks, etc for science and history (which will be a TON of work for me!!), of simply jump into these wonderful programs. Hmmm, let me think..... We will be starting HOD on Monday Thank you for giving me the encouragement to do so!!!

Coleen

We end our 2008-2009 year in May but I continue with what I have left over to finish up. Like others say you never stop learning so it goes thru the summer to. I offically start back up August with new stuff. Here the PS ends mid June, I think and start after Labor Day or that Thrusday/Friday before. Don't remember.

I bought Little hearts last year-at about June time.The plan was to start september[the new school year here] we started in July just as the schools were ending the school year.We worked half speed over the summer-I reckon we will finish late may/early june this year