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Let me start my saying I am new to HOD and I am so excited! We are going to do LHTH, LHFHG and Ancients next year. The shipping was so fast I couldn't believe it! My 3 and 5 year old and I have been doing a little with LHTH to fight the summer boredom already and they love it (and I do too!).

Anyway, on to my question...for Ancients, how is everyone going to give their kids the assignments? I was trying to put it into a lesson planner that I could give my son, but it was really re-inventing the wheel because everything is written out so well in the daily plan. I am thinking I am just going to have to let him look at the daily plan. I was just wondering what everyone else is doing.

Hi Becca,

I believe most will probably have their kiddos read their assignments out of the guide, since it's so well done and the easiest on mom.

I made the decision at the beginning of last year to enter most of the assignments into Homeschool Tracker and then print out the daily task list to give each child. For Preparing, only a few things like the science experiement, vocabulary, project, etc., I left as "see PHFHG guide for instructions." I'm actually considering entering more from CTC than I did for Preparing. While this may seem like a great deal of time and effort, I have twin girls using Preparing together and an 8yo coming up, so for me, entering the info once for all three children was worth it. There have been countless times this year that my girls would have been, um, "disagreeing" about who would get the guidebook first.

That's what has worked for us, but it certainly wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

Becca,

We've always had our kiddos read right from the guide. We start having our sons do it already in Beyond, by getting out the books and supplies needed and having everything ready for mom when she arrives for the lesson in that box of the daily plans.

My sons have carried their guides everywhere, and the guides have held up very well. They consider it their guide (with notes for me), rather than my guide with assignments for them.

On a sidenote, in all honesty, if I had two or more kiddos using the same guide, I would schedule them to either be using the guide together (for science or history projects) or using it at different times during the day (depending on the assignment). One other option, depending on what finances allow would be to purchase two copies of the guide (since each guide retails for around $50). This is an interesting option, as when looking at the cost of having a guide for the entire year for each kiddo, as opposed to money spent on a curriculum planner, or time spent entering it into the planner or rewriting it to assign is something to consider. It may be the best $50 ever spent! Anyway, just some thoughts.

Blessings,
Carrie

My ds will just use the guide and check off the boxes as he finishes them. We did that with PHFHG last year, and he LOVED it! He could go on to the next thing right away, gather supplies, tell me when I was needed, etc. We used it together, but it was just as much his as it was mine. I've even started having my 6 yo read parts of the plans in Beyond in preparation for him using the guide for Bigger Hearts. I think the plans are so well written, there is no need for further explaining unless that is something you enjoy. I also give my ds a one sheet paper with just the order he is to do the boxes in. This helps him know what to do next without constantly asking me, and it helps me as I make consider what I need to be doing with my other dc (6 yo in Beyond and 2 yo toddler).

In Christ,
Julie