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Hi ladies,

've been looking through the scheduling thread, but I'm still feeling overwhelmed. I have my 10 y.o. ds doing CTC. My 5 and 7 y.o. dd doing Beyond w/different levels of LA and Math. I have a soon to be 4 y.o. ds and 2 1/2 y.o. dd working on LHTH (the 5 y.o. will join in for parts b/c she enjoys it.) We may just do LHTH 2 days a weeks, as per Carrie's earlier suggestion.

So....how do I schedule my day that we are not going past 2 pm and I'm getting everything done? I know CTC has some independent work, but what's a good schedule so we're getting stuff done while he's doing independent work? We can only do 4 days a week for everything b/c we are in Classical Conversations all day on Tuesdays. I was thinking about having him do his History project and maybe poetry project after lunch so the 2 y.o. is napping during that time. I saw a post from Carrie suggesting doing the left side of Beyond in the morning. So, would I do LHTH the first half our (I like to give the littles their own time first), then left side of Beyond? When/how do I do LA and Math with all of the children? I usually do LA and Math in the morning when they are freshest. hmm..... Oh, we're also adding in Latin this week for the oldest 2 dc (Prima Latina), using the video and workbooks. Maybe twice a week.

Help!!! I appreciate all suggestions for making a doable schedule that won't burn me out!!

Thanks,
Liz

Hi Liz,

No advice, just wanted you to know that we are in the same boat with you with 12 yo dd doing CTC this year, 7 yo ds doing Beyond, and a 4 yo ds doing LHTH and a 1 yo toddling around! We are going to do HOD for the first time and I am so excited, but also a bit overwhelmed.

I also want to know the same things as you, how do we schedule 3 programs at the same time?! We are also going to do it 4 days per week as we have a homeschool coop that we do once a week. I am looking forward to hear the responses to your post!

If the Lord has led us to use HOD this year, I know He will be fatithful in showing us how to get it all done!

Blessings,
Shelly

Good morning, Liz! I know that things can seem overwhelming when first getting started, but HOD makes it easier on us busy moms than most programs. I think just starting would ease some of your anxiety - I know I can stress about things to the point of my stomach being in knots sometimes, and if I just would have started, I probably wouldn't have stressed myself out so much. Maybe this would be true for you too!

I think you have a great idea to start first with the little one - those little ones sure do want the mama first thing in the day! I'd get started first with Little Hands to Heaven first thing sometime this week. To prepare for that, you could skim the first day of plans, put all of the LHTH books in a tub, make sure you have your art/school supplies at hand, and let the older dc know they may not interrupt you during that time at all (they can be in their rooms reading or eating breakfast - or anything totally independent away from you and the littles). I think I'd just do LHTH for the first week, and I know you are going to get into that groove and love it. Here's an easy rotation for the LHTH boxes that we have used: Bible Story, Bible Activity, Fingerplay, Letter Activity, Music, Rotating Box (which is math, devotional, dramatic play, or active exploration). It helped my little ones to move from place to place - i.e We read the Bible story cuddled on the couch, did the Bible Activity at the kitchen table, the Fingerplay in the living room along with the Letter Activity, marched around the kitchen for the Music, and did the Rotating box at the kitchen table. One other little tip is to just stick to the HOD plans and keep them moving - don't expect "mastery" for things. Each thing is meant to be done once, not over and over (maybe I'm the only one that needs to hear this ). I would not have the other dc do any of this - this is special time for just you and the LHTH duo.

After doing LHTH for a week, then I'd add in Beyond the next week. To organize different HOD programs, I just put the different programs in different plastic tubs. The LHTH child has 1 tub, but each other child has 2 tubs - one for the current books we are using each day, and one for the "books to come later". When we finish a book in the "current tub", I change it out with the next book we need from the "books to come later" tub. This makes it super easy for me to grab the right books, and it's easy for the kids too. I'd keep LHTH first, having the older child and Beyond dc still doing their independent things. Then, you could have the older child play with the little ones once they finish LHTH - somewhere away from you, making sure they understand they may not interrupt you. I'd start half-speed the first couple days. Here's an order we used for the left side boxes of the plans: Reading about History, Rotating box (geography, etc.), Music, Bible study, Poetry. For the next day, here's an order we used for the right side of the plans: Storytime, LA Spelling, Reading Choices, Math, LA copywork.

After doing LHTH and Beyond half-speed for 4 days, the next week I'd add CTC half-speed. This will have built some anticipation for CTC child! I haven't taught CTC yet, but I think I'll follow a similar order as the other guides - doing the left side first, and then doing the right side of the plans next. Your CTC child could do the Bible Quiet Time first thing in the morning in his/her room (if an early riser - if not an early riser, could do it later). Then during your LHTH teaching time, CTC child could do Reading about History box (since it is independent), and Beyond aged dc need to do something independent not interrupting you. If time, CTC child could begin the Independent History Box. Then, after LHTH is done. You'd be with Beyond dc and CTC child could play with LHTH children while you are teaching the left side of Beyond. Then, perhaps Beyond dc can play with LHTH children - or they can all watch an educational video together, while you do your teaching time for CTC. I'd start with Storytime, then Bible Study, chat about the History project to be sure he knows what to do. Then, perhaps LHTH children can have juice/snack/puzzles/coloring, etc. time while you finish Beyond's right side with those dc, and CTC child finishes history project and does Science independent box. At this point, your LHTH and Beyond dc would be done and can go play, do Books on Tape, etc. and you can rough out the rest of your CTC child's schedule, finishing with LA, math, and poetry.

These are by all means just ideas - I'm just thinking through what I'd do with those ages and programs, and I totally know that this is a plan that will need to be tweaked and modified to fit your day and your family. My best advice is still to start slowly and soon, beginning with LHTH, adding Beyond, and then adding CTC. I know it won't go perfectly (nothing ever does ), but I think you'd find your rhythm and settle into a good routine. Your day will be longer at first, but after a month in, you will be able to shave more and more time off as you all become more efficient at doing school (that's what we found when using multiple programs). HTH - I know you can do this, Liz, and I know you are going to have a fantastic year with HOD!

In Christ,
Julie

ShellyM wrote:Hi Liz,

No advice, just wanted you to know that we are in the same boat with you with 12 yo dd doing CTC this year, 7 yo ds doing Beyond, and a 4 yo ds doing LHTH and a 1 yo toddling around! We are going to do HOD for the first time and I am so excited, but also a bit overwhelmed.

I also want to know the same things as you, how do we schedule 3 programs at the same time?! We are also going to do it 4 days per week as we have a homeschool coop that we do once a week. I am looking forward to hear the responses to your post!

If the Lord has led us to use HOD this year, I know He will be fatithful in showing us how to get it all done!

Blessings,
Shelly

Hi Shelly - I hope something in the other post I typed can help you too, and I agree the Lord will be faithful in helping us all get it done!

Ladies,

My3sons gave excellent advice on easing into HOD! I also wanted to let you know that I will be doing the exact combination that you listed this upcoming year (CTC, Beyond, LHTH, and piloting our new middle ages/resurrection/ reformation guide). So, I'll be posting our schedule on the scheduling thread in about a month (when we start school). I know others are also using that combo. this school year, so more thoughts will be coming on the scheduling thread of other possible schedules too.

In the next month or so, you may want to ease in and play around with your schedule a bit to see what seems to fit your family. Then, when the other schedules start to be posted you can tweak or try others ideas in any needed areas.

I just wanted to encourage you that you're not alone and that we will enjoy walking this path together this year!

You may want to peek at my schedule for LHFHG and Preparing Hearts from last year to get some ideas on how I run my schedule. That may help too! Here's a link to both the scheduling thread and to some helpful hints that I gave to another mom using several programs: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4378

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you, Julie and Carrie!!

I printed out Julie's suggestions (I read better on paper) and will do the same with Carrie's link to try to process it all. Carrie--You should start school tomorrow so we can see your schedule when WE start....LOL!! I'm glad you and others will do this combo this year. It will help me a lot to see other's suggestions and ideas for scheduling.

I'm looking forward to my books arriving so I can start organizing. Julie--I do already have LHTH so maybe will start that (actually, pick it up where we left off) next week. I'm not sure when the Beyond and CTC stuff will arrive and I'll need a little time to go through and organize before actually starting those, so I don't yet have an official start date.

Carrie: I think I remember reading that you add in Greek???? Was that you? We're doing Latin this year. I'm wondering how to add that in.

Thanks so much for your help! You two are always so helpful.

Liz,

We do add in "Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek" (only because my hubby wanted to learn to read the NT in Greek, so my two oldest boys are learning too). We've done it 3 years now, and each boy just does a page a day 4 days a week (finishing a level in a year). It's completely independent and takes 10-15 minutes on average per day.

It is a good idea to have the kiddos do their flashcards each day too, as they'll need to know how to pronounce the words as they get up to Level 4 on up.

Greek N' Stuff also has a latin program.

I think the choice of whether to learn another language is a very individual choice for each family as to what suits them best. For some families, it may be easier to wait until high school to learn a foreign language, as it becomes a required subject at that point.

Blessings,
Carrie