First day of 3 programs Beyond, Preparing and CTC DONE!

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water2wine
Posts: 2743
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:24 pm
Location: GA

First day of 3 programs Beyond, Preparing and CTC DONE!

Post by water2wine » Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:58 pm

Can I just say what a blast! We had fun, I had fun! 8) Total time Beyond, Preparing, CTC 5 hours, including lunch! I will say though that we did rotated lunch so none of us were off at the same time in groups. But we all got breaks, we all got lunch. But I rotated the breaks and lunch so that by CTC and Preparing kids ate together, Beyond kids ate together and I got my own sanity lunch alone. :lol: That is with all our LA (and we do different LA that is really one of the more time consuming and labor intensive for my older kids plus we do HOD dictation or spelling for one), Math (I use a different math for my older kids and we have 5 levels of math total), an extra science program for my oldest and there are a couple of here and there stuff I do that are just small extras. With our added Bible reading that we do chronologically from the Bible time it brings us to 5 1/2 hours. So if we start at 9 we are done by 2:00 for the program but add an extra 30 minutes for the extra Bible we do we will be done by 2:30.I checked all their work as we went. I spot checked math now only have to see if the corrections were made correctly. Plus I answered the many questions on do I suppose God... from my CTC kid that she had just floating around in her head after all her independent work. And let me tell you there were some wild ones. She really got to thinking about how did it all happen and she just absolutely loved CTC. I am thinking that is amazing! I am completely blown away. HOD rocks! 8)

Things I think we did that helped to have a very good first day. (if you do not care then just skip this and be happy for us we had a great first day :lol: )

1. I made a schedule from what I saw others do but I kept a reality check. First thing that was off is I thought I could start at 8:00. Why? I never have before? Nope we started at 9 like always. I need a clean house chores done before we tear it up again. :lol: I am who I am lesson learned. :wink: I took down the times and made quick notes of what we did as far as boxes within that time byt time of day and order so I can now make a real working schedule tonight. But the first one helped to make sure I caught it all.

2. I um, read the manual, meaning the directions and intro. And I mean ahead of time not on the spot. :oops: That is not a given with me. :lol:

3. I made a check list for each child except my two in Beyond because they are not ready for this. It had three parts. A box that had a place to grade themselves on performance and behavior, a list of all the possible stuff we do in a day and a place to check off what was actually done, then underneath bullet points of expectations I have for them individually for the year and they had to check them off that they read it. At the end of the day they turned it in. :shock:

4. This one I think is huge. I made them a binder with cool dividers for each subject (some things I comb bound separately) for each child special for them. And I started the day with the unveiling of the cool binder that gave them a taste of all the cool stuff we will do this year. In short I threw a sales pitch for the year for each program and got them hyped up about how great it was going to be. In that binder there was the attitude checklist and performance evaluation that I explained. So they saw that first. Two expectations planted in their head, one fun, and two excellence and good behavior. My kids do pretty well but we have our issues like every family. :wink: The sales pitch helps make for a nice first day.

5. I spent our break working on all the character issues and attitude adjustments I knew were issues last year or just in general. So I essentially trouble shot any of the bad heart issues before we got to day one. And two of my kids really got the work over, let me tell ya. It worked. I also rearranges things a bit so some of the walking over each other if one was slower with my dd with learning issues and my ds who is task master so the two will never collide. :lol:

Anyway I hope there is something for someone else here but if not then just Yeah Raw great first day with three programs! We love HOD! :D
Last edited by water2wine on Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13
~Six lovies from God~4 by blessing of adoption
-MTMM (HS), Rev to Rev, CTC, DITHR
We LOVED LHFHG/Beyond/Bigger/Preparing/CTC/RTR/Rev to Rev (HS)

Kathleen
Posts: 1980
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:23 pm
Location: NE Kansas

Re: First day of 3 programs Beyond, Preparing and CTC DONE!

Post by Kathleen » Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:27 pm

:D Woo-hoo! :D

Sounds like a great 1st day! I was actually thinking about you today while we were doing school. :wink: I started reading Reddy Fox to Alli and Garret and was wishing I could hear all your "voices". :lol: I'm sure yours are great! We'll see what I can come up with...

:D Kathleen
Homeschooling mom to 6:
Grant - 19 Kansas State University
Allison - 15 World Geography
Garret - 13 Res2Ref
Asa - 8 Bigger
Quinn - 7 Bigger

Halle - 4 LHTH

my3sons
Posts: 10702
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: First day of 3 programs Beyond, Preparing and CTC DONE!

Post by my3sons » Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:29 pm

That's awesome! :D I like your tips for a good first day - I think they are right on track. I had never thought of the idea of rotating lunch, but that is one I'm remembering for the future. We rotate breakfast, but not lunch. I also like the sales pitch idea, and the binders. I think you hit a key point about knowing what works for you, and if starting at 9 AM works and ending mid-afternoon - PERFECT! As we read each other's schedules and about each other's days, I think that's important to consider - we can probably each take bits and pieces from each other's ideas and piece together our almost perfect day. :) Give your sweeties a big HOD hug - I'm so proud of them and you too! :D Thanks for telling us how it went!

Love in Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

water2wine
Posts: 2743
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:24 pm
Location: GA

Re: First day of 3 programs Beyond, Preparing and CTC DONE!

Post by water2wine » Mon Sep 28, 2009 5:46 pm

Kathleen wrote::D Woo-hoo! :D

Sounds like a great 1st day! I was actually thinking about you today while we were doing school. :wink: I started reading Reddy Fox to Alli and Garret and was wishing I could hear all your "voices". :lol: I'm sure yours are great! We'll see what I can come up with...

:D Kathleen

Hehehehe! Can I tell you something funny. When we started Beyond today I asked my girls today "Are you ready for the REALLY big girl stuff? We are starting the REAL school today, whoaoah!" And my seven year old blurts out "Bye, bye Ready Fox! You are on your own now! You're gonna have to solve your own problems." And then she just broke out laughing. I kid you not! :lol: We did find today though that Squanto is probably in for some trouble as well. :wink:
All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13
~Six lovies from God~4 by blessing of adoption
-MTMM (HS), Rev to Rev, CTC, DITHR
We LOVED LHFHG/Beyond/Bigger/Preparing/CTC/RTR/Rev to Rev (HS)

Candice
Posts: 831
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 10:48 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: First day of 3 programs Beyond, Preparing and CTC DONE!

Post by Candice » Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:04 pm

W2W, you rock!

I love your spirit, your enthusiasm and perseverance!
Congratulations on a great day, job well done! :D

Candice :D
Last edited by Candice on Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

water2wine
Posts: 2743
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:24 pm
Location: GA

Re: First day of 3 programs Beyond, Preparing and CTC DONE!

Post by water2wine » Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:14 pm

my3sons wrote:That's awesome! :D I like your tips for a good first day - I think they are right on track. I had never thought of the idea of rotating lunch, but that is one I'm remembering for the future. We rotate breakfast, but not lunch. I also like the sales pitch idea, and the binders. I think you hit a key point about knowing what works for you, and if starting at 9 AM works and ending mid-afternoon - PERFECT! As we read each other's schedules and about each other's days, I think that's important to consider - we can probably each take bits and pieces from each other's ideas and piece together our almost perfect day. :) Give your sweeties a big HOD hug - I'm so proud of them and you too! :D Thanks for telling us how it went!

Love in Christ,
Julie
I agree. For instance I will never float. :lol: Hehehe. I know some things I can multitask and some I just can't. Those are good things to know. :wink: We also did two breakfast times as well. I guess some families want together time but we have so much together time I want individual time or smaller group time. My two youngest kids have the mommy gene that says I can't get up early and my other kids wake up very early. So I just take advantage of the way things naturally are. And can I tell you Julie my oldest is loving the one on one time with me. She did not even go outside to play out front with all the other kids because she wanted to chat about CTC. I mean things are serious if you are missing outside front play time with daddy where the rules on safety are his and not mine. And for him I use the term "rules" loosely. :lol: Plus my other kids have a completely different chemistry with her on her own. It made them step it up a notch too. That was something I had not expected but it was good especially for my dd that has special needs but is really the same age as my oldest but see now she is with two that are younger than her so she can't just slack. It's now a pride thing for her. I expected the exact opposite. So that was very good. I think we made the right decision going with three programs. :D
All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13
~Six lovies from God~4 by blessing of adoption
-MTMM (HS), Rev to Rev, CTC, DITHR
We LOVED LHFHG/Beyond/Bigger/Preparing/CTC/RTR/Rev to Rev (HS)

lovetobehome
Posts: 208
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2008 9:16 pm

Re: First day of 3 programs Beyond, Preparing and CTC DONE!

Post by lovetobehome » Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:15 pm

Wow, I am so impressed! I never seriously even considered TWO programs!!! Hmm...food for thought!
We are on vacation this week, at the grandparents' house which is on the beach...perfect for our One Small Square Seashore lessons in BIGGER! Tomorrow we will go draw our square.
I am so glad your day went well! What in the world am I doing wrng that I can't get my kids done in a timely manner? Doing JUST bigger? I am looking carefully at how to structure our day much better.
DS 11 Finished CtoC! Moving on to RtoR!
DD 9 Preparing- Hoping to give her the best year possible, and sticking to the guide as written!
DS 4 All About Reading, R&S preschool workbooks, maybe some Little Hands

water2wine
Posts: 2743
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:24 pm
Location: GA

Re: First day of 3 programs Beyond, Preparing and CTC DONE!

Post by water2wine » Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:35 am

lovetobehome you are not doing any thing wrong. :D I am just intimately acquainted with my faults and know how to work around them. :lol: I have a suggestion for you to figure out what is going on for you. Take the time of all your boxes and note the time lost in between. Then look on the board where someone has broken down the time of the boxes or look at the schedules posted to get an idea. You will see where the time is slipping that way. :D I find sometimes i do better with more to do than less to do. That is just my personality. Everyone is different. You are not doing anything wrong. You might just find a place where time is slipping by that you are not aware of without tracking it. I can never figure out where my time went unless I track it. :D
All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13
~Six lovies from God~4 by blessing of adoption
-MTMM (HS), Rev to Rev, CTC, DITHR
We LOVED LHFHG/Beyond/Bigger/Preparing/CTC/RTR/Rev to Rev (HS)

Carrie
Site Admin
Posts: 8128
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:39 pm

Re: First day of 3 programs Beyond, Preparing and CTC DONE!

Post by Carrie » Wed Sep 30, 2009 12:28 pm

water2wine,

I am very encouraged by this thread, as I'm on the precipice of beginning 3 and 1/2 programs (counting LHTH at half-speed) this coming Monday. :wink: There are so many good tips in here that are good to keep in mind as I am busily making my schedule. :D We'll be doing LHTH (half-speed), Beyond, CTC, and much of the new RTR guide. :D

Thanks for sharing! :D

Blessings,
Carrie

water2wine
Posts: 2743
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:24 pm
Location: GA

Re: First day of 3 programs Beyond, Preparing and CTC DONE!

Post by water2wine » Wed Sep 30, 2009 1:35 pm

Carrie wrote: I am very encouraged by this thread, as I'm on the precipice of beginning 3 and 1/2 programs (counting LHTH at half-speed) this coming Monday. :wink: There are so many good tips in here that are good to keep in mind as I am busily making my schedule. :D We'll be doing LHTH (half-speed), Beyond, CTC, and much of the new RTR guide. :D
Oh and write a guide too you mean. :lol: But I know you can do it. God has appointed you for it! Enjoy! :D
All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13
~Six lovies from God~4 by blessing of adoption
-MTMM (HS), Rev to Rev, CTC, DITHR
We LOVED LHFHG/Beyond/Bigger/Preparing/CTC/RTR/Rev to Rev (HS)

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