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Ok I feel really terrible....we are only in week 10 day 4 (which we just completed today). I feel so bound by the Day 1 and weeks in this book....we started Aug 24th....do we need to finish the whole book to finish out the year or is this one of those when you quit you just are done....(at the end of your school year, I mean)....Am I ok?

Feeling terrible first year HOD Mom....

There is NOTHING that says you have to finish the guide in one year! We actually started in the spring. We finished 3 units and then took a break for the summer. We started back this fall schooling 3-4 days per week and we are now working our way through unit 11. We'll get as far as we get through the spring and then just finish up the remaining units in the fall.

We started in August, and we are on Week 12. I'm getting used to being flexible, too! I think you're doing fine.

We started the first week in August and began unit 9 today. We have had so many interruptions between my sister's wedding, company in town, and having to go out of town that we are going very slow this year.

Ok ladies....for those of you who started in August, are you going to just homeschool year round and take your time, or do you plan on taking the "summer off"? I would like to take the summer off and just do workbooks this summer and then start fresh with the next HOD book in August....If you plan on taking the summer off, do you just go until you finish the book and then start summer and pick up where you left off in August and just start behind in the next HOD book, or do you just stop where ever you may be in the book and just say "OK, we are done for the year."?
I absolutely love HOD, but I feel so restricted to the book and feel guilty when we take a day off because according to the book I am now a day behind and then that puts me one day more into the summer.....oh my....

Another question, I have a 6 yr old in LHFHG and a 9 yr old in BHFHG, I would so love to combine them both in History and Science and I am not sure how to go about that....is there a way with their age difference?

OK, sorry for the questions and the "freaking out" I feel like this year has been a "flop" for me.

Thanks.

cdrx4 wrote:Ok I feel really terrible....we are only in week 10 day 4 (which we just completed today). I feel so bound by the Day 1 and weeks in this book....we started Aug 24th....do we need to finish the whole book to finish out the year or is this one of those when you quit you just are done....(at the end of your school year, I mean)....Am I ok?

Feeling terrible first year HOD Mom....

Good afternoon! The reason the guides are written with Day 1, Day 2, etc. instead of with Monday, Tuesday, etc. is so you don't feel bound by it. Somehow you have managed to make yourself feel this way though (as we moms often manage to do), and I want to set you free from the guilt - You are doing just fine!!! You are almost 11 weeks into the guide, which is about 1/3 of the way through it, and you are about 1/3 of the way through a traditional school year - you're doing super! Many moms (myself included) choose to go as far as they can, take a break (for us, that's summer) and then finish the guide. However, I am thinking this may bug you - and I get that because it may bug me too, depending on the age of my dc and the guide they are doing and what I want to be doing next year, etc. So, if you continue as you are finishing about 11 weeks of work in about 3 months of time, you will still probably finish the guide by the end of May. You have 6 months between now and the end of May, so you are headed in the right direction. Let's say you have a few weeks left you didn't finish - well, you could just finish out the readings and not do the hands-on parts. This could be done relatively quickly and would help you finish out those last few weeks by summer break. I would not do this with more than 2-4 weeks of plans though, as learning will be lost. I think if it's "one of those years" though, and you are deeply desiring a summer break, this gives you enough wiggle room to achieve that.

If you are trying to combine your dc long-term for the left side of the plans, where do they best place together, considering the skills laid out for each of the guides in the placement chart? I do not see your 6 yo being able to do PHFHG next year. If you think the 2 of them could do Beyond this year, knowing it would be a bit on the easy side for your 9 yo, then you could stop doing the 2 guides now, do Beyond for the left side with both of them, do the right side of Beyond with younger and right side of Bigger with older, and next year repeat the first 10 weeks of BHFHG with oldest and combine with your 6 yo. Your oldest would have a bit of a different flavor of it anyway, because he/she could probably do the extension package if a good independent reader. If this scenario, you'd probably have your younger do the right side of Bigger, and your older do the right side of PHFHG. Only you can know if this fits your goals better. When dc are 3 or more years apart, I think the mom knows best what to do overall. Sometimes it's easier and more fitting to combine (especially with HOD's extension packages and right side of plans options), but sometimes it's easier just to do 2 different guides. Obviously, if you're going this route, you'd want to do it soon and make sure older child understands how next year will go. Otherwise, I think you are on track to finish on time with a tad bit of wiggle room on the end if you need to just finish out some of the readings.

In Christ,
Julie

Hi cdrx4,
No worries. I would try not to get hung up on what week number you are on or day of the week for that matter. I know that is hard. I am a check the box and play by the rules kinda gal myself.

One of the things I love about HOD is that it is very flexible. You have so many choices and it is absolutely up to you how you want to conduct your homeschool. One person can be on week 10 and another on week 20 and another having box day today. If a mom wants to stop where she is in May and start the next book she can. If another wants to school through the summer that's ok too. If another would like to pick up the same book where they left off in August. Hey, that works .

I think the main question is what goals do you want your kiddos to achieve before you take your break? Perhaps you want them to complete a cursive course or finish their 3rd grade math text. What I would like at my home will be different than your home. The most important thing is that your dc are advancing in skills year to year. I do have to say that I have heard how nicely each guide builds on top of the previous guide. So before you drop your guide at week 30 in May, you might want to look through and see if there isn't anything you really want to cover before the next year. But if the answer is, "No I'm ready for summer". I think that is a-ok.

I just want to encourage you that you are not a flop. You are not alone. We all have set backs. After total burnout last Feb., I totally dropped what we were doing and rethought our direction. We started HOD over the summer and I haven't regretted dropping the other mid stream. So you can call the shots. The curriculum is there only to help. You can rest in the fact that your HOD guide is a sweet tool but only worked by your hand. It's only bad if it sits on the shelf and the children are never furthering their education.

As to your other question on combining science and history for your dc 6 and 9. You may have been able to meet in the middle with Beyond for science, history, and story time only. Adding extra for your older and extensions later. They would each need to have there own LA and Math. I'm not sure I would do that at this point. I would be inclined to keep on trucking with what I had started, unless it becomes a problem. Do you have a dc younger than your 6yo you can combine with him/her in a year or two?

Hope this helps a little.

Blessings,
Cindy

P.S.We school until end of June or first of July so we can reasonably finish up before our break. Due to interuptions in our year we have yet to start summer break by end of May. But we also have been known to skip a few last lessons that will be review the next year and call it done. Viva la difference!

Julie was posting at the same time. Sorry if some of the info is repeat.
Good stuff, Julie.

Thanks so much for the encouragements ladies....I wish I wasn't so "uptight" about this kind of stuff. My kids are doing great in their books now, the only thing is my son who is doing 2nd grade math ( as an "uptight" mom I am a little worried he is behind, he is 9 and in the 3rd grade ) and also my daughter seems to be doing really well with RME with the exception that she will not read to me with the beginning reader books. She would rather read Little House on the Prairie and make up the story as she "reads".(pretends). Just those few things really are getting under my skin as a first time hs mom and not being as "laid back" as I should be.
I am really thankful for HOD and I appreciate all the hard work that has gone into it....thanks so much!

Thanks again for your support, it really means a lot.

I will be praying for the gift of being a little less uptight about this journey!

Blessings.

I am also a rule follower so I feel like the units have to be done in one week Monday- Friday. I am trying to work on this and I am getting better about doing day 5 on Monday if I need to. However, I still try to get day 1 also done on Monday so the rest of the week is not messed up for me. Like I said I am working on it.

Our personal goal is to finish the manual by the end of June. I plan to double up some weeks and try to get 2 units done in a week. I only have one kid so that is pretty easy to do. If we don't get done by the end of June then we will take however long until we finish and then take off a month before starting the next manual.