How does half-speed HOD look in your home?

[my3sons]

As I was planning how to go half-speed this year, I thought it would be nice to know how others do this, but didn't find many posts about it. I think it may be super helpful to have a thread where we all describe how half-speed HOD looks in our homes, just to show some different possibilities so others figuring out a half-speed HOD day may have some ideas about how do go about scheduling it. Here is how we are going half-speed with...

Little Hands to Heaven (half-speed):
We spread out 1 LHTH day over 2 days. I use both Bibles and alternate the days below.

First day:
Read the story from the younger children's Bible (A Child's First Bible).
Do the Fingerplay, Letter Activity, and Bible Activity boxes.

Second day:
Read the story from the older children's Bible (The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes).
Do the Fingerplay, Letter Flashcard Review, Rotating box, and Corresponding Music.

It would be great to see how you are going half-speed if you get the chance to share, as this is a common question and your ideas would surely be beneficial for many.

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

Bigger Hearts for His Glory (half-speed):
We alternate between these two schedules, spreading 1 day's of plans out over 2 days.

First day:
*Corresponding Music, Bible Study, Poetry Activity, Poetry copywork
*Reading about History, Rotating History Activity (bottom left box), DITHOR 2/3 (just read to me today), Storytime (with the lesson today)
*Math flashcards, book on tape, chores

Second day:
*Science, R & S English 2, Storytime (just read today)
*DITHOR 2/3 (he reads and we do the lesson today), Singapore Math, Dictation
*Cursive, book on tape, chores

Because my ds is on the young side of BHFHG, I do not want to get through LA or Math too quickly. This is why we are going half-speed with these as well, and also why I added in math flashcards, just so he gets a little math but isn't moving ahead too fast with Singapore. I also decided I want to hear him read every day, and I also want to read our Storytime book every day. But, I only do the lesson one of the days. In this way, the pages we both read can be less each day, we can move forward each day, but we are not doubling up on the lessons of Storytime or DITHOR. I hope that makes sense!

We do his school in 3 blocks, hence the bullets above. This has worked great! The book on tape and chores are just things we do to finish out the block.

I imagine someone with an older child doing BHFHG half-speed may have a different schedule than mine. So, I hope others can share their half-speed schedules here to help others as well, as I'm certain half-speed HOD can look very different in various homes, but still be successful in all!

In Christ,
Julie

[Samuel'sMommy]

We are doing LHFHG half speed. This is what we do:

1st day - Rhymes in Motion, Reading About History, Rotating Box
2nd day - Rhymes in Motion, Bible Study & Music, Storytime
We do the fine motor skills, phonics, and math daily.

[mamayi]

Julie,
I am so glad you asked this question and shared what you do in your home! I have been trying to figure out how to pace my dc so that the oldest two would be ready to do Bigger starting Jan. '11.
We are currently in the middle of Beyond and my ds is right on pace and doing great and would be ready for Bigger come fall time. My dd (soon to be 6) is following along ok but would not be ready for Bigger at all then. Since I want to keep them combined I was just going to take the time we finish Beyond (probably in June) and just kind of "stall" my ds in order to work with my dd so that we could begin the Bigger guide in a year from now.
BUT you inspired me with a new idea! I would even call it an answer to prayer since I've been seeking the Lord on this for a couple of weeks now.
I figure that if from NOW I take Beyond at half speed it would give my dd plenty of time to mature and learn and be ready for the next guide in a year. As for my ds, he wouldn't mind at all to slow down a bit. We would keep reading and math daily but the other things we could divide up. Not only that but since we live in Northern Virginia there are a TON of historical sights to explore here. We've lived here a year and a half and haven't seen much of anything! Now I would have the time to do it and make so much of what we're learning this year in Beyond really come alive! (Williamsburg is 2 hours away, Ferry Farm is 20 minutes away, Mount Vernon, 30 minutes and Washington DC about 40!... just to name a few )
I am so excited! Now if this snow would melt and the roads get cleared then we could be on our way! (I know complaining of snow to people who live in South Dakota isn't very nice! )
I can't wait to hear how other HOD users do the guides half-speed.

PS
I just started posting recently after "lurking" on the boards for a few months and I never introduced our family. We've used HOD from the beginning of our homeschooling in 2006. For the life of me I cannot tell you how I found HOD! It can only be GOD! I am truly thankful for this curriculum mainly for it's Christ-centeredness and ease of use. My children are flourishing with it and I look forward to school with them... most days
It is only after reading the boards that I am starting to get the most out of the curriculum though. There were things that I would skip over because I didn't understand what the "big picture" goal was of doing it (ie, copywork and some of the storytime things). But after reading other people's experiences and hearing their questions I am getting so much more out of it (and so are my children!) I praise the Lord for bring HOD to our family.

[Kathleen]

We're using LHFHG half speed this year, and our schedule looks almost exactly like Stephanie's.

1st day:
Rhymes, Corresponding Music
Reading About History & Corresponding Box

2nd day:
Rhymes, Corresponding Music
Bible Study & Storytime

I do Fine Motor Skills, Phonics and Math with Allison daily. (And Garret does anything active in the math box with us. )

We're only doing school 4 days a week, too. So, next year I'm thinking we'll have enough left to bump up to doing it all 4 days a week.
Kathleen

[Samuel'sMommy]

We're using LHFHG half speed this year, and our schedule looks almost exactly like Stephanie's.

I think I actually stole your schedule from one of your posts at the beginning of the year

[momofone]

Glad you started this thread Julie! If anyone is doing Bigger with a child who is on the older end of the guide, I would be particularly interested. My son is almost 9 and I'm trying to get our groove going with Bigger half speed and bump up to full speed by fall.
So thanks again for starting this discussion!
Tina
ds-Bigger

[my3sons]

Thanks for sharing ladies! I am hoping someone can share half-speed Beyond too and CTC.
Here is a link to suggestions Carrie made for doing
half-speed PHFHG with daily 3 R's:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5431

mamayi - I am so glad this has been an answer to prayer for you! God is so good, isn't He? I think you have a good idea to do half-speed Beyond, and visit some wonderful historical places. How neat that you can do that! I do think that will help you better prepare your dc for Bigger Hearts and bide a little time without stalling the learning. You can also really hit LA (especially reading/writing) with your younger child, as this will be a boost to doing Bigger Hearts with the 2 of them later.

momofone - I don't know if this would be helpful or not, but if I were doing an older child half-speed in Bigger Hearts, I would do the same type of schedule I'd posted earlier, but up these things... daily R & S English, daily dictation, daily DITHOR along with lessons daily, and daily math. This is assuming an older child is doing R & S English 2, DITHOR 2/3, Math 2A/2B. If a child were older and already doing a higher level of R & S English, was doing DITHOR 4/5, or was doing a higher level of Singapore math, I'd probably keep the half-speed schedule I shared originally. I'm not sure if that helps at all - but thought I'd throw some ideas out there!

Keep the half-speed ideas coming ladies - they are great and oh so helpful to others!
In Christ,
Julie

[ncmomof5]

Thanks, ladies, for sharing your half speed schedules, especially yours for Bigger, Julie. I have been contemplating going half speed with my 8 yo ds, but was not sure exactly how to do it. We are in Unit 19, but we had been combining with my 10 and 11 yo for the first half of the year. Now, I have them both in CTC, and my 8 yo ds is doing much better on his own. ( He just seemed to sit back and let them answer, interact, etc.).

However, I still did not feel he would be ready for Preparing in the fall. I wanted to take the last half of the Bigger guide slower, cement his reading skills, and just really get him ready, so that he will be able to confidently approach Preparing. Now I feel like I have a plan that will do just that. THANKS!!

Thank you, God, for this board and these wonderful ladies.

In His love,
RuthAnn

[MomtoJGJE]

We are in Beyond and I'll share what we do. We skip back and forth from going full speed and half speed, depending on what's going on in our lives. Obviously full speed is everything daily.... but when we are going half speed we school an even number of days per week. Either 4 or 6 typically. We do left side one day and right side the next....

if we only do 4 days (I like to keep the 'day' not split up by a weekend, not that it matters) then we'll do something else to count as school the 5th day. Typically that would be a day that we already have something "educational" going on, like 4-H or basketball, and we'll also hit Awana verses hard and do puzzles or other math games.