Enjoying HOD, but..

[4froggies]

We are currently doing CTC and LHFHG and really enjoying it. However, in looking towards next year (we would be doing RTR and Beyond or BHFHG), I am wondering if I am missing out on something by not having my school age ones (10 and 6) studying the same period of History. Their schoolwork is completely separate. Both good fits for each, and my 4 year old is able to participate somewhat in our LHFHG, but I guess I always envisioned our homeschool as more learning together as much as possible. Can anyone give me a perspective on this? Thanks!

4froggies
Mom to 4 great kiddos- 10, 6, 4, 1

[Marsha]

I feel the same way and will be using the CTC program. I have a 5th, 6th, and 9th grader that will be using CTC.
I will add more for the 9th grader. For my K and 2nds grader I will add picture books, SOTW, Modern Rhymes About Ancient Times, etc.
Also, they will all be studying Biology. The younger ones will be doing Elemental Biology and the oldest one will add Biology 101 DVD's.

[4froggies]

Marsha, so will you be reading aloud the history portion for all of your children, instead of having them read independently? Thanks so much for sharing your plan. You will love CTC!

[Marsha]

Well, my plan is to do school with the little ones (using their own ancient books) while the older ones do chores.
Then my oldest 3 will do CTC together. Instead of them doing it separate, I bought them each their own copy of the history and science), we will all read it together.
Then my oldest daughter will do her extra work for High School.

Does that make sense?

[my3sons]

To combine or not to combine is a very personal choice, and often not one that has an easy answer. It sounds like things are going so well for you, that I would lean toward continuing the way you are going . Our dc are 6 years apart from youngest to oldest, and I see you have a wide gap between your dc's ages as well. I think that when we try to combine across a very broad age range, it is usually the younger ones who struggle or miss really receiving a balanced education that is befitting to their level of learning. The biggest reason we do separate programs in our house is due to the wide range of ages and abilities of our dc.

The other reasons we've chosen to do 3 separate HOD programs are I feel that each child's needs are being met well academically, each child's needs are being met well spiritually as our Biblical/character discussions are appropriate for their ages, each child is finishing school in an amount of time fitting their age level, and each child is having a very balanced day that is not dependent on me coming up with things for the youngers to do just for the purpose of trying to make them match with the olders - which any time that is dependent on me, it falls by the wayside eventually, and when I did this the youngers weren't really with the olders anyway. Having my dc placed according to their individual needs has helped us be able to finish school by lunchtime, which means they have the entire rest of the day or evening to be together. We use lunchtime to share what we've done, they share things like their poems with each other, jump in to make snacks if that's part of someone's plans, help out with group oriented activities (i.e. the Olympics in CTC), etc. So, they are still doing some things together, but also getting what they personally need too. This has been a great fit for us, but I know it may not be for everyone.

To help you weigh this decision, here is a link where ladies share their reasons for combining and not combining. I love this link, as I think it shows how HOD can be successful in both situations!
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5290

Only you can know your overall goals for your dc's homeschooling, so you will know what best meets those goals overall. Just pray about it, and you'll know what to do.

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

4froggies,

This is such a good question! At HOD, we actually write our guides keeping in mind that many families may eventually be running two or more programs in their home along their homeschool journey. What we discovered with our own children is that it is very difficult to combine kiddos well who are beyond 3 years apart in age range. Our own kiddos are each almost 4 years apart from their next sibiling in line, which presents a unique set of challenges for attempting to combine them well. What honestly happens if you do try to combine kiddos that are that far apart is that you are in essence writing your own curriculum for either the youngers or olders by coming up with your own books choices to extend or modify for the older or younger kiddos due to a desire to keep them all on the same history cycle. While this can be done, it often leaves either the older or younger kiddos with a hodge-podge of materials, rather than a steady systematic path. It also places the history cycle as the most important focus in the children's education.

In order to enable you to have a learning plan that meets each of your children's unique needs, we keep our younger guides purposefully short to allow you important time to give to your older children and to allow you to focus better on the 3R's in the younger years. With our upper guides, we steadily teach kiddos the skills they need to function well as learners throughout life, and then move them toward fine-tuning these skills that we have spent time teaching to them. When kiddos are getting to the fine-tuning stage, we move these skills to be more independent, yet we keep back subjects such as Bible, storytime, DITHR, math, etc. to discuss with the kiddos to make sure we have the needed higher-level discussions kiddos are ready for at this stage of learning.

Each guide also takes into account the developmental level and maturity of the kiddos both in their skill areas and in the important area of Bible. We find these areas to be more important than the history cycle. So, with that in mind, my advice would be that if you are happy with your current educational path, it would be good to stay the course. Whether you use two of our guides, or instead use one of our guides and make up your own booklist for the other kiddos, either way you are still creating and teaching two programs. Often, creating your own program can be much more work then using ours. However, each family differs in their goals and focus, so it's important to decide what your goals are and what your focus will be. This will be the best guide for your decisions.

Blessings,
Carrie

[4froggies]

Thank you so much for your input. I am still praying and considering. It really helps to hear your reasons for not combining. Thanks again!