How do you manage 2 programs at once?

[Sue G in PA]

I am excited and a bit nervous to start LHFHG and Preparing next year. I will be starting LHFHG in a week or so actually, as soon as I have all the books. I just can't wait until next Fall! My question for those who do 2 or 3 guides at once is how do you schedule it? I'm worried I'll be exhausted by the end of the day! Plus, I have a 9th grader doing MFW AHL which is mostly independent, but she typically needs help with math and then there is the little toddler terror! Any suggestions or advice on how to schedule would be so appreciated! Thank you.

[Mom2Monkeys]

I'm doing 3 right now (one is LHTH though). I have 4 kids, one is a nursing 5month old and one is the toddler terror. LOL. I do LHTH with him first to get his one on one and it keeps him content longer for the other kids' school. Then, I reserve our mornings for school. We don't do chores during this time at all beyond clearing breakfast dishes after we eat. We are generally done by lunch. Afternoons are our fun and chore time. We also do Wii Fit and take a short walk in the morning time to keep us all fresh for school. I'm trying to post my schedule on my blog so I can link it on here. It might be this afternoon or evening since we'll be going to church soon.

[ncmomof5]

Sue,

It really is quite doable. I know it sounds scary, but you'd be surprised what a little planning and scheduling can do for you. Speaking of scheduling, if you look at some past posts, you can see some examples of schedules that others have put together that allow them to do 2, 3, even 4 programs at once. I think there is one post that was called "let's share our schedules". That gave me some great ideas.

Having a toddler can make things interesting. I know that too well. But there are also some great past posts about how to keep them occupied while you're trying to school your older children. These also have helped me to see how others have done it ( which gives me hope that it CAN be done ).

I haven't figured out how to put links on here so you can click to the posts that I am referring to, but I do know they are on here. If I figure it out, I will put the links on here for you.

Remember, also, "I can do ALL things through Christ which strengthens me". He will give you the strength to do what He has called you to do, and He won't make your burden heavier than you can bear. "Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.

[4froggies]

I had a similar question last year, and the responses from Carrie and the other ladies helped so much..

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4615

HTH!

[Sue G in PA]

Thanks everyone. Those other threads were helpful. I do not own MOTH and don't plan to buy it at this point. However, I might change my mind. I've just heard that it is time-consuming at first and certainly not simple. I don't need something that will take up more of my time, kwim? Any more suggestions?

[Kathleen]

Sue,

I used Preparing with LHFHG this year, and we have had a great time! I love that the guides are open-and-go which has helped me not to feel stressed and be able to really enjoy our year. We also get with it in the morning in time to be done by lunch time which helps us out a lot. (I was taking long naps for a couple of months early on in this pregnancy.) I've also added in LHTH this spring and it's still rolling along well.

I started the day with Grant and we did the history reading & corresponding box. Then I left him to either finish that box (if it was research or vocabulary or written narration...) or start on one of the other independent boxes (independent history or science). During that time I headed upstairs with my LHFHG kids & we did that. When we came downstairs (about 30 min later), I went back & forth between Grant and them while we worked on math, fine motor skills with the little 2 and I helped Grant with dictation, English, math. When the little ones were done & headed off to play again, I went upstairs with Grant again to do Bible, poetry, & storytime. Then we did DITHOR & he finished whatever was left before lunch.

I made up a schedule kind of like Julie's format & gave Grant his own little copy at the beginning of the year. After about a week, we had the routine down & we just flow along with the day. I put times on it to give us a guide at the beginning, but we're not really clock-watchers and just flow along with the order. We started by 8:30 and ate lunch around 1 most days to keep that momentum going. I had my kids play outside for an hour after lunch, which they love, too!

Kathleen

[DHT1999]

Hi, Sue! This is our first year with HOD. We are using Preparing with the Extension and Little Hearts. We have had a wonderful year. I do admit that some days feel a little frenzied. But, there are many others that are quite calm. I am a very unstructured person by nature but the guides pull everything together for me and keep me on track. There are days when we don't get every single thing in both guides done to the fullest. But, we do enjoy HOD very much. I don't have any advice about scheduling. I'm just no good at that myself! I just do the next thing and keep on going. I do Little Hearts with my youngest son while my oldest does any of the work in Preparing that is independent.

We do our table time things together... spelling, copywork, grammar, and math. The children work on their own projects but they do them at the same time at the same table. Then, we separate and I do Little Hearts (History, Storytime, Thinking Games/Dramatic Play & Bible) while my oldest does Preparing's independent work (History, Science, whatever he is reading for Literature). After that, we all come back together and do any reading (History, Bible, Storytime) that I need to do for Preparing. That is generally how it goes. It really isn't difficult, you just have to persevere when the kids get wiggly or distract one another but that is going to happen even if you are teaching one program! As for the content of the programs, they go together very well. We have really enjoyed the strong Biblical aspect of each of these programs.

[4froggies]

The main reason I posted the link to the other thread was the response by Carrie as to how she makes her own schedule- breaking it down by Independent Work, Teacher-directed, etc. I found this so helpful and this is how we schedule our 2 programs.

[Sue G in PA]

Oh...I totally appreciated the link to Carrie's response! It was very helpful, thank you. Even without using MOTH, it gave me a great idea of how to schedule independent, semi-ind. and teacher led work. Thank you!

[my3sons]

Hi Sue! I schedule my time in blocks, and that seems to help me out. Here's my schedule for CTC, Beyond, and LHTH, from this past school year:


It really is very manageable to do several HOD programs, but I've found putting some thought into the routine of it makes a big difference. You've gotten some great responses here already - hope this helps some too!

In Christ,
Julie

[Tree House Academy]

I do something similar to what Julie posted, but not as detailed! LOL My older son is so independent, I just have him do his independent work while I work with the younger. When I finish with the younger, I move to what the older needs help with. It has worked well this year and I have no reason to think it won't work well again next year with CTC and Beyond.