How long of a day? Nightmares of Sonlight.

[ShariCA]

I plan on using this starting in the fall, and my boys are still young. We'll be using LHTH and I love the way it looks. I'm looking at the older programs though, and I'm getting an uneasy feeling. I used Sonlight, and it takes ALL-DAY-LONG. I read in the catolog that the oldest of levels only takes 4 to 4 1/2 hours a day and it's only 4 days a week. Is this including all subjects? Math, science, DITHR, history, Bible, music, and so on? The sheer number of books makes me think otherwise. I know this won't be the case for the younger ages, but I was hoping to stick with HOD for a while.

[GinainMD]

I can totally relate! I used Sonlight prek for my oldest two dds first year of "school" and LHTH for dd3 first year of school so far this year and I just cannot believe how dd3 is learning everything that the other 2 did at this age and in about a quarter of the time. I have not used the older guides yet but we will be starting Beyond in the fall. Everything that I have heard indicates that the time commitment will still be less. Of course, I'm sure that this varies a little from student to student. Hopefully someone who has used the older guides will chime in.

[DHT1999]

I've used several SL cores. I really love SL. I never used their LA but I did use the Core, readers, and Science. The days were quite long and I know we often moved the read-alouds to bedtime and read them on the week-ends. I honestly can't remember exactly how many hours we used SL a day. As for HOD, it takes us about four hours a day, sometimes a little more if they are working on projects. That includes teaching both Little Hearts and Preparing with the Extensions, plus Math, Greek, and some critical thinking activities. I am sure our day would be much longer with SL because I personally would not be combining my children into one SL Core and for me, teaching two Cores was just too overwhelming to even think about... that's what led me to HOD.

[ShariCA]

If you can do Preparing with extentions and DITHR and still have time for some extras then the time requirement estimates are probably right. I really think HOD gives a more balanced education on subjects, but all the books listed for the older grades made me nervous. I do not want to get into another situation of doing school from morning to night. We loved Sonlight at first, but as the years wore on it became overwhelming. And we stretched a couple of cores out over two years. The Charlotte Mason method encourages you to stay with a book and really get into it. Does HOD do this?

[DHT1999]

Oh, I neglected to say that I do not use DITHOR everyday. We do use it but we don't do it everyday. It is a great program and I really like it but it does add some time to the day. When we do DITHOR it adds about 30 minutes to our day. I think some who use it do it quicker than that but I haven't been able to pull that off. I do assign books to be read and we do talk about those books almost everyday but we do not use the workbook everyday.

HOD does schedule alot of books but at this point I have not felt overwhelmed by them for even one moment. Though both HOD and SL schedule alot of real books, the whole feel of the program, in my experience, is very different. With HOD, we don't read from as many books in any given day and the books are spread out at a pace that has been very comfortable for me. HOD is definately very CM in that way. We do linger over the books and there is not that "rush to get finished to start another" feeling that SL sometimes has. Plus, the books themselves are different. SL has great read-alouds but I sometimes thought the other books were difficult to read outloud. The SL history books were o.k. but I didn't feel they were especially interesting or compelling. Except CHOW. We loved CHOW with Cores 1 and 2 and we are doing it again now with Preparing. It feels totally different than how SL used it because HOD intertwines Biblical history with it. The SL history books, other than CHOW, were not generally storybook like... with HOD, so far, the books are more storybook like and the children really get into the storyline and look forward to the next readings.

And, do take into account that when you get past Preparing, should you love HOD and stick with it, the bulk of the reading responsibility is shifted to the child. Totally unlike SL where the mother continues to do so much reading aloud even through Cores 6 and 7. My 11 year old will do most of his own reading next year. But, HOD doesn't just throw the child into that responsibility... each guide kind of weans the child from the mother's reading though you will continue to enjoy some read-aloud time through atleast RtR and I am assuming through all of the guides.

I have been very, very, very (did I say very? ) impressed with how Carrie has laid the guides out. I have never felt overwhelmed or rushed or like it was too much.

[ShariCA]

Thank you, that was very helpful.

[momofgreatones]

I've used SL too and they are very diferent. I have two using CTC and yes, CTC can be done in 4 hours a day, especially since it's a four day program so any leftovers can easily be done on day 5. THe four hours includes math, unless math goes on and on like it does some days, in which case you have to make the decision of when to end the math lesson for the day. It also includes extension reading which takes about 15-20 minutes unless your child wants to read longer. CTC has the child working mostly independently.

One of the main differences between the two programs is that HOD is kept short so there is time for extra reading later in the day, whereas with SL all the reading IS the main part of the school day. So with HOD it doesn't feel nearly as pressured or rushed because the "extra" reading is optional and totally at your leisure.

Don't be afraid of the upper programs, they are great! We are looking forward to using RTR next year.

[Kirsten]

I am so glad to be reading this! I am about to purchase HOD and was a SL user. I was already comfortable with my switch, but this discussion makes me all the more sure. I can't wait!!
Kirsten

[Motherjoy]

Remember, you don't have to do every box of HOD. You may choose not to do storytime or not to do DITHOR. Its all up to you, as a mom. In the older ages, Preparing and up, the independent study is AMAZING and I would never skip any of that. All of it is amazing, but we have been known to skip storytime or poetry if we were in a time crunch. Also, we tend to do the read-a-louds in the car all at once. We rarely read a little each day.

[my3sons]

We did CTC last year, and it took about 4 hours to do. We did PHFHG the year before, and that took us a little less than 4 hours to complete. A few things to keep in mind - it took me about 5 1/2 hours to do CTC the first 2 weeks of school, but by the end of the first month, the time was down to 4 hours. I took time to carefully teach each box, and I had a routine order of doing the boxes for my ds. These 2 factors make a big difference in how the overall year goes as far as time is concerned. Also, I gave the guide to my ds and let him use it himself, checking off the boxes in the corner as he went. This is a huge time saver. A child can only be as independent as they are ready for though, so if a child has not had experience with independently following directions and completing assignments, or if they are totally new to CM, the time may be longer. Proper placement is a big deal, and the placement chart is very helpful in getting dc off to the right start with HOD.

I am doing all of HOD as it is written, including LA and math. If you are subbing in other LA and math, the length of your day could potentially be longer. For example, our Singapore math takes us about 20-30 minutes to do. If a subbed in math takes an hour, 30 minutes is added to the day. Same for grammar. R & S 4 took us about 20 minutes to do, and as HOD suggests, we did a good portion of it orally or on markerboard, reserving only the last 1/3 to be done on paper. If you have a different grammar, and it takes an hour to do, you can see how with just a subbed in math and grammar, you added an hour to your day.

DITHOR is scheduled 3 times a week in the upper HOD guides, and that takes us about 30 minutes to do. If you sub in a different reading program and do it daily - well, you get the point I'm trying to make. Also, if your child is unable to independently read the things he is supposed to, and you are having to read the books out loud instead (or you choose to read the books out loud because you enjoy doing so), again more time. Finally, I do not add anything to HOD. It is more than enough, and I want to be done with school by lunch so my dc can explore other interests, and I can dig my way through the laundry and the cleaning that 3 busy outdoor-lovin' boys can manage to accumulate. If you add other things to HOD, or if you draw boxes out and add more of your own discussions/questions, etc. to the boxes, wah-lah - you guessed it, MORE TIME.

So, yes, 100% for sure you can finish CTC in the alloted 4 to 4 1/2 hours provided CTC is what you are doing and nothing else, and provided your child was properly placed. Adding or subbing in things, or reading aloud instead of having dc read silently, etc. are not bad things - and if they make you happy and you enjoy them, you should do them, but just know that then you may be choosing to add more time to your day, and if that's worth it to you, you should definitely do it. HTH! Just in case you are interested, here's a break down of CTC and the time each box should take once a child is in a good rhythm with school:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3765

Also, here is a link to the placement chart, in case you hadn't gotten a chance to check that out yet:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

And, if you are still reading and are interested, here's a copy of our schedule for doing CTC (and BHFHG and LHTH) last year:


HTH - and having done Sonlight for a year, I do think you'll find HOD easy to implement and easy on the time!
In Christ,
Julie

[3musketeers]

Just a quick chime in here . We are happy switchers from SL as well. We really felt the SL burnout! We did Core 1+2 2008-2009 and then changed to Bigger this year 2009-2010. It has been like a wonderful breath of fresh air. We still read so many good books, but with HOD we have so much more time to really savor and glean so much more from them. With SL, all those hands on things I planned to add on never seemed to get done. Carrie has designed this program to where we have time to really dig into our books and have hands on fun that isn't overwhelming. HOD is very balanced. It really does take less time to accomplish each day, but is still open and go like SL. Another happy switcher here

Blessings,
Cindy