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Hi all,

Now that we're five weeks into our school year, I'm grappling with the reality that I'm having a challenging time finding the time to meet with my children to guide them through their teacher-directed studies and/or follow up on independent work. In addition, my 2 oldest are slightly behind in grammar and math and needing to work at a daily clip so they will not fall further behind. So, their loads are slighly more than what the guides entail. I'll line it out so you can see, but I'm thinking that I/we need to scale back in some way and I'm not sure what that should be. The math and grammar placements appear to be right on! And the guides seem to be a good fit, although my 13 yo at times does comment that the work seems a little "young" for him. But he still does it.... The 9,11, and 13 yo are all able to do their readings independently. The 13 yo is extremely independent with the guide. I have to work extra hard just to make sure he hasn't declared something uneccesary on a given day. The 9 and 11 yo are in training with their guides, but coming along quite nicely. I'll confess that I'm seeing such wonderful success in all areas, that I'm having a hard time deciding what to let go. And I'm extremely mindful that we REALLY need to stay on track with the basics.

Oldest -CTC - 13 yo - all HOD recommendations, including CTC storytime, extension package with narrations, Rod and Staff 5 daily and Singapore 6A daily for 30 minutes, DITHOR, and Biology 101 (science add-on)
11 yo - PHFHG - all HOD recommendations, including PHFHG storytime, extension package with narrations, Rod and Staff 4 daily and hoping to move into Singapore 4A in a month (way behind!), DITHOR
9 yo - Bigger - all HOD recommendations, including Bigger storytime, extension package with narrations, Rod and Staff 3, Singapore 3A, have been planning to begin DITHOR in a month
5 yo - LHFHG - all HOd reccommendations
and a 6 mo old enjoying the journey

Finally, my dc have all been behind across the board. This year the oldest finally took a major leap forward. Hurray! But I feel the need to keep everyone on track...as much as possible.

I'm hoping there is some insight out there.

With Joy!
Florence

I would suggest not doing the extension packages for any of the children, if they are needing more time to work on the basics. All the programs are pretty full as is, without the extensions added.

I agree I'd stop the extensions and follow-ups to them. But that doesn't mean they can't still enjoy them at their own leisure! I'd put them in a special basket/tub in their room and let them read them at their own leisure, just asking that they finish them before next school year. (This shouldn't be a problem as they are wonderful. I actually got RTR's extensions this year for ME to read. ) Also, are you reading all of the Storytimes? If so I'd switch to just reading the LHFHG and one other one. I'd let the other child read those independently if able, and just do the follow-ups which are usually just 2-5 minutes. For what it's worth, I do think it will get easier as your sweet baby matures (my last baby sure took it out of me, but things got better and better as he grew), but I hope these changes can help!

In Christ,
Julie

Good thoughts. Thank you both. I'll go with them and see how we do. And yes, they do read their own storytimes!

I'll keep you posted.

These are great suggestions, and I fully agree! Another thought would be to slow the 5 year old down to half-speed in LHFHG (since that little sweetie is only 5). That will shorten your day by another 45 minutes and still keep your 5 year old moving forward steadily.

Blessings,
Carrie