heartofdakota.com

Hi,

This is my first time posting here. In the fall my four children will be 7th, 5th, 4th, and 1st. I have decided to switch to HOD for the three youngest. Up until now, I've pulled my middle two along with my oldest and that is just not working----she is too far ahead, and they are not getting what they need. It's time to divide them up.

Preparing looks like a good fit for my 4th/5th graders (they both have some special needs.) Beyond looks perfect for my 1st grader----she reads chapter books fluently, just finished Singapore 1B, and writes well.

I was not going to use HOD for my advanced soon-to-be 7th grader. However, I am starting to consider Revival to Revolution. It fits where she's at chronologically in history. She loves history, loves to read, loves to write. She works well independently. And RevtoRev just looks really GOOD.

However, that would mean that I would be doing THREE guides. All of my kids are solid readers. They all enjoy school and work well independently. I enjoy organizing and scheduling, however, I do like to keep things as simple and streamlined as possible. Would attempting to do three guides be crazy?? How much hands-on time would each guide take?

Jen

I say go for it...REv to Rev looks to amazing to miss. If your children are placed appropiately they will do fine. Your older children will be doing more indpendently so it should be fine. I am currently running 4 programs. It takes a good plan to keep the day going. I am not a scheduler in the sense that we stop and start at the exact minutes but we have a flow that keeps us going. Everyone is usually done by lunch time, we start at 8 and have lunch at 12.
HTH, let us know what you decide.

mskogen gave such good advice here already! We have found that as long as dc are appropriately placed, running 3 guides is not hard to do. I would try to forget about the historical time period and look at the placement chart with just your oldest in mind to see where she best places. Printing off the first week of plans of the guide you think she places in best and reading through the "I" independent boxes to see if she is able to do the reading, the writing, the activities, and the step-by-step directions independently will help you know if the guide's a good fit for her. It sounds like your other dc are well-placed, so just the oldest is the one to ponder! I agree with mskogen that having a routine in place is necessary for us, but then we find our days are balanced. We can depend on finishing school in 4 hours with a routine in place. This thread is an excellent one for considering how you want the routine of your day to go. I just put my schedule for the 3 guides we just completed on the last page of the thread. HTH, but no, you're not crazy! You are taking care to meet each of your dc's needs. That's not crazy, that's smart.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2093

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks to both of you for the input....I think I'm going to go for it.

And dd (7th) is well-placed....it's just a bonus that the guide she places into happens to be right where she left off this year in history!

Any other suggestions? Or links to schedules using three guides? The ones I've seen mostly involve younger children, which is a whole different ballgame.

Thanks!

Jen

Hooray! This thread is a long one but an excellent one for planning how you'd like your day to go...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2093

I just posted my schedule for this past year for RTR, BHFHG, and LHTH there. It's the last entry on the last page. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Just wanted to encourage you that using three guides is very doable. We have found it so much easier than trying to do one and fit everyone in the same place with other programs. It seems like it would be more work but in practice meeting them at their needs is such a blessing that it really just flows. You've already gotten such good advice and a look at schedules which I find really helps. We do not follow exact times but work in a definite order and that makes our day run well every day. Others find following an exact schedule is a blessing to them. Give yourself a couple of weeks to find your groove. It will probably not take that long but it is good to have a little buffer. You'll find that once you see how HOD works it becomes very easy to do multiple guides over the years. In fact it gets easier as they get older.

Congratulations on getting your placement figured out and welcome to HOD!

hi Jen!
Just wanted to say that I don't think you're crazy~ and if you are then so am I. Lord willing I'll be running 3 guides too, Resurrection to Reformation, Preparing, and Little Hearts. I tried combing my older 2, in Bigger (we've done about 12 weeks) but it just isn't working so well. My older was just too advanced compared to his brother for it to work well, even though they are only 2 years apart and fit into the age range, with extensions for the older. I think things will flow much smoother actually having them separated, even though it will mean doing 3 guides, instead of 2 this fall.
So just know you're not the only one.
Michelle

no, you aren't crazy... or alone. I will be using three guides this year too (my first year with HoD)! We'll be adventuring through LHFHG, Beyond and Preparing. I'll be deep in planning mode this week as my children are on break to work on our scheduling (many thanks to Julie for sharing her block schedule) and while at first it seemed a bit insane to jump into three guides the more I look through them (received them last week) I am more and more excited to begin. While all the children will be starting the "new school year" in June we will be staggering the start of the guides, starting my oldest in Preparing first and giving him a few weeks to get acclimated before adding Beyond and lastly LHFHG. I'll keep the younger ones moving ahead with phonics and math while they wait to start their guides. I am feeling much more at ease with meeting each child in the skill-level they belong than I ever did this past year as I tried to combine them through a number of subjects.

Thanks so much for all of the encouragement! It took me awhile to reply because I was at a homeschooling convention this weekend....fun!

I have decided to go ahead and jump into HOD with three guides, so we'll be doing Beyond, Preparing, and Revival to Revolution (what's the abbreviation for that??) I'm excited to get my hands on the guides to start planning!

Thanks again!

Jen