Younger guide questions! :)

[SarahAngeline]

Hello all! I have a question for the group. We used LHFHG K last year and completed the guide in one year. Our Homeschool group has grown so much this year that we are sorta turning into a co op style. So ALL of our clubs will be happening now on Fridays (which is awesome!) This leads me to ponder schooling Mon-Thurs. We are using Beyond 1st this school year. I know a lot of families use LHFHG through Preparing (is it Preparing or Bigger?) 4 days per week and spread it out. 1) I can't quite remember how this would work. When do the guides switch to being scheduled as a 4 day week? 2) How do you feel about doing this, those of you who've done it? How do you keep your child on grade level? Do you go full pace on the math but 4 days on everything else? If you spread 3 guides out to take 4 years, do you call kiddo in 4th or 5th grade for CTC? I LOVE the idea of doing it this way... But have reservations. Thanks for any input!

[Nealewill]

Preparing is the first guide that is written to 4 days per week.

For me, my girls will always be on the youngest end of the age range. My youngest dd is 6 and doing Little hearts this year but she did Beyond last year with her brother when she was 5. So she will be 7 when she does Bigger. My son is always going to be in the middle age of the age range. For me, I don't really think about grades too much because everything is so multi grade that my kids do. But, once my kids finish every guide for HOD, I consider them graduated So, if my girls graduate at 17 and my son graduates at 18, then they are done. While it doesn't really matter, I do consider my oldest to be 5th grade, my middle to be 3rd grade and youngest to be 2nd grade. That is the average level of materials that they are completing.

You could definitely spread Beyond and Bigger out if you needed. I think Bigger and Preparing are the guide where kids are going to struggle the most. In Bigger, the copy work picks up significantly. But in Preparing, the independent reading picks up a bunch. If you do one guide a year, then you have wiggle room. But you can definitely spread it out too

For us - we like to do 1 guide a year if we can. We find that to be a good fit for us. But I do like the fact that if I needed extra time in a guide, I have that as well.

[MelInKansas]

We are also part of a Friday co op group. As you move up in guides it is difficult to say you would squeeze in HOD on a co op day. The HOD days are just so full! We actually did LHFHG and Beyond each in one year but then Bigger took 1 1/2 years. I did one guide a year (with my oldest and 2nd born both) by schooling through part of the summer. August and January are my favorite months to do school because weekly activities either haven't started yet or are on break and the weather isn't very nice so, why not? I always feel like we get so much done. Bigger was intense and we just needed to slow it down so she could grow in her writing skills a bit. Preparing, we will finish in one year (but we started it last December and will finish it this December so not in a school year's time).

I just call her the grade she is for the purposes of Sunday School classes and activities (we do dance). They have to know that to place her in the right place. The guides are not a specific grade level, people use them for various grade levels and they are adaptable for many levels. Especially since we did do LHFHG for K I do not feel bad at all that my DD is a 4th grader and finishing up the 2nd half of Preparing, and will hopefully do at least 1/4-1/3 of CTC before May. She was confused by that the first year that we didn't finish a guide and start a new one in the fall. We've talked it over and I think now she gets it, that the grade level is a label we use but pretty meaningless when it comes to what we do at home.

So, make it work how you want to. If you still want to have summers off and the co op is really important to you then you won't finish one guide per year. But that's OK. There are only 8 guides from LHFHG to MTMM and if you start LHFHG in K you have an extra year to finish them. I always finished a unit before taking a long break (we do take a month or maybe 6 weeks off in the summer and there is usually a 3 week break at Christmas time, and when babies are born.... an undetermined time). But it was not a problem to pick the guide back up after the break was over. In fact we usually had renewed energy and interest for it. Many others just break for the summer in the middle of the guide and pick it up in the fall.

I hope this is helpful.

[SarahAngeline]

I guess where I'm torn is, would doing this put him behind grade level? And is it wrong to do if you don't really have an academic reason for slowing down? It would purely be for the ease of having a mon-Thur schedule.

[Samuel'sMommy]

Since your son is on the lower age range of the guides, I doubt that spreading them out will put him below grade level. Alot of people don't use Beyond till 2nd grade so if you think of it that way you are a year ahead. Even if you stretch them out, you will probably finish MTMM by 8th grade and then be on track for high school. I really wouldn't worry about it. The only thing that is grade level anyway is math, so if you are concerned, I would just do math daily and then just do the rest of the guides 4 days a week.
If you really want to do a guide a year but still school 4 days a week, then just take shorter breaks throughout the year. Beyond & Bigger would take 42.5 weeks instead of 35 weeks so you could just take a shorter summer break.

[Nealewill]

I guess where I'm torn is, would doing this put him behind grade level? And is it wrong to do if you don't really have an academic reason for slowing down? It would purely be for the ease of having a mon-Thur schedule.

I wouldn't really consider "grade level" at this point HOD is very unique in that each level increases in skills. From coming from stuff that was graded to stuff that is less so, I find my kids actually are learning more if that makes sense. Also, with kids - it seems like they hit a time frame where things slow down or they need a little bit more time. That is what is nice about HOD. Little Hearts isn't necessarily for "Kindergarten." I am finding that some kids need more time and some don't. I think what I would do is just go as fast as you deem necessary. If you finish each level every year and you are on the lowest age of the age range, then you are actually a little bit ahead. I think HOD is very academically challenging and very thorough. So once you finish each level, I definitely think your child is will be more than prepared for college.