what do you do the missing year?

[RedTulipMom]

Looking through the curriculum i see pk-3rd grade (5 yrs planned out--pk, k, 1, 2, 3) and the catalog shows there will be another 4 yr history cycle as well...(4 more years). There is a year of school MISSING? what do you do for 8th grade then? confused!

[mamas4bugs]

Assuming Carrie doesn't write high school (unless she decides to--hint, hint ) my plan right now is to start the history cycle with MOH in 8th grade. My oldest really likes them, and their history cycle runs five years. By the time my now 10 year old gets that far, hopefully the last two MOH books will be finished. That's my plan, anyway.

Also, I think whether or not there is a year missing depends on how old your kids are in each level, since they cover age ranges, like 8-10. There will be a missing year for my little ones because they will be on the low end of the range in each book, but for others there might not be.

[Mom2Monkeys]

We plan to use LHTH for Pre-K at age 3 and again at age 4 with phonics lessons added, then LHFHG for K and 1st by doing the left page one day, the right page the next day...the only thing we'll do every day is math so that we'll get K math in K and 1st grade math in 1st. Then 2nd is Beyond, 3rd is Bigger, and 4th is Preparing, making the 4 yr cycle 5th-8th. I am doing it this way though b/c I have 3 kids in different levels and splitting the K and 1st grade years with LHFHG cuts the time needed to 45 min per day for those two years. I think even without the extra kids and levels, taking two years to do the one book is a reasonable option. 45 min. per day for some 5-6 year olds (like mine!) is about all they can take! I think Carrie is taking 2 years to complete LHFHG with her son...don't quote me on that though!

And I second the "hint, hint" from the pp )

[water2wine]

Well I am on both sides of the fence, some that have an extra year or two and those that can't get it all done because we started too late in the game. But for the ones that might have an extra year I would love to have a year to do nothing but Bible and character. How amazing would that be! For my girls that have that extra time that is my plan. But it may also be a great year to have a theme like geography or science for the year. Or maybe it could be the year where you actually finish the things you already have on the shelf but never got to in the end. For us we will make it Bible and character and probably some fun science. There is so much out there that is good and fun my hope is by the time I get to needing that I will have become THE HODbot and be able to teach the HOD way even if I have to put it together myself. Hey we can dream, right.

[Samuel'sMommy]

I am stretching out LHTH and LHFHG so that we won't have an extra year, or at least that's my plan -- we're still just in LHTH right now. We take 2 weeks to do each Unit. I am a huge planner and actually sat down last night and figured out how long it would take to finish if we kept doing it at that pace. Right now, it looks like we will finish LHTH around December of next year which means it will have taken us 1 1/2 school years. We'll start LHFHG in January 2010 which will be a few months before Samuel turns 5 and I think he will be ready for it at that point. If we keep doing 1 unit per 2 weeks with LHFHG it should take us to the end of his kindergarten year. We probably only do a 4 day week as he gets into 1st grade and up because we plan on being involved with our co-op and they meet one day a week. So we will probably also stretch out Beyond and Bigger and then hit Preparing for 3rd and will be on track to do the history cycle for 4th - 8th. Anyway, that's the plan for now, but things can definitely change! I just don't see us completing each program in exactly one year because DH and I both want to add some fun electives (art, music, Spanish) and i just don't think we will have time to do everything in a year so I'm not real worried about it at this point. I have thought that if we do end up with an extra year, we may look at doing something like Sonlight's Core 5 that takes a year to focus on geography and different cultures. There are also a couple of Winter Promise cores that look interesting, but we would really love to just stay with HOD all they way through 8th if possible.

[Mom2Monkeys]

I really like the idea of taking a whole year to focus on Bible and Character and/or Geography/Culture. I think that's a great idea! If you have science minded kids, you could really dig into some higher level science or the math needed to do so prior to high school. Or a kid that likes languages could focus on a foreign language along with the culture/geography to go with it. A year of classical studies, or Memoria Press' Christian Studies, or even Answers in Genesis has some wonderful Bible/Science and Bible/Theology for the younger crowd. I especially like their study through Pilgrim's Progress. You got my creative juices flowing W2W!! A year of lighter academics or a solid review year with a more service oriented goal would be great too. (volunteering, adopting a grandparent, community service projects, tutoring, etc.)

[RedTulipMom]

thanks for all your thoughts and suggestions. i suppose there are a ton of ways you could fill in the missing year. i won't concern myself too much. I really like the little house on the prairie and wouldn't mind taking a year to do the Prairie Primer unit study one year...

i just wonder why Carrie is making one less year..is it because she takes 2 yrs to do little hearts? probably something like that huh?

[inHistiming]

I really think the 'missing' year is just because of the way she writes her guides...with age ranges. LHTH is 2-5, LHFHG 5-7, BLHFHG 6-8, PHFHG 8-10...this allow us as parents to find the perect fit for our children. We don't have to go with a particular grade level, and I love that! It also allows me to combine my dc using the available extension packs with Bigger...and I wouldn't be able to do that with most other publishers' guides. For us, my daughter will be able to complete the whole cycle, becase we completed Beyond... in 2nd grade...and will just move through them from there each year. My oldest ds will actually miss out on the last of the 4-year cycle...unless Carrie decides to have extension packs for older kids with that guide. (hint, hint) He may join in on the readings even if he's doing something else as his core for 9th grade. As for my 5 yo, we are using LHTH for his K'er year, which will allow him to complete all the manuals by the end of 8th grade as well. And our littlest, who's not even here yet, will likely follow the same plan as my younger two. However, by the time he/she gets to K...all the others will either be independent or semi-independent, so I might be able to spend more time with him/her like I could with our first. (I love that I am able to plan that far..it's so awesome!)

I agree with pp's...you can choose to fill in the gap with other studies. Spend a year studying the various states, the presidents and first ladies, scientists from each state you study (and their inventions or contributions to society), add in composers and artists from those states, some poets for copywork...you could follow the last guide, but substitute the higher levels and such for each subject, KWIM? There are all sorts of lapbooks and free notebooking pages, etc. online. You could choose any topic you think appropriate or that your child wants to learn about, and just dig in. I'm getting excited about this, and I don't even have an 'extra' year to fill!

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth. Maybe you can get something valuable out of it. If not, that's okay too. I'm glad you asked the question, because it's been fun reading what others have to suggest.

[Carrie]

Ladies,

Although our guides are each designed to take a year, depending at what age your kiddos start HOD, there could be a year of breathing room for you as you go along. This allows for life's circumstances like moving, illnesses, pregnancies, new babies, and other unexpected adjustments.

If you do happen to finish all of our programs on time every year (and started when your kiddos were on the youngest age range of our guides), you'll already be on a very strong path language arts, literature-wise (with DITHR), and math-wise by the time your kiddos hit grade 8, so, your 3 R's will be in place. Then, you would have an opportunity in grade 8, before the rigor of high school sets in, to do those things which you desperately wish to do or those things that are sincerely of interest to your maturing student. If your child is on the mid-upper age range of our guides however, you'll finish in grade 8.

Here's some additional threads on the topic that will help explain the cycle as well (the links in the thread won't work, so I'll post them below): viewtopic.php?t=43
viewtopic.php?t=190
viewtopic.php?t=670
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1399
viewtopic.php?t=820

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

Why not do a 4-day a week plan for the younger ages if you're ahead? I am LOVING the 4-day a week plan in Preparing, and if you're concerned about finishing a year early (you little go-getter, you ) - indulge yourself and do a 4-day a week plan with LHTH, LHFHG, Beyond..., and/or Bigger...! Be careful though, some of those life crises Carrie mentioned could surface and cause you to be wishing you were ahead and had some more wiggle room later on down the line! One last idea I've been toying with (thinking VERY far ahead) is how wonderful it would be to have an extra year after high school before whatever else the Lord leads our dc to do - would be to work on LIFE skills - like how to manage a checking account, responsibly use a credit card, find an apartment, balance a budget, choose a new church home (if they'll be moving)... o.k.... now I'm sad. That is a tough thought. Anyway, wouldn't that be great?!? All of those things I wish I'd been taught before I was in the middle of them!

In Christ,
Julie

[fishchick72]

Are there any plans for more grades to be written? Any plan for all the way through 12th grade?? If not, what is everyone planning to do for high school?

[my3sons]

YES - hooray, right?!? Carrie writes a guide each year and will have (Lord willing), the other high school guides completed by 2016. So, that's what all the buzz is about - and all the future planning. Do you have one of their catalogs? That is such a good resource too. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie