planning ahead questions

[Mom2Monkeys]

DD7 is in Beyond... this year for 2nd grade. Looking ahead, I have two things I like for high school. Yes, I know that's a long ways off, but it somewhat affects what we do now. Anyway, I like MFW 4 year cycle and MOH 5 year cycle. DD would be able to start MFW in 9th after finishing the last HOD guide in 8th. But, if we wanted to do MOH, we would need to start in 8th...we would miss the last HOD guide! I'd prefer NOT to miss ANY HOD guides. Any suggestions? Our pace in our HOD guides will be somewhat dictated by our future choices so I need to start planning now I guess.

FYI, DD is a level ahead on math and all Lang. Arts...she's in the levels Bigger uses (Math 2A/B and already did R&S Eng. 2). So, maybe I could consider skipping Bigger and going to Preparing when she's 8 (IF we wanted to go the MOH route). She's also a very advanced reader and doing more independent work even in Beyond. I only chose Beyond b/c of time concerns for me and her physical issues with writing...which are drastically improving. It really fit what we were looking for this year.

Anyone have any opinions on the MFW and MOH cycles?

Sorry if my post seems confusing...I have a sick 2yo and my whole house smells like a dirty diaper full of harvest spices (nothing like the scent of poop and air freshener). I think my brain is starving for oxygen. LOL Maybe I should stop holding my nose

[mamas4bugs]

That's not confusing--I'm thinking very similar things! My younger son is actually on the young side of HOD, so he will finish the guides in 7th grade. My older son won't, as he's 10 and in Preparing now, but what I think I'll do is still do HOD and sub in Apologia and MOH because we really love how HOD is laid out and we can still do the Bible, storytime, and poetry, and maybe the la, depending on where he is. You might could do something similar with your kiddo in 8th? We are doing the MOH guides with my older daughter and absolutely love them. I definitely plan on starting them with my boys in 8th grade and running them through high school. Unfortunately for my daughter, she'll only get to go through MOH III because she's in 10th now and the last two MOH guides won't be out soon enough. Any suggestions what to use with her in their place?

[Mom2Monkeys]

We're looking at finishing HOD in 8th, so we have 8th covered. I I went with MFW for high school, that's fine since it starts in 9th.
But if we went with MOH, and wanted to go through all 5 levels, then I would need to start MOH in 8th. Leaving us either short 1 year of HOD or short 1 year on MOH...I don't know if I should just finish all of HOD in 8th, start MOH in 9th and finish up to the 4th of the 5 books and leave it at that, or just go with MFW since it matches up on grade levels, or skip the last HOD guide (or a different one, like Bigger...) so I can do all 5 of the MOH....If I plan on MOH, my son will do LHFHG in one year instead of 2 like I planned and it changes things for dd too.

If I knew more about which high school I wanted to use...MFW, MOH, or another similar one (are there other similar ones?), I could better decide!! HOD is hard to live up to so finding another curriculum will be tough!

Anyone use something they are happy with for high school? MFW? MOH? Is MOH pretty independent like MFW and HOD?

[mamas4bugs]

MOH can be very independent. It's written to the student, with activities listed at the end of each reading. You know, here's a thought that you could do. The way MOH is set up is that it is broken down into 3 days of reading with activities at the end of each reading that the parent picks and assigns (we don't always assign an activity every day, although there is a list of suggested supplemental reading on their website, and we do read through some of those more living books), and then the 4th day is supposed to be the week in review with more activities to choose from. There are 84 lessons not including the reviews scheduled after every 3rd lesson. If you skipped some of the reviews, you could finish the book in under a year. Then you could start the next one. You could probably get through all 5 books in 4 years that way.

I don't know much about MFW, but there have been a couple of threads on here lately--you could do a search and see if those help you. I am currently looking at TOG (and by currently, I mean it's up in another window on my computer ) because my daughter will finish MOH 3 this year and we still need history for 11th and 12th grade.

[8arrows]

I plan on using MFW for high school. One difference to consider is that MFW includes Bible, History, and English. I also think it is more similar in style and layout, although both are user-friendly and good programs.

[Mom2Monkeys]

okay...so after planning out all the subjects we'd need to cover in HS...like adding literature, math, bible, science, foreign language, logic, etc....I think MFW is the best bet....that is IF there is no HOD high school I don't want to have to plan everything like I would if I used MOH! Even though not all the subjects are planned out for me in MFW, at least the box is in the plans to do it and it has all the Bible, Lit, Grammar, History, Geography planned in a 4-day schedule. I really like MOH but I also had picked out Notgrass and the same map activity book for history before I realized MFW had it. So, I guess that settles it...I can stay on the same track I'm on now with my dc and just enjoy the journey with HOD then go over to MFW for high school in 9th.

Thanks for your in put everyone!

[Lori_in_Austin]

Hi Tamara,

I really appreciated this thread. Even though my oldest in only 5yo, I have thought about this ! So thank you for posting

Lori