The novelty has quickly worn off....

[marypoppins]

....with every curriculum I have ever used EXCEPT for HOD!!!!!! I am in week 12 of LHFHG with my kinder. dd, and each day just gets better and better. Usually, by this time in the school year, I already start feeling the burnout setting in, and it's all I can do to make it until Christmas break. I have to say, it's been a totally different kind of year using LHFHG with my dd this year. There is just so much variety scheduled in from day-to-day, week-to-week. I don't see us ever getting bored with it. My dd is doing such precious work with all of the projects/experiments, and a notebook we are creating with her copywork from Reading Made Easy. Some of these are worthy of being keepsakes. And also, I just can't even tell you how much dd and I are bonding each day as we do these lessons together. It is awesome to see the spiritual growth that is taking place. God bless you, Carrie, for creating this wonderful, God-honoring program! I am so eager for ds's BHFHG stuff to get here so I can start to enjoy the same types of experiences with my him (because we HAVE burned out on his textbooks this year, ).

[Allison TX]

Oh, Marypoppins, that is so good to hear. I am going to start Little Hearts with my 5 year old daughter right after Christmas. I was planning on starting in the fall but she wasn't quite ready for it. I think she is going to love it now that she is ready.

I'm glad you decided to order Bigger. We began using Bigger half way through the school year last year, and I'm so glad we did. It is such a great program! I know you and your son will love it. We are now in Preparing and it is so wonderful too.

Allison

[marypoppins]

Hey Allison,

So if you started Bigger half-way through last year, and are now in Preparing, can I ask how you worked your schedule to fininsh Bigger? Did you school through the summer? Carry over to this year? Or just not finish the whole Bigger manual and start Preparing with the new school year?

This is the situation I am finding myself in. There is no way I'm going to be able to complete all of Bigger with ds this school year. He's in third grade this year, so looking big picture, I'd like to stay on track completing all of the HOD guides by the start of 9th grade. (And maybe we will have talked Carrie into HS guides by then, lol ). I haven't figured out quite how to do this yet, because if I carry over Bigger and finish it next fall, starting Preparing this time next year, then I am on a path where I will be carrying 8th grade work into 9th which I don't want to do. (Okay, maybe I'm just thinking too far ahead. ) For now, I plan to just take it one day at a time, and I'm crossing my fingers that ds will love it so much that he'll be begging to work on Bigger through the summer!!

[anointedhsmom]

marypoppins,

I am not Allison but I am in the same position that you are in so I thought I would share what we are going to do. I bought Bigger a while back but wasn't able to get started until this week. Completely my lack of follow through but that's another story all together. So what I plan to do is school through the summer so we can start Preparing in Sept. next year. I planned out my weeks and it works out for us to finish Bigger and then go straight into Preparing. I am finding with my kids that breaks should be very minimal anyway so this works out. I had wanted to do Bigger over the regular school year and only have light work during summer (bible, phonics/english and math) and then start Preparing in the fall but because we have slacked off so much we will do full school through summer. The good thing about having to do full school in summer is that it doesn't take all day to do it so we work hard now and then next summer we can go lighter then.

HTH,
Paige

[Allison TX]

Hi Marypoppins. Well, I'm probably not the best example to follow- but here is what we did. ...we started Bigger, I think in January last year for my 2nd & 3rd graders, we took a little time off in the spring because of a move and schooled some over the summer. Then I had an idea about using two different programs with my boys because the older one is highly competitive and the younger one has some learning difficulties and is not very motivated. I thought each having their own program would make our days a little smoother. So I planned on Using Bigger and Preparing for 3rd and 4th grade, using Bigger at 1/2 speed to adjust to using two programs, and because we had already finished almost 1/2 of Bigger. But I found that it was too much on ME using two different programs and trying to do some Kindergarten work with my daughter. We were a couple weeks into Preparing at that time and both boys were so excited by the Noah's ark books and the Ice Age book that we dropped Bigger for the younger one and I moved him into Preparing with his brother. I do make some adjustments for him because the work is definitly harder. If I had it to do over again, I would have just kept them both in Bigger and finished it, then started Preparing in January. But I still plan on using Bigger with my daughter in a couple years.

Anyway, I think you could do it either way. School over the summer and start the new guides in the fall. Or take the summer off and start the new guides in January. Sometimes it's fun starting the new school year in January!

Allison

[funkmomma71]

I think if you want "stay on track" you could certainly do school through the summer. That has been my plan all along, I had orginally planned to be done with LHFHG by May and take a short break and then do one or two unit studies throughout the summer. But now we are looking at moving right after the Christmas break, so I think we'll be a few weeks behind therefore we may only do one unit study this summer, we'll see. I have my plans and God has His! When I made our plan for school this year I did not foresee a move in the middle of the year, but God knew and that may be why I had such a burning desire to start in July. Submit your plans to God and His will; try not to worry about tomorrow, God has it covered!

Nancy

[my3sons]

....with every curriculum I have ever used EXCEPT for HOD!!!!!! I am in week 12 of LHFHG with my kinder. dd, and each day just gets better and better. Usually, by this time in the school year, I already start feeling the burnout setting in, and it's all I can do to make it until Christmas break. I have to say, it's been a totally different kind of year using LHFHG with my dd this year. There is just so much variety scheduled in from day-to-day, week-to-week. I don't see us ever getting bored with it. My dd is doing such precious work with all of the projects/experiments, and a notebook we are creating with her copywork from Reading Made Easy. Some of these are worthy of being keepsakes. And also, I just can't even tell you how much dd and I are bonding each day as we do these lessons together. It is awesome to see the spiritual growth that is taking place. God bless you, Carrie, for creating this wonderful, God-honoring program! I am so eager for ds's BHFHG stuff to get here so I can start to enjoy the same types of experiences with my him (because we HAVE burned out on his textbooks this year, ).

So happy for you! I agree wholeheartedly - we just finished LHFHG, and I enjoyed it right up until the very last day.

As far as the homeschooling schedule topic that came up next - we stayed on track with our oldest ds (whose doing PHFHG), other than one year when I was on bedrest, and then we just did the last month of the plans finishing up just the history/science readings. Every family is different, and some love to homeschool year-round, and some like a break. We still like a break in the summer, partly because of our SD weather, and partly because my dh travels a lot then. With my middle ds, he has taken a year and a half to do various programs, and has just picked up wherever we left off. In the younger programs that has been fine. Now, he has just finished LHFHG and is in Week 2 of Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory. I've personally liked having one of our ds's starting a new program in Sept., and my other ds starting his new program in Jan. It's nice to come back to the routine of one, and it's exciting to start with a new one as well. So, that's some of what we've done - I know you will find your fit for your family! It's nice to hear how different school schedules are used with HOD - and how they all still seem to work!

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

marypoppins,

I'm so glad that you are getting a chance to enjoy LHFHG! We're going strong with it with our third son this year and enjoying the journey! He's growing and changing so much. I love those first years of schooling. They are a joy to recall.

Thanks for sharing!

Blessings,
Carrie