IF you do seperate programs, then...

[Alison in KY]

how exactly do you do this? Do you just do one set of storytime books for all kids? Do you read two poems, two Bible passages, or just pick one. I'm really stumped on what to do for next year and I have so many different directions to go in. They will all work out fine, but of course, I'm looking for the best, most productive, and user friendly way to work for MY family.

[Daisy]

I use two programs.

CTC is fairly independent. My daughter does her own poem and quite Bible time. I read her read-aloud to her in the evening and we work on Awanas at that time.

My son is doing BIGGER. I read his stuff to him while his sister is reading her own history, science, etc. He does his own poem, Bible memory, etc. His Dad reads his read-aloud to him in the evening and does Awanas with him.

I guess you could say we "divide and conquer" in the evenings before bed. LOL.

All morning, I'm bouncing back and forth between the kids, helping one while the other is doing something independently. I get NOTHING else done during school time but it is actually less work than when I had them combined. Reading a few pages at a time out of a BIGGER book is a lot faster than reading aloud every single subject to both of my children.

[Alison in KY]

I like to get all of our storytime done during the day, because I can never guarantee that we will get it finished at night. I might try what you do, but I'd have to get hubby on board with that, so who knows.

I guess my biggest concern is that my oldest is not an independent child...at all. Plus, with adding in a foreign language, music, typing...I just am not confident that they will get what they need doing seperate programs. BUT, if I were only reading one history text, one science, one storytime, one Bible, one poem...that would certainly help. I guess I won't know until I try, but it would certainly be easier if I could afford to invest in two programs that may not work out

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

[water2wine]

Here is a thread for you where people share their schedules. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2093 It might help to show how people do it. I tend to do my reading for each program all at once. I have two ways that I run my day depending on if I get rolling when I am supposed to or not. Both ways work well. I have enjoyed having two ways that really work well for me. But no matter which group I start with I tend to do all the read aloud for that program all at once. With the possible exception of my Beyond kids and that is just because sometimes we save our story time for later. Other than that I tend to alternate independent work or lightly dependent work in one program with my reading time in another. That works really well I have six kids doing three programs (CTC, Preparing and Beyond) and one of those children has special needs and learning delays. Last year we did LHFHG and Bigger. Two programs really works pretty easily. Three is a little trickier but not that much. We found the transition this year to three was no problem. I think if HOD is a lot different than anything you have done the key is to allow yourself a couple of weeks to find your groove and to have a plan so that you know how you are spending your time. I think if CM ways and HOD is completely foreign to you then you might really need a little time to get a routine. But it definitely works well for all types of families to run two programs and even three. That meeting them right at their level with the perfect program for them I have found to be so much easier than taking a one size fits all and trying to make that meet them at their individual levels if that makes sense. I think you are really safe going with the best fit on the placement chart http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php and if that is two programs that is fine. I can understand the feeling like it could be two programs to have to deal with and a lot of adjustment but they all run so similar that it really is not like that. I think you can have confidence if HOD looks like it meets your families needs that it will work well to put your kids at their ideal level. It really is simple to use and very user friendly. It is designed to be able to run a few at a time if need be so that makes it just so much easier to do. Last year I think it took us about 4 hours a day to run two programs with all six kids including LA and Math and some days less. Keep in mind I spend extra time with my learning delayed child. I feel like we could take just about any two HOD programs and hit about that time with our day just to give you an idea.

People here on this board are really helpful and can help you figure out a plan for your family. Welcome to HOD!

[homeforhim]

Hi Allison,

I am using Preparing and CTC this year with my two sons. I chose to read aloud the storytime titles that go with Preparing to both of them. They were such great books that we hadn't previously read that I didn't want my older to miss out on. Also, I chose the Preparing books so my younger would for sure be getting much out of them and yet the older would enjoy them equally. Actually, I have to say that this has been an amazing dovetail thus far (we're on unit of what my older son is studying in CTC. I intend to just keep using the younger kid's guide for storytime and move through them that way (i.e. next year do CTC read alouds). Also, we like to have a different book for bedtime reading and we may use some titles from CTC for this also over time (there are three nice book packs for CTC to choose from).

For poetry, they each do their own, my CTC child doing his independently and me working with my Preparing child. We like to memorize poems so sometimes we are working on a different poem (not from the guides) together. They have memorized many of their poems from their guides already (we have a ticket reward system through which their earnings enable them to play computer games, go to a swimming pool, watch a movie, etc. and a poem gets you two tickets! . We also do chores for the tickets as well.

For Bible, we have always enjoyed memorizing together. I do the Bible study from Preparing with both of them as it is quick and we all work on memorizing the Psalm together. We will save CTC's Philippians memorization for next year to do together. My CTC son does do his bible quiet time from his guide also, independently.

For science, they each do their own reading - it's independent! I help as needed with activities...

I am actually reading the history spines for Preparing to both. Again, didn't want older to miss and we always start our day with reading. He does his own history reading besides. Sorry so long. I hope it helps. I know you may not be using these two programs, but maybe it will give you some ideas.

Rachael

[Alison in KY]

Thanks ladies, I understand what you are doing, but I still can't grasp how it's all happening before 12:00 . My son is soooo needy. He really wants me by his side. He just doesn't do well, so far, with me saying how to do something then telling him to go do it. He wants me there by his side every step of the way . Someday he will outgrow this, but for now, this is what I have to deal with. If I leave him alone...well his mind wanders and NOTHING get's done. It takes us a good four hours for just our basics(with all the kids).

What I'm doing currently, is all my girls (2 girls) basics first (first one, then the other), then I'll do all of his basics, then we'll do our reading time together. For everything, this has been going until 2:00 (starting around 09:00). It's a good pace for us, and I just can't figure out how to shave off some mom time. After 5 years of this, I have my groove, but I'm just not liking the time frame it takes to get things done. I'll figure it out though, I'm just tired of skipping out on projects. Oh, just wanted to add that while my kids are doing their basics, the other kids are doing a computer program, Bible reading, math facts on the comp., free reading....they aren't just doing nothing.

Maybe I'm just slow

[water2wine]

Some kids just mature in areas at different rates. Have you thought of maybe having it be some kind of a game how much can be done after instruction without you coaching all the time. Just like a do ten problems get lots of praise or a reward type thing. My 7 year old was pretty clingy and I tricked her out of it by getting her into competition mode and game mode this way. I do not do actual prizes it is more of a mental trick kind of thing. I sometimes do something with another child that is easier to get going in front of her to sort of trick her in on it. It is amazing how much that motivates her. She is not lazy really just has a hard time not focusing on ten things at once and not getting any of them done. So I kind of trick her into focus sometimes. I started out small and worked to bigger things. Not sure if that helps but just putting it out there.

[Alison in KY]

Thanks for the idea, although I think he's too quick for that. Now if he were 7, I could pull it off.

[my3sons]

Hi Alison! I can't remember what programs you are doing. Could you refresh my memory please? I would love to help you sort through this as schedules are a passion of mine, I must say. I know, it's weird, but I love making schedules.

In Christ,
Julie

[water2wine]

Thanks for the idea, although I think he's too quick for that. Now if he were 7, I could pull it off.

Hehehe! Well then I would let Julie help you with a schedule to work around that. She is very good at organizing time and working around things.

[Alison in KY]

Great skill to have Julie, now if you could only make sure my dishes and laundry are caught up .

We'll be finishing Beyond by early spring. I'm not sure what direction I'm going to take right now. I'm fairly confident I'll be doing MFW Adventures with my girls for next year, then for my oldest I don't know if I'll do Bigger, Preparing, or CTC. I just bought a used CTC that I need to really look over. Adventures would be more American info, but different than Beyond or Bigger would offer. I really like the looks of the Bigger storytime books and history readers. I'm not sure about Preparing, I've owned CHOW before and I didn't care for it, but I think it was the first chapter that turned me off so much.

I'm just not feeling to excited about any of it. The kids will be 11, 9, and 7...but the oldest is not an independent guy, and the middle one does horrible with listening to the stories when they are read outloud...so I was going to put her in with her little sister (who beats her in understand the history RA's).

Anyway, my head is telling me to go with CTC so my son will complete a four year history rotation before going into high school. My heart says just do Bigger and Adventures, they should both go together fairly easily and I'll just drop what I don't like. I thought even if I do CTC, I won't cover the more intense books, so I might just do the storytime pics from Bigger (they are shorter read alouds too I hope).

Anyway, this will all be resolved sometime, I just usually feel confident with a plan...not so far this year though.

[8arrows]

I guess I am a little confused. Why not just do all three in Bigger? My 7 and 9 year old are doing Bigger this year after Beyond last year. If your oldest is not very independent, I think this would especially work well. You could work on his doing the extensions independently while keeping everyone together for Bible, history, science, poems....

[Alison in KY]

Well, I'm battling my self on that. I had really wanted to go through a four year history rotation with my oldest starting in 5th grade...so I was leaning towards ancient with him, while keeping my younger two together in a diff. program.

[my3sons]

I was thinking the same thing as 8arrows - why not just do all 3 in BHFHG? I really think you would like this, and it would help your oldest ease into independence because he could do the extensions. We're doing CTC now and love it, but more of it is done independently, so if you are wanting to have some time to work on independence with your older, I'd lean toward doing BHFHG or PHFHG first. In PHFHG, the evolutionary content in CHOW is skipped, and it is an awesome combination with Grandpa's Box. I remember talking to a former history teacher who then homeschooled her own dc, and she said she was surprised by the emphasis homeschoolers often place on the history cycle, often at the expense of other academic skills. I'd never thought of it that way before, but what she said made me think and has made sense over the years now, especially watching my oldest sister graduate her eldest dd. So, I guess if you can try to take the history cycle dilemma out of it and consider a few options that fit all your dc and your needs overall you could end up... Doing all 3 in BHFHG with your oldest doing the extensions. Or, doing your oldest in PHFHG and your younger 2 in BHFHG, possibly half-speed, would be another good option. HTH! And oh my, I need help with my dishes and laundry too! In fact, today is our big laundry day, and I'm always shocked at how much laundry 5 people accumulate, especially in winter. All of those bulky sweatshirts and jeans sure add extra loads of laundry to be done, don't they?!? Ahhh, no wonder why we love the summer.

In Christ,
Julie

[Alison in KY]

Thanks ladies, I'll give Bigger more consideration. I've been looking really closely at CTC also. I do feel some peace going on (yeah me) after the initial shock of seeing CTC. I'm also torn between this and another curricula that I've been looking at. So much good stuff to choose from.

Another fellow homeschooler suggested to me there should be a My Father's Heart of Dakota World curriculum put out there . Now that would go really well with my personality.

Thank you again

Alison