Do you do left side or right side first each day?

[sharonb]

Let me start by saying I'm not a strict schedule person. I've tried it, and it doesn't work for us. That being said, I do like to have a predictable routine. In mid- or late-May we'll be adding Bigger to our day and I'm trying to figure out the best way to fit everything in. We are already doing LHTH half-speed (doesn't take that long) and LHFHG. My older two join my 5yo in LHFHG left side plus storytime, so I can't have them doing some other work during that time (my 5yo is quite insistent that he not do school alone!). When we do math/phonics/etc, everyone is working in the kitchen and I bounce around between them, helping where needed. Bigger is going to be for my oldest two (they love joining the 5yo for LHFHG, but it's not enough for them, IMO), and I'm trying to figure out a good routine. Right now the history, science, and storytime for my oldest two frequently gets skipped (and then doubled up on another day). I feel badly about that, and wonder if we should start with those subjects, but then I don't want to end up skipping math or phonics if we have something come up that day!

Anyway, what do you prefer? Starting your day with the "left side" or the "right side"?

Thanks!

[Tree House Academy]

Left side and storytime are first for my younger son in Little Hearts. I save story time in Bigger for my older son to do last because that is when we work together.

[jensmom]

We are currently using BIgger. I use a "modified workbox" system. I have 12 boxes. I have combined some of the HOD boxes in order to add some extras such as Language Lessons and assorted Grammar Workbooks. That said, for the most part I allow my dd to arange the boxes in whatever order she chooses. I have added some guidelines such as History comes before Bible because they flow better in that order. Bible often refers to the History lesson so if done out of order it is misses the mark. Having her arrange them has taught her quite a lot. Early on she would put all the "fun" boxes first but soon learned that having all the tougher ones at the end was not so great.

Basically, I combine Bible and Music, History and GAVH (Geography, Art, Vocabulary, History Activity) which gives me a total of 8 boxes. I add 4 more with extras. One of the extra boxes changes fromn time to time. It has included things such as an Abeka God's World, Heath & Safety, God's World News, misc animal fact books,etc. By actually putting them in a workbox, I don't forget to include them.

All this to say that there really is no one "right" way.

HTH,
Judy

[sharonb]

Thanks for sharing what you do Judy. I know there isn't a right or wrong way; I just like to get ideas from others! I don't really have the option of giving my children total freedom to pick the order, because we'd probably have chaos around here since I have 3 school-age children now. If one of them wants to work on math but the other is ready for history, that doesn't work! Since they are doing the left side together, we really need to have a time to do those items with everyone, and then a time to do the right side, where everyone is working on their own math, LA, etc. I just need to figure out which is better to get done first each day!

[GracieMarie]

I'm going to think on the workboxes. I wonder if that would help with the chaos around here. What do you use for the actual boxes?

[lmercon]

I am using Bigger with my ds. Because the history is really the spine of the program, I always begin with the history story and move right to the history-related activity. That's a fun and interesting way to start each day. Then we do Bible because the key point always refers back to the history story. From there we do the hymn and poetry. So basically, I do the left side first. As for the right side, we do that in a number of different ways depending on how much writing he has done already. I usually try to break up the writing activities with the reading/listening activities. We always end with math because it's his easiest subject, and he can generally do it independently.
hth,
Laura