A little anxious about starting school....

[Lynnw]

Forgive me for dumping my anxieties here, especially when I've been away from HOD the past year. I continue to have a lot of peace about ordering RTR for the coming year, but I am feeling a little anxious because we normally start school in mid July. I tried to start up ~3 or 4 weeks ago but we just kept starting and stopping over and over again. I had the "perfect" plan for each child and each subject, but I began to see that I couldn't implement it. It was all requiring too much of me even before I added all the subjects in. Add to that that my dh is deployed and I was really feeling the stress of having to make too many decisions all the time. So, I came back to look at RTR for the umpteenth time and had my oldest ds read the sample week, and here we are. (YAY!) I plan to read aloud the history and storytime to all (or a different story time for all and have my oldest do RTR's storytime alone... we'll see), use a different science for my youngers and focus on the 3 Rs for them. Also, they will have Bible study when we start BSF. (Next year I'm thinking my oldest two can do Exploration with a few adjustments for my 2nd ds and the younger two can do Beyond and they will all be in a similar historical era which makes me very happy!)

But I digress.... I'm still a little anxious because we will be getting what feels like a late start for school. My dh will be home for two weeks of leave in October and then home for good in February. I wanted to start early to give us a little breathing room.

But the Lord knows what we need better than I do right now! That is for sure. So, I want to trust His timing. And if any of you are wishing you had the RTR guide in your hands, it might be my fault we don't have it yet, LOL. (Just kidding, I'm not really that narcissistic.) I think the Lord knows I need to be still and quiet and wait a little longer before we jump in. Even so, there is a little voice in the back of my mind that worries we will never get started, LOL.

I'm also unsettled about our social needs. The kids did swim team this summer and we had a great time. Now that it's over, we're kind of floundering. We don't really feel the co-ops here are a good match for us.... but I feel like we need something regular we can do, together (wide spread of ages here!), with other people. (We will be doing BSF and piano lessons and chess during the school year - but none of those have a large social component. And church is a whole nother issue right now. We've been visiting churches for about year (even before dh left for Afg.) and haven't been to our home church since around Easter.

Thank you if you made it through all that! It helps to say it and write it. I have been a little overwhelmed and not even totally understood what was wrong, so writing it helps. I suppose I'm asking for prayers and shared experiences as much as concrete advice. Thank you for listening/reading!

[mommadonna]

Sorry I have no concrete advise, but maybe some encouragement. Hang in there. I think that what you and your family does is incredible! Just pray, trust and have faith that it will all work out. You have every reason in the world to be feeling overwhelmed. I wouldn't last a week without my husband! I will pray for you and your family! I wish I had more for you, but hope it helps! Take care of yourself.

[kiloyd]

How about aiming for 3 days a week to start with?

Praying for you.

[Heather4Him]

No concrete advice here, either, because we only have one child, but I'm praying for your homeschool and your hubby. Thank you all for your sacrifice and hard work!!

[Lynnw]

Thank you all for your prayers.

In the time I've had waiting for my guide one thing that begins to occur to me is that reading allowed the history from RTR to all my kids may not work. I also read an older thread about trying CTC with a variety of ages and noticing the length of the readings in the sample week of RTR I should re-think how to cover middle ages with my youngers.

I do really want to have everyone in the same time period, so I will keep praying for the Lord's leading in this.

[my3sons]

That is a lot to have up in the air, so I can totally empathize you feel unsettled. I have prayed for God to give you clarity on some of these decisions. I know He will! I have an idea you may or may not like, but I'll throw it out there to consider. Could your older do RTR, and your 5-8.5 yo threesome do Beyond half-speed, with daily 3R's? I just finished reading RTR cover to cover a whole bunch to edit it, and I have to say that it is going to be so very far above the littles' heads. I wouldn't do it with anyone younger than 10 yo for sure.

Please bear with me before throwing this idea out!!! In RTR, the history and science are meant to be read by the student. Your oldest can do this, as well as the Storytime. Then, you could still do your threesome in Beyond, and finish it out next year which you were going to start it next year anyway, and it could just be half-speed this way. You may even be able to have 8.5 yo read out loud some of it to the others. Everybody could listen to the Beyond Storytime, everyone could share their Bible verses at the supper table, maybe everyone doing poetry sharing (box) at lunch? There can still be together feeling times, but what this would gain you is precious time! I guarantee you will finish school earlier doing half-speed Beyond and RTR than doing RTR with everyone. I know this may be a switch in thinking, but after you've considered it, I'd love to hear your thoughts and chat it over with you.

In Christ,
Julie

[Lynnw]

Julie,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your perspective with me. I WILL give some time to think and pray about your suggestion. Some of the benefits of doing Beyond half speed would be 1)allowing my youngers to stay in Beyond (and later) Bigger while my oldest goes through Exploration and later, Modern HIstory (I like that possibility as it keeps everyone in complimentary time periods) and 2)It allows some added time to work on phonics and math - especially needed for my 7yo and 5yo and 3)allows my 5yo to stay in the same guide w/ my 7 and 8.5 yo (Doing Beyond at full speed would leave him too young to do Bigger Hearts the next year). So I see a lot of merit to your suggestion.

Also, I'm thinking about the possibility of having two history strains, as CM sometimes did. Perhaps I could read Island Story (or something like it) aloud in the evenings (once or twice/week) to give us the feel that we are all sharing the Middle Ages together even though the youngers would be hearing Beyond during their "school time?"

Also, I'm wondering if I would need to (or could easily) beef Beyond up a bit for my 8.5 year old. He's heard most of the Stories of the Pilgrims before, but I do think he would enjoy it again. On the other hand he will turn 9 in December and in some ways seems older because he is such a tag along to his older brother. Even though there are 3 years between them, they often get "treated" similary within our family, if you know what I mean. Though I'm not sure I'd want to have 3 guides going, I suppose putting him in Bigger half speed might be another option as well. sigh. I definitely need God's wisdom or I will have us doing untold acrobatics trying to satisfy my own designs instead of His.

I'm off to take a look at my Beyond guide (yes, I already have it from a prior year, LOL), and to pray!

I'm glad to hear what you think about any of these ideas. And especially thank you for your prayers.

[Samuel'sMommy]

I don't have any advice as I only have one little guy, but I am praying for you and your family. Thank you to your husband for his service to our country! I have a brother in the Air Force and one in the Navy and know what sacrifices their wives make.

[my3sons]

Thanks for being open to a different idea, and I've prayed for you as I read this, knowing you are weighing what is best for each of your dc, as good mama's do. I wanted to give a link that may be helpful for this part of your post...

...Also, I'm wondering if I would need to (or could easily) beef Beyond up a bit for my 8.5 year old. He's heard most of the Stories of the Pilgrims before, but I do think he would enjoy it again...

Carrie explains how to beef up Beyond for a fourth grader:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3247&p=24196

I think that I would just start with the 2 guides rather than considering a third guide right now. There are many 8+ year olds doing Beyond and enjoying being combined with other siblings as they do. Beyond is a wonderful program, and I think your 8.5 yo would do well with it. You could start half-speed and go to full later if you wanted. We have done half-speed for all or portions of guides, spending anywhere from 1- 2 years to do a guide and enjoyed the flexibility that pacing gave us. This seems to work especially well for the younger guides. HTH as you consider what's best for your kiddos!

In Christ,
Julie

[Lynnw]

Julie,
Thank you for praying for me and dialoging with me. I received my box of beautiful RTR books yesterday and I have seen the proof that my 2nd ds doesn't need to try to tag along with this program. It looks great! He does have a strong interest in the Middle Ages right now, so I'm considering whether to come up with my own plans for my youngers or whether to use Beyond and add a lot of Middle Ages books for his reading.

So, my question.... if I were to use Beyond half pace, but work on 3Rs everyday, what does that look like? It wouldn't be a simple left side one day and right side the next, would it?

Thanks again for your help,
Lynn

[my3sons]

I'm so glad you received your RTR things - I agree they are so lovely! I'm getting excited to begin soon. As far as going half-speed with Beyond, it really can be that simple of doing the left side one day, and the right side the next, only with daily 3R's for older child for sure. Here's a link that may help you out with planning the specifics of half-speed:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5600&p=41232#p41232

You're on your way to a super plan for your kiddos. I really think this is totally doable, and I think your oldest will enjoy "soaring" with RTR, while your trio will enjoy the beauty of Beyond. (You'd enjoy having school done in a very manageable amount of time too! At least, I do, as life has other things for me to do than homeschool; though homeschooling is where my heart is, laundry/cleaning/errands, etc. still do have to be done. ) Have a wonderful day!
In Christ,
Julie