A question for all....

[annaz]

I just read Water2wine's praise report and it is a fantastic one! Wow Water2wine! It leads me to ask you all a question. Something I ponder often.

Do you use ALL of HOD? I don't mean skipping subjects, but skipping narrations, boxes in their entirety, or discussions, or bypassing any element every so often for time constraints? Or do you really make sure you cover all elements? Water2wine, I wonder if you completely and totally finish a unit at a time. I'm not condoning skipping any portion of it as I know Carrie might put me in the corner for even mentioning it, although the fly on the wall would love to know how you complete all these guides with all your kids and write them.

I have on quite a few occasions due to whatever we have going on and I wonder whether it's a hindrance in the long run. Logically speaking, not any one item all the time. I guess my battle is whether we pick up where we left off, because we couldn't finish a narration that day or we couldn't get to poetry meanings, or the cooking (I see m3sons praise for reading directions) or would we just say, we ran out of time and we'll just move on to the next unit. At what point do you move on and at what point do you call it good? Do you ladies with fantastic praise reports hit every element?

For someone with a dd who is gabby and on the old end of the guides, I would love to just not move on until we've hit every narration and every element, but she'd be 20 before completing high school. Sometimes I wish we were at the lower age range so we could savor every element without running out of the age limit. It's still the battle of crushing the learning spirit by box checking, vs a learning disservice.

As I use HOD long term I really see what a fantastic program this is and really I shake my head in amazement to the depth of HOD and the connections that far surpass this curriculum junkie's knowledge of anything I've ever used.

I perused the next guide's sample and it appears to be extremely helpful to have that early on to see what is expected next year. I just went, "Wow"! I better get crack'in!

Thoughts?

[LynnH]

I have to say we do finish all of a unit every time. My ds would never let me move on if we didn't. Having said that though he is really good now about working Independently on his I subjects. We discuss, but he isn't one to go into super lengthy discussions. He really never has trouble getting it all done. We had just this past week where I could tell something was going to take a little more time and that was the homemade noodles for our history project. To deal with that dh and ds made them on Sunday afternoon. That is really one of the few times I can think we have adjusted anything. I do think once you do several guides you see how even the things that don't seem "important" to you, really do have a specific purpose to build on a skill so that is why I just can't skip anything.

[netpea]

Most of the time we finish every box in the unit before moving on to the next one. There have been times however due to illnesses or field trips or during late pregnancy where we skipped over a few boxes in a week. Usually we don't move on to the next day unless we completed the one before.

[MomtoJGJE]

I skip some things and change up a few things from time to time. Generally the things I skip are things that we just do orally. Or like, in Bigger, we'll do one vocabulary word instead of three.

[pjdobro]

When I started HOD, I skipped things from time to time. I think Beyond was the guide that we skipped the most because I was having health problems that year and it was just difficult for me to have the energy to guide my dc through some of the boxes. I must say I really regret that now. I think early on, I didn't see the point of some activities and time was an issue so we glossed over some things that we shouldn't have. Over time I have grown to see how everything has it's purpose and my dc love all of the activities so much so we do everything completely now. It's taken me a few years to trust everything that is written, but now I do, and we don't skip any boxes. If for some reason we don't finish something one day, we'll do it the next.

[NicoleJ]

Just wanted to say, "Good question!" I have wondered the same

[julieabird]

I will confess that we don't always do everything WORD for WORD. I don't make them come up with hand motions for the bible verses or play each game while learning the bible verses. They would be thrilled with the games but not so much with the hand motions. We also skip an occasional art project or science experiment

I think that the retelling/narration portions are very important.

Thank you for posting this question. My children are little still and you've caused me to really think about what is best for them. I think what would be best for them is to follow the guide JUST as it is written and skip nothing, not even the hand motions.

[annaz]

Mmm. So I'm not odd, however a few of us will get "spanked" by Carrie.

So I'm probably not killing her, but I should really complete it all. I just wonder what's worse. You know. Like today. We are officially behind on WWTB now.
(see another post ).

[shera]

Hey Ann
Since you say your dd is a chatty kathy and wants to discuss everything, could you try having her summarize more. For ex. in 3 or 4 sentences what happened today in this story? Or what was the main topic? Maybe that would help make things go a little faster. Not sure exactly what you are skipping or where the time crunch is coming from but just thought this might help. For me, getting discussion sometimes is like pulling teeth but school still takes a long time here.

HTH
Sarah

[annaz]

Hey Ann
Since you say your dd is a chatty kathy and wants to discuss everything, could you try having her summarize more. For ex. in 3 or 4 sentences what happened today in this story? Or what was the main topic? Maybe that would help make things go a little faster. Not sure exactly what you are skipping or where the time crunch is coming from but just thought this might help. For me, getting discussion sometimes is like pulling teeth but school still takes a long time here.

HTH
Sarah

Hi Sarah!

What takes long is, "Mom guess what! yadda, yadda". Me. "Really, that's neat. Why don't you save it till your done then tell me all about it?
dd: "Hey Mom! Guess what?"...............................
I'm glad she's interested...I just can't kill that interest. Then she gets sad because she can't tell me all the cool stuff! I know. I need to be in charge.

[shera]

hmm
Can she save it until she has done all the reading in that box? That's usually what ds does at least. Very rarely will he be in the middle of reading something and want to tell me something unless "it's really cool mom" Usually it will be after he has read whatever he was supposed to then he tells me.

[MelInKansas]

I totally get you. I would say so far, 14 units into Beyond, we have done 95% of the boxes. I know I only skipped one art project in Beyond so far - with LHFHG I was really horrible about skipping those because they are more work for me to set up. But I am seeing the flow and benefit of doing it all. I skip math activities for things that my DD totally gets and I don't feel like it's needed.

My other motivation quite honestly is this is the first year I am required to log/keep homeschool hours for the state. When I looked at the requirement for that, I thought I had better do it all, because 30 minutes spent on an art project (that ties in well with what we are learning) is 30 more minutes! The kids have such a blast doing them and besides enjoyment of course they are learning a ton. We tend to discredit arts as "not really learning" because they don't apply to real everyday life quite as clearly, but they are so excellent for a child's growth and learning ability (which I suppose is why they are included so heavily in all the guides). I remember when I was in school and music was really my thing, and of course as they look at cutting budgets often arts are on the chopping block because they don't seem to directly improve test scores or other performance. But they do. Anyway... I am convincing myself here that I just shouldn't be skipping things, even if they don't seem "needed."

We will see what I do next year when I am trying to do at least 2 guides!

[twoxcell]

For the most part we do everything as written. Occasionally we will skip a small portion of a box, or I will alter it a bit. If something gets skipped it is usually something in the storytime box(never the reading though), or a craft.

[birchbark]

I think it's a good, valid question. And I think all of us would agree that sometimes life just happens and other things take priority over finishing the school day.

Having said that though, I have found one of the most valuable things we can teach our children is that some things in life are non-optional. And no matter what educational philosophy you follow, and what curriculum you use, it is good if kiddos realize that school is a priority in your day. I've found that if they sense that some part of school is up for debate, they will fight you on it, or drag their feet, or just make everyone miserable. Once they realize that you, and the guide , are unbudgeable walls, they can come to accept it, buckle down, and get their work done. Yes, sometimes it does feel like box-checking, but that is the nature of building skills and making sure the bases are covered. We are still finding plenty of joy in the books, drawings, and audios (DS's favorites). If we can't get a box or two done in a reasonable amount of time, we try to pick them up on an evening, weekend, or car trip. It has been a stretch for us at times, but it has been good.

The other thing to consider is that the narrations, discussions, index cards, etc. are what give HoD its unique value, and sets it apart from just being another reading schedule. There are a number of skills that are purposely built in all those little "extras." If you habitually skip them, you are missing out on alot of HoD's punch, and not gleaning the full value of your curriculum purchase.

So in line with that, we try to complete every box in its entirety. For us, the one box that may be optional is the History Project. There is a certain relief that comes when you decide you are just going to git 'er done!

Have you tried stretching each unit into five days instead of four? (I just saw on another thread that you did. ) Another thing that can help is finding the right order of the boxes for your DC. For instance, our day seems to go faster when we get math and LA out of the way first. Also, Carrie gives some good advice in this thread.

As I use HOD long term I really see what a fantastic program this is and really I shake my head in amazement to the depth of HOD and the connections that far surpass this curriculum junkie's knowledge of anything I've ever used.

I know it! I'm so glad to be using it during the middle school years which I consider the most important of K-12!

[annaz]

I think it's a good, valid question. And I think all of us would agree that sometimes life just happens and other things take priority over finishing the school day.

Having said that though, I have found one of the most valuable things we can teach our children is that some things in life are non-optional. And no matter what educational philosophy you follow, and what curriculum you use, it is good if kiddos realize that school is a priority in your day. I've found that if they sense that some part of school is up for debate, they will fight you on it, or drag their feet, or just make everyone miserable. Once they realize that you, and the guide , are unbudgeable walls, they can come to accept it, buckle down, and get their work done. Yes, sometimes it does feel like box-checking, but that is the nature of building skills and making sure the bases are covered. We are still finding plenty of joy in the books, drawings, and audios (DS's favorites). If we can't get a box or two done in a reasonable amount of time, we try to pick them up on an evening, weekend, or car trip. It has been a stretch for us at times, but it has been good.

The other thing to consider is that the narrations, discussions, index cards, etc. are what give HoD its unique value, and sets it apart from just being another reading schedule. There are a number of skills that are purposely built in all those little "extras." If you habitually skip them, you are missing out on alot of HoD's punch, and not gleaning the full value of your curriculum purchase.

So in line with that, we try to complete every box in its entirety. For us, the one box that may be optional is the History Project. There is a certain relief that comes when you decide you are just going to git 'er done!

Have you tried stretching each unit into five days instead of four? (I just saw on another thread that you did. ) Another thing that can help is finding the right order of the boxes for your DC. For instance, our day seems to go faster when we get math and LA out of the way first. Also, Carrie gives some good advice in this thread.

Good points Birchbark. I don't skip anything all the time, but sometimes here and there we'll bypass. School is our priority and we seldom go out anywhere, mainly because we live so far. Today we had a field trip which we never have, but that doesn't include dr's appts between dd and I every so often, but those are almost day events due to where we live, and of course karate.

However, your assessment of skipping boxes or anything "regularly" definitely tells kids that it's okay and it's not. I've seen it. I get a lot of "we'll do it friday" and my thought is.... um.... "no". So it's makes for good habits to do it all....

Excellent point. Thanks for the reminder.