As we move into high school, the design of the guides...

[Carrie]

Ladies,

As we're breaking for lunch here, I thought I'd stop back and answer a few more questions. I am so thrilled by the gracious patience all of you have shown as we discuss possible options for the upcoming guide's plans. It is a huge blessing for me to be able to dialogue with those who are using our programs. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart for wading through this with me!

As far as the science plans go, one of the reasons that we've leaned toward multiple options for science in the high school guides is because the science sequence will often look different for different career paths and giftings. Even among those students going into a science-related field, the path will look different depending on the area of expertise needed. So, we will likely have options with a couple suggested 4 year paths. This will make it tough to choose one main science path for inclusion in the daily plans. This is why we'll probably need to be able to list all 3 options in this first guide and let each family decide which to pursue.

As far as whether the science will also include living books and CM style skills as part of the science, the jury is still out as to whether we will be able to pull this off. While this is my heart's desire, and we have managed to do this up until the high school guides, the amount of material being covered in science at the high school level (along with the amount of new vocabulary) will likely make for a very heavy schedule if we also add living books. Our main goal then, in this case, is to find science texts/materials that are as living as possible in their presentation. This is no easy task, yet we feel that the materials we've used with our oldest son thus far for high school science have fit this goal well.

As to whether narration will be a part of the science, we will have to wait and see. Most science texts have pointed questions, vocabulary, calculations, and applications that enhance the science text, so to forego these materials and replace them with narration may or may not be a wise decision. There are also the labs to consider, which are another difficult time-consuming area to complete at home. All of this may mean that the best path for science is to choose living materials, use the provided follow-ups that come with them in a manageable way, and make the labs reasonable and possible to do at home. I still am unsure whether to include the science options in the daily plan box or only in the Appendix. I, too, prefer them on the daily plan page. Yet, this would mean that the language arts may need to be all in one box. Space may end up being the deciding factor in this case.

As far as whether the guide will be based around a 4 day or a 5 day plan, at this point our desire is to remain with the 4 day plan in order to allow students to pursue specific areas of interest for credit on the 5th day of each week. This will make for longer school days 4 days a week, but it leaves the student with time to pursue other activities on the 5th day which is so important! An added benefit in thinking through earning credit with a 4 day plan is that it is pretty easy to see how to award credit. The hours needed for credit can vary widely, however if we use a general rule of 1 credit equalling anywhere from 120-180 hours of work (with the higher hours for a lab course), then thinking of 140 days of instruction at 60 min. a day would equal 140 hours of work (or approximately 1 credit) and 30 min. a day for 140 days would equal 70 hours of work (or .5 credit).

Now, I will say that for our 1-credit course in geography we are looking at a minimum of 60-80 min. a day (which puts the hours close to 180 hours for the year) and for math, science, and language arts we will also be beyond 140 hours by quite a bit and closer to 180. However, thinking in terms of 60 min. and 30 min. increments is helpful in ballparking hours for how much credit to award. This is of course an average guess of how long the work will take, as student work time can really vary, and it's also good to remember that counting hours is only one way to award credit. Credit can also be awarded for completion of a text, rather than by logging hours (which is something we will also keep in mind when recommending how to award credit).

In the daily plans, I like the idea of a checkbox for students/parents to check off or number for each box in the plans. I had thought of something similar, as at our house we do put a checkmark in the corner of each box (in the upper guides) once I have gone over that box with my student during our meeting time. I was weighing how to include such a feature in our high school guides. As to the graphics in the boxes, I do like them as they break up the text on the page, but we'll have to see as to how much space they actually take up as to whether to keep them.

I enjoyed thinking about how the text in the boxes of the guide leads to a conversation or dialogue. I find the same to be true at my house, as I can just jump in and start reading right from the box in conversational form. This is always a great lead-in for me as the teacher in getting into whatever the box holds. It just naturally leads to more conversation. So, I too love the conversational aspect of the interaction-type boxes in the guide.

You have all brought up so many excellent points and thoughts. I will treasure this thread as I begin to more specifically map out the guide now. If you have other thoughts on these topics, feel free to share!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Heather4Him]

I was just thinking about the little graphics in the corners of each box...what if those where small boxes instead of an actual graphic so that we can easily put a checkmark to show it's complete or to number them in the order they should be done based on our own personal routine (or both)??

OH MY!! I totally LOVE this idea about a box for numbering instead of a graphic, because that is basically all I have to do to "lesson plan" our HOD, is to go through and number the boxes for each day on how we will do them. (We also use workboxes, which helps to put everything for each subject together, but you wouldn't need to use workboxes to fully utilize blank boxes in the manual for numbering!)

[deltagal]

Just popping in and discovering a BIG conversation.

I love the idea of launching all the science options in the first high-school guide. It seems like the detailed lesson plans for multiple options would fit more practically in the appendix with simply a box on the daily plans as a reminder. I am really hoping you'll find a way to incorporate as much living material as possible. I really think that is the incredible strength of HOD and I would really like that element to continue in the science.

I think the daily plan is still a great option, but perhaps their could be a CD with supplemental resources that includes an editable grid layout. For that matter it could include the science options as well. The benefit of the grid on a CD is each family/student could tailor their grid to include their electives, science, math and language arts plan. I find already that my high-school and soon to be high-school students are in mutilple guides for dictation, math, language arts and science (all of the right-side plans).

I'm sure I'll have more thoughts, but these are a few.... I can't wait!!!

[Motherjoy]

Carrie,

Thank you so much for writing these guides and putting so much time and consideration into them. I do have one question though. I'm curious as to why you would schedule up to 180 hours for a credit in these guides. I thought a Carnegie unit was anywhere from 120 to 150 hours? I'm just concerned about expecting my child to do 30 extra hours of work without a reason.

Thanks you for helping me understand.

[water2wine]

[quote="Carrie"
As far as the science plans go, one of the reasons that we've leaned toward multiple options for science in the high school guides is because the science sequence will often look different for different career paths and giftings. Even among those students going into a science-related field, the path will look different depending on the area of expertise needed. So, we will likely have options with a couple suggested 4 year paths. This will make it tough to choose one main science path for inclusion in the daily plans. This is why we'll probably need to be able to list all 3 options in this first guide and let each family decide which to pursue.
[/quote]

I am so excited to read this! I am already seeing in my three others that approach high school they are all going to have very different science paths. So glad you guys are including options! That is going to be a huge help.

[mom23]

Carrie,

Thank you so much for writing these guides and putting so much time and consideration into them. I do have one question though. I'm curious as to why you would schedule up to 180 hours for a credit in these guides. I thought a Carnegie unit was anywhere from 120 to 150 hours? I'm just concerned about expecting my child to do 30 extra hours of work without a reason.

Thanks you for helping me understand.

I also have a question on the credit requirements you're looking at. It was always my understanding that one credit hour = 50 mins of class time? This was true for the way I earned credits in both high school and college. Although, I guess this was not including any homework time the way our homeschooling situation probably would. Is that the difference in making it equal 60 mins?

[Carrie]

Ladies,

You're right that typically a Carnegie unit is an average of 5 class periods a week with 50 minutes in each class period. In answer to your questions about credit hours, it helps first to understand that we will be having a 4 day plan, instead of a 5 day plan. So, with this in mind, there would be 4 work periods of 60+ min. each week for 1 credit as opposed to 5 periods of 50 min. each as in the public high school classroom. Also, it is good to note that high school courses almost always have homework outside of regular class time and these courses often have weekend work as well. This makes a big difference in actual number of hours of work to complete a "course". Our longer time allotments that I'm mentioning beyond 60 min. a day for a credit will be for actual work time in total.

While we do not wish to mirror what the public school is doing, we also do not wish to water down a child's high school education either. So, we will strive to include a balanced education in all areas that will provide a strong foundation for whatever the Lord calls the child to do. Of course, you will ultimately always have the choice as to what to do for each subject area, we will just lay out a plan that meets the more rigorous college requirements, while striving to keep a Christ-centered focus.

We'll have much more information coming on our website about counting credit hours as the geography guide is written. I'll just share that high school is, and should be, a jump up in requirements. The high school years can be some students last focus on academics and for other an important stepping stone to college or a future career. High school is meant to be a time when students focus mainly on academics and on seeking the Lord's will for their lives. School "is' their job during those years and as such should take the bulk of their day. Yet, we'll seek to balance this by giving students a 3 day weekend each week, and by hopefully leaving their evenings and weekends free to pursue their God-given talents. This would be unprecedented as far as typical high schools go!

If you feel led, we would be so thankful to have you uplift our family in prayer as I enter into the high school writing years. Since we are desiring to schedule both required coursework and electives this will be quite an undertaking. It will require the Lord's blessing and guidance, and we pray daily for both.

Blessings,
Carrie

[John'smom]

If you feel led, we would be so thankful to have you uplift our family in prayer as I enter into the high school writing years. Since we are desiring to schedule both required coursework and electives this will be quite an undertaking. It will require the Lord's blessing and guidance, and we pray daily for both.

Blessings,
Carrie

Praying.

[luvschoolin2]

Ladies,

I am enjoying this dialogue, and so I'll plan to pop-in and out as you all share. My poor hubby and sister have listened endlessly to me as I ponder so many of the options that you are coming up with too! So, I'm glad that I'm not alone in my musings.

As we're talking, I thought I'd share my thoughts on a few things mentioned too, which will help all of us as we ponder together. When thinking of having both a weekly grid followed by a daily plan, there are some definite hang-ups in this area (some of which have already been mentioned). One is that the weekly grid, due to space, would contain mainly page numbers and references to see further notes in the daily plans. At that point though, comes the real barrier. A weekly grid followed by 8 pages of daily plans would make it very difficult for kiddos to find the "further notes" part needed for their assignment. This would likely lead to frustration, much flipping of pages, and often to skipping the further notes and just following the weekly grid. It wouldn't be long before the plan would just be a reading plan off the weekly grid with most of the daily notes ignored. In contrast, a weekly grid followed by just further notes for the week and not pages of daily plans would be streamlined, making the finding of the notes easier and the use of the weekly grid more functional. At that point though, the daily plans would no longer be there to follow. In the end, the fact is that I would have to write the guide differently depending on whether we go with a weekly plan or a daily plan.

In thinking through the idea that kiddos need to be planning some of their own material and breaking down some of their own tasks, I find that idea fascinating. We have talked about this at our house quite a bit over the last months, really thinking of "when" that is appropriate in a student's life. While I agree that it is wise to look toward college, and real-life for that matter, where kiddos will have to break down their own tasks into daily chunks; it is also good to keep in mind that high school is not college but rather should be high school. This is because the high school years have an important role to play in a student's academic preparation and path. High school is a challenging academic time subject matter-wise, with much content to be learned and much critical thinking to foster, not to mention a very important time for cementing a child's faith and developing a deep and personal relationship with our Lord and Savior!

My own high school junior has a very academically full day right now and is also balancing working a job in our warehouse daily while still striving to have some family time too (not to mention having any free time that might be left over for his own pursuits). So, how much burden should a child have at this level of planning what he or she must accomplish in each subject area each day? I have to admit in turning my eyes toward the public high school and also toward the Christian high school, I see that students at that level are still going to daily classes, still have daily teaching, and still having daily assignments and daily guidance in what must be accomplished each day. I believe that this is because the rigor of what is being learned by the student is hard enough without adding the task of planning what he/she should do each day to the child's plate.

As a parent, I believe not having a handle on what your child is learning each day is one of the quickest ways to derail a high school experience, as you can very quickly lose track of what your child is doing and lose the teacher's role in facilitating the child's learning. Remember that even in college the students are going to class each day (or watching online), taking notes from lectures, interacting with other students, doing group projects, all of which are designed and detailed by the instructor. The student is not left on his own to schedule or pursue his own course of study even at that level. So, in allowing a child to schedule his own course of study in a homeschool high school setting, I believe we'd be asking the child to do something that is not even truly done at the college level. Additionally, a schedule that is child-driven would cause the teacher to lose his/her opportunity to teach in any organized fashion and place the teacher at the mercy of the child's whim in scheduling. This might work if you had one child, but in many families this would result in little teaching and interaction taking place with the student. I have to guard against this with my own oldest son.

I do think learning to schedule and manage one's own time is an important skill and one that the HOD guides work more toward helping a child learn than the child who is in a typical school setting. This is because with the design of the guide, the HOD child can work toward completing subjects much more independently than a typical school child, and in doing so the HOD child learns to manage his/her time well and his/her day well. In doing projects such as those in DITHR, he/she also learns to manage a project broken up over a week's time, so there are some of those experiences as well. In looking toward high school, the balance of teaching and independence will continue to be a delicate one!

In thinking through the possibilities of having both Teacher Guide and student sheets, I'll share that the thought is not a new one for us. The main concern that keeps coming to mind with this type of plan is the amount of redundancy that there would be between Teacher Guide and student sheets in information. Or, if there was not redundancy, then the problem becomes matching one with the other as you are trying to teach and for me in deciding what information should go where. This is the very reason that well-known publishers like Rod and Staff or BJU Press have gone to having the Teacher's Guide include the reduced student pages right inside the Teacher's Guide, with the Teacher's Notes surrounding the student pages. I have found so often though, even with the Teacher's Guides like this that they contain information I wish the student pages had, as it leaves it up to me to share the information that really the student should just have access to in his/her own book.

Deciding what information to put where becomes a huge part of the planning at the point that there is a separate Teacher's Guide and Student Book! We went that route with DITHR, so I know the difficulties of writing that type of plan. It worked well for one subject, but for "all" subjects it would be an entirely different matter. Plus, you'd be surprised how many people forego the DITHR Teacher's Guide and try to just use the Student Books alone. That would be a disaster for families in trying to make high school go well! In looking toward high school, we will have also some academic subject areas scheduled that already have Teacher Guide and Student Book (like Rod and Staff, the sciences, math, reading, etc.), so to have our main guide's plans in that format would really add to the confusion more than help at that point.

I am enjoying your thoughts, as I have had many of the same thoughts. I will continue to think on what you've shared so far and look forward to much more dialogue.

P.S. For the poster who mentioned the maps, we use the Map Trek CD designed for HOD completely (with the exception of one or two maps). So, you would save yourself much time by just printing the entire thing and placing it in a 3-ring binder. Or, if you'd rather just print all the Student Maps and have the student refer to the Teacher Maps on the CD (to save on colored ink), you could do that instead (but there will be a few Teacher Maps you'll have to print to use too). Just plan to use each CD in its entirety by the end of the guide, and you'll be set!

Blessings,
Carrie

I agree with your thoughts on doing the scheduling for the student at this level 100% Carrie! Even though my son (SADLY) outgrew HOD before more guides were finished, I most definitely still do ALL the scheduling for him. I agree it should not be an added burden to an already full academic schedule. We LOVED your daily schedules, but at the high school level it might not work out so well because you would need to add some blank boxes for parents to be able to customize levels or math, science and electives. Maybe just make the boxes smaller? Also, what about Q/A scripts and answers for the concepts the student is expected to understand and perhaps mom is not 100% sure of the answer? And I really like that idea of a weekly overview page!

[mmschool]

At the moment, my dh is in graduate school, so we have a great reminder of high level requirements. In that context, I came up with this suggestion for the high school guides. I am sorry if this has already been covered, because I didn't have time to read all of the entries.

I would suggest breaking it up in a student and a teacher guide sold as a bundle, so that everyone gets both.

Student Guide would contain:
1. An introduction more like the catalog entries - here are all of the exciting things we are going to learn this year!
2. Daily plans organized just like before.
3. Appendixes with student content - poems, dictations, etc.
4. NEW - the project appendix.

To me this is the big bridge between middle school and college. In middle school you do long term assignments in class, or at least broken up daily. In college you receive long term assignments to complete independently WHILE YOU CONTINUE WITH DAILY OR WEEKLY WORK. So, I would keep the student daily plans as is, but I would add the element of the long term project. At first you could spell things out. The daily plan says you are assigned project 1 in the appendix, read it carefully. Then they would turn to the back for project 1. It would spell out the assignment, the format, the due date (probably a unit plus day in the guide, rather than a time period so that it would remain tied to the topics studied no matter when or at what speed the material is being covered.) Then it would further be broken into steps, 1. limit the topic 2. make this outline etc. (whatever the steps for the paper/lab/etc.) For the first couple of projects you could even assign the steps in the daily boxes. The goal would be to (over the course of all four years) move the student to the ability to take a longer project, break it down themselves, assign themselves the steps, and turn in an assignment according to the directions, on time, while completing other daily work. That is a huge process. But, I think, being able to do that time management, on top of the daily assignments to keep up, is the best college prep training possible. Plus, it allows the rest of the familiar guide to remain unchanged!

Teacher Guide would contain:
1. The usual introduction including pedogogical points for each subject.
2. Teaching pages.
3. Appendix including, maybe, grading rubrics, suggestions for cataloging hours for credits, suggestions for creating elective credits according to the child's interests, and maybe even short summaries of the books read over the year (for parents who aren't able to read it themselves.)

The teaching pages: I would NOT put a copy of the student book here. Instead I would condense the units into a 2 or 4 page spread depending on how many of the following types of things you decided to include. Maybe others can comment (or add) to this list with what would be useful to them.
1. Key points (not included in student boxes - I agree that high schoolers need to start to pick these out themselves.)
2. Content warnings.
3. Skill goals (i.e. this semester make sure your student already is, or is working towards reading directions carefully, and ASKING if they need help)
4. Teacher assignments for remaining teacher led topics.
5. Discussion notes or prompts to go over readings.
6. Some type of receivables list: (i.e. Today your student should turn in - a history narration, a science lab, and literature vocabulary work.)
7. Teacher coaching for helping the students stuck on projects, labs etc.

Especially number 6 would be great if there was some kind of checklist for the parent to quickly check that the work for the day was being completed without necessarily seeing every detail of the assignment (which could be covered in the student book, obviously, and maybe a grading appendix?)

Anyway, I think this combination would keep the loved familiarity of the guide, add the component of more independent time and project management, plus adding more assistance directly for the teacher/mentor who might not be keeping up with a heavier reading load due to younger students, etc.

Lena

[Carrie]

Ladies,

There are some truly excellent thoughts within these posts, which I will continue to ponder, but I'll also just pause at this point to reiterate that I can truly only pull-off writing one guide each year with one manual at this point in time. I was just telling my husband last night how overwhelming even that task seems to me on a daily basis (while still homeschooling our own 4 boys), so I have to be reasonable in what I expect from myself. This is why as we look toward high school, my main question was whether to have this one manual have a weekly plan or a daily plan. I've laid out earlier in the thread my reasons for desiring one manual, but I'll also just add to it to say that the process to write even one manual is so huge that I can really get weighted down with the magnitude of it.

While we do our best to make the daily plans look easy-to-teach, they are by no means easy for me to write. Simply screening and choosing the resources takes me 6 months of reading. During those 6 months of reading, sifting, and sorting through ideas, I am working around 7-8 hours each day (before and after schooling my own kiddos). I work 10-12 hours each Saturday and also am reading books for possible inclusion in our guides on Sunday afternoons into the evening. I typically take three weeks off the entire calendar year.

After the books are selected, I work on the packages, the descriptions, and the catalog with our graphic designer and with my sister. I then switch to getting content to our web designer and going through all of the process for working with him to get it up on our website. We then prepare for conventions, which is a huge job that blessedly my sister does almost completely. By then, I'm already writing.

I write daily up until the guide goes to press, during which time I'm also working with my graphic designer on the notebooking pages. At that point my boys are done with their school year, and I start working 12 hour days every day Monday through Saturday, except Sunday which is a shorter day that is mostly reading-based for the guide and family-based with church and family dinner. I take no days off, and we have a full-time sitter who comes 9-5 from mid-May to mid-August to watch our kiddos. I often miss holidays and family gatherings to work, even on the 4th of July only showing up for the evening fireworks. I miss my birthday and anniversary, and I miss my kiddos.

I have an office in our home, so I do get to see my family, cook the evening meal for them, and help with bedtimes during my busiest writing season. During the rest of the year, I do school my kiddos, eat meals with them, and interact with them making school time key! They are continually in and out talking with me, so there is no way that I could write any more than I already do. Just as an example, every key idea I write requires me to reread books I've already read all over again, page by page, just to summarize the main points and connect the reading to the other boxes. I actually reread everything as I plan it, even though I've already read the books initially to select them. When we have primary source documents, I spend hours and sometimes days looking to find what I need, reading until my eyes are sore just to find the right passage.

The effortless way kiddos are able to use the guide is due to literally thousands of hours of work and research on my end. I share this to give you a better understanding into what my life is like in the day-to-day so that you can truly see why I can either write a daily plan or a weekly grid, but I cannot at this time write more than one manual. Someday, things will look different, and I may have the chance to go back and revisit the guides and add as time allows. For now, I can either be realistic and try to come out with a guide each year, or I can work on one guide for several years and come out with a guide every 3-4 years. While it is hugely tempting to slow down the pace of our lives and only come out with a guide every few years, my deep desire is to stay with my second oldest son, who will have graduated by the time I have written the final guide in the high school cycle, Lord willing.

My husband and I were just talking last night about the possibility that we may have to choose just one science for each guide, as the task feels too daunting to do more than one to me right now. So, we'll have to consider that possibility more. Perhaps if we did go that route, we may someday (when I finish all 4 guides) be able to offer the various sciences from the high school guides in list form for those who wish to use a science from a different guide in combination with another HOD guide they're using. So, we'll see. It is all a matter of time for me.

My kiddos have learned to live with a mother who works almost constantly, and I deeply desire for them to still have a mother in this process somehow. So, I covet your prayers! I am thankful for the suggestions, and I look forward to sharing more about the new guide as it comes to fruition.

Blessings,
Carrie

[LynnH]

Carrie I really appreciate you giving us insight into how much really goes into writing a guide. I don't think most of us have any idea. Many of us are overwhelmed just trying to homeschool our kids much less write a guide a year. I can't think of any other company that has done this year after year like you have. I just want to say Thank You! Words can't express how thankful I am for you allowing God to use you in this way.

I have no problem with you offering just one science in the guide. Science is one of those areas where up in highschool you pretty much follow the teacher guide for whatever program you pick. If we decide to add a different science than what you have in the guide it doesn't seem like it will take much effort on our parts to plan it ourselves. The one thing that would be nice is if you just keep throwing out your recommendations for the different sciences here on the board. I trust your judgement way more than I trust mine so that is very helpful for me to see what you have used with your boys and what you have liked.

[pjdobro]

Carrie,

I so wish there was someway I could help. You sacrifice so much and work so hard for all of us! Thank you just sounds so inadequate. I want to tell you to slow down; take your time writing these guides, but I know that you want to continue this pace for your son and for the others that are currently using the latest guide. Life choices are so often about compromise, and it sounds like you know which ones you have to make right now. Thank you for making that sacrifice so that we can easily homeschool our children through high school! Whatever you are able to do to make writing the guide easier for you will work out fine for us.

I really don't think it will be a problem at all to offer only one science each year. Just as always, people are free to choose another science if that one doesn't suit them. As you continue through the other high school guides, those of us that are behind a couple of years in the guides could always get the other guides if we wanted the different science. Eventually offering them as options for each of the guides would be great, but I think it is something that most of us are willing to wait for.

I can't even imagine how overwhelming this task must seem to you right now, and the weight you feel on your shoulders. I know you've been called to do this work though and I know that God equips those He calls. Today my prayer for you is Hebrews 13:20, 21, "May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." May you continually feel Him equipping you with His power through this all. I'll continue to lift you and your family in prayer.

[Mumkins]

Carrie,

You give so much of yourself and your family for us, THANK YOU! I will share my suggestions, knowing that they just may not be possible.

I love the daily boxes. Coming from curriculum that used a weekly grid, I originally found the daily boxes difficult, but I now love it.

One thing I've been thinking on lately is that I wish my kids had long term, independent projects. Perhaps they are in higher guides, we've only just begun CTC. In highschool we had ISPs. Independent Study Projects. 1 per year in a few classes. We were given the topic, or choice of topics. In the younger grades, we'd have times the outlines were due, the rough drafts were due, etc. We were given time in class sometimes, but a large part was home work. I'd like to see my kids doing stuff like that. Having papers to write that require research and time of their own, not through out the school day, where they are not given every direction and they have to set their own goals to meet deadlines. Meeting deadlines is something important and that we haven't come across yet. Even in younger grades, kids would have book reports and such due. Perhaps that's not CM, I'm not familiar with her ways outside of HOD.

Instead of including things in the appendix, I wonder if it would be easier to have 4 pages per day. It sounds like you are having difficult fitting every thing in. Perhaps you open up to the first set and it has your various English subjects and math and science are on the opposite page, turn the page and on those two pages is where you have all your other subjects for that day.

I know it isn't possible now, but I really would like to see a separate teacher's guide. As someone who combines, it can be a pain to share the guide between the kids. I'm sure that will only increase in the upper guides. I don't think I can afford 2 full guides, especially as, rightfully so, I imagine the high school guides will be more expensive. Perhaps a discount if buying two guides at once? Or maybe a whole 'second set' bundle with an extra guide, extra student pages and all other consumable options. I don't like how the answers are given in the key idea, which could be removed from the students. In the teacher's guide, it would be lovely to have a weekly or daily summary like Tapestry of grace. (I find TOG to be far to difficult to ever navigate, lol. Just, their teachers notes look good). I'd also really love answers to the questions. Especially the research questions. I often feel so disconnected now as aside from some narrating, I have little knowledge of what my kids are learning.

My last suggestion, as if you needed another guide to write, lol, is after you have written the last 4th year high school is to do a combined one that covers US history in 1 year. My 6th grade daughter, 11 in CTC, is at the upper end of the guides, however, she's going to miss the last guide if we stay on course. I am sure there are lots of people in the same situation. I'm trying to decide if she should skip MTMM so she can be on track for highschool or pick a one of the last guides to skip.

That said, I love absolutely everything else about HOD. I realize that came across as complaining probably. But, my intention was to share the things I'd love to see differently. If I were to sit here and type everything I loved about HOD, this would turn into a novel. When we put the kids in school for 3 months, I would get sad every time I see my guide book or the catalogue. I just didn't want to miss them learning all this stuff! HOD is top notch, the education they receive using your materials is incredible, both academically and spiritually. When ever I am approached about HSing, I always point them this way.

Praying for you as you write the next guides.

[mmschool]

I suppose that in a world where work brings forth thorns and thistles the ideal and the realistic are never the same thing.

I would still vote in favor of the familiar daily layout. It is the thing that makes HOD the most unique - bite sized pieces - compared to the piles of lists and extras and everything to get through in other curricula. The beauty of HOD for most people is the NOT having to decide and weed through options. And most people that are dead set on a specific program (be it phonics or math or science) will use it no matter what the plans say. The beauty of structure is that is it easy to adjust.

All that being said, I still believe that some papers, research, labs, anything like that - long term projects that are not the class work per se, but need to be broken down and worked on for a deadline would be the best addition to make a guide feel like college prep in terms of time and resource management.

Lena