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Ladies,

I am SO enjoying reading through all of your weekly check-ins! For those of you who are hitting your stride and enjoying the journey, I am thrilled for you! Your shares and your pictures are a true joy! For those of you who are new or are just starting out, I want to encourage you by sharing that I typically do not have a great first day (more like an "I think we can actually do this" by the 4th day at our house)!

I've found when running multiple programs, you need to expect that it will take a bit longer to hit your stride, and it's so important to allow for that or you'll miss the joy that "hitting your stride" can really bring. My first weeks ALWAYS run long (sometimes very long) and by the end of 3 weeks, I usually find that we're shaving time off of each box within the guide like crazy. By the end of the first month, we are really on schedule to finish all of the programs we're running at our house (this year it will be 4) on time. So, give yourself a chance to ease in, knowing that you will settle in and it will get into a great routine that will give you tremendous joy and precious time with your kiddos the rest of the year (while still being very reasonable time-wise).

And, if after a month, you're still running long, post your schedule and we'll help you tweak to get your time down to where it should be!

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie wrote:Ladies,
I've found when running multiple programs, you need to expect that it will take a bit longer to hit your stride, and it's so important to allow for that or you'll miss the joy that "hitting your stride" can really bring. My first weeks ALWAYS run long (sometimes very long) and by the end of 3 weeks, I usually find that we're shaving time off of each box within the guide like crazy.
Blessings,
Carrie

Ohhh I am so glad you commented on this! I too so enjoy reading how you all are doing your HOD! My days are long, but good. Even after day 2 I see that we will be able to shorten the time slots for each of the boxes. I am finding that for me - being flexible with my schedule is best.
Again, thank you all for posting! As soon as I find my camera I'll add some of our HOD adventures!

We've started our second year with HOD now, and we're loving it. DITHOR has been a huge hit with my DD! She spent the summer reading, and she always wants to choose her own books. I was worried that she wouldn't want to read what I offered or do any "activities" with her books, but she has enjoyed it! She just wants to read the book faster. She chose to begin with the Fantasy genre, and so far she has read The Littles by John Peterson and has started The Storm by Cynthia Rylant and enjoyed them both.

The rest of it... well, lets just say we are getting closer each day to hitting our stride. I remember feeling that way last year with LHFHG, so I know we'll find it again soon. We don't follow a set schedule, because she fights that. Now we're working on how to keep a positive attitude (even towards the subjects she "doesn't like") and keep DS happy.

I'm so glad we have HOD, and I always recommend it every chance I get!

I love your layout but how are you doing that? Do you have a template???