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I have three working out of the same guide, and I still just leave it open on the counter. They put their initial and circle it when the box is done. I write anything extra we did in the guide. I just have the children progress through the boxes in a different order so that the books are available. I will use a different color of ink for the next set of children coming through. Having 8 children helps a WHOLE lot with perfectionist tendencies!!! Things get dropped, broken, spilled, soiled, marred almost every day. I had to give up and smile a long time ago. At least this way I have a record of their work for the year, and they have a concrete way to see where they are at with no extra work on my part. There is a verse in the Bible that helped me a lot. It is in Proverbs and talks about where there are no oxen, the stable is clean. I have thought about that a lot. If I didn't have 8 precious gifts, my house (and my teacher's manuals) would be a lot cleaner. Would I really want that?? Absolutely not! Can you tell that I remind myself of that verse a lot? I also think a lot about how oxen accomplish a lot of work, and I desire for my children to accomplish work for the kingdom of God. There will be a lot of mess along the way, but it will be well worth it. Trying to keep the manuals clean for resale is a LOT of pressure. I agree with my3sons, if there is any way you can just plan to keep them for the next children, it might take a lot of pressure off of your plate. It is such a blessing when I just pull the next set of books off of my shelf and do not have to purchase any (except for the older children). I realize this may not be a possibiliy. I just wanted to share the oxen verse because it has changed my outlook on messes. I hope it is helpful to you in some way.

Proverbs 14:4 "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox."

I'm sorry...forgot to add, that my younger boy may be doing a level lower of dictation than the other. (from Preparing Guide) Also, am planning on actually making several "booklets" out of the guide. Probably make a separate "notebook" with just the guide, another with just the dictation in it, and whatever else I need from it. Don't have the guide in hand yet, so not sure what is all necessary to separate so they don't have to flip back and forth within the guide yet. But figured that it may help a little to have it separated into separate notebooks as much as possible.

Also, what 8arrows mentioned helps too. Maybe just have them move through their boxes in different order....or maybe have them both sit at the kitchen table together is also something I've thought of. (although they are only 15 months apart in age, and sometimes that can be cause for disagreements....) Thank you for your help!

Starla, have you seen the durable stickies that people use to mark different sections in the guide. I know someone will be able to give you a link for a picture. That way you don't have to worry about part of the guide being lost. They do have to flip back and forth, but that is easy with the tabs. Running off the dictation and putting it in a separate folder is not a bad idea though. I like to keep my TM all together. When I have separated teacher's manuals out, items have been lost. Let us know what you think when your guide arrives.

Thanks for answering my question, Starla! 8arrows has some good advice here, and I think this would work well!

8arrows wrote:I have three working out of the same guide, and I still just leave it open on the counter. They put their initial and circle it when the box is done. I write anything extra we did in the guide. I just have the children progress through the boxes in a different order so that the books are available. I will use a different color of ink for the next set of children coming through.

Having the guide open at a central location, where everyone can easily use it, initial it, and have it at their ready reference is practical and makes good sense. I also took much from the Biblical example she shared - so true - aren't we glad to have the oxen? The mess is worth it.

I think it helps to use the "T", "S", and "I" initials to set up the day. The "T" boxes can be done with everyone. Many of the "S" boxes can be done at the same time, as you are often starting the dc off and they are finishing them out. But the "I" boxes should be done independently, and at this point, having access to the manual is crucial for success.

In PHFHG, I'd say these are the boxes that fall in the "dc doing it at different times" category...
-Independent History Study
-Science Exploration
-Bible Study box (only on the Bible Quiet Time days)
-Sometimes the Rotating Box (Research, Geography, Timeline, Vocabulary)

As the dc are sharing books, and it's an important skill for them to read their history/science on their own at this age, it may work well to have one do history and one do science at the same time. The history child can jot the page numbers that need to be read down on a sticky note and head off to the couch to read. The science child can do the same, but the science child's reading will probably be done much earlier, as science is very much a "doing" box. The science child should be able to use the manual to get going on his things, and about the time he finishes it out, the child reading his history will probably be done reading and can use the manual to do the history follow-up. Then the science child finishes, he can take the history books and read. I know 8arrows has said before that she has the books dc will need for the guide setting out too, and if the books aren't there, it's a visual sign they are being used by someone else, and the child picking what to do next needs to pick whatever box the resources are available for. Great idea!

I will say when I've homeschooled my nephews, and they have been doing the same guides as my dc are doing, they brought just their own guides to my house (not all the accompanying resources), and that sure was nice, especially from CTC on up. So, if it's monetarily feasible for each older child to have his own guide, it sure is nice. If not, leaving it open on a work table, counter, or place dc can all work at should work just fine too. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

I still make a weekly lesson plan for me and my kids. They like to have the chart to check off the stuff they have completed. My son still uses the TM a lot to read his complete assignment. I like my TM to stay nice and can't bring myself to write in them. I just tell my kids to be careful with the TM because it needs to last for everyone to use.

These are the tabs I use to mark the sections of my guides, they are available at Target, walmart, etc... They are reusable, we move them from day to day as we move through the guide.

Ladies,

This is a terrific discussion and one that is so timely as so many of us have kiddos moving into the middle school/high school years! One thing that I know has really helped me shift my thinking in this area is to think of the plans in the guides from CTC on up as being the child's daily plans and instructions, rather than MY Teacher's Manual. Middle school and high school is a time when it helps a child so much to have a daily planner of what to do each day, where he/she can move through and read instructions and check off work as he/she goes. This is outstanding preparation for high school and college style learning and is what the guide becomes. It is actually the child's planner and your Teacher's Guide rolled into one. But it is meant to mainly be the child's for you to borrow, refer to as you teach your items, and for checking and tracking purposes. The child is responsible for it, should be able to have complete access to it and will likely spill or mar it, just like a planner. Without complete access to it, the child won't be able to successfully do what we're asking. The instructions keep getting longer and more detailed and the assignments continue to grow in difficulty.

A blessing is that we have found our guides to hold up very well! We have all pages still in their bindings of all of our guides we've used, and even the ones that we're on our third use with look pretty good. The guides wipe clean on front and back, and while my guides do have a few stray stains inside, overall with having boys I'm amazed that they're still in one piece. The guides travel around the house (and other places) with my boys daily. They would be lost without them and so would I.

Blessings,
Carrie

I don't remember seeing those tabs anywhere - I'll have to keep my eyes open at Walmart or Staples. But they look thicker than the thin sticky notes, so think they should work great. Thanks for sharing the photo!

Starla - my little Wal-Mart in rural Kansas has always had these tabs in the office supply section. They work great!! Even the one we move daily has always lasted the whole year without losing its "stick".

I've always just used the guide for our plans, too. Nothing extra. Grant just finished CtC, and he most definitely used it WAY more than I did this year. The only times I used it were when we met for our teaching blocks and he had all the resources piled for me and the guide open. I really love the way that it is teaching him to read and follow directions well. A few of the pages have some splatters from cooking or doing an experiment, but overall, I think it still looks like it's in great condition. Used, but definitely re-usable. We'll see if it lasts as it moves on from kid to kid. If not, I'll buy another.

Kathleen

I am big on letting HOD do all it is supposed to do and having as much of the prepping done for me as possible. I cover my guides in contact paper. My kids all use the guides to work from directly. I also use the sticky tabs Lee Ann showed. And I write in my guide book if needed to keep track of dictation levels etc. For my child that is older and uses the guides beefed up, I make a spread sheet before the start of the year and it lists what days and the pages to be read or lessons to be done. She uses that to refer to all year long. I have a separate spread sheet for grading. It is nothing fancy but we have found it works very well. This year I made an expectation sheet I guess you could call it, one guideline for the entire year. Things like at the end of the day you need to show me all your work for the day to be done, etc. That is something I just made at the beginning of the year and laminated. So pretty much the only thing I make a lesson plan for is for the extra stuff added and I do it for the entire year. Took me an afternoon and I never had to touch it once throughout the year. Nice and simple HOD really does it all for you.

I could see if you were used to a lesson plan that would be hard to let go of and it might feel like things are going to slip through the cracks without it. But what I love about HOD is it really has done all that for me. The way I look at it Carrie spent a whole year professionally writing my lesson plans for me. Now we have time to just enjoy the ride and that has been such a blessing.