Guide sequence

[CrystalM]

So I am a major future planner...my baby is still just 1 but my husband and I knew before we even got married that when we had kids we would homeschool them. So now that I have a baby I have been researching all of the different curriculum choices out there and I am really loving the idea of HOD. With that said, if I use LHTH around age 3 or 4 and then move onto LHFHG at age 5 for K and complete a guide a year, it woud put us at 7th grade for MTMM and the future geography guide for 8th. But it's my understanding for the website and these boards that the geography guide is strictly high school. What would I do to make it fit more perfectly with making sure I'm not moving too quickly through the guides. I am a very ambitious person academically and I actually wouldn't mind if my child graduated high school earlier than 18 years old. I also may hold them from graduation and do dual enrollment for the last couple of years before 18 to get some college credits down for cheap or free. But that still doesn't solve the issue of going through the guides quickly if I use LHFHG for K, Beyong for 1, Bigger for 2, Preparing for 3, and so on.

I know asking this now may seem silly because who knows what could happen between now and the time I actually start the guides, but as I said earlier I am a major planner and not figuring this out in some way now really makes me nervous.

Thanks in advance,
Crystal

[netpea]

Many people stretch out the first few guides in different ways. One of the more popular methods has been to do the first few guides 4 days a week just as the upper guides are done. this allows more time for field trips, errands or dr. appts. and uses up that extra year.

[my3sons]

Netpea gave a great answer already! That is what we are doing with our two youngest dc. We are doing LHTH, LHFHG, Beyond, and Bigger 4 days a week instead of 5 days a week, which means those 4 guides take exactly 5 years, doing school 4 days a week for about 35 weeks. We love it! But, for our oldest ds, he is on track to graduate a year early with HOD. He is currently six days shy of 13 yo doing MTMM, and Lord willing, he will do the Geography guide next year. This placement has fit him well. He loves HOD and does well with it, so for now, this is the plan, but "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." So, we will see if my plan is God's plan, and we'll go with His. My dear dad has had pancreatic cancer and chemo this year, and having the wiggle room to take that extra year should we need to for our oldest ds so I can help out as needed with my parents continues to be a reassuring possibility for me. Wiggle room is never a bad thing, so either way, I think you will love HOD and the flexibility the guides' format brings. HTH! Enjoy your wee one, and I am excited for you to begin your HOD journey soon!

In Christ,
Julie

[alydar]

We are a 4-day-a-week year round family with Beyond and Bigger right now. Both are being done full speed but if for some reason your dc needs to go 1/2 speed at some point that would stretch the guide even further on a 4 day schedule. My dd6 (1st grade) is the one doing Beyond and I'm glad it will take more than a year for her to go through. I would like to see her a bit older going into Bigger. It's working well for us!

[countrymom]

I agree with the other posters, there are a variety of options for you in how you use the guides. I understand your desire to plan ahead - I am the same way. Having said that, and now finishing up our 4th guide with HOD, I will say that your children will dictate how you proceed, so unfortunately for us planners, future planning only goes so far . Once I figured that out and decided to take it by child, about 6 months out at a time for the early guides, my stress went away and I am a very happy HOD user. My two children are only 19 months apart, but very different academically. I am going through the guides differently for each one - one could think of it as personal customized education! (one of the many reasons we homeschool).

[basesloaded]

My boys have been doing HOD together for 4 years now and that means when we hit the Geography Guide they will be 8th & 10th ... do I need to consider slowing my would be 8th grader down and begin separating them so He can begin the GEO guide in 9th instead. They are both currently in REV2REV (6th & 8th) and would both use MTMM next year (7th & 9th). It was mentioned in this thread that the Geography Guide was strictly High School. Thanks for your any insight anyone can share!!!!

More thoughts...

I can keep them together next year for MTMM and my youngest will need something else for the next year to do while he waits to begin the Geo guide in 9th. My oldest will do MTMM with extensions for 9th and will have miss one of last High School Guides.

or

Start my youngest in MTMM half speed for 2 years so then he can go into the GEO guide in 9th. Again my oldest will do MTMM reg with extension for 9th and then GEO guide for 10th, missing the one High School Guide.

or

Start my Youngest in MTMM half speed next year for 2 years and my oldest skip MTMM altogether and begin the GEO guide next year in 9th grade ... which do you think would be "better" for my oldest to miss ... MTMM (the last of the 4 year history cycle we have been doing) or the final HIGH SCHOOL guide or have him skip the GEO guide and begin 10th grade with the 2nd year High School Guide . Hate for him to miss MTMM but life would be so much less complicated if he began the HIGH SCHOOL guides in 9th and went straight thru ... I assume so anyway.

Thanks again for any thoughts you have to help!

[Mommamo]

I just wanted to mention that the geography guide isn't "strictly" high school. Yes, it's high school credit worthy, but it seems to be understood that many 8th graders will be in this guide too. If you take a look at the sneak peak post, Carrie mentions that several times.

For your older child, I don't think you need to skip anything. All of the younger guides have extensions, and you seem perfectly within the range of the extensions from what I could tell. It seems like combining is going great for now. I think I would just keep going. I think it's fine if you don't get to all the guides--it seems that many, many people will be in the same boat, so to speak. I just don't think I'd worry if I were you. If it's not broke, don't fix it.

[my3sons]

We'll be doing the geography guide next year with our 8th grader. I will slow things down if need be, but the current plan is for him to graduate high school a year early. He will more than likely be doing College Plus after graduating, to test out of the courses he can, so he'll still be home with us that year for sure. This makes that decision easier. He is currently doing MTMM for seventh grade and flourishing, so his placement is accurate. Graduating a year early is actually not so uncommon. Carrie herself graduated early, and so did my niece in TX last year. My niece is thriving at college this year. So, if the placement is accurate for your younger student, then I'd continue on with the course. If it is too difficult, then I'd probably separate the two, but you will know best here. Just thought I'd share what we are doing in case it helps somehow!

In Christ,
Julie

[basesloaded]

Thank you! Graduating Early is just not something I planned to do and honestly I do not believe it to be a good fit for my middle son who is the one hitting the GEO guide in 8th. Once again glad to have this board to ask questions and gain valuable information to help you make the best decisions. I just did not realize this was going to happen for my son but I am happy to have this knowledge now to think and pray on and make a decision rather than not realizing or knowing until I was too far in it. Thanks again ladies!

[my3sons]

Let me add that if graduating early is not your favorite option, it is very doable to slow things down to half-speed for a portion of several guides. We have LOVED doing this with our middle ds. You can easily start a guide half-speed, finish it full-speed, start the next guide half-speed, and finish it full-speed, taking 3 years to do 2 guides. We have done this with our middle ds and really enjoyed this! You could easily do this for your younger ds with MTMM and the Geography guide.

In Christ,
Julie

[basesloaded]

Thanks again ... glad to have a little time and ideas, too! with HOD I have no worries I can find a great plan that works for us!

[Carrie]

This is a great thread with some valuable discussion! As we head into the high school guides, if you happen to have an 8th grader going into the Geography guide, it is good to know that since that guide will be high school credit worthy in all areas, you can start counting high school credit with that guide. It would then become your child's freshman year for transcript purposes. In this scenario, you would move through the 4 HOD high school guides and stop counting credit after that. However that does not mean you would have to formally graduate your child early at that point if you would rather not do so. Instead, you could have your child use what would technically have been his/her typical "senior" year age-wise to pursue anything desired for that year at home.

The freedom of this possibility is actually a wonderful thing! It would allow you wiggle room if needed if unexpected life circumstances arise, and if everything does happen to go as planned it would allow you to customize a year of learning for your child to meet your child's specific interests and needs. This could involve an internship, helping out a church in a servant-hearted capacity for a year, going on a mission type trip, doing an apprenticeship in an area of interest, working to develop several hobbies, taking a part-time or full-time job to earn money for college, spending time studying for taking the ACT/SAT if needed, taking an additional math or science course (or any other courses of interest), taking some community college courses, applying for scholarships, spending time helping at home learning homemaking skills or helping school siblings, or starting college early. As you can see, there are endless possibilities with this option beyond just graduating early. All of these options mean less stress overall as a child finishes high school, which is a good thing! So, don't be too quick to worry about your child entering the high school years too early. If he/she can handle the work in the HOD guide, then he/she will thrive! I wouldn't encourage you to plan something else to fill a projected extra year though, as the momentum and progression of the guides will be lost that way (and often life doesn't go the way we plan, so a perceived extra year actually becomes a welcome bit of wiggle room over multiple years of educating your child). Remember, we don't have to have all of the answers now. Just keep going through the guides, as one HOD guide builds well upon another.

The only exception would be for a child who will technically be a 9th grader and is heading into MTMM. If that child is ready skill-wise, workload-wise, and independence-wise for the geography guide, then it may be possible to head into that guide instead. I wouldn't' do this without some real pondering though, just to be sure the child can handle the level of work that will be included in the geography guide. For kiddos coming up through HOD, doing the guides in sequence should prepare them well for the next guide in line.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Carrie]

Crystal,

I just realized that I responded to the last posts, but not to yours! I apologize. In light of what you asked, it can work well to do the first 3 guides 4 days a week. This helps you gain a year and gives you a free day school day each week to pursue your own family interests.

If that idea doesn't appeal to you, it's good to know that sometimes some wiggle room is helpful, as it gives you permission to slow a guide down to half-speed for a season if it fits your child better at various points throughout the guide sequence. It also allows you to take your cues from your child as far as what is too much.

It's hard to have a plan all in place, as often our kiddos change and grow so much on this homeschool journey. We also never know what is ahead for us in this life, as so many unexpected things often take place.

The good news is that HOD is flexible enough to change with you through the years. Just steadily moving forward as you can is a good plan, and when life's circumstances make that impossible, it is good to know you can just pick your guide back up where you left off when life settles down a bit and keep on going.

Blessings,
Carrie