Thank you, Laura, for sharing this. The download worked fine and the syllabus looks great. (The mamas who put stuff like this together always amaze me!! So, another "thank you" to Tina in Ouray.)

Ellie, Bless your heart. You are one of my "go-to" sages here! Many times, your practical advice and opinions have been "just the ticket." Thank you.

A friend told me about this, and I thought I would post it here for anyone who may be interested in piano lessons (piano class) online. http://www.greghowlett.com/musicschool/ Hope this is help to someone! ~Julie

RuthAnn, ** "I would, however, like to have "groups" of children studying together." and ** "I don't mind if the content seems light at the grammar stage. The important thing to me is that Science gets done, my kids enjoy it, and they are hearing and learning scientific methods, ideas, vocabulary, etc." These two quotes sum up what's happened in our home with Elemental Science. It's been a very pleasant experience (for kiddos and mama!)

We are having good success with Elemental Science. www.elementalscience.com

To answer your question about grammar: You are no doubt correct that Preparing would be too much for your 2nd/3rd grader. So for next year, you could do Bigger and continue using R&S3. (It is very easy to substitute with HOD). Then (this is the good news!)--if you are totally in love with HOD and want to continue using it, "Preparing" schedules BOTH R&S3 AND R&S4 (which would work perfectly for you!). About extending the HOD guides -- If you want to include an older child, you would order the Extension Package [more $$$ :(]. The older student does all the same work that the younger does, PLUS he/she does extra reading in the extension books; these daily assignments are also scheduled in the appendix of the teacher's guide. The HOD theory is you order the package for the younger student, and then "add on" for the older student. However, HOD is difficult to combine children if there is a large age gap between them. About purchasing the reading books vs. using the library -- Not sure what books you mean. Here's a run-down: *The Basic Package books for history (A First Book of American History, etc.) -- you would certainly want to buy these, as you use these daily/weekly, all year. *The HOD reading program -- You have two options: 1. Emerging Readers (these are easy readers, such as Owl at Home, Frog & Toad, etc.) They start out on what some would call a first-grade level and gradually increase in difficulty. The daily reading assignments (pages) are scheduled in the Bigger Teacher's Guide, along with oral discussion questions for each reading assignment. If you choose this route, you could buy the books (depending upon your available cash-flow!) or look for them used on this board or other used curriculum sites, such as homeschoolclassifieds.com or Vegsource, etc., or check them out from your local library as you need them. I already owned some of these, or I found most of them used, so I didn't purchase them directly from HOD (and it was handy to have them on hand and not have to run to the library all the time!) OR.... 2. Drawn Into The Heart of Reading. This is HOD's reading program for readers who are more advanced than "Emerging Readers." If you opt for this route, you buy their reading list broken down by genre (biography, historical fiction, fantasy, etc.) and by grade level (they use the following levels -- 2/3 and 4/5 and 6/7/8). You can use their suggestions on the reading list, or plug in any book that fits the particular genre that you're studying. It's very flexible and can be used with multiple ages, with different-aged children studying the same genre, but reading different books. So you can purchase books used or on Amazon, etc. OR you can just use books you already own OR check them out from the library. Again, hope this is a help to you!

Hello! We have enjoyed HOD for 2 years now and are very pleased with it (unanimously--DH, Mama, and kiddos!!). Here is how we use HOD -- our DD (13) is in RtoR, and our DS (10) and DD (9) are combined in BHFHG, with DS reading certain of the extension books. However, their website can be confusing for someone who is unfamiliar with it. It's sort of like a buffet...you just pick and choose what you want, and leave what you don't want alone! For the history/geography part of HOD, you need to order the Basic package (without the science add-on, since you are going to stick with Apologia). On their website, they call this the Economy Package, and it includes the following five books: *Teacher's Guide *A First Book in Am. History *Stories of Great Americans *The Story of the Wright Bros. and Their Sister *Journeys in Time That is all you will need for the history/geography portion of the curriculum. If you choose to add the devotional guide (Little Pillows) and the hymn-stuff, just add these on to your order. (We don't use those, because our family uses different resources for our devotional time.) About Drawn Into the Heart of Reading: You will need ONE Teacher's Guide. The TG is to be used with all three levels (2/3 or 4/5 or 6/7/8), and then you will need to order the Level 2/3 student book for your 2nd/3rd grade child. The student book is consumable--your child will write in it. (We removed the spine and photocopied/three-hole-punched our student books for our personal use. We put the photocopies into three-ring binders for the child to use, and then stored the originals to use with our younger children in future years.) And the book list ($5) is very handy...I used it a lot...still do! About your K'er -- are you asking about ordering her a different package for the history/geography part, or for the reading part?? BHFHG would be too much for a K'er, and so would Drawn Into The Heart of Reading. Personally, I use other "stuff" for my younger ones (we use Five In A Row for that age group in place of history/geography), and then I plan to start them in HOD about 3rd grade (or so...). We DO love HOD for our 3rd grader and up, but not so impressed with the younger HOD packages. We tried BLHFHG (Beyond Little Hearts), but it was not for us. That's just a personal preference, though. I have read posts by many others who love the younger programs. If you don't mind using two HOD programs for your two different-aged kiddos, you would certainly order one of the younger packages for your K'er. Hope this helps!

Seven kiddos here, also, and one book that was very helpful for me in the area of "organizing the young'uns" was Managers of Their Homes by Steve & Teri Maxwell. Also, I agree with previous posters about the olders helping the youngers (or vice versa) with phonics drill, math drill/flashcards, reading practice, some spelling activities, etc. After all, one of the beauties of homeschooling is teaching our children the Biblical principle of encouraging and helping one another. "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." (Phillipians 2:4) I also agree with previous posters that you are doing a fine job. Don't beat yourself up! Pray, trust the Lord, and keep pressing forward!

Other than our oldest (DD13), who is fairly self-motivated and works well independently with just a daily meeting time with me for writing and grammar and a bit of math "coaching," the rest of our kiddos are on the same levels of various subjects. DD9 is with her brother (DS10) for science, history, writing, and grammar. But she is with DD7 for math. And all three are together for spelling. This works for us. (At first, I felt like a failure because DS10 was such a poor speller; but this year I combined all three of them in All About Spelling, and he has shown much improvement. I am pleased with his progress, and they all seem to enjoy doing it together.) And I agree with the above post--100%. Combine where you can, according to what works for your kiddos, and don't allow any boasting nonsense. That's a life lesson in itself!

Absolutely! And we are thankful that we love and serve Him who cannot be explained...or contained in the box(es) of human academia, science, reasoning, logic, etc. He could have--and did--confound the languages in any manner He so chose, regardless of whether we "mere-humans" can explain it or not. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

I'm a tosser, as well.

Pumpkin pie. (In honor of my Grandma, who turned 89 today!)

Please tell me that it's okay to not be "busy" allll the time. It's okay. He said so -- Psalm 46:10

We are second year HOD'ers. Here's my humble 2-cents: I would use Beyond as your history/science, and supplement your 8yo with other "stuff." For example, we add First Language Lessons (or you could go with Rod&Staff...), Writing With Ease, Explode the Code (because our 7yo LOVES it), Pathways readers (and/or reading from various book lists such as Ambleside Online, 1000 Classical, etc.), and we have also sprinkled in some science from BFSU. Also, we substitute spelling (All About Spelling, instead of HOD spelling), and math (Christian Light Education), so we really only use parts of HOD (the history, poetry, Bible memorization, some of the science...). We also do not do Drawn Into The Heart of Reading, although we do use its reading list. This works for us!! We are very fond of HOD; we use 3 different guides each year, since we have five school age kiddos. We are so glad we "discovered" it!

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Attention, all you Missouri folks here on the Hive -- "Encouragement for the Homeschool Family" Conference in St. James, Missouri (near Rolla, MO). Steve & Teri Maxwell (authors of MOTH, Managers of Their Chores, etc.) October 19 & 20. FREE!! :) Everyone welcome! http://www.titus2.com/media/conferences/flyers/St-James.pdf

Purge, purge, purge!! (We are moving in 32 days, and this is my motto!) I'm surprised at how much better we all feel as we get rid of JUNK!!! [Our kids had WAY too many clothes, so we limited their wardrobe to ___# of t-shirts; ___# of jeans; ____ # of......etc., etc.]. They did their own purging according to our agreed-upon number limits, and they actually like it that they can close their dresser drawers!

No "tangible" advice, but something that has spiritually helped me on those nail-chewing occasions is the poem "Do The Next Thing," as quoted by Elisabeth Elliot, wife of Jim Elliot (one of the five missionaries who was killed by South American tribesman in 1956)...you can Google it. I've posted this on my fridge many-a-times!!

HOD. (DD is finishing CtoC, and can't for RtoR next year!)

Also, depending on the ages of your kiddos, wait for the back-to-school sales in August to stock-pile Elmer's glue, kiddie-scissors, rulers, pencils, etc...

:iagree:...with all of the above. We also watch for the "3-cents-a-copy" sale at our local UPS store...they run this sale occasionally (seems like fall and spring). Customers can purchase an account (say...1,000 or 2,000 or even 10,000 copies) for that price and use 'em until they run out. Handy to have in your back pocket for big photocopy projects. Also, did anyone mention a 3-hole punch and a good paper-chopper (or whatever those things are called)?

Here is another "Thank you" for this very timely post! We were searching the internet for answers for our poor 13 yr. old dd, who is starting to be plagued with just enough acne to cause intimidation, annoyance, and some minor embarrassment (...doesn't take much acne to cause that!!). We had been googling, and trying what we'd found for several months, but last week (the day you posted!) it hit me that I hadn't searched on this forum. Long-story-short, she's been taking a low dose of zinc for a week now, and we see some big-time improvements. Thanks for passing this along!