hmschooling, mhaddon, and JessReplanted -- Thank you all for your replies. Your experience with this makes me feel better about changing my plans! Bethany

I know exactly what you mean! I decided to do FIAR this year instead of HOD, but now that I've been looking at HOD again I think I want to use that and don't want to wait until next year! Sometimes I wonder why I do this to myself! Bethany

What was too babyish in LHFHG? I'm curious! Thanks, Bethany

*This is also posted on the HOD Yahoo group... Have any of you ever started using HOD in the middle of the school year (ex. January)? I was thinking about using Little Hearts for my daughter's first grade year in the fall (she is "loosely" doing FIAR for Kindergarten right now). However, we never seem to "do school" all five days of the week (we meet our homeschool play group one day a week and on some weeks something else usually comes up on another day, etc.). I was just wondering if we should start Little Hearts now. That way, it would give us some room to be able to finish it before starting second grade. If this seems like a good plan, would you all just continue on to the next guide if you finish it before the school year technically ends. I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions! Thanks, Bethany

Does anyone have any thoughts on this??? Bethany

I am trying to decide between HOD and the Trail Guide to Learning Curriculum (POE, POS, POP, etc.). Aspects of both seem appealing to me. Do any of you have experience with both of these curriculums? What did you like/dislike about each? What are your thoughts between the two? (Right now, I have a Kindergartener and a 3-year-old. I know that the Trail Guide program won't start until 3rd grade, but if I am going to go that direction then I would probably continue with FIAR for the next two years. If I choose to do HOD, then we would probably start that in the fall for 1st grade.) Thanks, Bethany

I'm using FIAR this year for my daughter's Kindergarten year. I also have a 3-year-old. I'm trying to decide if we will continue using FIAR or switch to HOD for first grade. Have any of you used both programs before? If so, what would you do???? I like aspects of each, but it seems like doing them both would be too much. I want first grade to be fun and laid back like this year is, but sometimes I wonder if we are doing enough. We are also using McRuffy's Phonics and Math programs and will continue to use those (unless we switch to All About Reading...I'm not sure about that one yet, either!!!). I would love to hear all opinions about FIAR and HOD! I've searched previous posts about these two programs, but I haven't found anything that really discussed choosing between the two! Thanks, Bethany

Thanks for your responses! I was going to separate them for Phonics/Reading and Math, but I was thinking about using something preplanned like FIAR, WP, or Sonlight. My concern is when the oldest is ready to start high school classes and my youngest will still have two more years to go. If we do one of the preplanned curriculums (but each do age appropriate work) then that would leave my youngest missing some history or science credits on her transcript because she would be covering that material in the 7th and 8th grades when my oldest would be in the 9th and 10th grades. I hope that makes sense! (I've looked up including high school level classes on transcripts even when they were taken in middle school, but that seems like it depends on the state and the potential college and who knows where that will be at this stage?!) Has anyone dealt with this situation before? Or does anyone have any answers for me??? Bethany

For those of you that combine children, do you all only combine for the younger years and then at some point split them up into their own programs? If so, at what grade to you begin to split them? I can't decide if I want to keep my kids together or not. They are two years apart. We are going to begin Kindergarten with my oldest in the fall and I would like to decide if I want to split them or combine them because that depends in which curriculum/program I will use! Thanks, Bethany

Kelli, thank you for your response! I thought about waiting until my oldest was in the 5th grade and my youngest was in the 3rd, but then that would mean my oldest would miss out on one of the high school programs and be without a needed credit on her transcript. (I know that things could change over the years, but I was wanting to get a general guide of where we were headed!) Bethany

In the fall, my kids will be 5 and 3. We are going to start Kindergarten with my oldest. I really like the looks of Trail Guide to Learning for when they get older. I am trying to decide on a program to use for the next few years until they get old enough. My question is this: I know that POE is aimed for 3rd-5th grades. When should I start using the program? Should I wait to start TGTL until my oldest is in the 4th grade and my youngest is in the 2nd? If we waited until they were in the 4th and 2nd grades then they would both be able to count the high school programs on their transcripts, right? [They would end up doing the three high school programs (modern world history, modern American history, and government/economics) in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades (for my oldest daughter) and in the 8th, 9th, and 10th grades (for my youngest daughter)]. I would appreciate any thoughts on this! Thanks, Bethany