HOD doing more than one program-how long is your day?

[MyLittleBears]

I may be crazy but before we started homeschooling last year I was falling in love with HOD but alas I read the WTM......

 

I still look longingly at HOD to this day but my children are far apart in age to all fit into one program. The only arrangment that may work is BLHFHG for the 5 (will be 6 in Dec and advanced in almost all skills) and 8yr old and CtC for the 11yr old. When I add up the two it would take about 6-7&1/2 hrs a day. Yikes! Am I missing something? Should I wait a year?

 

I was planning on doing biblioplan ancients,& RS4K, for all of them and only separating for math, reading, and spelling. I also tried MFW ECC and did not like it. The scheduling drove me nuts. Will I like HOD if I did not like this year of MFW? I hope I don't have a case of "the grass is greener." Please help me decide!!!!!

 

Sorry for the rambling. :tongue_smilie:

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

:lurk5:

 

I think that adding the times together for both programs wouldn't give an accurate idea of how long they'd take together. At least some of CtC will be independent. I imagine that for some of them you could be multitasking, running certain parts simultaneously. I don't know though, I'm in the same place you are - just looking and thinking ahead. Going with HOD for me will mean 3 guides eventually. I love, love, love the looks of HOD I wanted to begin this year but I'm having to wait another year and so will have time to consider all this more soberly. :001_smile:

[mommatomany]

We are currently using Beyond and next year I could use Bigger and LHFHG for my other dd who will be in K BUT I'm just not sure I'm ready to run 2 guides. I may wait a year and then use Bigger for my dd who will be 8 turning 9 (3rd grade) and then use LHFHG for my dd who will be in 1st and my other dd who will be in K. That way I'll have 3 kids in "school" but only using 2 guides and hopefully by then my older dd will be a bit more independent.

 

I'm tossing around using other things for next year. Not sure yet. Still thinking...I love HOD but for us I think taking next year off of HOD will be more wise.

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

We are currently using Beyond and next year I could use Bigger and LHFHG for my other dd who will be in K BUT I'm just not sure I'm ready to run 2 guides. I may wait a year and then use Bigger for my dd who will be 8 turning 9 (3rd grade) and then use LHFHG for my dd who will be in 1st and my other dd who will be in K. That way I'll have 3 kids in "school" but only using 2 guides and hopefully by then my older dd will be a bit more independent.

 

I'm tossing around using other things for next year. Not sure yet. Still thinking...I love HOD but for us I think taking next year off of HOD will be more wise.

 

I've read on the HOD forums that Bigger is extremely teacher intensive. I think you've actually got to get beyond that one before you can hope for some independence for your oldest .. just going by what I've read over there.

[Sue G in PA]

I will soon be running 3 guides. :001_huh: I don't know how long BLHFHG will take. I am doing Preparing and LHFHG now. My 11yo and 12yo do Preparing mostly independently so that frees up a lot of time. Next year I will have 2 dc in RtR, 1 ds in Bigger and 2 dc in BLHFHG. I expect that my RtR kids will do it almost 100% independently. Have you asked this question on the HOD board? The ladies there are great with scheduling help and there is even a scheduling sticky there. Somebody once posted approximate times for each box of the different guides. That was helpful to me.

[daybreaking]

I may be crazy but before we started homeschooling last year I was falling in love with HOD but alas I read the WTM......

 

I still look longingly at HOD to this day but my children are far apart in age to all fit into one program. The only arrangment that may work is BLHFHG for the 5 (will be 6 in Dec and advanced in almost all skills) and 8yr old and CtC for the 11yr old. When I add up the two it would take about 6-7&1/2 hrs a day. Yikes! Am I missing something? Should I wait a year?

 

I was planning on doing biblioplan ancients,& RS4K, for all of them and only separating for math, reading, and spelling. I also tried MFW ECC and did not like it. The scheduling drove me nuts. Will I like HOD if I did not like this year of MFW? I hope I don't have a case of "the grass is greener." Please help me decide!!!!!

 

Sorry for the rambling. :tongue_smilie:

 

It definitely wouldn't take you 6-7 1/2 hours a day. The author is currently running four guides at once and her sister is running three guides, but both of them are done around lunch time, give or take a little. Although Beyond is teacher-intensive, in CTC, only 2 areas are completely teacher-led. Five areas are completely independent, so you could we working with your younger two while the oldest is completing those boxes. The remaining boxes are semi-independent, so you could get your oldest started, but then he'd finish on his own. We've used Beyond this past year and absolutely loved it. As far as MFW vs. HOD, they are both great programs, but set up differently. When I looked at the weekly grid and set up for MFW, I knew it definitely wouldn't work for me. HOD, on the other hand, was a perfect fit. I love the two-page spread per day and being able to rotate through the boxes easily without having to flip through other materials for explanations. Most importantly, my ds absolutely loves HOD and begs for more. The skills and knowledge he's gained just in this year have been impressive. Have you been on the HOD forum? It is very helpful and you might also want to ask your question there.

[Chelli]

Somebody once posted approximate times for each box of the different guides. That was helpful to me.

 

Sue,

Do you have a link to this thread? I would like to look at it. I tried searching on the HOD board, but it kept telling me that my search terms were too common.

 

Thanks!