HODers...anybody have 5 or more kids and making it work?

[melissamomof5]

We did HOD last year with 3 back-to-back guides.

 

I know they say not to do that and now I know why! BURNOUT! I tried to repeat Bigger this year only with my 2nd daughter and we scrapped it. I ended up doing MFW 1st with dd3 while moving forward with her 2nd grade level Math and LA.

 

I am LOVING Preparing. It has been fantastic and I hate to think of missing out on future guides, but I NEED to combine. I have a 3 year-old and am expecting another baby in April.

 

I am wondering just how many of you make HOD work with 5 or more kids?

 

I could possibly combine DD2 and 3 into Bigger or Preparing next year, while moving older onto CTC.....but I'd really rather just combine all 3.

 

 

[Sew happily ever after]

I have 4 and we are making it work :)

 

My oldest 3 are mostly independent though. My youngest will be starting Bigger soon (it's so parent dependent that I'm dragging my feet).

 

I want to encourage you though that it does get easier to do HOD especially in the upper guides. They truly can be independent especially once you work with them and show them how you want them to work. And they must understand your expectations.

 

I have mine all separated. It created way too much competition when I tried to combine. Mine are ages 8, 10, 12, 14. So close enough in age to combine some of them, but almost too close because of the competition factor.

 

HOD does say that bigger and preparing are e most teacher time intensive years. However I have trained my 10 yo to do preparing totally on her own, yes even the teacher boxes. Occasionally she asks for help not because she needs it, but because she wants my attention. So I give it to her.

 

That said I am dragging my feet on starting my youngest in Bigger. It's not that I don't like it, I do like it, it just takes a lot of my time. He is my one whom i already spend a lot of time working with math, language arts, etc. that I'm afraid adding in bigger would just kill his love for learning. He learns and discovers so much n his own already and chooses to do educational things, watch educational videos on his own that I really don't want to burden him anymore.

 

You can read my blog (link in my signature) for a peek I to what our days and weeks look like.

[Tenaj]

I have eight kids, only six still at home and am currently using HOD with three of the kids and making it work - - - most of the time :)  This year we're running three guides, Resurrection to Reformation, Creation to Christ, and Bigger Hearts.  I agree with whoever said that Bigger and Preparing are the most time consuming.  My middle of the ones using HOD finished Preparing last week and this week has been wonderful . .. he looked at me like I was crazy when I sent him off to do history by himself but he's managing to adjust!

 

One thing you may want to consider before combining is whether that will simplify things or create more work.  Honestly, I wouldn't combine using HOD guides.  They are too specific as to skill acquisition.  I would move to MFW for everyone before trying to combine too much with HOD.  

 

One suggestion (if you want to continue HOD) is to take a good hard look at the guides and each kid that will be using them (based on their skill level) and see where you can make it more independent.  I've done all kinds of adjusting to make the different guides work for us in this area.  My guys do Bigger science independently.  Most of the time they do storytime books independently and we don't do the activities in that box.   I've changed up the Geography/Bible Study box in CtC this year to make it independent (Trail Guide to Bible Geography).   And the history projects are always optional and done after all other school work is done.  

 

I've also decided that I'm not doing the younger guides again (Little Hands, Little Hearts,  Beyond) for my younger kids.  It added to much chaos to my day to remember all their "boxes".  So, I'm meandering through science and history for my now K/1st grader at a slow pace and not stressing about it.  I'll probably slide him into Bigger when he begins third grade but we may wait until Preparing in 4th because I really think that's where HOD gets good.  

[twoxcell]

I have 4 kids in 4 guides right now. CTC, Bigger, Little Hearts, and Little Hands. HOD works very well for me and my family and I intend to stick with it. My oldest is very independent with CTC and even does a few T boxes mostly on his own which helps. I only do HOD with the kids 4 days a week to match up with the older guides. This stretches the younger guides out a bit which is actually helpful if you are starting LHFHG in K. :) I did start my dd's in the guides they are doing now last spring so they will be finishing them by the end of this school year.

[KeriJ]

I have eight kids, only six still at home and am currently using HOD with three of the kids and making it work - - - most of the time :)  This year we're running three guides, Resurrection to Reformation, Creation to Christ, and Bigger Hearts.  I agree with whoever said that Bigger and Preparing are the most time consuming.  My middle of the ones using HOD finished Preparing last week and this week has been wonderful . .. he looked at me like I was crazy when I sent him off to do history by himself but he's managing to adjust!

 

One thing you may want to consider before combining is whether that will simplify things or create more work.  Honestly, I wouldn't combine using HOD guides.  They are too specific as to skill acquisition.  I would move to MFW for everyone before trying to combine too much with HOD.  

 

One suggestion (if you want to continue HOD) is to take a good hard look at the guides and each kid that will be using them (based on their skill level) and see where you can make it more independent.  I've done all kinds of adjusting to make the different guides work for us in this area.  My guys do Bigger science independently.  Most of the time they do storytime books independently and we don't do the activities in that box.   I've changed up the Geography/Bible Study box in CtC this year to make it independent (Trail Guide to Bible Geography).   And the history projects are always optional and done after all other school work is done.  

 

I've also decided that I'm not doing the younger guides again (Little Hands, Little Hearts,  Beyond) for my younger kids.  It added to much chaos to my day to remember all their "boxes".  So, I'm meandering through science and history for my now K/1st grader at a slow pace and not stressing about it.  I'll probably slide him into Bigger when he begins third grade but we may wait until Preparing in 4th because I really think that's where HOD gets good.  

 

I'd love to hear more about the bolded above.

[KeriJ]

I have 5, and we're planning to make it work. :)  

 

 

I agree with the train of thought of using the older guides and skipping the younger guides, since the older guides can be used independently.  What I have kind of done until now is work on HOD skills without actually using HOD guides.  So now that we are ready to use some of the upper guides, my dd's are ready to be independent.  We're doing a trial run this semester, and so far it's working well even though it is their first time to use HOD on a regular basis.  

 

I also don't mind tweaking to make it fit us rather than using it word for word.  

 

[abrightmom]

Listening in ....

[Tenaj]

I'd love to hear more about the bolded above.

 

Well, we've only been doing the Trail Guide to Bible Geography for a few weeks now but so far it's working.  When my 12yods did CtC a year ago we did the Genesis:  Finding Our Roots study and A Child's Geography:  The Holy Land as it is scheduled in CtC but we didn't really enjoy either book.  The Genesis book is fine but a lot of it went over my son's head and most of the material had been covered in the other creation books that HOD already has scheduled.  A Child's Geography drove us both crazy - I'm not sure exactly why but I think it was a combination of the "wordiness" and the lack of map throughout the book.  We would read about a part of the Middle East but have to hunt for a map to show us what was being talked about and then there were whole sections with no pictures or only a tiny pictures of the geography of the area.  Anyway, we didn't enjoy it so I started looking for something more independent to replace those books with.

 

I ended up going with Trail Guide because I decided it would cover at least the geography part and I would let the other books in Ctc and Preparing cover the information in the Genesis book.     I have the student notebooking pages and the extra large maps that are sold to go along with the program and so far, so good.  There are two daily geography questions for the student to answer and then I usually schedule another activity, either a mapping assignment or a research assignment (last week he wrote paragraphs on nomads and on the fertile crescent).  My son (10yo) who is using the program now really loves getting the big maps out and is doing a nice job on them.  

[twoxcell]

We are not huge fans of the Genesis Finding Our Roots book, and only do the parts that interest us, but my ds and I both love the Geography book for CTC. I have been able to find several Netflix Documentaries about the countries we are studying also to give him some more visuals.