Scheduling multiple grade levels

[DeannaF]

I recently discovered HOD and I am SOOO glad I did! Although my family is still a few years away from starting (my son is 10 months old), I've been interested in homeschooling since before I was in high school. Almost as soon as Hubby and I learned I was pregnant, I began researching the various curriculums. (I know I'm WAY ahead of the game but it's fun for me to look at all the different options and find the one that i like the most.) I've bounced around between different curriculum options but then I found HOD and I'm sold! I can't wait til K is old enough to start homeschooling!

Anyway... I have a question about scheduling for anyone with experience having kids in several different grades. I've read that starting in "Preparing" the weeks are scheduled with 4 days (5 prior to that). So I'm wondering how some of you have dealt with the younger kids having 5 days a week, while the older only have 4? Do the younger kids complain that they have more days than the older? I'm curious what ideas you ladies have come up with.

Oh and hubby doesn't see the point of doing the preschool curriculum so doing the first 4 books spread out over 4 days a week instead of 5 (to get 5 years worth of schooling out of them) won't work for us.

Thanks for your input!

Deanna

[TrueGRIT]

Even though I haven't officially had an older child with a 4 day work week yet -my oldest is in Bigger - I only have my younger work 4 days a week.
Even if that wasn't so, I would have my older one(s) work on the 3 R's on the 5th day. Along with an 'elective'. Or bring a box or two to the fifth day.
We currently only have a 4 day school week to allow catch-up on errands and housework. This also gives my very advanced younger ones a day to not get too far ahead, while giving my oldest a chance to catch-up where he needs to. We do work on Reading all five days - and sometimes on weekends.
HTH.

Welcome to the world of homeschooling! I have been in it a long time - both as a student, now as a teacher. You are going to love it!!
We love it and HOD.

PS - by the way, the pre-k guide actually works great as a devotional. Even if you never do it, you can still do the other guides as a 4 day week unless your husband is really opposed to it. But, that is putting the cart before the horse. Your child(ren) may be ready to do each guide fully in one year. You'll have to wait and see when the time comes.

[DeannaF]

Thanks for your reply. It was very helpful.

If I did the K-2 books at 4 days a week wouldn't the school year be much longer?

[TrueGRIT]

If you do the three lower elementary guides at 4 days a week instead of 5, you add 9 weeks to each guide. With this you could either work year round, or you could stop then start in the fall where you left off. Neither is a big deal with the way the guides are written. (My son remembers very well what he last learned.)
If they are starting the guides on the lower age range, than this is great. A lot of it truly depends on each individual child and where you are family wise at the time.
My eldest works best by not pushing a full unit in one week. He struggles with a couple things and is very meticulous and exact when it comes to note booking and drawing. My younger son is very advanced in most areas and is doing both K and 1st grade work this year. He could easily handle doing the guide all 5 days, but I really don't want him getting too far ahead at this point. As previously stated we also take one day to do errands & housework making it easier to focus on school the other days.
Hope this gives you some idea. Best wishes!

[mom23]

This year we've run Preparing 5 days a week to match the younger brothers' guides. Sometimes the 5th day is not a full day, but rather make-up work of anything that didn't get done earlier in the week, and sometimes we use it as a day to get ahead. There have been a few times also that everyone did 4 day weeks because of other things going on. Basically, when one does school we all do school. Some of them just lighter than the others, if needed.

[MitchellFamily]

So I've never even thought about it being a big deal and I have one in a four day week and two in five days. The child in a four day usually saves something for Friday, but since he has way more on his schedule it's a bit more relaxed day for him to match the younger ones. Or if we need to be gone one day in the week I just combine certain activities to make the younger ones have four day weeks too.

[DeannaF]

Thank you ladies for all these good ideas. It gives me a lot to think about.

[my3sons]

Hi Deanna, and welcome to the HOD Board! There is such solid advice here already! I have had some of my dc in 4 day week guides, and some of them in 5 day week guides for a long time. We have done many of the different ideas shared here, and all have worked well. We have actually always followed my oldest ds's guide for the days we homeschool. So, when he was doing 5 day a week guides, we all did 5 day a week school. When he reached PHFHG which is the first 4 day a week guide, we did school 4 days a week. When he was done with his guide, we were all done for that school year, and we just picked up where we left off the next school year in the 5 day a week guides, finishing them out, and moving on to get as far as we did in the next guide. We have also actually done my oldest ds's 4 day a week guides 5 days a week, doing Days 1, 2, 3, 4, and the next week's Day 1 in a week. This was to help when we had major health issues ahead. I was so glad we could. This brings me to my next thought I wanted to share.

Through the homeschooling years, I have had 2 pregnancies that required total bedrest, family with major health concerns that required daily visits to the hospital, a part-time job, and a dh who travels overnights more and more often. All I can say is praise the Lord for HOD!!! Life is full of unpredictable things, and when they come our way I know we'll be alright - first, because the Lord will provide; second, because He has already provided HOD for me. We LOVE our homeschooling. Our dc are thriving. We are not daunted by homeschooling through high school. We are daily making happy memories together, and I would not change a thing. I know we are blessed. I am excited you will get to begin your HOD journey soon! One wonderful thing you can know beginning your journey, is that you will probably plan the course of guides and pacing in detail many times over - which I personally still always find to be fun. But, when something happens you have not planned for, and you need to rework the plan and the pacing - an even more beautiful thing happens - it still works! This is because HOD has planned flexibility for us. This takes the pressure off and makes the roses a little easier to stop and smell.

As you are reading the thoughts shared here by these wonderful ladies, one theme emerges among the different ideas - HOD is flexible. You can choose a pacing that fits your child, your family, your life. And, the pacing you choose one year need not be the same as the next year. I am excited for you to begin using HOD, and it is just around the corner! You can easily just start with the pacing of your first child, doing school 5 days a week. Or, you can choose to do school 4 days a week, taking one day a week off. You can simply go half-speed at the start of each guide to end up with the 140 days at the close. I did want to briefly encourage you to reconsider "Little Hands to Heaven" - it is soooooo much more than your average preschool program!!! It is chronological Biblical history from Creation to Paul's missionary journeys, art activities, hands-on beginning math activities, great original music, surprisingly deep for this age devotionals with a focus on Godly character traits, a sound and an action for each letter of the alphabet (which sure makes teaching phonics the next year easier), dramatic play that is just plain fun, and sooooo much more! It is school in a nutshell, and it is excellent training for "Little Hearts for HIs Glory" the following year. So, think it over - pray about it - talk with dh about it - but, just know, "Little Hands to Heaven" is an excellent, promising beginning to homeschooling. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie