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Hello!

This is my first post. My 2 school age kids (5 and 7) both went through LHTH for 3-year old preschool and we enjoyed it. After that my oldest went to a private school for 2 years. We brought her back home for 1st grade and my son is currently doing Pre-K. My son did not fit into a HOD program for this year, so we have just been focusing on phonics and basic skills like cutting and pasting. For my daughter we chose an ecclectic curriculum. I really want to use HOD next year for Bible, Science, History, and Literature. The reason I feel torn is because we already have our own Language Arts and Math programs that we are enjoying. I know the program says that you can adapt/exchange the math and LA suggested with your own, but I also know that everything selected in the HOD program was chosen carefully to ensure that nothing takes over the day. I specifically remember Carrie writing about her purposely staying away from language arts programs that take up much of the day. So, my question is, has anyone used this program while doing a seperate and full LA program? We are currently using the Foundations program by Logic of English. We all love it. I don't want to throw out something that is working SO well. Also, how often and how long are the Rod and Staff Preparing to Build lessons? If I don't have my daughter complete those lessons in BHFHG, will she be lost when she gets to Preparing? My goal is to eventually be using all of HOD. We just really want to get through our Logic of English materials first.

My final question/concern is that of how much time we have (or don't have) to commit each week. On Tuesdays my children attend an HSAP school day. So we don't do any school at home that day. We also attend Bible Study Fellowship on Wednesday mornings. So, we do a half-day on Wednesdays (meaning only LA and math). That leaves us with only 2-3 days per week for science and social studies (depending on appointments, etc. that get in the way). Is it possible for us to do this program, successfully, with that amount of time for at home learning? One thing I had thought of was doing LA and Math every day to keep her at grade level in those subjects, but just allow my daughter to spend 2 years in BHFHG on the science, history, literature, and Bible. Then when she gets to preparing, she will be in 4th grade and hopefully ready for the step up in writing (she hates writing even though she has beautiful cursive).

HOD is such a great program and we love the literature suggestions so much. The amazing read-alouds (we have done a few of them this year on our own) and approach with history and science are exactly what I want. I just don't know if now is the time to jump on board or if I would be better off wating until my daughter would be in Preparing.

Thank you for any help you can offer!

First, we have never used the HOD recommended math in the hide. Mark is definitely one subject that is EASY to switch out. The only concern is to not use something that takes too much time. For K-3, it should be 30 minutes or less a day. For upper elementary, it can be a little longer, but it still should be under an hour, including time to correct work.
For language arts, time is the biggest issue. If it is just phonics/reading instruction, spelling, and/or handwriting, again it is just the time factor. As long as those aren't taking up the majority of your time, it isn't an issue to use something else. We have used a different phonics program, and then transitioned to HOD's emerging readers when ready. For my oldest, we did a different spelling program with Beyond, because she needed something else. We have used a variety of handwriting programs with LHFHG. And we have never followed the cursive pacing. Those changes weren't issues at all. But you want to make sure you aren't overlapping too much with the other boxes. The poetry in Beyond and Bigger are tied to the history, so it is nice to do them with the guide.

As for schedule, knowing you will only get 3.5 days of school in a week, I would pick a guide that will be challenging but not overly frustrating and just let it take longer than a year. Also, make use of the time in the car. We often listen to storytime books on the way home from things, and then we can do the follow-up activities as soon as we get home (or even in the car, depending on the activity). My kids have read to me while we drive as well, although we don't do that regularly. You could also listen to any music in the car, such as the hymn study Huns from Bigger.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and tips, that is SO helpful to me!!!

This post may be helpful, as it includes the suggested time allotments per subject area/box of plans...

https://heartofdakota.com/board3/viewto ... 135#p74537

As pp said, if you just do BHFHG on the 3 1/2 days you can, you will steadily progress through the guide, just taking a little longer to finish it. As your daughter is only 7 yo and on the very youngest side of BHFHG, you could easily take 3 years to do BHFHG and PHFHG, and then when your dd is 10 yo, she'd be starting CTC - a very nice progression and a great age to be starting CTC.

Many students begin R & S English 3 without having completed R & S English 2. There is ample review in R & S English 3, so your dd should be fine. You can easily use your own math, and you can certainly finish out the LA you own and are enjoying. By PHFHG or for sure by CTC, it may be nice to make the total switch to HOD's LA though. The ease of using the guides as written, of enjoying the balance of LA skills which are cross-curricular at that point, and of teaching the progression of skills from year to year from guide to guide is very convenient and enjoyable too! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks so much for your reply Julie! I am relieved to hear that it would be OK to skip R&S level 2. I believe I have come up with a plan for after we get through LOE Foundations that will use almost all of HOD's LA recommendations. The only thing I am planning to do differently is spelling, and I think spelling instruction will be a pretty easy swap. I really want my kiddos to learn spelling rules. I never learned the rules and I have always been a struggling speller. I read about HOD's method of dictation/spelling in the context of writing on these boards and that is extremely intriguing to me. I am really hoping to combine both methods. I am looking forward to placing my LHTH and BHFHG in the coming weeks. Excited to continue the journey we started in preschool!!

oops...I meant to say placing my order.

OH good! I'm so glad to have helped, and I think that sounds like a great plan going forward. Have a fun 'box day' going through your HOD things - God bless!

In Christ,
Julie