I know I am in the first four week fog but I am considering spreading Year 3 out over 2 years.
I have a 10th and 11th grader so the oldest would not get year 4 before graduation. Is this a bad idea? I also have a 4th and a 6th grader which would mean the 6th grader would start year 1 in 9th grade if after the first year with TOG we go back to a year at a time. My primary reason for wanting to do this is that I am a bit overwhelmed with all of it and thought giving myself two years at the start might take some of the pressure off. I am also anxious to use the revised versions next time I order. I have printed off the scheduling advise by Dana Caywood But does anybody have a schedule for speading one week into two?

Certainly it's possible to stretch out a year over two. You have already identified some of the advantages and disadvantages with doing that. One other disadvantage that I see is that year 4 is a very helpful year for understanding the current world situation, so I consider it very important for my kids to go through it. I don't have specific advice for spreading out weeks; I'm sure someone else will.

I looked back over your other posts, and I see that not only are you in the four-week fog, but you're also unused to sticking with schedules. If you're like me (and I'm guessing you might be from that post), then you tend to come up with a fabulous plan, then next week you come up with a different fabulous plan, then the week after that.... The result is that few of those fabulous plans ever yield the fruit that you hoped for.

If so, then you might consider going ahead with your initial plan: to finish year 3 this year. You made a good plan, and you'll be able to figure out how to work your plan. Especially at the beginning, if it's hard to do the work assigned for each week, you could eliminate work from each week rather than stretching it out over two weeks, and ease in that way.

I tend to go from this thing to that, and it wreaks havoc with my kids' schedule. My kids are doing great - they've learned a lot - but I definitely think that they do better as I learn to stick to my good plans (rather than continually trying to make my good plans into slightly better plans). This year I've made a commitment to my husband that I will execute all of the things I've set out for my family, unless he and I agree together that we should change - and I've asked him to resist changing without a truly excellent reason. (He's much better than I am at sticking to a plan.) I've also made a commitment to a co-op, so I can't get off my plan if I have a sudden change of heart. One year - in unit 3 of year 3, I think - we got very bogged down with Tapestry and I tossed it completely for six months - and I've really regretted that decision!

I pray that you will find peace with whatever decision you come to about the schedule, and that you and your family find a way to ease into the discipline of following a program like this one. It's been a real blessing for us.

Beth

Very wise advise. Thank you!

Because of your high schoolers, I would resist doing Year 3 over 2 years. In my state, my high schoolers need three separate credits in history and at least one of those has to be American history. I'm not allowed to count Year 3 for a complete American history credit, because it only encompasses the 1800's. I can get 2 full credits for doing Year 3 and Year 4, but I must do both for our graduation requirements. I don't know if your requirements are the same.

It would be better, imho, to do less work and complete the yearplan in a single school year than to "do it all" in two school years. I wouldn't worry about where the younger ones end up at this point, I would focus on the needs of the older kids. Hope that helps!