• Time: Schedule the hidon towards the end of the school year. Set aside one and a half months for the complete hidon.
  
• First part: the first three weeks can be weeks of review. Divide the material into three roughly equal parts, and assign one section for review during each of the three weeks.
  Give your students cards at the beginning of each of these weeks. Here is a sample of such a card:
  
  Note that the card has 15 numbers on it, and says that it is for the first week (it's also worthwhile to make different colored cards for each week).
  Each week prepare 15-20 (equal to the numbers on the cards) questions and answers on the portion of the material to be reviewed. Give the students time during which they can approach teachers or older students (in Israel the girls national service (sherut leumi) also help out with this).
  For every question answered correctly, have the number of that questions punched with a hole-puncher, or covered with a sticker. Students who finish the card can be given prizes (or two cards for a larger prize, three cards for an even larger prize etc.). In our school we usually allow the students to answer two questions at a time. If he doesn't know the answer to a question, he can't go on until he finds the answer. This encourages going back to the printed material and a search for correct answers.
  
  
• Second part: This stage can be kept simple. We usually give a written exam including several easy questions and several difficult questions, to whoever wishes to participate. If this is too much, then you can limit the participants to those who completed two or three review cards. This exam covers all the topics studied in the three weeks of review. Where possible, it is a good idea to give the participants a week between the end of the review and this exam.
  In any case it is important that only a few students go on to the next stage, so that it doesn't become to cumbersome.
  
  
• Third part: This stage we usually hold in front of the entire school, and we also invite the parents of the participants. We try to give the participants a week between section two and three. The makeup of the program provides a nice format for this hidon.
  In the past we've divided this stage into several parts, all in one day. I like to start off all participants early in the morning with a written exam (not in front of the audience). This exam is difficult, but not long. Points are assigned to each question, and these points already count towards the public hidon. This makes life easier for the judges, because at this stage there are already differences in the number of points each student has, making the chances of a tie later on slimmer.
  The part held in public, can be comprised of two or three sections. We usually cut down the number of participants by half at each section. For example: if 16 children start off the day, all sixteen participate in the written part. All sixteen participate in the first section of the public hidon. 8 participate in the second section, and 4 particpate in the last. To successfully do so, the earlier sections should be shorter, because there are more participants, and it takes longer to get through all of them.
  
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• Ideas for types of questions for the public hidon:
  1. Psukim (verses)- Use the psukim quoted as sources for halachot, as the basis for questions. For example, you can quote the pasuk, and have the participants answer what we learn from the pasuk. You can also do the reverse, mention the halacha, and ask where we learn this from.
  2. Musagim (concepts)- the students have to either state the name of the musag, based upon the question, or explain the musag.
  3. Topics- have the students choose a topic, and then answer multiple, short answer questions.
  
  These are only for the basic questions, but it is always a good idea to have them set up as some sort of a game. For example: have the numbers 1-9 on a board, and behind each number, a question or musag etc.

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