heartofdakota.com

Hi,

I am brand new to Heart of Dakota. I met you Carrie, and your parents over the weekend at the NCHE Conference. I am so excited about this program. I love the way everything is laid out. Other programs, while I'm sure are wonderful, are not this simple to follow. You even have a plan B for busy days...wow! I am so pleased.

My question is about making a 4 day schedule. That is something I have done this past year, and it really worked for me being a first year homeschooler. Am I able to do that with this program? If so, how?

Thank you!

-Marie

Hey Marie,

Welcome to HOD! This is a great place! I am jealous of you already, because I wanted to go to that conference, but was not able to. What part of NC do you live in?

I don't really have a good answer for you. I will let those more seasoned HODdies answer, for they are far more wise.

Marty D wrote:Hey Marie,

Welcome to HOD! This is a great place! I am jealous of you already, because I wanted to go to that conference, but was not able to. What part of NC do you live in?

I don't really have a good answer for you. I will let those more seasoned HODdies answer, for they are far more wise.

Hi Marty,

I live in Raleigh, NC. I'm sorry that you missed the conference. It was incredibly informative, and going through the bookfair was lots of fun! It was my first conference.

God Bless you,

Marie

Welcome Marie,

We do a 3-4 day week here. We also school year round. What I do is keep a post it tab on that current day and when the boxes are done move to the next day. It is nice to have the unit numbers to see how far you have come through the book but you can really decide how many days per week you school. It is just that Mondays will not always be day 1 of the unit and that is okay. The books are 170 days.

HTH
Karen

mom2boys030507 wrote:Welcome Marie,

We do a 3-4 day week here. We also school year round. What I do is keep a post it tab on that current day and when the boxes are done move to the next day. It is nice to have the unit numbers to see how far you have come through the book but you can really decide how many days per week you school. It is just that Mondays will not always be day 1 of the unit and that is okay. The books are 170 days.

HTH
Karen

Hi Karen,

Thank you so much for your reply. I am so excited. What Carrie has here is incredible as far as I am concerned. I feel so encouraged. Reading through it all, I am saying wow, I can actually do this one! I figured a 4 day week could be done, I was just curious.

So with that said, about how many days do you try do each week to round it out? I am also schooling year round. The public schools here are on a year round schedule, and I think it works. Just seems to make sense. My summer will just be 3 days instead of 4 days...ya know a lighter load.

I don't want my boys to forget everything, nor do I want them under the idea that learning ever stops. I like the year round idea as well because if you need a break you take it, there isn't pressure because you'll always have time to catch up, ya know.

So anyhoo, do you sometimes say break up day 1 and day 5 and mix them into other days or something like that?

Thank you,

Marie

Hello.
I would be curious how to do a weeks work in 4 days. Our Friday co-op will be starting back up in August and I was wondering how I will be able to double up on Thursdays.
It was easy to do with MFW but since I am new to HOD, I am very curious!!

Looking forward to hearing some advice,
Ruth

Ah how do I schedule, that is a good question. I don't really have a schedule that we follow. This year we started Little Hearts at the end of July so I have until the end of July to finish. We are in week 31 right now so I will finish easily. What I have done is just make sure we are moving through the weeks. Around Jan I checked to see if I was half way through the book.

I do not split the days up and add them to other days in the unit. Most days that we do school we do all the boxes, there are days when that doesn't happen for one reason or another. Then I just finish the boxes the next day. We read everyday, both me to the boys and my oldest to me. I do try to get 4 days done in a week although that doesn't seem to happen lately. My biggest factor is making sure that we complete one book per year.

For example, we go to church many Saturday nights and my husband goes to a youth service on Sundays so we will do school while he is with the youth. This works well for us. Basically if my husband is not home then it is a "school day," so we may do a school day or use the day to run erronds or go to classes at the YMCA.

I hope this helps. I know that I don't really follow a schedule but it really seems to work for my family. We will see how this works when we start Beyond and Little Hands most likely in July.

Karen

We did 4 day weeks and it worked well. I just doubled up on some reading or math ... or whatever...some days. Like on Monday and Tuesday, I made those more of the double-up days, so that by Wednesday and Thursday, we were finishing up days 4 and 5 of the week in the plan. I know some people do not like to do that, but that's how I did it in order to have a co-op day on Friday. Many assignments are pretty easy, so it is no big deal to read a few extra pages or do an extra math page or extra writing page.

I hope that helps!

Marie1225 wrote:Hi,

I am brand new to Heart of Dakota. I met you Carrie, and your parents over the weekend at the NCHE Conference. I am so excited about this program. I love the way everything is laid out. Other programs, while I'm sure are wonderful, are not this simple to follow. You even have a plan B for busy days...wow! I am so pleased.

My question is about making a 4 day schedule. That is something I have done this past year, and it really worked for me being a first year homeschooler. Am I able to do that with this program? If so, how?

Thank you!

-Marie

Marie,

Welcome! You already feel like a family member. I LOVE your intro post and I LOVE your excitement! Here's the GREAT thing I have found regarding HOD..., It gets BETTER as you GO!

I can't tell you how many times I would buy a program, SO EXCITED to start! But as week 3 or 4 rolled around the excitement would start to wane. Not so, with HOD. It just gets better and better!

I have always said that there is no program that should/would work for everyone and that the Lord makes us all differently, but I cannot imagine anyone not finding HOD perfect!?

Marie, I can tell we are going to become fast board buddies. Bless you ...., Mary

Marie,

I am so glad that my parents and I were blessed to meet you at the convention! It's good to "see you" on the boards.

The ladies here are so wonderful about helping one another. It is truly a wonderful place to come and gather.

As far as your questions, we have done a 4 day week often with our guides. Some years, we have just spilled over 9 weeks into the next school year to finish the previous years guide. Other years, like this one, we did a down-sized version of the guide on the 5th day by omitting DITHR, storytime, dictation, and/or math on that one day. That way the day felt lighter, but we were still moving forward.

I'm sure you'll find your stride with HOD. We're glad to have you here.

Blessings,
Carrie