Which book to use? Placement questions...

[Ohboyitsagirl]

Hi everyone! I'm a new homeschooling mom and I'm thinking of using the Heart of Dakota curiculum. I have spent time on the website with the placement chart and also have received the catalog. I will be homeschooling a 2nd grader and a 4th grader. Our plan, currently, is to just home school this year (we need a bit of a break from conventional school) and so I am trying to match topics with what my children will learn at school so if/when they go back to conventional school next year they won't be at a disadvantage or be covering material they already learned at home. Since I have been told 4th graders will be learning more about American History (vs World History in Preparing book), I feel the "Bigger Hearts For His Glory" would be the appropriate book to use for both my 2nd grader and 4th grader. Plus this seemed to cover the most areas when I was doing the placement for my children. I will of course be supplementing age/grade appropriate math, reading, and writing.

I am however looking for some guidance on the "extension packs" for 4th graders. Is this basically just higher level readers? Also, how do I go about selecting the correct book sets? When looking at the catalog, pg. 39, what reading level would those books be at? And could someone help explain the "Drawn Into The Heart of Reading"? I am a bit unclear.

Then finally, if we do decide to continue homeschooling, would it make sense to continue onto the next HOD book the following year? In other words, if I use Bigger Hearts this year, would it make sense then to use Preparing for a 3rd grader and 5th grader the following year? Or would it make more sense to use Bigger for my 4th grader this year and Beyond for my 2nd grader? How does one teach two separate books to two separate kids? This is all new to me and just trying to get a plan together!

[StephanieU]

As for reading level, The emerging readers are 2nd grade level, DITHOR Level 2 is about 3rd grade level, etc. If you go to the book pack page (http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional.php for Levels 2 and 3 for example), Carrie lists the reading level for each book. The books shouldn't be challenging reads. They should be able to read them fluently, as DITHOR and even the ER book questions are working on literary analysis more than physical reading.
As for the future, if you do Bigger this year, you might find that Preparing will be too much for your 3rd grader. Some 3rd graders can handle Preparing, but most aren't ready for the workload or independence. You could do Bigger together this year and see how it goes. If it is a struggle for the younger one this year with Bigger (there is a lot of writing) or you don't think she will be ready for the independence, you could always do Beyond with her the next year and just add in a little bit of what was in Bigger (notebooking and vocabulary mostly). Then do Preparing the year after. Or you could do two levels to begin with.
The extensions add more history and science content. The student normally reads the selections and then does some sort of follow-up with you. I think it is 2 oral narrations, one written narration, and one notebooking page (picture and caption). It wouldn't be required for a 4th grader in Bigger though. You could read some of the books if you want, but extensions aren't necessary if you are already using grade appropriate math and LA with the 4th grader.