Charlotte, NC Co-op

[ncmomof5]

I haven't posted for awhile, but I have been pondering this thought. Are there any of you HODIes in the Greater Charlotte Area that would be interested in getting together for a homeschool co op? I have joined a Charlotte Mason co op this year, but am not sure if that's where we are supposed to stay. I thought I would see if anyone in this area would like to get together once a week for picture study, nature study, PE, etc., and just to give the kids time to socialize with other kids. You can PM if you are interested.

Thanks,
RuthAnn

[Dustybug]

I'm in NC, but I'm not in the Charlotte area or I would! I'm about 45 min.-1 hour away.

[mom2fiveboysnc]

I am right over the river about 45 minutes also to your west. Are you actually in Charlotte?

[ncmomof5]

I am in Salisbury which is directly north of Charlotte on 85, but we are planning to move closer to Charlotte once our house sells, Lord Willing.
I e-mailed our local Charlotte Mason group to see if anyone uses HOD, and only one person responded. She didn't even use it. She just knew of someone who did. I get the feeling that the local CMers here think that HOD is not a challenging enough curriculum. I know the lady who heads up our co op now uses Ambleside as her guideline. I am still pretty new to Charlotte Mason, so I don't always understand all the philosophical things.
Right now I am trying to decide whether to do HOD on my own ( with no co-op ), or do the co op - which is 2 full days a week and where I don't really get to have a say in what curriculum is chosen. I like the co op, and my children really enjoy it, but I am just not sure if that is where we should be long term.
Thanks for responding, ladies, but I guess I will have to just pray this one through and see where God leads.

In His love,
RuthAnn

[moedertje]

Hello,

I am not in the NC area, but I wanted to encourage you that your thought on doing a co-op with someone else for HOD guides is great. I have a friend who does the same guides as I do and we encourage each other and stay on the same track and do co-op once a week. We alternate the teachings and it's so refreshing! The kids love the co-op and we have even added more people from church to the co-op this year in different guides. We have even young ones who will grow into doing HOD in the next couple of years. We glance ahead at the week and tell the other Mom what we will incorporate in the co-op lesson. We always do the art!
It is fun to teach other children, keeps things in perspective and to see the different learning styles is very enlightening.
I pray that the Lord will make a way for you to find a friend to do co-op with you for HOD.

[mom2fiveboysnc]

I am in Gaston Co. and joined a local hs group this year. To my knowledge, I am the only one using HOD. I have tried to talk to others about it but like a pp said, I think everybody thinks HOD is "light". Since this is my 1st year hsing, they probably think I don't know what I am doing To be honest, I really don't But I do have a good Godly guide to help me. We don't do alot with our group this year because I am trying to stick to the basics and not overwhelm myself, plus I work a few days each week in our local ED. I would love to meet with other HODies every so often but I don't know how if we aren't that close together. It would be nice to have encouragement and share I am going to PM you also. Thanks! Cheryl

[Emilylou]

I am not in NC but just wanted to send some encouragement your way~

I belong to a rather large co-op and homeschool group, and no one has even heard of HOD. I still get tons of infomation and encouragement from the ladies in the group.
Lots of times I find even though people use different programs, my group is Christian but not all Charlotte Mason- all the books Carrie has picked are excellent and most of time I just skip over the HOD part and tell people what books I am using. It is my 1st year hsing too, and I think some women think I might not know what I am doing too.
But whenever I incorporate one of the HOD ideas into one of our co-op class... they all seems to enjoy it.
For me that is why I enjoy the co-op because there are so many different ideas floating around.
Our co-op meets once a week, for the whole day. But I just use it as an "extra" and do LHFHG in 4 days, or skip over a few things that I know will be covered in co-op to squeeze a LHFHG week into 4 days.

[Carrie]

RuthAnn,

I'll just pop in here to mention that I used Ambleside year 1 with my second son after LHFHG (because we hadn't written Beyond yet). I also used Ambleside years 3, 4, 5, and most of 6 with my oldest son, as we have always written our guides after he has passed through first. We did Ambleside as written with only a few substitutions as my son got older, so I'm very familiar with Ambleside.

I did enjoy the Ambleside boards and the CM-style focus, however Ambleside does include readings that I'm not comfortable with (quite a bit of mythology and fairy tales, etc.) and also includes science books that have a tough time keeping the kiddo's interest. All of the books used are very difficult and require an exceptional reader. My oldest son has always been a terrific reader (so he enjoyed the challenge), yet I found myself desiring more Christ-centered discussion, more variety, and more structure than what Ambleside offered. Not finding what we were looking for within Sonlight or Ambleside, we wrote our guides.

In comparison, I believe that HOD includes wonderful CM-style books (but also makes sure the books are accessible to all kiddos to understand and enjoy). We also incorporate the variety and structure that I was craving with Ambleside and strive to stay on a more Christ-centered level with our materials. The Heart of Dakota guides are deeper in helping the child acquire needed skills and are more focused on balancing all areas of your day. We also help you (the teacher) learn how to teach your kiddos the CM-style skills in a step-by-step fashion, which is a missing component for those who haven't had time to read CM's own 6 volume series! Ambleside is strong on readings but leaves much of the skills up to you to figure out how to implement. Our guides help guide the teacher and the student.

It's always amazing to me how many people judge the content of an HOD guide simply by looking at the boxed format of our plans and deciding that the guide looks simplistic. I want to encourage each of you ladies that your HOD guides are rich in content and in coverage. You will see the fruit of this within your children as you travel through our guides.

Blessings,
Carrie

[moedertje]

Carrie,

You are so right. I have more people tell me that HOD looked simple to do and I disagree with them. It is incredible what you draw out of the kiddo's and how meaty your programs are!
Most important it has been a blessing to see how the kiddo's absorb the Christian values and character traits and are able to relate the scriptures to situations.
Christ centered education is in my book most important and I am so thankful that you have the same focus.
It is also amazing at how the memory verses and the scripture passages have fit in right with what is going on in today's world and how relevant and meaningful they are.