HOD for families outside the USA

[JaneP]

Hi

I'm in Australia and have been considering HOD for ages.

I have a dd8 (9 in July) and dd4 (5 in March) and sometime this year I would like to start Little Hearts and Preparing with them.

I've looked at the samples for these manuals (esp the table of contents) and they will suit us very well (with just a bit of Aussie history thrown in).

However, I was wondering if there are any "non USA citizens" who use Beyond or Bigger and if you could share if it is possible to adapt it a bit to lessen the USA history focus and include history of your own country or world history ? And give me some idea how to do it ?

I don't want to give up on Bigger and Beyond without exploring the options as I am pretty excited about HOD

Thanks
Jane
ps I don't mind if you honestly don't think it can be done. I know this is a big ask...

[trustinghim]

Hi Jane

I live in Australia too!

I have not used Bigger or Beyond yet, but have used LHTH and LHFHG. I have really loved using these programs...so easy, and so fun and I feel confident that I am "covering everthing" without feeling too "schoolie". I have the Beyond manual ready to start for this year, and feel confident that I will be able to use it to teach my 7 year old. The stories seem interesting enough, even though American history is not as important to us culturally (they still are inspiring stories of faith etc) And all the learning the basics and Bible and science is totally relevant/easy to teach and comprensive. I have not really worked out what to do about teaching Australian history yet...but will probably look around for some good "living" books to give my kids a bit of an idea of our history. I don't think Aussie schools do a lot of that until about grade 3???

Personally, I think it is worth it for all the other subjects to do a bit more American history than we normally would. I have noticed on Aussie Homeschooled Classifieds more HOD stuff coming up, so I think it is getting more popular over here.

I guess I will have a better idea by the end of this year, as LHFHG did not have the focus on American History like Beyond does.

Anyway, I know that this us probably not all that helpful, but I wanted to let you know I am doing it too!!

I hope you get some more replies as I am keen to hear of other peoples experiences using HOD in Australia

Love Deb

[tjswaine]

Hello! I'm Canadian and have been wondering how to incorporate Canadian history into our school year. This year, I have been keeping it simple (the Can. anthem, flag, various picture books, etc.). Will probably get a bit more in depth for our '10-'11 school year. You could try looking for suggestions on the Well Trained Mind Forum ... there may be some Australians on there with some ideas.

[JaneP]

Thanks Deb and Jess for your ideas.

Sounds like you two do the manuals as written and then supplement ... rather than modifying the manuals as I was thinking I might have do. I think your way sounds better !

Deb, have a great year with Beyond. Maybe I will check in at the end of the year to see how it all went !

Thanks
Jane

[sted]

Hi Jess,

I am Canadian too and this is our first year of HOD. We are currently doing both Beyond and Bigger. We covered Canadian history last year (pulled things together) but definately wasn't as well organized as this year with HOD! A book you may have heard of by Donald Dickie, called "My First History of Canada" I think, would be similar to the Am. History one used in Bigger. I think you could try incorporating that either with Bigger or in a seperate year. I don't have any problem at this point teaching Am. History because I love learning what I didn't learn in Public School here in Canada. The stories are very inspiring faith wise and she ties it in with the Bible so well. Not sure how we'll cover Canadian History with my younger ones coming along. Maybe I'll have to consider putting something together like a Canadian HOD! Wouldn't that be great. I think my older kids will cover Canadian History again at a highschool level down the road. I'll try and fit it in after RTR, I think?? If you have any ideas, I'd love to share. I'm trying to stick with HOD for the long run. I have done a bit of curriculum jumping and it's nice to find a program to stick with for continuity (for me and the kids)

Shannon

[sted]

Hi Jess,

I am Canadian too and this is our first year of HOD. We are currently doing both Beyond and Bigger. We covered Canadian history last year (pulled things together) but definately wasn't as well organized as this year with HOD! A book you may have heard of by Donald Dickie, called "My First History of Canada" I think, would be similar to the Am. History one used in Bigger. I think you could try incorporating that either with Bigger or in a seperate year. I don't have any problem at this point teaching Am. History because I love learning what I didn't learn in Public School here in Canada. The stories are very inspiring faith wise and she ties it in with the Bible so well. Not sure how we'll cover Canadian History with my younger ones coming along. Maybe I'll have to consider putting something together like a Canadian HOD! Wouldn't that be great. I think my older kids will cover Canadian History again at a highschool level down the road. I'll try and fit it in after RTR, I think?? If you have any ideas, I'd love to share. I'm trying to stick with HOD for the long run. I have done a bit of curriculum jumping and it's nice to find a program to stick with for continuity (for me and the kids)

Shannon

[tjswaine]

Hi Shannon,

I wonder how many Canadians are on here? It would be great to hear what everyone does for Can. history. I've heard of Donalda Dickie's book, but my library doesn't carry a copy and I haven't purchased it yet. One book we did this year was "The Story of Canada" by Isabel Barclay. It's great for a very young audience as there are many illustrations. There was a wonderful blog that did lessons plans for an elementary history of Canada. I was planning to use it for grade 4 or so. Unfortunately, the blog is no longer available. These are the books the blog suggested using:

Copeland, Peter F: Exploration of North America Coloring Book, Dover Publications.
(Dover Colouring Book)

Dickie, Donalda: My First History of Canada, (MFHC)

Lunn, Janet and Christopher Moore: The Story of Canada (SofC)
--this is a beautifully and lavishly illustrated textbook with well-written prose. It is organized differently than Dickie's book and has been a challenge to integrate.

Marshall, H.E. Canada's Story (CS)
--not recommended. The language is pejorative concerning Native People.

Owens, Ann-Maureen and Jane Yealland: The Kid's Book of Canadian Exploration (KBCE)

Owens, Ann-Maureen and Jane Yealland: Forts of Canada (FC)

Silvey, Diane: The Kids Book of Aboriginal Peoples (KBAP)

Ward, Donna: Courage and Conquest (C&C)

Video: Canada: A People's History

For the teacher (highly recommended): Canadian History for Dummies, 2nd ed. by Will Feguson.

For independent reading by a ten year old or so:
Hancock, Pat: The Penquin Book of Canadian Biography for Young Readers Early Canada (CBYR) (Covers Cabot to Mistahimaskwa (Big Bear))

I am currently reading "Canadian History for Dummies"! I definitely consider myself a "dummy" in this area. Wow! There is so much I never knew. My kids will be reading this in high school. Do you have any of these books? I'd love to hear your opinion of them if you do. A few of them are available at my library, but I haven't looked at them in depth yet.

We love HOD as well, and are planning to continue with it indefinitely. I'm excited to learn American history too, but it's also very important to me that my children learn their own country's history as well.

Jess (Nova Scotian)

[Mumkins]

I'm a Canadian that left HOD part way into doing Beyond as I didn't want to do Beyond, then Bigger with 2 youngers coming up, so more American stuff. But you know what? I SO regret it! I can't wait to come back to HOD next year. Just trying to figure out which to do.

[NicoleJ]

Hi! I am in Western Australia and I am using LHTH for my dd4 and Bigger with my dd7. We use LHTH as it is written, but at the moment, I am only using Bigger for the Maths/English/poetry, etc, not the science or the history. Instead I am doing WinterPromise's Animal Worlds program for all the scicence, etc. So, that's how I am using the American HOD manuals. I plan on using Preparing and Creation to Christ, etc, all as written, and when my littlest ones are ready for Little Hearts, then I will use them as written too.
Hope this helps! Nicole

[JaneP]

Thanks everyone. Nicole - I was really interested to read how you use HOD. You are a dedicated Mum to put in so much effort working with two programs ! I must admit I have only recently realised from reading this forum that people are using the guides in a flexible way (using one side only, going half speed etc) and that's giving me confidence that it could work for my family too.

Thanks again
Jane