Thinking about using HOD. Help!! :)

[JoyinIndo]

Good morning.
My name is Joy and I am a missionary wife living in Indonesia. I have 5 children, ds 10, dd 8, ds 6, and ds twins 3yo. I need to begin ordering my curriculum for next fall to make sure that it is here in time!

Next fall, my children will be in 5th, 4th, 2nd, and preschool. I LOVE HOD samples that I have looked at. I love the layout and the ease of use. I have used SL, SOTW, and Beautiful Feet Books for my cores up till now. I really want to give HOD a try, I think it would work really well for my older two.

Here my question:
How do I make it work for my kids? I would love to use CTC for my older two, but then where does that leave my 2nd grader? Do you do two different packages with kids in this age range? OR....???? I'd love to hear your wisdom and thoughts as I move forward!!

Blessings,
JoyinIndo

[water2wine]

Welcome! The first place to start would be the placement chart. http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php Take a look and see where your children best place. My guess is your two oldest would place together and then your second grader would place in a different program. But HOD is really more on ability and skill level so the placement chart is really the place to go. If it turns out you need two programs that is very doable and I find running three programs for us is easier than trying to put them into a one size fits all program. Welcome and let us know where the chart puts you.

[JoyinIndo]

Thanks. Using the guide, I placed the older two in CTC (although I think the older one could go to RTR) and the 2nd grader in Beyond.
So, you think that it isn't too difficult to use two different programs? Or three in your case?
I feel like this is the first program that has really just *fit* what I am looking for, just still a little uneasy about having two separate histories, kwim?!

Thanks so much for the help!

Blessings,
JoyinIndo

[water2wine]

I would go for the younger's placement of CTC and then the other in Beyond. You will be covering two different eras but I find HOD has a familiar pattern to it and a familiar way so it feels like you are all on the same page. I thought about that in the beginning but I have now one in RTR, three in CTC and 2 in Bigger. Truly our day flows wonderfully. They all enjoy looking at what the other one is doing. I even have ones that have finished the guide their sibling is on and ask to do the activities again or help their siblings do it. You'll see HOD is really the feel that makes it all seem like it is together. It ends up not being about the history era as much as it is bringing them closer to God. I find it really is more cohesive this way than having them all in the same era but trying to make it fit for many different academic levels. That gets really stressful. HOD definitely is our peace in our homeschool. We absolutely love it!

[JoyinIndo]

Wow. Your description sounds amazing! I am sold. Right now, I am trying to keep everyone in the same history time period, but I feel so frazzled trying to make sure everyone is "getting" it, so what you describe sounds like a great fit for us!!

Do you (or anyone can chime in) feel that it is rigorous enough for the olders? And do you feel like there are enough Read Alouds and Readers to keep them engaged?

I am so excited about HOD, I wish I could just start right now!!
Blessings,
JoyinIndo

[deltagal]

Joy,

W2W has pointed you in the RIGHT direction. You will be so pleased and YES, it is very challenging for your olders. I have my oldest - soon to be 14 in CTC and my next oldest - soon to be 12 - in Preparing. I could not be more pleased with the level of their academic work. Keep in mind that each child will be doing work in the basics on their level - math, dictation, grammar, composition. Go for it! Your guaranteed a great year.

[water2wine]

Do you (or anyone can chime in) feel that it is rigorous enough for the olders? And do you feel like there are enough Read Alouds and Readers to keep them engaged?

I do think so yes. In fact I have one doing the guide above age level. I started out that way actually. I think the extension packs do a wonderful job beefing it up. The read alouds are great for all ages. We found with all our kids there was a very brief adjustment period getting used to being read aloud to and narrating but it was an easy adjustment period. I have to tell you they remember so much more this way. It really works so well. You will find the remember the history, enjoy the science and put the Word directly into their heart and end up applying it to their life. It works!

[momtofive]

Hi Joy!

I feel like I (kind of) already know you! I just stumbled upon your blog just last week and have been so encouraged and blessed by the work your family is doing in Indonesia! I was sorry to hear that you aren't continuing on with your blog, but know it's for the vest best of reasons. I myself, would feel the same way. We also have five children, and that keeps me so very busy every day. They are a blessings that need me to devote myself and my time to them, and raise them for God's glory!!

Okay, all of that said, I'm so glad that you feel like HOD may work out well for your family. This is our first year with HOD and we have been enjoying every minute! HOD has brought a love of learning to our children, and has made such a difference. It's a great program that is Christ-centered and really does challenge children well. At first glance, it may look too easy to challenge them. That's the beauty of Charlotte Mason learning! Kids are getting great amounts of learning in shorter lessons, and developing higher level thinking skills as well!

As for doing multiple guides, it does work easier than a person thinks! We are doing three guides right now. Our oldest (10) is doing Preparing, the next two (8) and (7), are combined in Beyond Little Hearts, and our littlest two (4) and (3) are doing Little Hands to Heaven. LHTH for the little ones only takes about 20-30 minutes a day! They love it and are learning so much each day. The other guides can be scheduled in such a way so the older is doing his independent work, while I teach the younger ones their teacher directed subjects. Then later, we do the teacher directed boxes together (with the older). All in all, we usually finish everything by lunch or shortly thereafter. Even though we are doing two different histories, it doesn't seem disconnected. HOD guides are so well written and put together that it all works together just fine. Next year we'll be adding another guide to the mix as our four year old will be turning five and starting kindergarten with Little Hearts. I don't forsee any troubles there, and look forward to it in the fall!

Keep asking any questions you may have. The ladies on this board are so helpful and really have hearts for the Lord! Again, so glad you may be joining the HOD family!

In Christ,

Lisa

[JoyinIndo]

Florence,
Thank you so much for the vote of confidence. I feel so much peace about this decision. Your words are so encouraging to me! I am breathing a sigh of relief feeling like I have found the perfect fit for us.


water2wine,
Thank you so much for your friendly advice throughout this thread. You are a real encouragement to me! Since we have been using CM methods for several years and my children are accustomed to narration, I think it's going to be a great fit!

Lisa,
{blush} yes, that me and my blog, and yes, it's time to end it. The Lord has made it very clear and although I am sad to leave it, I am excited about not having that responsibility, and truly investing that time into my home and family.

Thank you for your vote of confidence, especially in regards to using multiple guides. I am really excited about this, and thanks to you and your help, I feel confident that it will work great for our family this next year.

To all of you, you really should get a commission from the company. You have helped me so much and I am grateful!
If you have any more advice, keep it coming!!
Blessings to you all,
JoyinIndo

[my3sons]

Aren't these ladies amazing? This board is such an encouragement to me in my homeschooling journey, and I am glad you will be a part of it as well. I just want to encourage you that homeschooling with HOD makes teaching multiple programs both enjoyable and manageable in the day to day. We did CTC and Beyond and LHTH half-speed last year, and we all enjoyed our year of learning together immensely! It takes us a few weeks or so to hit our groove, but then school just seems to flow smoothly. Some ladies teaching multiple programs enjoy stagger starting them, so you could certainly do that. You could start Beyond first (since it's a 5 day a week program), and then after a few weeks of getting into a good rhythm with that, you could begin CTC (which is a 4 day a week program). HOD is amazing - I'm so glad you get to do it, and I look forward to getting to know you here!

In Christ,
Julie

[JoyinIndo]

Yes, Julie, these ladies are amazing. I am so blessed to have such wonderful, godly help right at my fingertips.

Thanks for adding in your vote of confidence for multiple guides, I am feeling so free and excited as I think of next year!

Now, I just need to figure out how to make the rest of this year do-able and finish well until we can start HOD!
Blessings,
JoyinIndo

[Carrie]

JoyinIndo,

I just wanted to pop-in and welcome you to the HOD Boards! We're glad to have you here. The ladies have already done a great job of talking through some of your questions. They are such a blessing to one another and wonderful encouragers.

It sounds like you have a good plan underway. We use 4 separate guides for our 4 separate boys and are still done by 1:00 each day, so at HOD we do plan for you to be able to use multiple guides and for it to work well.

The only thing I wanted to mention in looking at your kiddos' age levels is that it will be so important to have your older two kiddos accurately placed. It is very possible that CTC will be the best fit for them, but since that will place your 4th grader on the very youngest age range of CTC (and of all of the guides to follow), I'll just mention that you may want to take one more good look at the placement chart (especially the first page) just to be sure that your 4th grader places strongly in CTC.

Since your kiddos will be new to HOD and possibly to a CM-style education, it will be important that especially your 4th grader is a very strong reader and writer, can read and follow fairly lengthy written directions easily, and has some independent work skills already in place. If this describes your sweetie, then she will be accurately placed. If this doesn't fit your 4th grader, then you may wish to look at Preparing Hearts with extensions instead. You will know far better than me what will be best, but I wasn't sure where your kiddos would fit based on what you'd shared so far, so I thought it was worth mentioning for you to be sure (as returning or exchanging would be costly from your location).

Blessings,
Carrie

[JoyinIndo]

Wow Carrie,
I feel so blessed that you would take the time to read about my situation and thoughtfully answer me. Thank you! It is so nice to hear that several guides work well for so many people.

I appreciate SO much the concern that you have in wanting to check to make sure I have correctly placed my children. Wow, what service!
I truly feel that CTC would be the best fit for my upcoming 4th grader. In fact, I am more confident in her abilities that her older (to be 5th grade) brother! She truly amazes me and I have no doubt that she will flourish with CTC. Since we have been using CM-style since we began hs-ing, she is very adept at both oral and now written narrations (usually near to one page). She is the child that begs to do school, read longer, and always wants to give her narrations first. As far as reading, she just finished Pollyanna (the original) in bed with her book light last night. She is very good at following lengthy directions, both written and orally, and frankly she is a joy to teach because she is so good at independent work and has a thirst for knowledge.
My main problem in hs-ing is to make sure that she doesn't overtake and pass her (to be 5th grade) brother. He is also very bright and loves to learn, and fits all the criteria for CTC, he is just more, well, boy. He does a great job at school, follows directions very well, and gets his work done and does it well. But, if given a choice, he would much rather be outside with his animals or trekking in the jungle (I think he's a future Croc Hunter which I think is wonderful).

What do you think? Do you think I have made the correct choice regarding placement, or do you think that it would suit them better to hang back and do Preparing instead? I agree that it would be a shame to place them incorrectly living all the way over here! Thanks SO much for the help. Honestly, this curriculum and this board is such a blessing to me!
Blessings,
JoyinIndo

[Carrie]

JoyinIndo,

Thanks so much for coming back and sharing a bit more about your kiddos. I can see now that your 4th and 5th graders will fit well in CTC. I just wanted to be sure, as correct placement makes a huge difference in how successful HOD is in each home.

We pray HOD may be a blessing to your family, and we look forward to getting to know you even better as we journey together.

Blessings,
Carrie