Introduction,New to HOD and questions please

[homeschoolmumNZ]

Hello,
Hi,I am new here and homeschool my four children aged 7 to 16 in New Zealand.
I am about to order a HOD programme for my youngest daughter who is 7 and am trying to decide what to get.She loves to narrate and has very good comprehension and loves to make notebooks pages and drawings to keep about what we learn.BUT she is only an emerging reader and can not spell well at all ( may have dyslexic tendancies like her oldest sister?).
Two of my older children have learning dissabilites so even though they are teens I still need to spend a lot ot time working with them and I feel my youngest misses out somewhat .I am hoping having a HOD programme scheduled will help me spend more focused time with her each morning.

I think she would enjoy the Bigger programme more as there are more notebooking etc but maybe she should do Beyond.The problem is she is my youngest so if the Beyond is no good I can not use it with anone else .To order to New Zealand is VERY expensive with the added postage and exchange rate so my husband thinks we should get the programme for the slightly older child and just wait for a few months if it is too advanced.If the other is too easy we would have wasted a lot of money.So..any advice ladies please?

In spite of her not reading well yet I think she could begin Rod and Staff if we do most orally and I already own this .I will continute with saxon maths 2 which she loves.
Looking forward to your replies..thank in advance. God Bless from NZ
Ann

[Heidi in AK]

I would steer you to Beyond. With this being your first year in HOD, if you have checked the placement charts and she places in Beyond, start her there. Bigger, from what I understand, is a large jump in skill requirements. If Bigger is too advanced for her, the downside is that you might frustrate her rather than make her excited about her new curriculum.

From what I have experienced, HOD is focused on developing the child's skills beginning at the level they are currently at, rather than working them up to the next higher one.

[homeschoolmumNZ]

Thank you for your reply.We had hoped to order at the beginning of this year the beyond programme but sadly our car died unexpectedly and had to be replaced( we only have 1 car) so homeschool curriculum could not be ordered then.It would have been great to start at the beginning of the year( our school year is Feb to Dec).

[mamas4bugs]

Welcome!

Did you check the placement chart to see where she'd fit?

http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

My fear in getting a program that is too advanced is not only that it might frustrate her now, but should you choose to continue with HOD, future programs will be increasingly frustrating. The skills really do build upon themselves. If she did Bigger this year, next year for Preparing she would be expected to do her science independently, to start having an independent quiet time, to write narrations, etc.

Somewhere on here is a blog roll where people who are using HOD programs post up their blog links. Perhaps you could look there for folks who are using Beyond to see examples of the kind of notebooking and projects that they are doing? You could also look at the week in review section on this forum.

I understand your dh's logic, definitely! Beyond is very full, though. I'd really check the placement chart and the blogs and such before going with the older program. HTH!

[beverett]

Hello and welcome!!
It really sounds to me that you could do Bigger with her, and also add the emerging readers. To be honest with your shipping cost and all involved, I think your husband has the right idea! If you receive it and get to look over everything and feel she is not ready, then I would try doing it half speed or just wait a little while.

[my3sons]

Thanks for sharing about your dd! Both Beyond and Bigger Hearts are excellent programs, but proper placement really helps make them shine. In comparing Beyond and Bigger Hearts, a big difference is he amount of writing in them. Bigger Hearts has a significant amount of writing in it. Here is a copy of a thread where Carrie described this difference in writing...
As far as choosing between "Beyond.." and "Bigger..." goes, the amount of writing varies quite a bit between Beyond and Bigger. Bigger requires more writing in the areas of a once a week history notebooking assignment, a once a week science experiment sheet and a once a week science notebooking entry, along with once a week copywork of a Bible verse, 1-3 vocabulary cards each week, cursive handwriting practice daily, and daily grammar instruction with written practice. It also provides a choice of spelling or dictation passages. If your little one sounds like that would be fine for her, she belongs in Bigger. If not, then Beyond would be best.

Beyond has much less writing doing copywork daily from the poetry, using a gentle once a week introduction to grammar, and writing daily for very short spelling lessons.

I think I'd do Beyond with her and let her focus on her reading and writing this year. She is only 7 yo, and Beyond would be a nice fit. We enjoyed the art projects, science experiments, and history activities so much. I think that your dd would like illustrating her timeline entries, creating her art projects, and illustrating her poetry copywork, as she enjoys artistic activities. I also think if she still has the desire to create even more artistically, she would enjoy making her own notebook page of the science experiment, using the living books pictures as a sounding board to label/draw things. She could easily keep doing R & S English 2, and Saxon math 2. I do feel it is nice overall to come into the start of Bigger Hearts reading beginner's books and writing at least several sentences with ease. I think the two of you would really enjoy Beyond, and it would give time to focus on reading and writing, while also preparing dd for the more rigorous writing in Bigger Hearts. However, you will know best here!

In Christ,
Julie