Like so many others have said before me, I must say that I am grateful for the Lord allowing me to find Heart of Dakota! Despite the fact that I have yet to use it or even own it yet
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
I have been through all the placement charts and am feeling pretty confident about my choices, but I still need some fine tuning. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
I'll start with my son since I feel his placement is very straight forward. He will turn seven in October. I have used MFW Kinder and we will be finishing up MFW 1st Grade this school year. Even though he is a youngish first grader he is doing very well. His writing is good, but he doesn't want to write very much, just lazy I think.
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
Now for my daughter, she's the tough one. She will be eleven in June, finishing 5th grade. We did MFW Kinder through third grade. That last year (ECC) did not go well and problems were cropping up with English and math as well (I was using Primary Language Lessons and Singapore). I switched to a mixture of stuff for 4th & 5th grade. Teaching Textbooks fixed our math struggles. I used Language Lessons for the Elementary Child Vol. I & II and Sequential Spelling I, which were okay. Having found that HOD reccommends R&S English (and totally aggreeing with WHY!), I switched her to R&S 4 about a month ago. It is already reaping understanding and retention, yea! I have given up entirely on spelling for the moment. This is a huge problem area and, I believe, a large contributing factor in her absolute hatred of writing. She is a perfectionist and does not want to make a mistake or take a guess and have it be wrong. She hated dictation so much in second and third grade when I tried it that I abandoned it (although I still think it will work, maybe now that she is older?). We have not used a writing or reading "program" thus far. Writing has consisted of copywork only. We use Italic Handwriting, but she still has a terrible time writing cursive unless there is a model right in front of her. We have covered the first quarter of MOH Vol.I, Apologia Botany, and Prima Latina in a Co-op situation. We also attempted Beautiful Feet's History of California this year, but I gave up trying to get her to follow the guide and really narrate or write answers. There was just no way that was going to happen. I ended up handing her all the books to just read. Her strong points are reading (LOVES reading!) and she is very good with math just as soon as she "gets" it. SO, all that said, I figure Preparing is the way to go for next year, along with DITHOR Lvl 4/5.
But, of course, I have a few questions about that decision. So here goes:
1. What packages/books do I order for her? Do the Extensions replace one of the other packages or add to them?
(Note: I do need to economize to some degree as I am buying for both kids from scratch. I can't get everything, much as I'd like to!)
2. Where will this put us in the years ahead? Just keep going in order or skip something along the way?
3. What should I do about writing? Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!
4. Is anyone out there combining two kids 4 grades apart? I really had hoped to do American History with both of them this next year, but after finding HOD and going through the placement process, it seems that I should not try to do that at this time.
Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this!
In Him,
Gina