heartofdakota.com

I asked this a lot earlier this year as I contemplated from switching from MFW to HOD this fall, but in the end, I stayed with MFW. Looking ahead to next fall, yes I do that (plus I thought maybe I could find used curriculum cheaper here in the "off" season).

5 yodd
Doing MFW K right now. She is doing great. Loving it! She can write about all of her uppercase letters and numbers 1-7 so far. She loves hands-on work and worksheets!!! School is never long enough for her right now. I am thinking Little Hearts for His Glory next fall? She'll be 6 in Oct next year.

7 yodd
Doing ECC (2nd) right now. Will have completed Singapore 1B in the next couple months. We are doing Primary Language Lessons. Spelling by Sound & Structure. She is reading, but still likes to guess words instead of working at sounding them out sometimes. She can copy scriptures and other work, but I have not done dictation for her yet. She will be 8 next Nov. Trying to decide between Beyond little hearts and Bigger Hearts for her next year?

8 1/2 yodd
Doing ECC (3rd) right now. Excellent Reader! Will have completed Singapore 2B by the end of spring. Finishing up Primary Language Lessons. She is doing Spelling Power. She can write passages and short stories, but writing isn't her favorite thing to do . Trying to decide between Bigger and Preparing for her next fall. She will be 9 this coming Feb...so turning 10 during the next school year.

Thank you for any help!!!!

Hi Melissa!

I saw that no one had answered yet so I thought I would share the little I can.
We just switched from MFW, and I am so looking forward to my first HOD box that is arriving today.

My ds6 did MFW K last school year for K. I have placed him in Little Hearts for His Glory with 1st grade extensions and Singapore 1A for this fall/today.
My ds8 (2nd grade) did ADV last year, and I have placed him in Beyond with Drawn into Heart for Reading and English2 and Singapore 2A (he is half done with it) from Bigger. His reading is very very advanced, but his writing is something that is just beginning to come so Beyond seemed like a good place to start. It was a difficult decision.

I hope this helps. I spent a lot of time looking at the placement chart that is on the front page of the web-site to the right. It really helped sort through the decisions. I also had so many ladies on here help with the placement, that was very helpful too.

Blessings,
Carin

I think your 5 yo sounds well placed in LHFHG. I think with your dc being this close in age, that your 2 older dc should be able to be combined. From what you've shared so far, it seems like Bigger Hearts (with extensions for your 10 yo) would be a good way to combine them. Have you had a chance to look at the placement chart yet? That is an excellent tool for choosing placement that we have found to be very successful. Here is a link to it...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

The first page of the chart is the most important to consider. If in doing so, you find your 7 yo would be better combined in LHFHG with your 5 yo, you can easily combine them in LHFHG, and have your 7 yo do harder LA and Math, using Beyond Little Heart for this if you want. Your 10 yo could then do either Bigger with extensions, or PHFHG. Either of these options are excellent, so it just depends on what you determine fits your dc the best.

We have enjoyed using HOD for so many years now, and our dc love their learning. They have a passion for it, and they are growing closer and closer to the Lord each year. It really has been such a blessing in our home. I pray it is in yours as well!

In Christ,
Julie

I was thinking LHFHG and then Bigger Hearts for the older two, with the extensions for the oldest also. I am a former MFW user also and have been very happy with HOD.

Melissa,

I'm also thinking LHFHG for your younger child, probably with A Reason for Writing K and one of the phonics programs. You could use either The Reading Lesson or Reading Made Easy. As far as math goes, if she's already had a formal year of K math, then you could use 1A/1B for math. If she hasn't really had a formal K year of math, then you could do Earlybird Kindergarten Math instead.

For your will be 8 and 9 year old, I would probably lean toward Bigger Hearts. Your will be 8 year old should be able to use Rod and staff English 2 as scheduled in Bigger and use either List 2 or the first level of studied dictation (both of which are in Bigger Hearts' guide). You will want to be sure that your will be 8 year old has completed phonics, and then you can head into the Emerging Reader's Set, which is scheduled daily in the Appendix. Bigger includes hands-on lessons for Singapore 2A/2B, so you will be set for your will be 8 year old's math.

As far as your will be 9 year old goes, you will want to use DITHR for reading. I would lean toward Level 2/3 Student Book for her in DITHR, unless she has had quite a bit of formal literature study already. You could choose the Level 3 or Level 4/5 Book Pack for her to use with the 2/3 Student Book. There is a schedule in the Appendix of Bigger Hearts for Singapore math 3A/3B, so this should work well for your will be 9 year old.

I would use English 3 with the 9 year old after coming out of PLL. This is a level ahead of what is scheduled within Bigger but will fit your child better. For spelling, depending on how well she spells, you could begin at the beginning or mid-way through the studied dictation passages provided in Bigger Hearts. Since she is new to studied dictation, but is a bit older, I'd likely begin in the middle of the passages and see how she does. The directions for studied dictation are at the beginnning of the passages in Bigger's Appendix. The extensions in Bigger are technically for ages 10-11, so you can weigh whether you want to add those to your will be 9 year old's day or not.

Both the will be 8 and 9 year olds could do cursive as scheduled in Bigger if you feel they are ready.

If you have more questions, ask away!

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you for you replies.

Can you help me understand...if I place both the older 2 in bigger next year...they'll technically be 3rd and 4th...so there's 3 more levels after Bigger...that will put the 3rd grader at 6th when she finishes those and the older at 7th. What would they do next?

Took me forever to wrap my mind around how MFW cycle works and I'm really having a hard time understanding the flow of HOD when you combine.

Maybe this will help? http://www.heartofdakota.com/scope.php

You also need to remember that there may be a time when you choose to uncombine them down the road. Combining or not combining is never set is stone. Just take each year as it comes.

Edie

Melissa,

Edie did a great job of helping! HOD has plans to go all the way through high school. That would put your pair of kiddos in the following sequence:

Bigger - Gr. 3 and 4
Preparing - Gr. 4 and 5
CTC - Gr. 5 and 6
RTR - Gr. 6 and 7
Rev2Rev Gr. 7 and 8
Geography - Gr. 8 and 9
World History - Gr. 9 and 10
Early American - Gr. 10 and 11
Modern Times - Gr. 11 and 12

This would leave your younger of the two kiddos with one additional year of high school, at which point you could decide if you wanted to graduate that child early or use that final year for a different purpose. Since the younger child would technically have done all of our high school level guides, it is feasible you could graduate that child early if desired. Of course, this assumes that you are doing a guide a year every year, which doesn't allow for much wiggle room. So, you may actually end up right on track if you had to stretch a guide out a bit anywhere along the way.

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie wrote:Melissa,

Edie did a great job of helping! HOD has plans to go all the way through high school. That would put your pair of kiddos in the following sequence:

Bigger - Gr. 3 and 4
Preparing - Gr. 4 and 5
CTC - Gr. 5 and 6
RTR - Gr. 6 and 7
Rev2Rev Gr. 7 and 8
Geography - Gr. 8 and 9
World History - Gr. 9 and 10
Early American - Gr. 10 and 11
Modern Times - Gr. 11 and 12

This would leave your younger of the two kiddos with one additional year of high school, at which point you could decide if you wanted to graduate that child early or use that final year for a different purpose. Since the younger child would technically have done all of our high school level guides, it is feasible you could graduate that child early if desired. Of course, this assumes that you are doing a guide a year every year, which doesn't allow for much wiggle room. So, you may actually end up right on track if you had to stretch a guide out a bit anywhere along the way.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you so much for your additional help. I've been thinking a lot, and I'm thinking of holding back a little next year for my two younger daughters. Because, as is, they would be 17 when graduating...I was 17 when I graduated and I was one of the youngest in my class. I'm not sure I want them "done" with homeschool by then?

What are your thoughts on that?

I was 17 when I graduated too, and for me it was a good thing. However, the "best" age for graduation will be such a personal thing, varying from child to child. If you were looking to slow down a bit, you could easily do Bigger Hearts 4 days a week instead of 5. This would bump the guide into the following year 9 weeks to finish, thus extending it by a quarter. You could still do math and reading on each 5th day if desired to stay current on those. Anyway, that is just one thought on how to stretch a bit without getting behind. Since Bigger is a 5 day guide, and the guides that follow are 4 day a week guides, Bigger lends itself well to a bit of a stretch if needed. Then, later you'd always have the option of doing a guide at half-speed for awhile since you'd have wiggle room as needed later.

Blessings,
Carrie