heartofdakota.com

Fellow HOD Users,
You are all such an encouragement to me. My homeschooling journey changed so much for the good when I found HOD 3-1/2 years ago. I don't have a lot of time to be on the boards, but I check in regularly and read posts and almost always leave encouraged.

Recently, many of my good friends have decided to send their oldest child/children to public or private school for high school. If not that, then they are using an online full-service curriculum while at home. My oldest is in 8th grade this year and I'm thinking of high school quite a bit. I must admit that I've felt discouraged and alone at losing the fellowship of homeschooling with several good friends. In addition, I have felt so weary since we adopted 20 months ago and homeschooling became much more challenging for me with having 3 "older kids" and 2 younger ones who were/are very needy. We have also been through excruciating health issues that have depleted us in many ways. It has been very tempting to think of passing on the high school responsibility either to a school or to an online curriculum, even though I know that God has not called us to that. My spirit and my mood have been downhearted and heavy.

However...I have never felt the peace to let go of the high school years. And this morning the Lord affirmed to me strongly that we are to continue with HOD for high school. The thing is...even if we kept her home for high school, but went with the online "free" school curriculum that would do all the grading and all the assigning for me and all the counting of credits...it would be missing the focus on Christ that is the best part of our day. It is the reason we homeschool and why we made this commitment in the first place. (Please do not take this as judgment if you have made other decisions for your family - I know each seeks and follows the Lord as HE leads). I just can't find anything better than HOD for keeping us grounded all during our school day in the knowledge of the Lord throughout each subject. This is the most important.

I have felt concerned about making HOD enough for 9th grade with Rev2Rev and not having the credits all laid out in black in white for me. But, when I really seek the Lord, I realize that if I keep Him as the priority in our schooling, then He will take care of making sure that she has what she needs. (BTW, I have seen SUCH growth in my kids in all areas as we have progressed through the HOD guides - so take heart, if you are at the beginning - the slow, steady pace really DOES WORK! I can't believe the written narrations my kids are cranking out now! )

Anyway, I just felt the desire to share this AND also to ask for encouragement from anyone who is currently using HOD for high school. I would love to hear your experiences -how you are making it work, how you are counting credits, and the results you are seeing. I know it would encourage many, including myself.

Thanks for taking the time to read if you still are... I can't WAIT to see Carrie and Julie at the Cincy convention again this year. Last year, they encouraged me so very much! And I can't wait to get my hands on next year's curriculum!!

Hi Tiffini!!

Be very encouraged, if the Lord has called you to homeschool through high school with HOD, you are right that He WILL see you (and your children) through to what He desires for their lives.

We are in almost the same spot as you, but we started 8th grade with CTC last year, so we will be using Rev2Rev for 10th next year (currently on RTR for 9th this year). It is working wonderfully, and I know that God has us right in the center of His will, because I have such a peace about it all. I'm actually NOT stressed about high school like I thought I might be.

We are using HOD with extensions as written, and some of the "beef up" ideas suggested here on the boards to make everything "credit-worthy". The nice thing about HOD, too, is that because it is a 4-day curriculum, we often add our grade-level "beef ups" on Fridays. (We do a BJUP Bible study for 9th grade, Power-Glide French for High School, read-alouds/independent reading from Abeka Literature 9 book, and Abeka High School Health all on Fridays.) We also use Apologia grade-level science, because we have done many of the HOD science selections in previous years, and because our dd has been using it for years and LOVES it.

Most of HOD is credit-worthy for Bible, history, art, etc. as it is with the extensions, but to make the history fully grade-level, we just add an Abeka World History and Cultures (grade 10 has the whole history story) text as an additional reading on days that it applies. I go through the HOD manual and pencil in the Abeka pages where they go along with the current subjects being read in HOD. Because Abeka is a text book, the readings are usually pretty short and only take a few extra minutes anyway (and are not done every day).

Subjects/Credits Covered:
Bible--HOD (and BJUP 9)
History/Geography--HOD (and Abeka 10)
Grammar/Spelling--we use ACE/Abeka (only because we've been doing them for years before finding HOD)
Writing--HOD (and our ACE)
Literature--HOD (and Abeka 9)
Science--Apologia high school level
Art/Music--HOD (and violin lessons/orchestra)
Foreign Language--French for high school
Health--Abeka high school

We plan to continue this pattern through high school using HOD as our core and only adding on to make things high school level as needed. The "add-ons" I mentioned really don't take much more time (since much is done on Fridays), and because HOD is so well planned out and easy to follow just the way it is. I know that even if we don't get to anything else, HOD has us covered!!

So, you see, it's really not that hard to make sure HOD is high school level, and I often remind myself that everything covered in HOD as is, is SO much more than we ever got in our own classes in public high school! Plus, with all the skills that Carrie builds in--like written and oral narrations, gradual independence in their studies, etc. (in addition to the excellent educational content), they are so far ahead of most kids in regular schools today! I see a level of maturity and wisdom in our 14yo dd (also named Tiffany!! ) that I didn't have until I was in my 30's!

Hope this helps!! Let me know if you have any more questions.

I believe with extensions and the advanced science option 2, Rev to Rev is credit-worthy for grade 9. You can even use DITHOR 6/7/8 with 9th-grade appropriate books, and continue Rod and Staff English. HOD's recommendation for Rod and Staff is to finish Book 8 by the end of Grade 12. You can use the math recommendations or another program, depending on your preference. It can definitely work, and the subsequent HOD guides will have extensions too. When my 12 year old gets to Grade 9, she will use RevtoRev with extensions.

Thank you so much, Heather, for your specific examples of what you are doing and what works for you. That is immensely encouraging to me. And I appreciate what you have pointed out, too, Lourdes. Thank you for taking the time to write!

Tiffini,

I'm so glad that you popped in to ask for encouragement here. The ladies on the board are wonderful at helping and encouraging one another! So far for us, we have honestly found the high school years to be the most rewarding! It is as if we are reaping the benefits of years of training and are now seeing the fruit of that training in so many areas with our oldest son. I wouldn't trade the high school experience for the world and encourage you with all my heart to stay the course and reap the rewards for the years of sacrifice you have made up until now!

It is definitely true that as your children get older and into high school that many families begin to look toward putting their kiddos in school. This can be a bit disconcerting. My own older sister did this quite unexpectedly with her oldest three kiddos, and while their children are truly Christ-centered and family focused children my sister maintains that the public school experience is not without its own set of challenges.

When my older sister put her oldest three in school, my younger sister and I both immediately took a good hard look at our own homeschooling journey and where we were headed. This is because my oldest sister never mentioned any possibility of putting her kids in school, yet it seemed to literally happen overnight. We asked ourselves routinely throughout that year (and we still continue to ponder) what precipitated the decision. We've come to know that in our sister's case it came down to three main things: feeling overwhelmed and tired, feeling burnt out, and feeling like she could not provide an education equal to that of the school system. These areas are each true joy stealers and are not coming from our Father in heaven, who only wants good things for us. So, my younger sister and I set out to keep these things in mind in order that we would be able to follow our heart's desire to homeschool through high school.

I will hasten to add that my younger sister and I have never judged my oldest sister in her decision, as we love and respect her so much. We know that each family must find it's own path and that in seeking to glorify the Lord that path may look different from family to family. The experience though has strengthened our desire to help and encourage any family who wishes to homeschool through high school to answer that call on their lives.

I do believe that we can learn and take things from each person's experiences. So, from my older sister, I have learned that it is important for me to work to try not to be overwhelmed and tired all of the time. If this is where you are in your life right now, I would seek steps to correct this area in any possible way, or it will continue to steal your joy. This will likely mean saying, "No" to good things. I know this is hard to do, but it is also something that can be a sanity saver. My husband and I have had to learn to do this, and hard as it is, it makes our life more in balance. Sleep is often connected to how busy you are, so when you say, "No" to good things, you often say, "Yes" to a bit more sleep. Exhaustion can cause us to be overwhelmed and can keep us from thinking clearly. So, addressing the root of these areas is so important! This is advice I deeply needed to hear not so long ago, so I post it in hopes that it may help you too as much as it helped me!

Next, if you are feeling burnt out as far as homeschooling goes, it may be important to pace yourself a bit more and to find joy in homeschooling as a lifestyle rather than a race. Perhaps a 4 day week would be a good thing to ponder, leaving you 3 days off each week. Or, maybe you have a really busy season each year that you need free and a more compressed school year would fit your lifestyle. In this scenario, you could do a 4 day guide but do it 5 days a week (compressing your school year a bit, so you have more time off in the needed season). Perhaps you are mentoring other homeschoolers right now and need a break from that to focus on your family. Or, maybe you are mentoring people in another area that leaves you weary at home. Maybe your new little blessings are causing the wear down, and you need to pull their schooling to half-speed for awhile or need to have a "sitter" come and help out a couple of times a week during the day. Whatever the situation, remember that for this season it may be needed to set aside some tasks to keep you from becoming burnt out and to look for creative ways to solve your worries. Too many tasks, often many of which are outside the home, lend themselves to a frantic/frenzied feeling. This can definitely hasten burnout as there is not enough time to "do it all". As I'm now in my 23rd year as a teacher (with 11 years in the public school and then 12 years of schooling at home now so far), it is so important to minimize that frenzied/frantic feeling and to pace myself for the long rewarding job still ahead! With my youngest being only 5, we have another 13 years of schooling to go!

Now we come to the last joy stealer we saw in my sister's situation...not feeling like she could provide an education equal to that of the school system. This is a true worry for many homeschool families and can be the final reason that pushes families to enroll their children in school. In truth, there may be areas in which your children could receive a more academic education than you are able to provide at home. But it is so important to remember that your child's education is about so much more than academics. So, for example while the area of science may be considered more academic, more "rigorous", more lab-oriented etc. in the school system, it will also likely carry with it the baggage of being taught without God in the picture. To teach science devoid of God is an academic deficiency to be sure, since He is the Creator of the universe (and of everything we study in science)! This is true in many areas so that while your child may receive a more academic education in the school system, each subject will carry its own baggage for you to combat in your diminished time at home. We need to believe that God will honor our homeschool efforts and provide our children with the skills and knowledge they need to carryout His call on their lives. This is a burden He will bear if we only let Him, and He is always faithful.

As we now have a sophomore this year at home, we are finding the high school years to be the time when we really begin to see the fruit in our son's life. We have so many spur of the moment discussions, and we have much opportunity to get to know him personally each and every day. I won't paint an unrealistic picture of the time we have available to devote to our each of our kiddos individually each day, as we are a VERY busy family (just like you). However, I am thankful for all of the little moments throughout the week that add up to making each of our children feel loved and feel connected to us. If my oldest son was in school, I would miss these moments and miss seeing the fruit in his life this year (as a teacher other than me would be reaping the benefits of our years of homeschooling)! So, I encourage you to stay the course.

As far as counting credits for Revival to Revolution goes, I'll link you to a past thread that will be of help to you in this area. If you have other questions on how to count credits based on what you are currently thinking, simply post and we'll be glad to help. Don't let the counting credits question steal your joy either! Link:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8208&p=59715

One book that will be of help to you as you work toward a transcript would be Transcripts Made Easy by Janice Campbell. Truly though, if you just write down your coursework for each subject area and the credit awarded for each and keep a booklist of the classic/literary type works your child reads each year for literature study that will be enough for each year of tracking until you put it in the final transcript form.

Blessings,
Carrie

We have kept ours at home for high school. I will have my first graduate this spring. Only 7 more graudates to go! I was asked to speak at a Kiwanis meeting in our town this week. I concluded with the thought that I have been educating my children at home for thirteen years. My current youngest will enter K in 2014, so I have at least 15 years to go. I am enjoying it, and expect to keep doing so. Teaching the children at home is one of the best decisions we ever made. Although I have enjoyed high school with the boys, it has been more of a textbook route. Teaching some of the math and science was not easy, but they have learned far more than I was taught in high school. Remember that fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. I am really looking forward to high school with the youngers with HOD. My daughter enters high school next year and she will be using Rev. to Rev. We could look to each other for encouragement if you continue with HOD. I am not worried about it AT ALL. I know what I learned in high school, and my boys did not learn anymore with textbooks than my daughter will learn with a literature-rich curriculum. And I can almost assure you that she will enjoy it more. As far as transcripts go, I have used teascript (online) for my oldest two boys. My son only applied to two colleges due to the limited number of colleges that provide mortuary science degrees in our area, but neither college had any problem with it. I was not asked for anything else except his ACT score. He was quickly accepted by both. I found it easier than I expected.

Carrie, thank you for your lengthy and heartfelt reply. I appreciate it so much! I have never doubted that God has called us to homeschool through high school. I am really anticipating reaping the fruit of our labors in the early years -we already are! I have just been discouraged as I've seen those close to me take a different path. My older sister, too, sent her kids off to school and it's been hard on my kids since they are best friends with their cousins.

I agree with you - exhaustion, burn out, and the fear of not doing it right - plays a huge role in that decision. I just want to thank you for investing your life into creating Heart of Dakota. Because of using HOD, I really am not tired of school. It is always new and exciting and I love what we are learning. And I truly believe that Rev2Rev will be just right for my oldest in 9th grade next year. I just have to overcome my fear of making sure I am covering what she needs for credit. And I appreciate your help with that. I really like what you said about the academic rigor versus God making sure that she has what she needs for what HE has called her for. I believe that! It is the moments that we share over a spiritual insight or a noticeable growth in character that makes me say, "I'm so glad we homeschool!" - not getting through Algebra 1!

I do plan to stay the course through the many years of homeschooling ahead with our youngest being 3 years old right now. I'm super excited to see what you write for the HS years!!!

Melissa,
Thank you for your encouragement and insight, too! I am so glad to hear of others who have no problem with their transcripts being accepted. Sometimes, I think the whole transcript thing gets blown out of proportion in my mind! I love hearing the stories of others who have done it! I hope we can share encouragement and ideas next year as we use Rev2Rev for high school. It is a joy to me to know others are following the same path. I'd love to hear what you plan to add for high school credit once you know your plan. I'm planning to use Carrie's ideas for beefing up and it sounds very doable!

Tiffini and Melissa,

We have Rev2Rev here for next school year, too!!

Carrie, I just wanted to thank you for your encouragement in this thread. We were at a fork in the road in regards to my ds13 (8th gr). My dh wanted to put him in public high school. He was adament about this. I, however, was not quite so sure it was the way to go. I KNEW something needed to change around here in order for homeschooling to work for him. I KNEW something just wasn't quite "right", but couldn't put my finger on it. Recently, my dh has had a change of heart and after watching the movie, "Indoctrination", he has pretty much decided we need to keep ALL our kids home. I was, however, still concerned about his academics. After reading this thread, I am confident that his academics will be just fine. Thank you, Carrie. Thank you for the encouragement and thank you also for putting so much thought into developing each HOD guide.

Tiffini and Sue,

I'm so glad that something within this thread was helpful and encouraging to you! I agree that it is so important for us to encourage one another as we seek God's will for our sons and daughters as they head into high school.

I just want to encourage you once more that even though every day at our house is not perfect and we do still work on loving one another and overlooking one another's faults, the fruit I am seeing in my son who is in high school is a blessing for my mama's heart to behold! Time is truly on our side, and I don't feel like I must seize every spare moment to focus on my oldest son because we have so many available moments! The moments truly present themselves every day, and it is up to me to choose when to seize them! I pray the Lord will give you His perfect peace in your decisions and that He will continue to encourage all of us along our way.

Thanks for sharing!

Blessings,
Carrie