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I have looked over the scope and sequence and the suggested placement but wanted to ask you wonderful homeschool mamas your opinions and suggestions. Yes, it is the dreaded placement question. My son is 13-years-old, he was tested at 5 and was tested as highly gifted, he has always had a craving for learning, he taught himself to read and was reading early chapter book by his 3rd birthday. My son enjoys a challenge but not too big of a challenge. His favorite subjects are science and history. He loves nature study. My son is not poor in math but it definitely is not a favorite subject, I say he is about a year *behind*. I stumbled upon HOD a few days ago and I find myself so drawn to it, I keep visiting the site. lol I wish I stumbled upon it years ago. They great thing is I see Carrie is/will be working on later middle school and high school levels. Thank you so much, Carrie! So where would you all suggest a good starting place for my son be? As a single mom, I also wonder if the books could be bought separately as needed or is it best to buy the whole package. Money is tight right now, actually always tight, but more so currently. His education is very important though and a top priority. Thank you all in advance for any and all help!

Jean

Hi,
Have you looked at the placement chart? http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php Where does your child fall on the placement chart?
I also have a child who was tested at 5 as gifted and who taught herself to read at 3. Sometimes it is hard to know if I am challenging her enough, but I really just try to encourage her natural enthusiasm for things outside of school work as well. She is placed in CTC with extensions. For her reading though, we choose books such as "The Yearling" and books that I read when I was 7th or 8th grade. I plan to have her go through Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island, and Little Women this upcoming year. She is in 6th grade this year. I find that keeps her very stimulated. Her particular area of being gifted is language arts so that is what I try to keep a bit advanced for her.
I would place him based on the placement chart and then encourage any other desires and learning. My dd loves to explore art so I let her get on forums (with supervision) and she is learning to make digital art without any instruction. She is just getting online and teaching herself. This really stretches her. So I would place with the placement chart and then encourage any natural inclinations that may arise from his being gifted.
She can be lazy with school b/c brick and mortar school never challenged her enough. HOD really has her thinking and not just going through the motions. It has also brought back her love of learning.
As for what to buy at first with limited funds, you need the economy package and the science add-on. If you are going to use HOD LA recommendations, you will need R&S English and the writing instruction for whichever guide he places. I would give the Singapore Math placement test and see where he places. If you have math struggles anyway it might not be bad to switch to Singapore. We ultimately are doing a remedial math year with our dd. She is also about a year behind in math. We chose to just have our dd's use their own Bibles to save money and now I am very happy with that choice. We started off the year with just these things-economy package, science add on, and r&s English with Write with the Best. We have some funds right now so I am adding in the basic package (history), extensions, and DITHOR. This helped us financially and helped our dd's to get adjusted to HOD.
I hope some of this helps.

Thank you so very much! I really appreciate the help!

My son went to a brick and mortar school for k and 1st. It was not a good situation. K was horrible and he had a very unkind teacher that did not like working with a gifted student. First was better, he had a wonderful teacher. My son quickly learned to dumb himself down because he felt others viewed him as weird and different. He was not happy. This is my big regret. I so wished I homeschooled from the beginning. The school kept saying they wanted him to skip a couple grades. He already was the youngest in his class, in k by 6 months (it was a very old class), there was no way I was going to agree to that. That was why I began homeschooling, now I have lots and lots of reasons.

Jean, that is so sad about your son feeling like he has to "dumb himself down" in ps. My daughter is going through a similar thing at a private school now. Being smart is just not high on the list of the popular kids. Thankfully, she still trieser best and is doing well.We are both looking forward homeschooling for the next school year.
Like you, I am feeling drawn to HOD.I knew I was looking for a CMstyle,and I love that this program isso open and go. Good luck to you!

Thank you, Lee Ann! I am sorry your daughter is going through it now. You and her will love homeschooling. I thought it might take awhile to get my son back to himself but it only took weeks.

It is hard to find a CM style curriculum that is put-together and ready to go. HOD looks so perfect.

Happy homeschooling to you and your daughter!