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Hi Ladies,

I am new to Heart of Dakota. I would like to share my family with you and see if you can help me place my children in the right program/s. We are at a place of discontent and our love of learning has faded. Homeschooling used to be fun and I don't know how to get back to that place. I have been devouring all the info on the message boards. The schedule thread blew me away. I have been homeschooling a very long time and the thought of finishing school by noon is foreign to me. If this program can simply the process for us it will be a God send. We have been doing a classical conversations for a few years now and it has sucked the love of learning right out of us. The reason we moved in that directions was because my children were not retaining any thing. We would spend all year reading great books together and by the end of the year they couldn't answer questions about what we had learned. I felt like we had wasted the whole year. Now they know a lot of fact, but hate schooling. We have decided we need a change and will not be continuing with that program next year. My kids: I have an older son (22) who is serving his country in the Air Force and 4 daughter at home who are 16 (almost 17), 12, 10, 7 (almost .

My oldest daughter is doing Classical Conversations Challenge I program this year. Her history is Government and Economics with debate. She is also taking American Literature. She needs an American History credit to graduate next year. I was thinking maybe she could do the Modern Marvels new program for next year and beef it up for a high school credit. She did do American History in eight grade (ABeka) not sure if I could count that for the missing Am.Hist. credit. I looked at the Lit. list and there are a few books she hasn't read yet. She does a lot of writing. She likes poetry and song writing and would like to pursue that in college. She has not had much poetry study. She needs one more English credit. She hates math and wants to take accounting next year and she hates apologia science and wants to take a computer studies (web design/blog design) class for science. I would like to go through the Truth Project with her next year for Bible. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Not sure what to do with the other 3 girls. The 12 yo is a right brain learner, very creative, makes stuff all the time. She is very intelligent. She hates math, but does well in it. She hates writing does ok, but prefers to write about what interests her. She is taking the Essentials of the English Language class at Classical Conversations this year. They do grammar, IEW writing (US History book 1) and math games. She is competent at diagramming complex sentences with verbals and all the other parts of speech. She is reading from Sonlight core 4 this year and comprehends well. She enjoys most of the stories. She is a poor speller, we use Spell to Write and read, but we are so busy with history books, readers and read alouds we usually skip the spelling and it shows. And did I say she hates to write? We hardly ever get to science. She does some Sonlight Science E. Was thinking about starting her in Creation to Christ so we could start at the beginning of history and work our way through. (oops there goes my classical thinking again). This would be her 2nd time through all of history. I am perfectly fine inserting her in whatever program is the best fit for her. She has been doing 7th grade work this year even though she is 12.

My 10 yo is everyone's dream homeschool child. She is a people pleaser and will do whatever is asked of her without complaint. She likes to be perfect. She is reading from Sonlight's level 4/5 readers and listening in on the Core 4 history. She does Math U See (delta), but I'm contemplating a switch next year. She does the essentials class with her older sister and does well. She can diagram complex sentences as well and had good grasp of the basic parts of speech. She does not really like the IEW writing but does it without complaint. She has very neat cursive hand writing (since she was 6) and does great with copywork and dictation. She loves learning about different animals. Animal planet is her favorite show. We have trouble getting through the basics so we hardly ever do science. We do use Character Sketches for Bible and they learn about a lot a different animals from that. She is a great speller. She could easily do the work her older sister does, but the older one doesn't like to work with the perfect child because she feels dumb when she gets something wrong, but the younger one gets it right, or when the younger one gets her work done, but the older one doesn't.

My almost 8 yo is the most friendly person you will ever meet. She loves the Lord with all her heart and loves people. She can make friends with any one. She does well with her schooling but it's BORING. She listens in on the history read alouds. She doesn't really like it this year because someone's sister died in the story and that was sad. She would rather here happy stories. When she was almost 3 she watched the movie Flicka (her favorite movie to this day) and cried. She is very sensitive. She is an emerging reader. We are using Pathway Readers More Days Gone By and she does very well. with that. She spells well, we use Spell to Write and Read and Explode the Code for Phonics. She prints well and can copy all her spelling words (20) and she can copy scripture passages like the ones from A Reason for Handwriting. She comprehends well. She does Character Sketches with us and Math U See (Beta) - think about a switch for next year. She does no formal science and takes Spanish while the older two are at their CC class.

Don't cry, (gasp!), but we do school from 8:30 until 5pm or later every day and never get it all done. Talk about feeling like a failure. I can't keep this up, I'm all worn out. I need some great suggestions from all you wonderful ladies. Help this old homeschooling mom remember what she has forgotten so that we can have joy in our homeschooling again. I need to change and am open to all your suggestions. Please help us find the best fit for our family. I tend to choose too many things that make homeschooling overwhelming maybe because I'm afraid to fail. I need more simple and fun.

Looking forward to your responses.

Sincerely,
Shirley

Hello and hugs to you, Shirley! You have already shared a lot about your children, which helps a lot. Have you looked at the placement chart yet? If you could and share where each individual child places on the chart, that would help us help you better Here is a link: http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php
I would say that you could probably use Missions to Modern Marvels for your oldest with some adjustments for high school credit.
Here is a link that contains all the threads that tell what the new guide will cover: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11148

Hi Lourdes, Thanks for your reply. I have looked at the placement chart and in many areas there are two choices which is what is making this hard for me. My 8yo could place in Beyond or Bigger age wise, she is an emerging reader but still does explode the code phonics workbooks. I could go either with Beyond or Bigger for that. The writing is definitely Bigger. Not sure about grammar, she has had no formal grammar yet, but she may be ready to jump right in so I could go Beyond or Bigger with that one. Math we use Math U See I could pick Beyond or Bigger for that. I could also go either way for Bible, History, Storytime, Poetry and Rhymes. I like the idea of more science because she hasn't had much and enjoys it so I would pick Bigger for that.

My 10yo in age places in preparing, CTC, or Res to Ref. She is an awesome reader. She reads independently. I could pick either CTC or Res to Ref for that. In writing she does great with copywork, has not done much dictation other than spelling words, can write long passages, can do basic outlining but has not done any narration. So I'm not sure if I should choose CTC or Res. To Ref. She has been working through IEW US History Based writing lessons this year. Her grammar is great and she can do basic diagramming and a few complex things not sure if she is applying grammar to writing? I could choose CTC or Res. to Ref for that. Not sure about math. She does MUS Delta. Bible could go with preparing, CTC or Res to Ref. History I think Res to Ref is too much I would choose either preparing or CTC. Science I would choose preparing or CTC. Storytime either preparing or CTC. Poetry any of the three.

My 12 yo in age would place in Res. to Ref. or Rev. to Rev. Reading would be CTC or Res to Ref. She has not had any formal lit. study and not sure what Drawn into the Heart of Reading entails or what level she could do. She hates to write but loves art and will draw or paint all day if I let her. She has been working through IEW US History Based Writing Lessons this year and needs lots of help. I would probably pick CTC or Res to Ref. She has no written narration experience only oral. Hates to copy but does it. She is great with grammar and diagramming complex stuff but I'm not sure if she is applying to writing I would pick CTC or Res to Ref. Math she does Saxon 76 not sure what to pick. Bible I would choose CTC or Res. to Ref. Science is Preparing or CTC. She has not had much science and we tried to start her in Apologia General Science but it is not working. She is not understanding everything. Storytime not sure what to pick I don't know what creative narrations are. Would pick CTC or Res. to Ref for Poetry.

Is this any help at all? I hope that you will be able to guide me to a decision that will give us a year that is not overwhelming but enjoyable. I don't want to place the girls in too hard or too easy a program and can't seem to figure out what would be best. I need someone who has used the curriculum to help me make these choices. I am leaning towards everyone in their own book. Would doing three programs be too overwhelming?

Thanks so much for your patience.
Shirley

Ok, take my advice with a grain of salt because my oldest is just starting Preparing and I haven't looked at anything above that to keep myself from rushing her

Just based on what you posted about comparing to the placement chart I would advise you at this point to take age out of the equation. I know there is an age range on there, but it's more for a guide. An older child placed in a "younger" guide correctly will do much better than an older child placed in the right age range incorrectly. Generally, the advice is that if a child places in between guides, to go with the lower guide.

Now, based on the rest of what you said. For your 8yo, I think I'd start out doing Bigger half speed. I'd use the Emerging readers set. You could move to full speed whenever you felt that both you and she were ready. I'd be planning on having her going full speed by midway through the guide.

For the 10yo and 12yo I think I'd combine in CTC. The only issue is that Preparing really gets them ready for the work in CTC, but if you plan on taking it slowly, I think they'd be fine. In fact, I might consider doing Preparing with extensions.....

Doing three programs is not overwhelming if they are all placed correctly. If you were to choose to do separate programs for each of them, I'd drop down to the lower guides. I'd do Beyond for the 8yo, Preparing for the 10yo, and either CTC or RTR for the 12yo. Again though, I've not looked in depth at CTC or up, so I'm really not sure about how those guides 'guide' you with teaching them how to do the things Preparing teaches them to do.

I think Lora Beth gave you some great options, basically what I would have said I hope Carrie or Julie pop in at some point-they are so good at asking the right questions! One thing I noticed is that you mentioned the oldest not liking to work with the "perfect" one-I have that situation too-my 14 year old does not like to work with her 12 year old sister, who reads really fast and is very articulate-so I separated them even though I could have combined, Personality is definitely a factor, so in your case, I might lean toward Lora Beth's idea of CTC for the oldest, Preparing for the next, and Beyond for the youngest; having them each placed in a level that they each can do without too much hand-holding or "competition" will probably make it easier for you and more enjoyable for them.

Thank you so much gals. I think placing the older two separate would be better at this point. I like the idea of each girl being in a consecutive book, Bigger, Preparing and CTC. It will be a huge financial commitment the first year, but each year after I will only have to buy one program. Thank you for taking the stress out of this difficult decision.

Shirley