Newbie Seeks Help!

Tana in FL · Post by **Tana in FL** » Thu May 15, 2008 7:59 am

Hello Heart of Dakota Families!

I am Tana, wife to Dave and mom to Caleb/8 and Amelia/5. We live in central Florida and currently use Christian Light Education. Normally we use FIAR, WinterPromise or Sonlight, but this year Mom needed a time-out due to some changes taking place in the family. I am currently trying to figure out what the fall will bring. Heart of Dakota strikes something in me, so I have to check it out more closely....

So here is where I would LOVE your help - figuring out where HOD fits into our family. My son will be 9 in September. He is very academic. He reads books at a high school level and would do nothing except read for schooling if I let him.

My daughter is 5 and will be 5/6 (Feb birthday) for the next year. She is not yet reading. She isn't as academic as my son. Her love is all things creative. Give the girl a paintbrush, and stand back!

I would be so thrilled to teach them together, if at all possible. And, to make it even more confusing, I am hoping to have some kind of American History this year as well. If none of the HOD programs will allow for that, I am open to other suggestions. But that is where my heart is for now.

For reference, other programs I am considering right now are: FIAR and BYFIAR, WP American Story 1, MFW Adventures and Beautiful Feet Early American History.

If anyone would like to help me come up with a course of action for HOD, I would be so grateful. My mind is so full of info right now that I'm confusing myself.

If you've read this far, I thank you.

Katie · Post by **Katie** » Thu May 15, 2008 8:30 am

Tana,
I am new here too, so I have absolutely no advice, and can't be of any help to you

...but I just wanted to say HI! Welcome!!!

MamaMary · Post by **MamaMary** » Thu May 15, 2008 8:42 am

Hi Tana,

I knew immediately it was you when I saw your name! You are going to LOVE HOD! We did the FIAR/WinterPromise route and in all my years I've never found something that was such a perfect fit!

Go to the Week In Review's and you can see what a normal week looks like!

Also, if you go to the HOD main board they have a placement test to take. I am thinking that you have several options, but I'm running out the door! I'll check in later

(((Welcome)))

Mary, Your former FIAR and WinterPromise buddy!

momof2n2 · Post by **momof2n2** » Thu May 15, 2008 8:50 am

hmmm - the only one I can weigh in on is FIAR. I just don't see that as meaty enough for a "very academic" 9 year old, without putting a lot of extra stuff into it [a/k/a more work for mom.]

Obviously I recommend the placement pages! But I might suggest Beyond if you are doing both. It has wonderful set-up to American history and early America. I could see you enhancing it for your son with a few more stories, if needed. I can also see your 6 year old enjoying it. My 5 year old listened in a lot with my 7 year old this past year.

You would obviously need to tailor a few things - I think Math, Reading and Language Arts.

You could pick math for each child's level. It is an area that you can do something other than what Carrie recommends, without taking away from the Bible/History/Storytime synthesis.

You could then chose to do phonics with your daughter and DITHOR with your son.

And then Language arts is something that seems so extraordinarily personal. I must confess I never realized it until visiting this board. I must be more aggressive in this area, but I never realized that. Using the placement chart or the sample days, you could see if that would be a good level for either of your children. If not, perhaps you could pick another spelling or language program for each.

I think the History box, the Science/Geography/History Activity/Art box, the poetry box, the music box, the storytime box and the Bible boxcould all be used with both kids.

We have had a lot of fun this year, and I am mostly looking forward to next year [I am still wondering how we will pull it all off.

]

Tana in FL · Post by **Tana in FL** » Thu May 15, 2008 9:25 am

Katie - Hi! Thank you for the welcome! I appreciate it.

Mary!!! Hi! I'm so thrilled to "see" you here! What a very pleasant surprise. Funny how we walk so much of the same path....

I'm very excited to catch up with you and look forward to hearing what you recommend!

Momof2n2 - Thank you so much for your detailed reply. I truly appreciate it. I will look into what you said and will also check out the placement pages. Really, thank you!

Thanks, ladies! I appreciate it a lot and look forward to hearing more!

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Thu May 15, 2008 9:27 am

Hi Tana. I loved the description of your kids. Take a look at this placement chart and see what you think. It is very accurate for finding the best fit.
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

From your description I think what you want for your oldest is Bigger and I would throw the extension pack in for our son that loves to read. I have one of those as well. She is 10 and reads 24/7 and she is loving Bigger. The younger one I think we need a little more info on to place. If she is really kind of flighty like my 6 year old was at 5 and does not have her initial letter sound phonics and the skills listed in the chart under LHTH then that would be a good place for her. If she does have that down but still needs to mature in focus I may put her in LHFHG but consider doing just a half section (one page of the two pages per section) a day and just move at a slower pace at first. She may be ready to just move but I am kind of throwing in what I observed in two of my creative type girls and focus is hard for them in the early years. We have done days with LHFHG at half pace and it works great to have more than LHTH but not quite the full program. It also gives mom a little break. May not be an option you need but just putting it out there.

Let us know what you think after looking at the chart.

Tansy · Post by **Tansy** » Thu May 15, 2008 9:48 am

I'm with w2w I think you should do 2 programs as well. My suggestion is to use child labor* to make sure you don't get overwhelmed. Altho I hear doing 2 programs is very very do-able. And i do agree with doing things half paced. Only half the lesson per day for your 5/6.

*For example you can have your 9 year old do all the history reading for your 5/6 year old, as well as any phonics and counting drills etc. That way your 9 year old would get a double dose of history.

The red book (LHFHG) does an over view of history- creation to WWII
The blue book (Beyond) is american history
The yellow book (Bigger) is american history
Preparing will start a 3 year history cycle.

When combining 2 programs you always can pick and choose what you will do that day. Say doing only one art project instead of both of them.
Or studying only one bible verse.

Tana in FL · Post by **Tana in FL** » Thu May 15, 2008 10:58 am

water2wine and Tansy - Thank you so much for your replies. Tansy, I laughed at your child labor idea. I like it!

After looking at the placement area, it looks like two programs would be best for us. B/9 will fit well into Bigger with the expansion package, and D/5/6 will fit well into LHFHG. She is a little beyond LHTH and would probably feel like she was doing "baby work" (that would be her description, not mine

). She likes to sit in with Caleb once in awhile when we are working on things, so she has a bit of a headstart in focusing just by having an older sibling. And I have use the PreK and some of the K workbooks from CLE with her, so she knows a little. She is no where near ready to read. She doesn't know all of her letters or sounds, though she shows great interest in learning them and sounding letters out. I have Reading Made Easy that I used with my son and will dust that off and get it ready for her. I'm encouraged to see it is recommended by HOD.

I really appreciate everyone's help. You have cleared things up for me and saved me a lot of wheel spinning.

Thank you!

Melanie · Post by **Melanie** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:01 am

Hi Tana! Just wanted to say welcome!!

Your plan sounds great! We are just finishing up Little Hearts and have had a fantastic year.....your dd will love it!

Glad you found HOD.

Mel

inHistiming · Post by **inHistiming** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:02 am

Tana,

We lived in central Florida for 8 years...and just moved here to NY last July. What a change! I just wanted to say hello to you, from a former Floridian!

Mommamo · Post by **Mommamo** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:04 am

I just wanted to say hi and welcome!

I'm new here as well. We're going to start LHFHG this fall.

my3sons · Post by **my3sons** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:10 am

Hi Tana! Welcome to the HOD board! I used Bigger... and LHFHG this year with my children, and we have had an awesome year. We began LHFHG at half-pace, doing the left side of the plans one day, and the right side of the plans the next day. After about 4 months of this, we started doing both pages of plans each day. It's been a cakewalk doing Bigger... and LHFHG together, and I'm very happy about the "path" we're going down this way. I get the bonus of teaching different HOD programs back-to-back this way, which keeps it very new and refreshing for me as well. Glad you are here, and keep on posting so we get to know each other!

In Christ,
Julie

momof2n2 · Post by **momof2n2** » Thu May 15, 2008 12:46 pm

my 3 sons

so glad to hear you felt Bigger and LHFHG were a cakewalk together. I am a bit concerned with doing the two

my3sons · Post by **my3sons** » Thu May 15, 2008 3:02 pm

momof2n2 wrote:my 3 sons

so glad to hear you felt Bigger and LHFHG were a cakewalk together. I am a bit concerned with doing the two

Don't be concerned - but maybe give yourself some time to get used to it! I started mid-Aug. and I gave myself 2 weeks to ease into both of the programs. We did the slower pace with Bigger... (left page of plans one day, right side of plans next day) for 2 weeks. Then, by week 3, we did all of Bigger... This was a decision I made more for myself to get used to it, than for my son's getting used to it.

For LHFHG, we kept the slower pace for 4-5 mos., and then did it all.

I have a wonderful, but pretty time-intensive, baby too, and we had a ton of doctor's appointments (he wears a temporary helmet and has reflux) to work around. I thank God every day for my HOD programs I'm using - I couldn't have made it homeschooling through the last 2 years without them!

I am not a supermom, so if I can do this, you can too! And, what's more - you can even ENJOY doing it!!! I'm living proof!

In Christ,
Julie

wisdom4us · Post by **wisdom4us** » Thu May 15, 2008 3:50 pm

my3sons wrote:Hi Tana! Welcome to the HOD board! I used Bigger... and LHFHG this year with my children, and we have had an awesome year. We began LHFHG at half-pace, doing the left side of the plans one day, and the right side of the plans the next day. After about 4 months of this, we started doing both pages of plans each day. It's been a cakewalk doing Bigger... and LHFHG together, and I'm very happy about the "path" we're going down this way. I get the bonus of teaching different HOD programs back-to-back this way, which keeps it very new and refreshing for me as well. Glad you are here, and keep on posting so we get to know each other!

In Christ,
Julie

my3sons,
Maybe you can make a new post giving us a break day of your day. I'll be doing Bigger and Little together in the fall. My boys will be 7.5 & 5 when we start.

I'm doing Beyond now and loving it!

Tana,

I have a Caleb too and we live in N. Central Florida. Nice to "meet" you.