heartofdakota.com

Hello! I am new to HOD, and seek advice -- this was the place that everyone sent me!
I absolutely love Charlotte Mason philosophy, and this is second only to my desire to train my my children with a Christ-worldview.
I have 4 children: MG is 11.5yo -- EK is 8yo -- HR is 5.5yo -- SA is 2yo, 3 in July. We are also expecting another little bean at the end of October.
I will not pretend that I have been a good homeschool mom, devoted to hardcore homeschooling my children since we began 5 years ago. I tend (ha!) to be all-or-nothing...which means it's usually nothing (or very little). I started out in Waldorf education, but moved over to CM. THAT's a long story for another time

As it stands now, I have used Ambleside Online as my strongest guide, but sticking with it (read: DOING IT ALL) has been hard. There is so.much. I have studied up on Simply Charlotte Mason (we use Delightful Reading and I have Delightful Handwriting), Lindafay's CMHelp curriculum, Guest Hollow, and more. I feel like I have, over the past couple years, exhausted my brain. Pinterest has done nothing to help, as I can "pin" all day, but don't do the fun things I pin Ohhh, Silly Sally!
I started with Story of the World, but blew that off pretty quick, nad have Mystery of History 1. Again, I stopped, but that was mainly because of my insane morning sickness this time. We also started with Apologia Astronomy, but girls - I have a sitckwithit issue!! I would sit my MOH and all my lovely living books and all my AO lists and the laptop open to AO's articles and Karen Andreola's beautiful book -- and 4 hours later, had one subject on the planner planned out for one child. WHAT?!?!?!
This pregnancy has really made me think about how inefficient I am in planning, how perfectionistic I am and how that really has been my stumbling block.
I want ALL CM all the time, but if I can't do ALL of it, I get frustrated and let the kids go play. I guess that's a little extreme, but it's not that far off.

What has carried us is my oldest's reading ability. THe girl devours anything!! My 8yo is only just now really starting to want to read, and has really picked it up without much skill and drill -- she is just driven to figure it out. My son, the 5yo bucked My Father's World to the point that I realized it wasn't rebellion, but he wasn't ready for tablework. He is trying to learn letters of his own accord right now, and is open to instruction, so I think he's more ready now.

I have all AO printed out and many of the books for some of the years, so why am I doubting and looking to HOD? Several reasons are driving this:
1--as brilliant as AO is, I CAN NOT proof every book on that list for my older daughter. We don't expose our children to a whole lot (we don't own tv, for instance) so they are far more sensitive to things that your mainstream kid, does that make sense? we are bible-creationist folks, and don't want to ignore other theories, but at a young age, we want to train them up. When they are older and have the skill of discernment and questioning and all, they can begin to look at these these. Creation is just one example. We also guard language ALOT (we don't allow "dumb" or "stupid" or "butt" or even "hate" to be spoken..."hate" only in certain contexts). Geez, I sound so rigid, don't I? AO's books have some of these things, because they put (and I understand) the richness of the literature first. I respect that, but it makes it hard as the child moves through books in the Years, you know?

2-- I get narration. I like narration. I advocate it. But I am to pooped to get creative with other ideas for bringing that information forth, and my oldest is missing crafts. Not handicrafts, but activities that engage her specific to learning. I am really serious about not doing things like that which don't help their learning (doing the history craft just to be doing a cute craft, for example) but my oldest would like to do more, and my 8yo is a Crafty girl!! I just don't have time or energy to find, plan, organize, prepare for these things for Holling C Holling's book, ro the Burgess books (AO faves!) and more. I started to, but ran out of steam. Or, I can get the list going, but fall short after that.

3-- If it's not laid out for us, I GREATLY fear that it won't get done. My oldest loves schedules, and will do it all, if it's written out for her. I tried that with AO and it lasted about 2 weeks. I was writing it all out for her (and she could have done it, but it was alot and I still need to write the directions) and I was getting tired of doing that! I even had cute little boxes in my planning notebook AND hers for each subject!!!

THere are more reasons, but these are the big three.

HOD has many CM elements (and the ones left out are easily added in) -- has daily plans for each thign IN BUBBLES/BOXES!! -- has very good books -- is very specific about ANYTHING taht might be questionable (in the samples I have read, and some major experiences that my friends have had with HOD) -- includes EVERYTHING -- specifically tells you what to copy and such, because I jsut don't have time to search out quotes and the like for copywork! There are more reasons for moving to HOD, but these are the biggies (and a 5yo is nearby!)

So you know where I come from (maybe TMI!) but I NEED a curriculum that is open-and-go but feeds my need for CM. I need it to lead us, as much as I dislike that. It's not what I want, it's what I need. End of story.

So here is where I am at:
My 11yo MG girl to do Res to Ref (I can not tell you how in love with this year I am!!) but have thought about starting her at CtC...but I want her to get to the other 2 books in 7th and 8th grades.
My 8yo EK girl in Beyond. I will need to start low and slow on the reading, as she's super beginning (Margeret Hillert books at the library are good for her right now) and I want her to get the 2 years of American History in before starting the 4 year world history cycle...should we love HOD and continue
My 6yo boy in Little Hearts for His Glory, but somehow finagle it to take longer?
My 2yo ucan follow along, and try to to toddler boxes for her or somesuch

Do these sound right? SHOULD I start MG in CtC and just do the 4th book in her 9th grade year? (I'm a little nervous about high school, can you tell?) If I do this, I want to do it exclusively, especially with a babe coming so soon into the school year.

Did I send you all away? haha! I am really excited about how this is looking and look forward to moving forward with it!

I don't know if I can help all that much since my oldest is in Beyond, but I'll try! First be sure to check the placement chart for each kiddo, especially the first page and especially the writing! http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

I will tell you my DD age 7 (will be 8 July) has done well with Beyond this year. We love the hands on activities that tie back with what we've learned! plus its very Christ-focused, love that!!
One thing you could do to spread out your littlest is do LHFHG only 4 days a week. In a typical school year that would give you an extra 9 weeks the next year. We have been doing that w/ Beyond and LHTH this year and love it! At first it may seem weird that your day 1 isn't on Monday but after awhile it didn't bother us at all. I just called them "units" not weeks. HTH

Thank you, Robbie! I am starting to second guess myself, though. I somehow found the yahoo group, and they were saying that Res to Ref was seriously hardcore, and have been strongly encouraged to NOT start my oldest (11.5yo) in that! I have heard that CtC would be better, or even go lower, remembering NOT to focus on the history table, but skills. My mind does not want to do that, LOL! One suggestion was to put them all in Bigger and do extensions for my oldest. I am just not familiar with all these things to jump on that.
HELP!

Being that this is your first year with HOD, I would tend to agree about your 11.5 year old daughter. I would especially listen to the wiser HOD moms who have been there done that! My almost 11 year old is going to be doing Preparing this coming year with extensions. He probably could do CtC but each book prepares them for the next and I really think he could use a "gentler" year with solidifying his ability to narrate, etc. with some independence too before going on to the higher guides. I don't necessarily think you should put her back in Bigger, but a year with CtC sounds like a lovely idea.

You really do need to see where each dc places on the placement chart as far as skills go. I know it is hard to ignore what history looks good, or the fact you want to get to x guide by a certain year. HOD is different in the the skills build in each guide. I wouldn't place them all in bigger, but I would look especially to see where your 11.5 year old places in regards to skills. The reading level of CTC and RTR is high and they are expected to do the history and science reading on their own. If she is used to the books used in AO though that might not be an issue. In CTC they should be fairly comfortable with written narrations for history and working on fine tuning those skills. In RTR they then also start doing written narrations for science. How independent of a learner is she? That might make a difference also in that RTR has more Independent boxes than CTC. The writing program in RTR is also more intense than the one in CTC.

Ladies, your wisdom is so important to me! I appreciate it more than you can know -- or actually, you might have been where I was, and totally understand how wonderful the parents of this board are!
After reading here and the yahho group, I am much more confident that Preparing is a better fit for my 11.5yo, with extensions. I will have to work on my mindset of looking at history and long-term accomplishments after skills.
MG wants to be independent and has been, but she (nor I, hence the need for HOD help!) hasn't been trained in HOW to do narrations, copywork, looking at non-fiction in a different lightn than her fiction, etc. We haven't done much grammar. she has worked through some of Queen's Language Lessons, one of the elementary books, but that's it. The main reason, past agreeing with CM that so much is too much, is that she gets how things work by reading. When she writes her own stories, she uses grammar correctly and her spelling is always great. She is the kind that can see it and remember it, no need to do any spelling tests or all those funn little activities I see often with phonics, grammar, etc. I looked at R&S English 6 and it totally blew my mind.

I am wondering how to place her in these sorts of things, or just continue with QLL and go easy. Does the English in R&S or other program fuel the writing program in RtR and other (that IEW or whathaveyou looks amazing!!)? If I ditched R&S English and continued with QLL (which, for example is FAR more gentle than R&S and doesn't do diagramming sentences) would I be hurting my chidldren when they get into other writing programs like IEW?

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So I am about set on Preparing fro my 11.5 yo. I am still wringing my hands with my 8yo. She is a dreamy sort of girl, and at the very beginnning stages of reading. She doesn't catch reading the way her sister did. I started with SCM's Delightful Reading and like it, but we were only at the very beginning. We were gifted with old I Am Sam books, and she started with those. My husband checked out margaret Hillert books from teh library and she's working through them. The thing with me is that I have a background in Whole Language per my degree, and am trying to come to terms with the validity of phonics instruction. I get it and am good with learning phonics some, but she needs a broad range of strategies for new words (I should say that I remember little to none of what I learned in college, go figure). Right now, with my husband reads with her (he has really taken that up), there are no strategy mini-lessons. He will tell her the word, and have her read it all again and then move on. Part of me thinks that's fine...but that was something that worked for the 11.5yo. THat one could hear/see it once and remember it throught the book and forever. My 80yo, EK? Nope, nope, nope. I am not sure how she learns, but her attention span is extrememly short, so CM-lessons work best for her. She is my little homemaker, my little mama, my crafty sue, my tea party princess. I was looking at Beyond, then Bigger for her the following year.
Any insights from all my rambling?

I am eager to get going

oops

I think Beyond would be a good fit for your 8 yr old. How is she at writing? In Beyond, they have copywork of the poem to do daily. Other than that, just a little bit here & there. The spelling words I let my DD do on the dry erase board. The writing has def been the hardest for her. In Bigger there is a lot more writing. Could your DD read a Frog and Toad book? They have them at our public library. If so, she's ready for the Emerging Readers. The comprehension questions for these books are in the back of Beyond.
HTH,

One thing with Rod and Staff is that you wouldn't start your dd in R & S 6. Carrie plans for them to finish R & S 6 at the end of 8th grade and then spread 7 and 8 out through high school. You would most likely start her in level 4. That way it is a more gentle approach. If you stick with your own grammar the only thing you need to be aware of is that when looking at the overall writing instruction Carrie did base it on the writing lessons in R & S. So if you use something else there may be some things that are covered in Rod and Staff that your dd might miss out on.

As far as the phonics instruction I can't help much there. My ds was in public school and learned a combination of sight words and phonics to read. I will say that now that he is older I wish the emphasis had been more on phonics. He was considered an above average reader through 1st and 2nd grade. Now he has difficulty sounding out longer words which then impacts his ability to understand the text. I have been having him go through a program called Megawords that teaches him the phonics rules and it is helping immensely. Like you my older dd never needed that. She just instinctively knows how to read longer words. You might want to look at The Reading Lesson. Everyone on here seems to love it and it sounds like a gentle approach to learning to read.

Robbie, EK is not able to Frog and Toad yet, but your statement about questions at the back for Emerging Readers brought another question to my mind that has been bouncing around: with these "extensions," how does the TM deal with those? Are we on our own, or does it give us the same instruction as with the main spine books and such? I am thinking of my oldest in this situation, should she do Preparing. She puts pencil to paper, but it's still a mix of upper- and lower-case. We haven't done a formal handwriting program, but both she and her 11yo sister NEED it. oh, my... She can write a sentence well to sort of my standards before getting tired. Does that help in figuring out ?

Lynn, your information on R&S was incredibly helpful. I happened to see The Reading Lesson somewhere online, and thought it was waht HOD suggested. I read the samples at Timberdoodle and it sounds SO MUCH like CM instruction, accourding to Delightful Reading by Simply Charlotte Mason. Granted, it was only the first lesson, so I am curious how it progresses (which the sample did not show).

chilllin'inandover, thank you for time breaks -- I like it alot!!

It sounds like Beyond might be best for my 8yo. my sone will be 6 september 2, but he has had no formal academics. we tried MFW K for him, but he was not the least bit interested. He initiates letter writing and we have just sort of rolled with it, but here lately he wants to "do school." He is eager to turn 6! I have been thinking that LHTH would be best, but now I am wondering if he should be in LHFHG instead. Any indications on that?
thank you al lso much!

I think LHFHG would be best for your almost 6 year old. I think LHTH would be too young. You can always take LHFHG 1/2 speed.

I have done Beyond, Bigger, and now Preparing for both my kids. After reading the previous posts, I think that Preparing with extensions would be a good starting place for your oldest. It will really give her a good foundation in all the areas needed to really succeed in a HOD/CM style. I love the content of Preparing and it meets the desires and requirements you listed for your family above (i.e.Creation). The schedule for the extensions are listed in the appendix in the back of the Preparing Guide.

I, too, think that Beyond would be good for your 8 yo. If she still needs phonics work, then you could easily do The Reading Lesson. If she is able to start the Emerging Readers, they are scheduled in the appendix of the Beyond Guide.

You hadn't mentioned exactly where your ds would place on the chart but it would definitely work for you to put him in LHFHG and start 1/2 pace with him and working up to full pace as he is ready.

I've have really found HOD to be pretty much open and go. Carrie has done a wonderful of pulling together a curriculum that really covers all learning styles and makes it easy to teach.

Stephanie

My son falls under the LHTH in reading - still learning his letters and sounds
--LHFHG in fine motor for instruction
not sure about grammar studies...might be ready?
Math -- i don't daily math worksheets would keep him so somewhere between LHTH and LHFHG

I think it would be good to do LHFHG but do what you all have said and slow it down.

After talking to you all you and the yahoo group, it seems like LHFHG going slow (would have to see it to know what to do) for my 5-6yo son, Beyond for my 8yo girl, and Preparing with extenstions for my 11yo.

I DO have more question questions (surprised?) but I'll not bug you anymore tonight...i think....