heartofdakota.com

I was excited to find out about Heart of Dakota and get my catalog. I'm looking forward to ordering material for this next school year. I am looking at "Preparing Hearts for His Glory". My son turns 9 y/o next week and is entering a 4th grade level my daughter is 11y/o and entering 6th grade. This will be their first exposure to world history, so I was looking for a good, brief overview of most of history to start. My daughter is an avid reader and can read faster and comprehend better than I can (I have biology/chemistry college degrees!), while my son is very blessed in math and struggles more with reading, especially comprehension. He can definitely read on grade level, but I'm not so sure about his comprehension when he reads. He does seem to do better when we read to him. He is currently reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder and does pretty well reading the words, but I often have to stop and explain what things mean to him. We have already gotten well settled into another Language Art program over the last few years, but they are a little weak in literature. We really like this program, but it can take quite a bit of time some days, so I'm concerned about having too much work for all of us. I was considering starting with the "Economy Package" (1) with the "Basic Package" of read aloud books for history. I also like the "Drawn Into the Heart of Reading" package, but would probably have to choose between the "Extension Package" (with Preparing Hearts) for my daughter or the "Level 5/6 Girl Interest Book Pack" (with Drawn Into...) as I feel she would be overwhelmed with work if I ordered both (at least to start). How much time each day would be needed to complete each of these programs? Additionally, I'm unsure which level of books to order for my son to read in "Drawn...Reading". Should we start easier with the "Level 3 Book Pack" or see how he handles the "Level 4/5 Boy Interest Book Pack"? After looking at the reading level of the books online I'm really leaning toward the Level 3 pack. Thanks for all of your help.

Hi, I know it all sounds overwhelming, but HOD has done a wonderful job of scheduling readings so that they don't overwhelm. The books are spread over the year so as to be savored and interacted with. First, to clarify, Drawn into the Heart of Reading is the Literature program, and should not be skipped unless you have another program to cover this. You can buy the Sample Book Ideas List for only $5 and utilize the library for DITHOR rather than buying the Book Packs, so that would help you save money-the List is available for purchase on this page:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-packages.php
The Extensions are to provide addtional, higher-level reading material for your older student, and are tied to the history studies-there is a daily schedule and suggested follow-up assignments in the Appendix of the Preparing guide (such as written and oral narrations). Lastly, if you can, do get the Deluxe Package for Independent History Study-these books are meant for the 3rd to 4th grader to read on their own, and have assignments tied to them in the daily lesson plans-these build skills that will be necessary for the subsequent guides, and are also tied to the history being studied. The expected time to do Preparing in a day, including DITHOR and the Independent History and all subjects, is 4 hours (Extensions add about 20 to 30 minutes and are done independently by the older student)-and much of the time your students will be working independently or semi-idependently. By the next guide, CTC, they will have even more independent work, and will have been trained to be ready for it with Preparing. Also, Preparing and all the subsequent guides are scheduled 4 days a week, so you can use the 5th day to stretch out the week/play catch up if needed.
Don't forget grammar and math, and the Bible memory CD (the CD is optional, but my dd liked it).
I hope you get the science too-my dd loved learning science with living books

Welcome to the HOD Board! The pp did a super job of answering your questions, so I will just agree! We did PHFHG a few years back with our oldest ds, and now we are finishing it out with our middle ds. We loved it both times! I think you would too. I agree with you that Level 3 Book Pack would be a good fit for your ds - plus, they are great books he won't want to miss! Sometimes families new to HOD will start their core guide first (PHFHG), and then 3 months or so into the year, when they are into a good routine, they add DITHOR. You would just do less genres in DITHOR this year then, which is just fine. HTH, but what are your thoughts? Do you have any more questions? We love to help here!

In Christ,
Julie