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I was wondering if any of you lovely ladies might have some suggestions on placement for my eighth grade, thirteen year old son (young 13-August birthday). We are completely new to HOD and eager to get started but I keep going round and round about whether to use Preparing or Creation to Christ. Let me explain,we have heard so many wonderful things about Preparing, that we don't want to miss it. I thought I would just start with Preparing and then progress through the rest of the guides--finishing up with Marvels to Missions, using the extensions and adding whatever else we needed to bring it up to high school level. I also can't decide between Rod and Staff's English 5 or English 6. We haven't done a lot of formal grammar, so I'm leaning towards 5 but 6 looks doable too--not sure what to do. Is it possible to use the science in the guides and just add supplements to bring it up to high school level? I was thinking of adding Igniting Your Writing (which I already have) to the writing aspects in the guide or is there another good way to adapt the language arts portion? As you can probably tell I am thoroughly confused, and looking forward to any suggestions on what to do! Praying that our Heavenly Father will use you to send some answers my way and also excited aboout being a part of this forum!

The first thing to do is look at where he places on the placement chart http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php. If he places in Preparing then that would work, but if he places in one of the higher guides then he would be bored with Preparing. Also I just want to make sure you know that Carrie will be writing high school guides with one coming out each year starting next year.

I understand the use of the placement chart but I figured it wouldn't be much help to us since his math and language arts are going to be different anyway--please correct me if I'm wrong but I thought it was for placement mostly withthin language arts area. In what ways do you mean he would be bored with it? The history or the projects might be way below his level? Thanks for clarifying!!

If the math and language are different, you could use Preparing for history and science w/ extensions. I see the extensions are for 11 & 12, but if you feel the books are a good level for your son, I don't see why you couldn't use it. Since your son isn't technically high school yet, you could probably use the extensions and leave it at that, or supplement as you see fit. Next year you would need to adjust for high school, depending what you want him to study in these areas. There is no standard as far as what topics are studied in what grades. If you want to study the topics in a certain guide, it is just a matter of using age appropriate books. My dd will be in Preparing at age 11, but more than likely will NOT be using extensions. If you have math and language covered and want to use Preparing for the rest, if you come to something you feel is 'young' for him, you can supplement with 'older' books or projects. It's up to you as the parent and teacher. Just my opinion.

Welcome to the HOD Board, and we would all love to help you out here! You are right, PHFHG is a wonderful program, but I have to tell you CTC is too. The guide that fits your ds the best skillwise will be the guide he probably gets the most out of and enjoys the most in the long run. HOD's assignments in history, storytime, and even in science, incorporate LA skills within the follow-ups. The follow-ups get more in-depth, more difficult, and use higher level thinking in each subsequent guide. This is why the placement chart can help so much! For example, comparing PHFHG to CTC, here are some areas that come to mind (the numbers coincide)...

PHFHG:
1. History reading is shared - parent reads part with more difficult books, student reads other part with much easier books
2. Students begin year by dictating a 1-3 sentence written narration to you to write and for them to then copy, and then progress to writing a 5 sentence written narration and hi-lighting the main idea of it by the end of the year.
3. Students create a staircase timeline out of index cards and assemble them accordion-style or on a closet door.
4. History projects are more simple with fewer steps of directions.
5. Storytime follow-ups:
*Day 1: personal connections are shared that relate to the story
*Day 2: differences between the characters’ lives and the students’
lives are identified based upon the historical time period of
the story
*Day 3: the main character’s faith is evaluated for its impact on the
character’s life and the story
*Day 4: oral narration is practiced by retelling the story
6. Geography quick-finds that are more basic use the globe and or a world map one time each week.
7. Bible Study/Bible Quiet Time: 2 days a week students begin to learn to have their own Bible Quiet Time with parents' overseeing it. The other 2 days discuss with parent, identify mood/purpose of Scripture selection, and copy verses in Common Place book. Short passages from Psalms are memorized and sung with music throughout the year.
8 & 9. Robert Louis Stevenson's poems are discussed, personal connections with the poem are encouraged, the poem is shared with someone creatively, each 12 week term a poem is memorized. One time a week a creative lesson is taught using the poetry as a model. This is the creative writing portion for PHFHG.

CTC:
1. Student reads all of history and it is more difficult reading in both reading level and maturity content than PHFHG's readings
2. Students begin the year by writing a 5-8 sentence written narration and use the Written Narration Tips to edit it and hi-lighting the main idea.
3. Students begin using a History Notebook for their timelines, which is the start of a "Book of Time" that will span Creation to Present Day by the time dc are finished with MTMM.
4. History projects are more involved and have multiple steps of directions.
5. Storytime follow-ups...
Day 1: give a detailed oral narration
Day 2: rotate through the following 4 narration activities: an outline sketch, a
short skit, a question and answer session, and an advertisement speech
for the book
Day 3: give a summary narration
Day 4: make connections between the story and Proverbs
6. Geography uses a more in-depth study of the Holy Land using "A Child's Geography Vol. II" two days we each week
7. Bible Quiet Time is done daily and has its own "box" in the plans. The DK Family Bible is used, or a Bible of your own choice. The 4 Parts of Prayer are taught using the ACTS model. All of Phil. 2 is memorized, and is sung along with music, as well as copied in the Common Place book.
Bible Study is done 2 days a week with a parent using "Genesis Finding Our Roots", a very deep resource.
8. Poetry: Robert Frost poems are read, moods/meaning discussed, memorize 1 each 9 week term, learn about his life, and step by step multiple directions are followed to learn to water color paint a painting each week to match the poem's meaning. You also learn about his life.
9. Writing: "Write with the Best" is taught twice each week for writing instruction. It uses excerpts from classical literature that is quite difficult in content (i.e. Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, Wordsworth, etc.)

As you can see, the level of difficulty of assignments and assessments increases from PHFHG to CTC quite a bit. HOD does an excellent job of incrementally moving dc through skill sets as they move through guides in all subject areas. This is why placement is so much more than just the LA and math labeled boxes. I am hoping that this may help you be able to see which guide would fit your ds better, but you can also print out the first week of plans of each guide to see. All "I" boxes are for the student to do independently, "S" semi-independently, and "T" teacher-directed. HTH as you ponder which guide is a better fit for ds, but keep asking questions here! This board is full of encouraging ladies who are glad to help.

In Christ,
Julie

Many thanks to the ladies who responded to my question--you have been immensely helpful, so thank you for you time and effort. You have helped me realize, which I wasn't doing before, that the language arts in HOD are not separate from the science and history but are actually a big part of it . It would not make sense to do the science and history without it as I was considering. It was as if the light came on, because of your comments, and I have decided to start my son in Creation instead of Preparing. As one commentator said --"he would be bored in Preparing" and , thanks to Julie's excellent post, I now see it is because the language arts, that are within those subjects, would not be on an optimal level for him. I guess I was looking for someone to justify my reasoning and say go ahead and do it, but I'm learning (the hard way) that we can't go backwards and regain the time but must move forward into the present and future. It's just hard, as we look at our own failures and limitations, but I do know that our awesome God is a God of the impossible and he can make beauty come from ashes (my mistakes)!!! Please pray from me along those lines and pray that I will be able to finish Creation as I have also been known to curriculum hop quite often (not a good idea ladies--unless you want to end up with a bunch of regrets and should haves!!) I just wish I would have posted this question sooner and not wasted so much time trying trying to decide on my own what to do!! Blessings to you all!! P.S.--I've been thinking of starting some sort of Curriculum Junkies' Anonymous support group--anybody know of one?? I need it desperately!!!

Celestialmom, you will probably find that all experienced homeschool moms have been "curriculum junkies". Consider the time and cost of all those curricula you hopped around to as the tuition to your Homeschooling University I hope you and your son enjoy your year with CTC-my daughter (turning 13) is halfway through CTC and is loving it Out of everything I have ever tried over the years, I love Heart of Dakota, so well-balanced and easy to use.

Sorry. I guess I was looking at it more as doing the guide as is with the child's level of Math and English, and then adding extensions. Also, I was looking at the topics studied as a reason to go with a certain guide if there could be extensions. I can understand that it would be hard to change the level of written work if what is in the guide is well below the student. I wasn't thinking of that when I gave my opinion. It IS best to use every aspect of the guide.