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We've never done HOD, but I want to use Preparing next year.
I'll have an 8 yo 3rd grader and a 10 year old 4th grader. I'm wondering if this is the best level to begin with? The reason I chose Preparing was because it uses the history spine that I want to use next year. (CHOW) It will be our first time to do world history and HOD. We're burned out on American history, so Preparing seems like the sensable place to begin.
Any thoughts or wisdom would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Carly

Welcome Carly! I think if your kids all fit well into Preparing when you look at the chart http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php then it would be the way to go if you feel like American has been covered well. I would just make sure the younger one was covered well. Your plan sounds great to me! Please tell us all about your Preparing adventures! We are excited to use CHOW also!

No advice here as I just have little ones still, but I just wanted to say hi from another Texan! I'm sure you'll get some great advice from other mamas on here.

I love that Preparing has the Rod and Staff English scheduled out for me too! That's another reason it seems the right level for the children.

Hi Carly! I think that if your kids fit into Preparing on the placement chart that it sounds like it fits with your desires for the year, too.

*I'm not sharing this to confuse you*...so ignore me if you want to. I have an 8 yo, 3rd grader...he just turned 8. It will also be our 1st year doing HOD, and we're going to do Bigger. My 8 yo is a boy, and isn't that fond of writing, although he has improved a lot, and doesn't complain much about it anymore. Anyway, when I was first glancing at the placement chart, I really thought that he could do either Bigger or Preparing. We decided to go with Bigger because I thought it looked so interesting and I thought a more relaxed year would be good for us. Plus, we haven't done some of the "CM things" so far in his schooling...narration, dictation, and I think Bigger will help us learn these things before we move on to the next level with them in Preparing. After looking at the samples for Preparing, I think he would have been fine academically, but the writing would have been a bit much for him. I'm guessing that the American History in Bigger is probably a fresh take on anything you've studied being biographical and having Carrie's activities to go with it. But, I'm not saying that you should necessarily try it. I just know that the perspectives of other ladies here on the board have really helped me think through the decisions I've made for my family...so I wanted to share my thoughts on Bigger for an 8 yo. I don't think that you'd find Bigger to be "not enough" for your 8 yo and your 10 yo could use the extension for it if he/she likes to read. But...Preparing is the other excellent choice!

Carly, I hope I didn't confuse you, just wanted to share my experience so far. I think that deciding where to start can be the hardest part.
Kathleen