heartofdakota.com

I love books...books on sale-- even better---books with a curriculum--- gold mine...

I have BH,preparing, C to C, res to rev, and missions

I also have sonlight core d and e
Now, where it gets complicated...my plan was always HOD however along the way and for cheap I have used MFW adventures and because I really wanted a yr where all 3 could work together we did MFW Exploring countries ( before I knew you were making a geography guide- sigh)

With a 5th and 3rd grader next year I have myself mixed up! Doing My Father's World adventures ( intro America) was ok, but I don't think they really remember much. So, I thought I would use BH this year but it really is below the 5 th grade level sooooo I thought I could combine HOD and all the sonlight for a year of American History but that is a lot of work...I just noticed if I purchase the revival set they will get American history again ... I dont really care about the history cycle that much but I do want what they learn to be memorable otherwise I might as well give them a textbook. Ugh. And I am sure wasting my time staring at this ridiculous amount of books!

My love for HOD starting because of Preparing with my oldest. I think my obsession for curriculum sets is sucking the life out of me and I need to sell stuff and get to a good place again. I prefer to work with with the 3rd and 5th together--I have sev. Individual things they already work on that need my attention

Don't laugh too much. But a few suggestions would be helpful

From one book lover to another, I honestly think you've answered your own question. Sell or bless others with what you are not using, don't love, or that is a monkey on your back (basically sucking the joy out of your life). As far as your upcoming 3rd and 5th grader, check the placement chart. I will say that my dc have been combined now for 3 yrs now and we all love it. They are a 3rd and 5th grader themselves and are both doing Preparing working on their own levels in Math and English.

Honest opinion here is do HOD as written and just enjoy it. You'll just suck the joy right out of it and life if you are determined to tweak and add all the time. I add things in the sense of Magic School Bus videos, Carmen San Diego, even BJU Science videos, but not because I think HOD is lacking, but because my kiddos love them. It is not in any scheduled way. Before I came to HOD I had to make everything perfect and make sure I didn't miss this or that. Just following the guide has been very freeing for me. We do field trips atleast 1x/month and also do a little coop class 1x/month. This is about all I can handle, but is doable since Preparing is a 4 day program. Oh, I do add a little p.e. type stuff, but it is because Carrie got my kiddos addicted to doing some exercises when learning their memory verses.

Hopefully I've encouraged you to be FREE and trust the process. It sounds like you've got a TON of guides for the future, so you can see all the cool, interesting things that are coming. Don't try to teach all that now or it won't be as guide when you get to it.

I have the 3 American curriculums side by side...and am leaning towards just going straight to Preparing. I agree simple is the best. Less is more less is more! I know it in words but it takes awhile to make it sink in all the way. Thanks for encouraging me. .

Ckemonster,
I feel like we are in similar situations. I honestly can't figure out what to do with my kids next year. My oldest should move into MTMM. My next two will be in 3rd and 5th. My sweet, soon to be dd10 has taken quite a while to read. We went through Bigger last year, but because she wasn't quite an independent reader, I chose a sunlight core to more easily combine her and dd7. It's worked ok, not great. We've done lots of tweaking this year and finally dropped most of the history . Looking at next year I have considered all your options too. Part of me wants to split them, but I don't think I can do either of them justice if I did. I have a 3 year old at home too. Yet in some way they compete a little too much to keep them together.
I have considered Preparing for both of them. My only question is what I would do the next year. CTR seems too much for a 4th grader.

John's mom,
What is your plan for next year? Will you keep your two together in CTR?

blessedmom wrote:John's mom,
What is your plan for next year? Will you keep your two together in CTR?

Blessedmom,
Yes, my plan is to keep them together in CTC. I know I"ve heard over and over how CTC is going to be too hard for my youngest as she will be turning 9 in July before starting CTC in August. I know everyone warns against it, well, it seems like everyone other than Carrie as she wrote the guide for 9+. I wouldn't be honest in saying that some of those reviews haven't made my heart faint as we love HOD and I'd hate for it to ever be a source of frustration. All I can say is that I've heard here from Carrie and Julie repeatedly that if you do one guide fully (which we are) then it prepares you for the following guide. I recently read an excerpt from the history book that is suppose to be one of the biggest issues that CTC is too hard for children on the younger end of the guide and it was a little surprising how hard some of the words were. With that said, reading is my dd's strong suit. She reads above grade level. With that said, I still think some of the words will be above her. So I guess I just have to keep trusting what HOD says, and of course praying.

That's a long answer for your short question.

If it helps, we have a 9 year old who just started CTC. And, yes, I'm a curriculum junkie too Anyway, the 9 year old, she'd be in 4th in reg school, in CTC is doing WONDERFUL! We started half-time and are staying there, using some other readers to 'fill' it out. Everyone was hesitant about me doing this too, but if you know your child, and think they can handle it, it will all be good! We are new to HOD as well, and some of the things we are learning together (like how to do narration correctly). Sometimes it's a matter of believing in your child and that a challenge is a good thing. For instance, my dd came to me with the first narration and said "mom, this is hard, I can't DO this!" I calmly told her "yes you can!" and I helped her start off by helping her ask questions and sequence some things. She came back with a seven sentence narration that was so AWESOME that it surprised both me and my husband!

Thanks ladies for that encouragement. So good to know your kids did well. If our kids are capable, they will rise to our expectation.
When my oldest was in first grade, we used a different curriculum, she was narrating super long narrations. When she was in CTC in 5th grade, she would sometimes say she couldn't also. I reminded her what she had done years ago. She was more than capable, she just needed to be reminded.
My rising 3rd grader is capable I think. She would prefer the easiest possible, but she can narrate well. We'll see. I'll keep praying.

ckemonster,

The ladies are doing a great job of helping you talk through possible options! I'll just pop-in to mention that while CTC is a step up in skill level, its success truly depends on only two main things. One is that placement is key. So, for those families who are new to HOD, it is important for a child who is 9 to really be able to do what we are listing on the placement chart before being placed in CTC. If the kiddos are well-placed, they will thrive. If not, they will flounder. So often, families new to HOD choose CTC simply because they wish to study the ancients. This type of placement overlooks the skills the child will need to actually do CTC in the day-to-day. So, remember placement based on skills is key.

Second, for those families who have children coming into CTC from Preparing, it will be very important that their children did the 'I' boxes in Preparing independently (and read their own material for those boxes as well). It will also be very important that the parent did not do alot of skipping of various parts of the plans within Preparing, because if you skip a box of the plans you skip a needed skill. Just remember, "skip a box, skip a skill". These two things will make a huge difference in how successful a child is upon beginning CTC.

With this in mind, hopefully you will have a bit more clarity as to what is best for your students placement-wise now. Be very sure that your kiddos are well-placed on the placement chart, putting all thoughts of what you currently own aside. The first page of the placement chart is the most important. Next, if you wish to combine, it is easier to place the younger child correctly and beef up the guide for an older child. Make sure that you don't try to drag your younger child along with your older child, if he/she doesn't fit in that guide. This will leave you out of options as you get older, even if you could make it work for a year. It is a short-term plan at best.

Blessings,
Carrie

If I think forward a bit, CTC does seem a bit over the head of where my current 2nd grader would fall when we reach that level. I used Preparing in 4th grade with my oldest that was an early reader and we had fun...My son will be in 5th grade...looking at Bigger --it seems too young but he is also the one that loves reading the least... So, now I lean back to starting there...I get all tangled up when I look at all the levels and know that if I start him a level lower, he won't get to them all. It's remembering that I want him to love what he is learning...that somehow gets lost in the translation of placements and years left and guides and packages. I have the extended readers...what curriculum/book collecting junkie doesn't...so it is possible that doing the suggested beef it up for the older could work well. Thanks for sharing the combined thoughts on this one...It is helpful.

I just wanted to pop back and clarify a few things as we look at placement for your kiddos. First of all, I'm thinking that you have a 2nd grader who will be in third grade when you begin HOD with that child. Is that right? Next, I'm thinking that you have a 5th grader right now who will be in 6th grade when you being using HOD. Is that right? Or, are you thinking of beginning now with a 2nd and 5th grader? If you can clarify their grades and ages the kiddos will be when you begin with HOD that will help us so much!

Next, I'm thinking that your older child has already been through Preparing Hearts as a 4th grader. Did that particular child get all the way through the guide? Did he get a chance to do the two 'I' boxes on his own, or did you end up reading those to him. After Preparing Hearts, where did he head for history next? Did he do his own readings in this area or were you still reading aloud this area to both of your two older kiddos?

If you get a chance to post a bit more about your older child and what he can do reading-wise (like some titles of a few books he's currently reading on his own), and post a bit more about how he does with copywork, written work, spelling, and grammar, we can help advise you even better.

Also, I'm wondering about these same areas for your next child in line. I'm just trying to wrap my mind around where they are age and grade-wise, and where each child is at right now with the 3R's and math (as this really affects placement).

Blessings,
Carrie

Next year we will have a 3rd grader (just turned and 5th grader (just turning 11) My oldest and best reader finished Preparing in 4th grade doing all assigned as recommended. She will be using Missions this year. My oldest (13) is beyond the level of the other two. The 3rd and 5th grader have not done a level of HOD together as we used other things the last 2 years.

The soon to be 5th grader has read the Hobbit by choice, but still looks at the size of most books before he will read them. He lacks confidence in this area and enjoys "comic" style books the best at the moment. All 3 of them have used DITHOR this year. The hardest read for my youngest was George Washington by Ingri d'Aulaire and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire. She needed help, but has a positive reading attitude. They both have much room to grow on in writing composition/narration, etc.

They all use separate grammar and Math programs. They aren't even close on these to work at the same pace. I will be using HOD mainly for the History/Science for the 3rd and 5th grader.

Does that make more sense than before?

THANKS!

Ah! Yes, thank you for clarifying. I was missing your oldest student in the puzzle. I understand now that she did Preparing as a 4th grader. This was where I was getting mixed up!

Alright, with this in mind, if we placed your will be 3rd and 5th graders where they each fit alone, then it sounds like the 3rd grader would fit best in Bigger and the 5th grader would fit best in Preparing. However, if you desire to keep the two kiddos together for history/science, then we would lean toward placing both kiddos in Bigger and adding the Extensions for your will be 5th grader. Otherwise, if we combined the pair in Preparing, there would probably be no way for your younger child to head on with your older child into CTC the following year. This would leave you backtracking then with your third child, and splitting the pair, which is not as easy of a path.

Just to be sure that it would work for your will be 5th grader to do Bigger, I wanted to ask a couple more clarifying questions. Have you done much in the way of American history outside of MFW Adventures with your older child? If you get a chance to share what he did the last two years for history that would help me make sure we're not duplicating for him. Also, what did he do for science the past two years?

Blessings,
Carrie

We are finishing up MFW Exploring Countries with all 3 children this year(7th,4th,2nd grades). They have been doing the Science included in that (basically studying dif. regions that went along with the countries).
My oldest child of the 3( 7th grade) did the MFW with us this year (plus Physical Science at a co-op...she also just finished her first novel-exciting--it came in the mail yesterday!!)

Last year was MFW Adventures (so, this was 1st and 3rd grade for them) (and a mix of nature based science stuff)
My 6th grade daughter did an experimental year of BJU online 5th History (American history)/6th for the rest of the subjects...this is where her love for Science kicked in further-excellent teacher and where her hatred for Math was also confirmed--definitely a learning year for how she learns best/worst. )

I agree CTC seems too much for my youngest for the following year. (I'm glad blessedmom mentioned that in her own post)

If I am reading a story, they all want to be involved and I am not a strong read aloud lover--I lose my voice quickly so the idea of more than one read aloud a day would not work well for me. I have started to choose read alouds by how many are available as audio books lately! ) Then I can listen and relax too. )

I admit, I think having to add extensions to beef it up gets tricky. I love being able to open the curriculum and do what needs to be done that day. Since their isn't a box for extensions on each day, I tend to get off track on "extras".

IT seems early to be doing this but with conventions (one already came and went) and used books sales coming, it is now time for planning this out!! THANKS!!!