heartofdakota.com

The bad: that I didn't find HOD a few years ago

The good: that I only wasted a few hundred dollars and not a few thousand

I have decided, after worrying that Beyond simply wouldn't challenge my rising first grader enough, to simply buy the entire Beyond program complete with read-alouds and emerging readers, and work through it as written with her anyway. We started this week and I am so glad we did!

The history portions are just right for her, and she is just drinking them in and begging for more. She loves story time and is always upset when we've completed our portion and have to stop for the day She is more advanced than the math at the moment, but I wanted to start at the beginning (especially with Singapore).

Cliff notes version: she isn't very challenged right now, but I feel it is important to lay the building blocks that Beyond offers. And though academically gifted, she is still very young, and to begin simply and take our time doing Beyond will really help her mature before moving on to Bigger in the fall of 2014. And the history is important because she hasn't really had any history before.

Sara - thanks so much for sharing about your dd here! Often times other moms find the answer to the proper placement for their dc in reading posts like yours here. I think you made such a wise choice for your dd by choosing Beyond! I especially loved reading this...

...The history portions are just right for her, and she is just drinking them in and begging for more. She loves story time and is always upset when we've completed our portion and have to stop for the day...

We have found the same to be true for our dc. They 'drink in' the awesome living books HOD has chosen, and they look forward to the next day's readings so much. Many times as homeschool moms, we can tend to think we have to push our dc to the brink, reading tons of books with lengthy readings and elongating our school days as if totally being spent at the end of the day must equal more learning. We have found the opposite to be true - shorter, more meaningful segments of school = a love of learning and a deeper level of retention. I do believe I have come around to Charlotte Mason's way of thinking. This is kind of funny - today my middle ds was doing his Iowa Basic Skills standardized testing. When he finished, he was telling Wyatt, my teenager, about one of the reading selections on the test that was about Albert Einstein. Wyatt said, "Oh, I remember that story! And along those same lines, here is another story about Albert Einstein that will make you laugh..." and the two of them proceeded to swap Albert Einstein stories and laugh and marvel at him together. No way that would have ever happened in my ps teaching classroom after standardized testing! Anyway, it just made me smile and think- life is good. What a blessing to homeschool, with such joy, and with Christ present, with HOD each day ! So glad you are your dd are 'living the dream' too now! God bless, and thanks for your inspiration here!

In Christ,
Julie

Sara,

It sounds like you have made a great choice for your dd! The more she wants the easier it will be on you as her teacher. There won't be nearly as many fights getting to the school table!

My daughter sounds a lot like yours. We started out using HOD and have been extremely blessed by the programs. She was flying through both Little Hearts and Beyond Little Hearts. I drove across my very large state to meet Carrie and Julie at a conference. I will share with you what Carrie shared with me at that time. Carrie basically said that at some point we would find a guide that would challenge her and her skills. At that point we would need to slow it down and take it at her pace, possibly even taking 2 years to complete the guide. I truly didn't see that happening, but it did!! For us that guide was Bigger. We took nearly 2 years to complete that guide due to some health issues in my extended family. But taking that extra time has taken my dd from being barely at the lower age range to solidly in the center of the Preparing range and she is thriving. She is looking so forward to working more independently. I don't think we would have been at this place a year ago. God has a way of working everything out and he certainly has for us!

I hope you enjoy these guides as much as we have!