So for people wanting to know what grade different levels of HOD would be equivalent to and if it's enough to do lower guides with older kids...
Jayden would be in 4th grade in PS, so that's where she was tested. She just finished Preparing about a month ago. We haven't started on CTC yet, but she's about 10 units in to R&S4 and SM4A. She has completed one genre in DITHOR 4/5 with level 3 books. Overall she scored at 7th grade 4th month!
Grace tested at end of 2nd grade. She is about 7 units into Bigger, just finish SM2A (last week) and is about halfway through R&S2. She has completed one genre in DITHOR 2/3 with level 2 books. Overall she scored at 3rd grade 6th month.
We do not drill math facts... in fact, we are just now having Jayden memorize her multiplication tables (and Grace and Julianna are joining in because we are doing it anyway). I also have been a bit lazy in the dictation department. So their spelling could have been higher... They still did awesome though... I can't complain
Jayden spelled at a 10.2 level and Grace spelled right at grade level. Jayden is in dictation level 3 (I think? Maybe it's 4?), a couple of pages in and Grace is in the first level (2?) a couple of pages in. Grace hasn't had the exposure that Jayden has either because she's not reading at the same level. Jayden has also been reading her history for about half a year now, not counting the independent history and science in Preparing... she also read her science independently in Bigger, and Grace hasn't started that yet. So basically, what I"m saying is that we do HOD as written except I go by Charlotte Mason's recommendations of a child of 9 who can read their history/science should, and I haven't done dictation/DITHOR as scheduled.
Our proctor wrote Heart of Dakota down so she could look into it for her own kids and so she could have it to recommend to others!
Congrats are deserved all around - to you as the diligent mom and teacher, to your dc as hard-working students, to HOD as a terrific homeschool curriculum, and to The Lord for taking care of it all! Thanks for sharing your good news here!