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I am so happy to have found HOD. I had been praying about curriculum, doing endless amounts of research and talking with all of my homeschooling friends, when one mentioned HOD. After looking in to it, I definitely feel it's right for us! I am very excited to get started!
I am completely new to homeschooling. We will start this fall. My oldest son (7) has been in public school for K and 1st grade. We were blessed to have him in a wonderful school with awesome teachers. He excelled, was top in his class for reading and math this year and has always made all "E's" on his report cards. He loves school and loves to learn. I am pretty certain I should start him in BLHFHG but would like some feedback. He just turned 7 in May. He is an independent reader so I plan to use DITHOR. He scored 100% on the 1B Singapore test, so if I understand correctly I should order 2A/2B. I have been contemplating using Bigger but feel that with this being our first year homeschooling, perhaps I should be a little reserved rather than pushing him? Again, I would love thoughts on this!
I also have a son who just turned 3 in March. He and his older brother are polar opposites. My younger son is extremely active and has zero desire to participate in activities such as reading, playing with alphabet letters, etc. Usually the only time he settles down is when he is sleeping. I am planning to slowly begin LHTH with him, hoping that he will enjoy "school time" with his big brother.
I would greatly appreciate some thoughts. Thanks in advance!
Meredith

Hi Meredith,

I am so glad you found HOD just as our family did this spring! Our family has already been very blessed with my 2 daughters, 8 years old using Bigger and 12 years old using CtC. I am not an expert but I would still venture to say that your son may get the most out of Beyond. I so wish I had found HOD earlier so my 8 year old wouldn't have missed Beyond. I have purchased Beyond and look forward to using it in the next year or 2 with my son who is 5. It looks like such a fun year studying the Pilgrims and Pioneers.

Even with how well your son is reading, I think Beyond with either the Emerging Reader's books or level 2 books would make for a full year for second grade. My kids have really excelled in math and reading so I tended to push them ahead but sometimes I remember to remind myself that it is more important that they enjoy shorter days and more time for their own creativity.

Take your time choosing and hopefully you will get advice from the pros here!
Take care,

Thanks so much, Rebecca! I really appreciate your insight. I'm wondering if my son would be considered an emerging reader or independent? He definitely reads independently but occasionally needs my help sounding out big words. Any thoughts there? Thanks again!

As far as reading skills, you'd be listening to him read a good portion of the books, either way. With the DITHOR 2/3 the kids read aloud much of their assignments, and with the Emerging Readers, they read aloud all of it. There is a big difference in the comprehension activities, though. I love the Emerging Readers for their gentle introduction to deeper-thinking with questions that are answered orally, and build the kids' confidence that they can understand what they just read. They're really being trained to do that very well. DITHOR has much more challenging comprehension activities, with more writing required. I think it's often a good idea for them to have books that are slightly below their reading level as they start DITHOR. They're getting plenty of challenge with the activities, and it helps it not to be overwhelming to them. I think if it were my 2nd grader, I'd go with the Emerging readers (maybe even in the middle, if the books are really beneath his level at the beginning), but I know there are 2nd graders out there who can handle the DITHOR . It really does make a more full and challenging day.

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, Becky. Decisions, decisions! With it being our first time HSing, I'm struggling with what I should go with. I think I just need to relax a little though. I know whatever I choose, he will be fine and that the first year will be alot of us learning what works and what could work better. While I dont want to overwhelm him, I also dont want to not challenge him. Thanks again for your thoughts!

What sort of books is your ds reading on his own now? How does he feel about writing? The amount of writing done each day in Bigger is quite a bit more than in Beyond so that is one thing that I would consider in placing him. The math activities that go with Singapore 2A/2B are in Bigger so I would think you will want the Bigger guide for the math activities even if you use Beyond as your core program. I typically tend to recommend going with the lower guide, but in this case I'm thinking that your ds might be ready for Bigger. How does he place on the placement chart: http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php? Both Beyond and Bigger are wonderful guides and special years so either way will be great but having the best placement will keep your ds challenged and keep your day running smoothly. I'm glad you have found HOD at the beginning of your homeschool journey. We floundered for a year before finding HOD but have been blessed to use it for 5 years now. Welcome to HOD!