heartofdakota.com

My state (Nebraska) requires me to LA, math, science, social studies, and health. There are actually lines on the forms where I have to fill in what txt we will be using. I'm not sure if I can simply write in "Heart of Dakota" on all lines or if I have to actually write the name of the specific book being used per subject. Gah! Does LHFHG cover social studies & health? If I have to give more detail than just writing in "HOD" what can I write as one of our texts that covers those subjects?

Social studies includes history, so you are fine there. LHFHG definitely will count for social studies. Health on the other hand I don't think it covers. You could use a free homeschool program for health though - really it is just hygeine, safety, and PE-type things at this age.

Thank you! Does anyone have any suggestions for health programs? Free online or cheap? And easy to use.

I just searched "free homeschool health" and got a couple of hits. You are probably doing most of the stuff already, so I would just put one down for records. Use what you want, and ignore the rest

Thanks! I'm still getting my mind around what the state requires vs what you actually do. Lol. My state requires 1032 hours... So not happening. But then I think of my niece, who does in 10 minutes in school what takes other kids an hour... And she sits there and gets in trouble while she waits...

Count everything remotely educational for the early years - church, Sunday School, trips to the library and/or zoo, etc. Even trips to the dentist and doctor could count as health time. I am lucky my state "only" has the 180 day requirement (that we don't have to turn in - just keep in our records). And I know people in our state count those things as they are no different than the field trips public school kids take.

I picked up the Abeka health textbook pretty cheaply used. That's what I'd recommend for you since you need to have a book for the form. It's only a 9 week program so it would be easy to fit in, even over the summer.

There are science activities that really would count for health. Plus a lot of what they learn for Kindergarten in health is things you are already doing. Being hygienic, washing hands, covering your mouth, that kind of thing. Respect for others. I would see no need to add in anything to what HOD is covering, there is material aplenty in there for those topics.

As another person mentioned, so much of what you do counts towards the time. Tracking it really is the trickiest part. Just think of P.E. ANY time that your kids spend playing games or having free play, especially if its outside, is P.E. You know, I bet there are apps you could use for record keeping, what an idea. Find an app that's like a timecard or something like that, just have your categories that you're supposed to track. Click it on and off. Any time they spend doing chores or helping you in the kitchen, Home Ec, nutrition, health. Bible study time, family worship time. We discuss memory verses at breakfast and lunch time.... this is school also. Since HOD has the CDs that go with the memory verses (in LHTH with the Bible stories) listening to those counts too.

Thanks everyone! To my understanding, we have to write down how many hours we plan to do per month when we submit our forms, but as I understand it no one ever checks up on us here. At least I know if you claim the religious exemption they leave you pretty well alone. So that's a great thing.

luv2homeschool wrote:I picked up the Abeka health textbook pretty cheaply used. That's what I'd recommend for you since you need to have a book for the form. It's only a 9 week program so it would be easy to fit in, even over the summer.

luv2homeschool, do you remember what the book was called? Looking at the Abeka website (just wanted to see if I could find a preview of it) I only see health visuals, not books...

SarahAngeline wrote:

luv2homeschool wrote:I picked up the Abeka health textbook pretty cheaply used. That's what I'd recommend for you since you need to have a book for the form. It's only a 9 week program so it would be easy to fit in, even over the summer.

luv2homeschool, do you remember what the book was called? Looking at the Abeka website (just wanted to see if I could find a preview of it) I only see health visuals, not books...

I've got 5th grade "Enjoying Good Health", 4th grade "Developing Good Health" and 2nd grade "Health, Safety, and Manners."

We are in Nebraska, too , and this is what we do on our homeschool paperwork:

For the hours: I just break up the 1032 hours pretty evenly. This year we have 6 months with 120 hours listed, 3 months with 90, and 1 month with 42...that equals 1032. So much of life is learning, so even though we may not always be "doing school" for that many hours, we are certainly fulfilling the requirement.

As for the curriculum info, I write "Heart of Dakota, see attached summaries for more info" on the form and send in a separate Microsoft Word page for each student listing the program we are using at the top and the resources (title and publisher) for each subject. For instance, when I did LHFHG, under Language Arts I listed the Rod and Staff workbooks, the Handwriting book, the Phonics book, and "Daily storytime with classic books by Thornton Burgess". In the Math section I listed the Singapore math books and levels. Under Science I listed The World God Made. For Social Studies I had the History for Little Pilgrims and History Stories for Children books listed. And for health I listed an Abeka book (as was mentioned) and also added "Basic character development, health and safety education, and daily physical activity". Above the resources for each subject, I also give a brief summary of what we will learn for the year, but I don't think that is necessary. (i.e. for social studies I had "Chronological overview of Biblical history to present day", and for Science "A simple overview of the basic elements of science including life science, physical science, and earth science").

This is what we do, but I am sure there are many ways to fill out the papers correctly. In fact, maybe I do too much...but I kind of enjoy getting it all down on paper! We just finished our 4th year homeschooling, and have never had trouble with our forms being accepted.

Have a wonderful school year!

Tammy has some super advice already! That was so thoughtful to share as you are from NE too, Tammy! I just wanted to add that you can copy the "Introduction" of LHFHG and attach it to your form as well. This will include the listing of resources and explanations of the skills covered. HOD gives permission to do this for this purpose. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Julie's suggestion would be much quicker!

Tammy and Julie, thank you so much! Tammy it is really helpful fo rme to read what all you wrote down on your forms... I wasn't sure if I should just write Heart of Dakota, or if I should also list the individual books. Julie I think I will definitely photocopy the introductory pages!