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Just curious when the new catalog will be released and what (if any) changes we can expect for the elementary guides?

I would really like to go ahead and plan everything out for the upcoming school year but I hesitate without having the latest catalog.

Any advice? How do all you seasoned Heart if Dakota users do this each year?

Thanks!!

I will say this - I am not sure about previous guides but I think there are usually minimal changes in the guides from year to year. In addition, most of the stuff is not written in. They will tell you if you need one per person. Also - I am not sure how many kids you have but if something were going to go out print, I have 3 kids so I would probably just buy three copies. I can honestly say that with all curriculum, there are sometimes changes and updates. However, the first time I used it worked well. So I usually anticipate that even if there are updates, I won't necessarily need them if I was able to make it work the prior year.

One thing that I do think HOD has done though is if there are significant changes to guide, you are able to upgrade your guide for a small fee. You would have to send back the prior guide to get the new one though and you would have had to originally purchase your guide directly from them. But student pages and such, I wouldn't anticipate those changes for quite some time since their current focus is on finishing the high school program at the moment. And hopefully there won't be lots of changes either as the years go on. Just my thoughts.

Also - I have already purchased everything for next year for my kids with no problem at all. But my kids are younger. I only had to get Bigger and CTC. If you are looking at the World Geography curriculum or lower, you wouldn't have to wait. But if you are looking to buy the World History, I think that is expected to be completed and ready for sale before or sometime during this summer.

I don't think the programs change at all from year to year. The only change we will see in the catalog is the new program coming out following WG. If you know what program you want for next school year, you can go ahead and purchase now.

I think there were some book selection changes to DITHOR one year, but that doesn't affect the guides.

If you aren't waiting for the new World History guide, as far as I know and from what I have seen there are no changes planned to the other guides this year. No new book editions or books out of print. There was a big LHFHG change last year with the new versions of the math workbooks and therefore new math plans written into the guide. If there are minor changes, like typos fixed or page numbers updated or something, they often provide a PDF to people who have the "old" version of the guide so they can get the updated information without buying a new guide. The LHFHG change was so significant they let people who had bought their guides from HOD return the old and buy a new one for 1/2 price.

Anyway, long story short, the old catalog is fine unless you want the new World History guide which is not in the old catalog. That guide I think will be released in the fall.

Thank you for all the advice. This board has been really helpful!!