heartofdakota.com

As I ponder having to beef up at least one guide for High School in a few years, it has really got me wondering how much really needs to be done. My older two went to Public High School and have looked at the HOD catalog a few times while I was pondering what to use for my younger kiddo's. They both were in honors classes and claim that the middle guides have so much more work/reading than they did in their Honors classes. They read maybe 5-6 books all year, and that was only in English.... no textbooks, just lectures and hand outs. So this got me wondering about how much beefing up some of these guides really need.... I can see science needing beefing up due to reqirements, but really, the history is solid, meaty and so very good. I think reading the extension and requiring a bit more writing is plenty for high school, as well as doing grammar at their level and the proper science... am I wrong here? I would love your thoughts!

I'm interested also!

The difference for me and why I ultimately chose to put dd into WG this last year instead of beefing up Rev2Rev with her sister was that high school is about credits needed to graduate. The content would not have been a problem for history and Bible (it was definitely high school worthy). The problem was the credits we were trying to cover and would need. We would already need to use Algebra 1, a different science with lab(this dd needs to take a medical science track), foreign language , and at least 1 more elective credit. As well as since this was American History, I would have to add for government (our state requires covering the Federalist Papers) and economics to make high school worthy. Grammar and Literature would also have needed upping so right there...I would have only been using the guide for History and Bible and getting the rest of the credits from either the WG guide or elsewhere. For us personally, it just made more sense to go with the guide that would cover all of our needed credits.
I do think this is something to ponder when you are there with your 8th grade student. Whenever we had done HOD prior, my dd's were combined. This is the first year they won't be combined. My 9th grader really is basically independent with some oversight from me. My 8th grader is getting there and we will probably also jump her to WG for 9th grade after finishing Rev2Rev. The main thing is that I am at this point with them right now and I can look at the WG guide with my current 9th grader and really gauge how ready for it that my current 8th grader will be by the end of this year.
I think there is a lot of different ways to beef up but I also think that everyone's requirements to beef up will be different depending on where they live and what credits their students need for high school. I also think it is something you should really look at when you have your student as an 8th grader and you can see exactly how they are doing academically as well as maturity and make decisions based on their readiness at that time.

ON thing that came to my mind when I was thinking about this is something a college professor said to us in class.
"Students are the worst consumers."
It isn't because they are rude or anything like that. It is because they want the least for what they pay.
So, although you may not have to beef things up and it would be fine, are you being a good consumer? Are you wanting the most/best for what you pay wtih your time, energy, and time with your kids? Now, you have to be careful and not overdo things, taking the joy out of learning, removing the chance for learning through things other than official school time. But, Also make sure you are giving your children as much education as is reasonable. The HOD high school guides are very full, but I also think they give an excellent education. It may be more than many kids get in school, but is that a bad thing?