heartofdakota.com

Hi all,

This is the first year that I am using Heart of Dakota curriculum & and I am using Bigger Hearts For His Glory for my 7 yr old son. I have a couple questions before I get started on Monday the 11th, if possible.

* How long does a general day take to get thru the curriculum? I am using History, Geography, Science, Reading, and Cheerful Cursive, so I would like to know approximately how long it would take.

* How do I know which books to use for the Reading Choices and Storytime? I am thinking that the Storytime books are the ones that are biography, fairy tale, etc from what the lesson plans show. I bought the boy interest books and the Level 2.

Looking forward to hearing some feedback and helpful hints. Thank you!

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14220 This will tell you how much time per box.

The boy interest will be your Storytime and the Level 2 will go with DITHOR.

Hope you have a wonderful year!

Thank you!!!

My son does a different program for math and for spelling other than that, we follow the guide strictly. In addition, my spelling only takes a max of 10 minutes or so and math is always under 30 minutes (usually around 20). My son is also the type who likes to get it done! For him, he takes about 2.5-3.00 hours per day max. He works fast and diligently. He rarely colors any pictures he draws but he draws what is required and he writes the captions well too. One thing I did though this year, I checked the length of the story time books. I love books in general but decided this year that I needed to pick books that weren't too long since I am running 3 levels. I was glad I did too. Seems like I shaved a little time with the short books. Last year, I didn't worry about length and sometimes the book we read was pretty long LOL. But last year I was running only 2 levels.

I would suggest starting half speed for the first unit at least just so you get the hang of it. Those first few weeks will have a lot of time where you are reading the boxes to make sure you are doing the right things, so it'll take extra time. Not to mention just the regular time and the fact that he's on the lower end of the age range. You might find that you are enjoying the half speed and keep it that way for a while!