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My son and I successfully completed Bigger last year, and although I greatly enjoyed HOD and felt is was a huge blessing in our home for the 4 years that we used it, I made the decision to table it for this year, and go ecclectic. I was burned out, and I realize now that I think that was largely due to the "hand holding" that I've had to continually do with this particular child. I knew that although he was successful in Bigger, that the independence in Preparing and the increased writing and reading requirements were not going to be possible for him. I was simply not up to spoon feeding him the entire guide! We've taken some different routes this year, some decently successful, and some not; but I came to realize that his struggles with all up-close work were due to his vision. Although we'd had his eyes checked before and were assured they were fine, I knew that he did not see as other kids do. He'd complain of frequent headaches, eye pain, cry with frustration at the thought of having to write anything, and began to tell me things like "the page looks different than it did before" or "the words are blurry." We were able to start Vision Therapy with him 7 weeks ago, and I've seen such a huge improvement!! This precious boy of mine who would previously not even consider reading a book that didn't have a picture on at least every other page and huge, huge font, sat down last night with his Bible and read right through the book of Genesis. All 50 chapters in one sitting!! On "Christmas Break" without being asked...forced...or cajoled in any fashion! It was such a blessing to see. I'm now confident that he's going to be able to handle Preparing and all its requirements when we're able to go back to it. I'm so excited to put HOD back in front of him and watch him soar!

Praising the Lord with you! Although our situation is different (my daughter has dyslexia), it has been so exciting and such a relief to see her, just in the last two weeks, get a book and sit down and read on her own. Last evening when we came home from church, she just randomly went to the book shelf and pulled out Little House in the Big Woods! The original chapter book! She read 12 pages! I don't know if she read every word correctly, as dyslexics will read by shape or context, and my daughter does have tendency to guess at words sometimes. But, I am just so thrilled that she is showing interest in reading on her own. When she used to pick up a book and try to read, she soon frustrated and would give up. We also stopped HOD while trying to find answers to my daughter's struggles, although we had tried Preparing for a little while. At Thanksgiving we came back and are using Bigger, although we had done half of the guide 2 years ago. I am anxious to see how much my daughter will progress until she gets to Preparing. Your post was uplifting. Thank you! Glad you will be coming back to HOD!

That was wonderful to read! What a relief for your son. I am sure he wondered why things were difficult for him. Now he sees (literally!) what he is capable of. I am so glad you shared your experience. May God's blessings be on your homeschool this year.

That is absolutely wonderful! What an amazing blessing!!!!! I am so glad that your son will now soar with school and no longer have to deal with the frustrations of seeing. I had a similar experience with my youngest dd. She started reading extremely early on as a child but then had trouble with the simplest of things. She would also try and get close to things and have regular headaches. While she passed the annual exam at the pediatricians office, she did not pass the exam at the eye doctor. So she is now sporting her glasses (she turns 7 next month) and she loves to read! I just feel so blessed that we live in a country where we can easily get glasses for our kids when we need them.

Pam, so happy for your daughter (and you!) That's a huge milestone to have them begin to show initiation and interest in reading when it's been so hard for them, isn't it? Daneale, I hope that the new glasses make a huge difference for your little girl-I know my husband clearly remembers the difference it made when he got glasses in school! And, raindrops, thanks for your encouragement! Love having likeminded folks who can rejoice with one another!

Tonight's book for Kyle was Exodus!! He's on a roll...not sure what happens when Leviticus and Numbers come next. Well, God's Word is precious and hopefully He'll use some part of even those tough books to touch his life! Or, maybe I can somehow convince him to try a different book of the Bible and still make it feel like his idea...

I must admit I just laughed out loud about him reading Numbers and Leviticus. While I think he might tire of some of the rules and genealogy, there are some very mature topics in there as well. I wonder if encouraging him to read the New Testament would be helpful. He could at least start it there and move right through.

Isn't it great when our children get passed their struggles and can soar on ahead! Bless his heart! I also have a son, he's 10, who reads his Bible like that. He's done this for2-3 years now. When he was younger, I did suggest reading in the New Testament if it got difficult, but I really don't know if he did. I just didn't want him to get discouraged but I think he liked the challenge of trying. This year he has got it in his head to read the Bible clear through in a year! He is in the book of 1Samuel now. I asked how it went in Leviticus and Numbers and he just shrugged and said " ok" he tried to read the names the best he could. I'd ask him if he just skimmed over that part but no, he plowed through - wow. Then I think, who am I to discourage him from reading even these difficult parts. Somewhere in there, there just might be a little nugget of truth that God will use to speak to him. I also think back to the beginnings of our country. The whole purpose of teaching the children to read (somewhere I read this) was so they could read the Bible - the one book that every family had and for many the only. Oh to see more children enthusiastic to read the Bible!

I am so glad that your ds is making such progress with leaps and bounds! I am sure that when he sits down to read his Bible he is so incredibly thankful he is now able to do it. That is what we hope and pray each of our dc will feel when they open their Bibles to read! What a blessing to come out of what previously was a struggle! I just am so encouraged reading the testimonies of inspiration here in this thread. I am reminded that the Lord's plans are good, all of the time, even when we don't quite understand how they could be. I'm excited for your ds to begin PHFHG! I think the two of you will love it. God bless!

In Christ,
Julie

We did dive back into HOD last week-DS 10 in Preparing and DS 8 in Beyond. We're taking Preparing very, very slowly for now, as writing is still a big stretch for him. Because of the eye tracking issues, he never did get cursive writing down pat, so copywork in cursive is very hard. He still holds his pencil with a death grip and tires quickly...and drawing is not his favorite thing! However, we're persevering and I'm praying that he'll continue to grow and mature into these requirements-and hopefully love Preparing as much as I do!

DS 8 is flying through Beyond! He loves all the one-on-one attention from Mom, and really looks forward to any hands-on activities.

Coming back to HOD for me has been coming back to an old friend!

mom23 wrote:We did dive back into HOD last week-DS 10 in Preparing and DS 8 in Beyond. We're taking Preparing very, very slowly for now, as writing is still a big stretch for him. Because of the eye tracking issues, he never did get cursive writing down pat, so copywork in cursive is very hard. He still holds his pencil with a death grip and tires quickly...and drawing is not his favorite thing! However, we're persevering and I'm praying that he'll continue to grow and mature into these requirements-and hopefully love Preparing as much as I do!

DS 8 is flying through Beyond! He loves all the one-on-one attention from Mom, and really looks forward to any hands-on activities.

Coming back to HOD for me has been coming back to an old friend!

I'm so glad you are enjoying your start back with HOD! I feel like each guide I come back to teach with my younger children is like coming back to an old friend too, so I know just what you mean. It sounds like your 8 yo is off and soaring with Beyond - hooray! As your 10 yo eases back into PHFHG, his fine motor strength will continue to build and become stronger and stronger. Those little 'muscles' are like any muscle, and as they continue to be used they will strengthen more and more. I have seen this with each of our sons over time. You'd mentioned that he never got cursive down pat and that it was hard for your ds now. I wondered if it would be helpful for you to lightly write in pencil in cursive the portions that are assigned to be in cursive in PHFHG for him to trace for awhile? I did that for my ds for awhile, and then I was able to stop it completely as he gained strength and confidence. I did hand write a reference for him of the Cheerful Cursive alphabet, including both capital and lowercase letters. He referred to that often. In fact, he just passed it on to younger brother Emmett saying he didn't need it anymore. He has lovely cursive now! Though he prefers to print as he is faster at it. I also thought I'd mention that we have switched all of our pencils to be Ticonderoga pencils. They do not break and are so sturdy - they can handle the death grip you'd mentioned (that I think may be more common to boys) very well! For our oldest ds, a pencil grip helped, but that was earlier in his schooling than PHFHG, so I'm not sure if that would still be helpful or not. I just bought these neat little pencil sharpeners for each of the boys for their Ticonderoga pencils, and my high school student, my middle school student, and my 2nd grader all LOVE them! They say that they can really push down with them, and they don't break. I just thought I'd mention these few ideas that you can take or leave, but keep your spirits up! Your ds WILL grow into writing with more and more strength and endurance!!! It just takes time.

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks for the feedback, Julie. I'd never thought of allowing him to trace the cursive for a time...we may give that a try! I have some Ticonderoga pencils somewhere in this house-anyone else have trouble with writing utensils disappearing? . (We actually do have a place they are supposed to go, but no one uses it!) Anway, I'll have to hunt around a bit and see if I can find those!!