heartofdakota.com

Ladies,

I love this time of year, because it is the time that we begin sharing "sneak peeks" from our new upcoming guide! It is especially exciting for me to be writing high school level guides right now, as we have our own high school student using each guide right upon my heels as I'm writing! As we complete the high school path through HOD, it is our prayer that we will be able to write the guides in such a way that students who go through all 4 high school HOD guides will have everything needed for graduation and college entrance (with the exception of Physical Education). Our planned scope and sequence can be viewed by scrolling to the bottom of the following link: http://www.heartofdakota.com/scope.php

The target age range for our new American History guide will be ages 15-17, extending through 12th grade with adjustments in math and science as needed. It is important to note that only those 15 year olds who have first come up through the HOD World Geography and the World History guide should attempt the American History guide. All other 15 year olds would be better served by beginning with either the HOD World Geography guide or the World History guide. Our own 15 turning 16 year old is currently using and enjoying the World History guide this year for his sophomore year of high school. For those students who are 16 on up, if they fit well in this guide placement-wise, they could enter it without having done the prior HOD high school guides.

After having our oldest son go through high school without the benefit of having HOD guides written for his level, I cannot tell you what a blessing it has been for me to have the HOD World Geography and World History guides written for my next child in line (who has used HOD for his first two years of high school thus far)! I am a less frazzled and more sane momma/teacher with my HOD guide in hand than I was with my older son (who had to endure my less than polished sketchy, chicken scratch type plans).

With our oldest son graduating from high school last May, this coming school year my husband and I will have a college sophomore, a junior in high school, a middle school student, and a fourth grade son at our house. Since our own high school junior will be in need of the new American History guide, I am eagerly anticipating this guide as much (or more) than many of you!

Our plans for the first American History Guide are to follow a similar pattern to what we have been doing for the World History Guide this school year. This means that we have decided to allow families the option of receiving this guide's plans in parts as it is being written. This will enable families to use the American History Guide a year earlier than if we waited for the guide's completion prior to making it available.

To save me the deadlines, and our company the added expense, I had considered only making the American History guide available in rough form for my own son (and for my sisters' kiddos) for the 2015-2016 school year, and not making the guide available to the public until it was complete. However, for now, it seems that families are happy and appreciative to have the opportunity to use the World History Guide as it is being written, so we plan to continue on a similar course for the first American History Guide this coming fall.

I look forward to sharing the journey with many of you!

For our first "sneak peek", I wanted to begin by reiterating the thoughts I shared last year about high school science. Sharing a bit about our overall science plan for high school will help better explain our selection for science for the American History guide. Our continuing overall plan at this time is to recommend the following sequence for science in high school:

Freshman: Integrated Physics and Chemistry
Sophomore: Biology including anatomy in the course (with Health as an additional semester course credit sophomore year)
Junior: Chemistry
Senior: Possibly Physics or an alternative science option

While you can certainly follow a different science path if desired, this particular sequence does have its advantages. Since many states and colleges require some sort of physical science on the high school transcript (along with biology and chemistry), it is wise to consider how to gain the needed physical science credit (whether the student takes physics or not). Keeping in mind that not all future careers require students to take physics, taking an Integrated Physics and Chemistry course as a freshman fulfills the physical science requirement and frees the student from having to take physics (unless desired) later.

This science path also allows students the option, during their senior year, of taking a field-related science (i.e. marine biology, advanced chemistry, anatomy, advanced biology, etc.) instead of physics. So, we like the options that the particular science sequence we've listed above offers, as it allows for science decisions to be made as the child progresses through high school and gains a better idea of what he/she may be doing in the future. For those who are unsure of their future career path, the science sequence we've listed above will provide the student with a solid science path that will be excellent preparation for any field.

Our plan at this time is to offer each of the sciences scheduled in the HOD guides as a full credit with a lab component (so that each science can be listed as a lab science on the transcript).

Updated June 22 - As far as specific curriculum selections for science go, for the upcoming American History guide, we had originally shared a sneak peek with our planned route for chemistry, but as we proceeded through the process, we discovered that we would be unable to utilize or carry part of the science that we had originally selected. There were also some difficulties in making the various components mesh together. While this came as a complete surprise to us, we know that timing-wise all things come from the Lord. So, we have returned to the drawing board in putting together a chemistry plan. Updates on the area of chemistry will be forthcoming as we renew our chemistry search. In the past, when something like this has occurred, and there was unrest over a selection we'd made, I found that when the selection was right there was peace in the decision. I appreciate your patience as we seek as decision that provides the peace that only the Lord can give.

So as not to confuse our board readers, and those who will be using the new American History Guide, I am also removing the discussion that surrounded our original chemistry plans. I hesitate to do this, as it was a good discussion, however leaving it will only cause confusion over what is actually scheduled in the guide. When we post our new plans for chemistry, we will look forward to discussing that particular option with all of you!

Blessings,
Carrie

Ladies,

I am excited to be able to update this thread with our latest plans for chemistry in the upcoming guide. I am always amazed at how the Lord shows us His best as we make selections for each new guide that we write. We are especially thrilled with the timing of this selection, as a few months ago, I was completely unaware of this possibility for chemistry.

This makes me glad now to share that we will be scheduling Dr. Wile's brand new Chemistry text in our upcoming guide. Dr. Wile has written a completely new Chemistry text for high school which will be out in mid-August. He was gracious enough to allow me to preview the text, and I am excited with the way he has written it.

The text begins with an atoms first approach to chemistry, which is different from his original chemistry text, and continues to include a strong mathematical component (with even clearer explanations than his previous text in my opinion). The text is very readable, and in comparison to his previous Chemistry text, I feel it is much more reader friendly. It is also more visually appealing simply because the text is broken up so well with comprehension checks, experiments, and calculations. The design of the text includes multiple breaking points within each chapter, making it easy to find a logical stopping point each day.

The text also contains answers to the Comprehension Check questions, and students are encouraged to check these answers right away. Completely worked out step-by-step calculations are included as well as expected experiment outcomes. This makes it very user friendly.

The course is designed for the homeschool student and written directly to the student. Students need to have completed Algebra I prior to using this text. The experiments are designed to be performed at home, and they are college-prepatory in nature. The course also weaves a Christian worldview into it, making it ideal for our upcoming guide.

This is the first course by Dr. Wile that we have included in our science selections at Heart of Dakota, and I couldn't be more pleased to offer this as our selection for Chemistry. I truly believe that it will prepare students well whatever their pursuit post-high school may be. While I would not go as far as saying this is a Charlotte Mason approach to science, I will say that the text's narrative nature appeals to the Charlotte Mason style teacher in me.

Since Dr. Wile's text is full enough on its own, we will not be adding the Chemistry 101 DVDs that I originally desired in our chemistry course along with it. I had also previously planned on including a series of living books about chemists, however I feel that this addition would also weigh the course down unnecessarily. It is full enough as planned, and with the course load our students will have in the upcoming American History guide, the balance will be better if we use Dr. Wile's Chemistry text as written without additions or subtractions. I look forward to using this chemistry text with my own son this coming fall. We will carry the Chemistry text at Heart of Dakota, and those who are ordering our new American History Guide will be able to pre-order it along with the rest of the American History Guide resources in about 4 weeks.

Here is a link to Dr. Wile's publisher's website, along with details about the new Chemistry book and the kit from Nature's Workshop that will go with it. I will also include links below to see inside the book. Link: https://www.bereanbuilders.com/chem/

Here is a link to the Table of Contents: https://www.bereanbuilders.com/mkt/res/ ... 461toc.pdf

Here is a link to Chapter 1: https://www.bereanbuilders.com/mkt/res/ ... 61samp.pdf

Here is a link to Chapter 2: https://www.bereanbuilders.com/chem/dd_chapter2.pdf

Lab Supply List by lesson: https://www.bereanbuilders.com/mkt/res/ ... 8461ls.pdf

Consolidated Lab Supply list: https://www.bereanbuilders.com/mkt/res/ ... 8461sl.pdf

Experiment Overview: https://www.bereanbuilders.com/mkt/res/ ... 8461ov.pdf

Suggested Daily Assignment Schedule for 180 Day year: https://www.bereanbuilders.com/mkt/res/ ... 461sch.pdf

Scope and Sequence: https://www.bereanbuilders.com/mkt/res/ ... 8461ss.pdf

Last, I will let Dr. Wile explain his new text himself on his blog, which you can read here: http://blog.drwile.com/?p=13534

Blessings,
Carrie

Looks great Carrie! I know it must have been so hard to go back to the drawing board, but, this looks like a great selection.

Carrie,

Thanks for working so hard to find a good fit. I have some questions. My daughter is currently doing Math u see Algrebra 1, she is only on lesson 5. Would this course be to hard for her to complete with not being done with Algrebra? She was pretty excited about the Chemistry that involved cooking things. Could she add this in or would it be too much? She had already watched the chem 101 DVDs, so we could watch some of them again just to review.
Thanks,
Stacey

This is so many years away for us, but I am totally doing a little happy dance !!! I enjoy reading Dr. Wile's blog and when I learned he was writing a new chemistry book, I was sad that we wouldn't likely get to use it as your high school chemistry selections had already been made. I am sorry you had to back track as I know your time is limited and very precious. However, I am THRILLED with the end result!!! Thank you, Carrie!

snadig,
Carrie said they needed to have completed Algebra 1. I just read Dr. Wile's blog and he answered this question also, Algebra 1 needs to be completed. Chemistry is pretty math intensive.

Ladies,

Thanks so much for the feedback thus far. I appreciate your taking time to respond.

Stacey,

As far as your questions go, it is true that Algebra I needs to be completed in order to do Dr. Wile's new chemistry. It is also true that Algebra I would have to have been completed had we gone with our original chemistry plans too. So, in looking at your daughter's situation, you have some options to consider. Depending on her age and her post-high school plans, these options will vary.

If you desire to pop back and share what she has completed thus far for science in high school (and how many were lab sciences) along with your daughter's age/grade and general post-high school plans then we could advise you better.

Blessings,
Carrie

This text looks great, Carrie! I wish I had time to wait for it! I especially like that he is improving the experiments.

Debra

swansonacad wrote:This text looks great, Carrie! I wish I had time to wait for it! I especially like that he is improving the experiments.

Debra

I have taught all of the Apologia sciences at my co-op and that was my number one complaint with these Apologia books. I did think that the Chemistry text itself was excellent when I taught it. It was very interesting and easy to read. There were a lot of great examples in there too. It was very strong mathematically. But when we did the Chemistry course, most of the experiments were similar to things my kids were doing at home already. As you can see, my kids are not high schoolers LOL. Now, they gave the science behind why things worked and that was important. But I want to light things on fire! I am glad to see will be

Thanks for the sneak peek Carrie. I am excited that this new edition will provide a strong Chemistry course both in content and mathematics and that it will have strong experiments to complement it.

Carrie,

Thanks for the reply.
I have been thinking about this some. I am pretty sure my husband could help her with any math issues that would come up. So a couple of ideas I had floating around my head is she could do the science as is with help from dad( I struggle in the math area). We could look into the previous post about science, which I have forgotten the name of but know it involved cooking? She could go back and do the science from the Geography guide. We skipped that guide ( after buying it, and returning some of it) to put her in the World History guide. This was a great fit.

She has completed RevtRev science, MMTM science, and World History Science(well almost, we school year round but light in summer. We head back to the last 7 weeks of the guide in Aug.)

She is well rounded with an art/english bent. She does well at most things, but science isn't her top pick of subjects, she rather read, write, or draw. She has enjoyed most of biology, except spiders. Could you remind me of the science you picked before this current one? Your thoughts are very helpful. After my last minute change last year, the Lord has helped me to relax and trust Him. I know he will fill in the gaps. If you would have asked me 3 years ago I would not be so relaxed, and a bit more stressed. Praise the Lord for His mercies everyday!
Thanks,
Stacey

Will you sell the science kit as well? Nature's Workshop won't ship kits out of the US:(

Stacey,

Thanks for sharing a bit more about your daughter. The ideas that you shared are all possiblities that I was entertaining as well.

One more thing that I still need to know is whether your daughter is a sophomore or a junior this upcoming year. The reason for this is to help determine whether the IPC in the World Geography guide would be a good fit for her at this stage or not, and also in deciding how to time the chemistry that your daughter will need before she graduates. So for clarity purposes, could you list the sciences she has had during her high school years only? That will help me advise you better.

Blessings,
Carrie

Mumkins,

It looks like we will be carrying the science kit that Dr. Wile is having put together. We do ship to Canada, so barring any difficulties with supplies in the kit being shipped outside of the U.S., we should be able to help you!

Blessings,
Carrie

Daneale,

I agree with you wholeheartedly. When I reviewed the Apologia text by Dr. Wile for chemistry earlier, the experiments were one of the main barriers over our choosing that text. I shared with my sister at that time that any child who had come up through HOD would have already completed all but one of the experiments outlined in the Apologia Chemistry text. The text was definitely challenging enough, but the experiments did not mirror that level of challenge.

Then, when the updated edition of the Apologia Chemistry text came out, I felt that the updates had made the text too wordy. Also, while the new text was beautiful, I also felt like the added content was almost a distraction rather than an aid. The pages felt cluttered and the text seemed to stretch on and on. As the reviews came out for the new edition, with the multiple errors contained within its pages, our decision was finalized to steer clear of that particular edition as well.

So, at this point, we are glad for the opportunity to view Dr. Wile's newest Chemistry text. We feel that it is an excellent choice for chemistry! What a blessing that this text is coming out just as we need it for our new guide. We often stand amazed at the Lord's providential timing. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the text once you get it in hand. I know I most definitely was!

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie,

My daughter has completed MTMM science-9th grade. She is completing World History-Biology - 10th grade(we should be done with this mid September). At this point she would like to go to college, but she is unsure for what. It seems to change, but as of yet art, english, and business stand out to her. She will most likely start at a community college. Thank you for helping me think this out.
Stacey