heartofdakota.com

Hi, HoD was recommended to me for my child who struggles with comprehension due to her creative nature.
The current school year is my first ever to attempt homeschool. I needed something easy and spelled out for me and I did not have a lot of time to review to make selections last year. So I bought materials where I have a teacher/answer book and her workbooks are the text and the questions and Self tests for each books sections and then overall book tests are made for me. I need something that is either similar where it helps me out in knowing what to do on what day, as well as something that I dont have to make up my own tests or work sheets, meaning that daily worksheets are included.

So with all that said, I am having trouble figuring out what HoD packages and/or all core materials needed. I know I need Bigger Hearts, but I cant make heads or tails of what teacher book goes with what grade levels and I need to figure out all pricing of all core required materials I need. The website just isn't clear to me. I do see the packages suggested, but it still is not clear to me exactly what books are the absolute neccessary requirement and what the teachers manual supplies answers for.

Are there text books that are not intended to be written in, and that I can use for my younger child in future years? Are there only workbooks intended to be written in and therefore not useable again in future years, that have questions and tests included? Are there CDs and/or DVD's included in packages or are those separate?

I need:
History/Geog
Science
Language/Grammar/Reading
Math

for Bigger Hearts student in the most affordable way to purchase them.
And all teacher guide and/or answer books for all subject curriculum for the entire year.

I dont have money for anything optional, just whatever comes as a standard or is absolutely needed per the teacher guide instructions for her to complete daily studies.

Thanks for anyone who can shed some light.

Hi, I think you would be better served by calling HOD and speaking with them. There are not many workbook/testbook/answer book subjects in this program. You can order worksheets and test booklets independently from Rod and Staff, and similarly, you can get these items for most math programs. In the highschool guides there will be more of this type of learning in the LA, math, science, Bible, foreign language areas.

You will definitely need the economy package and science package and one of the basic packages. The economy package will have the guide with all of your teacher plans as well as the history books. The guide also contains poetry and spelling/dictation. The science package has all of the science books. The basic package has grammar, math, devotional, and hymn study. If money is really tight, you could just buy the math and grammar and skip the devotional (available on public domain) and hymn study. That leaves literature and cursive. Literature you could easily use the library instead of purchasing the books for story time and DITHOR. Many families don't start the DITHOR workbooks until Preparing or higher, as the storytime activities are often enough literary analysis for 3rd and even 4th graders.

Did that help?

I agree that it probably would help you most if you call HOD so they can fully explain the program to you. HOD isn't a workbook/test type of program. It is based on Charlotte Mason principles so instead of worksheets students learn to do oral narrations and then later on written narrations. These require a deeper level of thinking than worksheets. For these there aren't right or wrong answers, it is more what the student can retell about the reading and what connections they made as they read. It takes a gentle approach in the early years in some areas such as grammar and writing. It has hands on activities to reinforce the learning and make it fun. The teachers guide does spell everything out for you and exactly what you do each day and any instructions you give to your dc. In Bigger the teacher is involved in most of the learning. As you move up to the higher guides of Preparing and Beyond the guide is written to the student and they slowly take over some of the boxes in the guide independently.

Thank you for your answers and explanations. That helps me think better what I might need.
Now I only need to decipher the prices of items needed. Website is no clear at all.

lew52 wrote:Thank you for your answers and explanations. That helps me think better what I might need.
Now I only need to decipher the prices of items needed. Website is no clear at all.

You will need:

Economy Package that includes the Teacher's Guide and history ~ $96.99. It includes the Bigger Hearts Teacher's Manual and 4 history books (first box on the web-site)

Economy Package with Science ~ $52.74. This includes the 6 books for science.

Is your child an emerging reader or independent reader? You will order only ONE of the following depending on reading level:

If they are an emerging reader (2.0 - 3.0 grade level) you need this link for $67.34: http://www.heartofdakota.com/emerging-reader.php
If they are an independent reader at level 2 (3.0 - 4.1 grade level) you need this link for $92.26 http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional2.php
If they are an independent reader at level 3 (3.5 - 5.1 grade level reader) you need this link for $87.97: http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional3.php

Then you order at the bottom of the Bigger page (skip the extension books):

Preparing to Build English Rod and Staff English 2 text book. This does not have a work book to fill in on a sheet. It is a text book that requires the children to write out their answers on lined paper. ~ $15.95

Math ~ you will want to do a Singapore placement test if you plan on using the HOD recommendation for math. Or, you could continue with your current math for its scope and sequence.

Little Pillows Devotional ~ $5.95

Hymns for a Kid's Heart ~ $23.99

Teacher's Guide for Drawn Into the Heart of reading and 2/3 work book IF your ordered the independent readers above. IF you ordered the emerging readers you do NOT order this 2/3 package. This 2/3 package ONLY goes with the independent readers. $79.12

Cheerful Cursive Or Italic. Cheerful Cursive is standard cursive. Italic is a more modern version of cursive. Only order one or the other. $15.95 OR $11.75

The Deluxe package says optional book packs, but you do actually need them. The Guide has you do daily story time and these books are for that daily story time in the guide. There are assignments with the story time. You only need ONE book pack though. Either the classic set ($60.52), OR the Girl Interest Set ($59.24) If you click on them you can see the titles in both and choose which you like better.

I agree with you that even knowing what is involved in ordering Bigger the web-site is confusing with all the different packages. I hope this made it clearer.

I would encourage you to read carefully through the sample week of the Teacher's Guide. The daily plan is what you will have for a teacher's manual which will be very different from what you have been doing. You will see many questions where the answers are not printed. There are not any tests. There are not any work books. The only texts are math and English and English does not have a work book. The reading student book though, for independent readers, is more of a work book style. Here is a link to the sample:

http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/BHFHG-first-week.pdf

I hope this helped.

If you follow LovingJesus's above steps, you will have everything you need! How kind and gracious of you, LovingJesus, to type all of that out - we simply have the best ladies here ever! When you get your Bigger Hearts for His Glory teacher's guide, lew52, it will be very beneficial to read through the "Introduction" of the guide. This will explain how the plans are laid out and how the skills are taught. Heart of Dakota follows a more Charlotte Mason style of education, which is academically strong, but which uses other forms of assessments than just textbooks and workbooks. We have loved using HOD to homeschool our dc for 10+ years. I think you will too, but it will be different than the textbook/workbook approach. It will still be very laid out for you as a teacher. Carrie writes HOD's guides to be very clear-cut with little or no prep needed by the parent. I use 3 guides, and I don't prepare hardly anything daily, but rather at the start of the year I read the Introduction, the Appendix, and the first week plans, and prepare from that. Using Living Books (which are books you cannot put down because they are THAT good) and Charlotte Mason style assessments (which are oral and written narrations, dictation, copywork, timelines, classical poetry, etc.) have helped our dc not only enjoy what they are learning, but also better REMEMBER it! So much more meaningful than the 'take the test and forget it' kind of mentality I had with textbooks and workbooks back when I was in school. Here are a few links that may be helpful...

Pics of Getting ready to start Bigger Hearts:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5531

Higher Level Thinking in HOD from Carrie:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8178

Testing vs. CM Approach within HOD:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4693&p=34480

Why ladies love HOD:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4403

We are on our 3rd trip through Bigger Hearts for His Glory with our youngest son and loving it. I'm excited for you to begin it as well!

In Christ,
Julie