heartofdakota.com

(Edited Sunday 6/25/17 after more research & prayer)

I am currently planning for next year, and I am praying much for the LORD's leading in an 8th - 12th plan for my oldest. I am also praying over plans for my up-coming 6th and 5th graders. Through this process my husband and I both find ourselves being led to take HOD into serious consideration for our plans!

My oldest is now ready for both R&S 6 and MTMM for his 8th grade year. I think the work increase will push him some; but, his writing is finally ready, and his reading has been ready for years. I personally want 8th to be a year that prepares him for High school level work. My husband wants him to have a college prep education to keep potential doors open, and so do I.

As we contemplate planning for High school a year from now we have some questions for all of you about HOD High school.

*Have you found R&S 7 and 8 to be high school worthy in the actual use of these texts with a High school student? The 8th grade text looks very worthy to me for college prep, but what did you think once you actually had used it with that age group?

*Have you found your students to be well prepared for the SAT or ACT, if you took them, after using HOD High school?

*As you travel through HOD high school, or have reached the end, are you pleased with the education your child has received / is receiving so spiritually and academically. Do the plans leave you time for and personal goals (for example, my oldest wants to do some computer science as an elective in HS; is that possible with HOD HS)? The 140 days plans are very attractive to me because I think it would leave days for other interests, but, it is hard to know without having been there.

*The High school plans and sneak peaks I have been pouring over look very rigorous ~ are you finding this to be a rigorous High school plan? HOD High school looks college prep to me, are you finding it to be college prep?

*What is the 'over all writing plan / sequence' with EIW, Sandals, and R&S? For example, what year do they do an essay or research or argumentative paper, etc? I realize the written narrations in history would also increase their writing & thinking skills.

*What is your favorite part about using Carrie's plans for High school?

Thank you ladies. I hope all of you are having a wonderful summer. We just finished a week ago so we are only at the beginning.

In Christ,

I don't have any experience using the HOD guides for high school. I just wanted to say 'thank you' for asking these questions ...

LovingJesus wrote:Do the plans leave you time for and personal goals (for example, my oldest wants to do some computer science as an elective in HS; is that possible with HOD HS)? The 140 days plans are very attractive to me because I think it would leave days for other interests, but, it is hard to know without having been there.

AND

LovingJesus wrote:*What is your favorite part about using Carrie's plans for High school?

those are the more specific questions that I have been wondering myself, so I will be following this as well. I hope you don't mind!

I will try and answer some of these. My son will do the last high school guide next year.

As far as Rod and Staff we only did half of the 7th grade book and I can say yes it is more than the high schools do around here. It is very vigorous and thorough. My ds is most likely only going to do a 2 year college so we stopped half way through 7 and switched to something else less rigorous, but in switching I could see how much he had learned from Rod and Staff.

My son hasn't taken the ACT, long story, but my dd who didn't do HOD did and she was well prepared and she didn't have near as much writing and grammar instruction as what is in HOD.

I am very pleased with the education he has received. He has learned so much and he has enjoyed it as much as any high school age boy is going to enjoy school. He has been pushed to read books he never would have read otherwise and has found that he liked them. He has really enjoyed the history and even though the living library books aren't required, he has chosen to read them. This is a kid that doesn't read in his down time at all! Spiritually he has been challenged and has grown. I am really looking forward to the Biblical Apologetics credit he will get in the upcoming year. I think he will really help prepare him for the secular world.

As far as having time to pursue other things, my son has definitely had that. Having the 5th day is a real blessing. We did co-op the first 3 years of high school and he was able to take theater type classes there. He also has worked this past year at a job that is his passion and has had time to work on his parkour and American Ninja Warrior skills. The days are full, but there is the ability to move a few things to the 5th day if you need to. You could easily sub in your own elective for one of Carrie's.

There is no doubt in my mind they are college prep. Carries' lit plans, especially those in 10-12th, are the best lit plans I have seen anywhere. They really make the dc think without killing the enjoyment of the book.

The writing sequence is that in 9th and 10th they use EIW. This covers all the standard types of essays including narrative, personal, compare/contrast, persuasive, response to literature and cause/effect . They also write a research paper in 9th and 10th grade. The one in 10th grade is especially good because it is a career study paper. He teaches all the steps of a research paper and how to use MLA format. In 11th the writing program switches gears since now they know how to write an essay and research paper and moves to creative writing. In Their Sandals was one of my son's favorite parts of this year. He really enjoyed writing the stories for this that were based on biblical passages. In 12th grade they do a speech elective instead of a composition program. As you stated the written narrations also serve to help dc grow in the area of writing. There are new types of written narrations that are introduced, including an opinion narration, topic and keyword narrations, and a summary narration.

I guess my favorite part of using Carrie's plans are that I don't have to worry or stress that he isn't getting enough or that I'm doing the right thing with him. She has thought of things I never would have. I know he is getting a more well rounded education than I gave my daughter. The other thing is that he has some mild special needs, plus we have dealt with a concussion this year that caused major headaches, and I was able to gently tweak Carries' plans easily. Sometimes we have to do things orally instead of in writing due to his special needs and that works just fine to do. He types most things and that has also worked well. We use a different math and that has been fine also.So even though it is a full curriculum there is still room to make it my own as needed.

I hope that answers your questions. If I had it to do all over again I would still use HOD. I have never been tempted to look at any other programs.

LovingJesus wrote:*Have you found R&S 7 and 8 to be high school worthy in the actual use of these texts with a High school student? The 8th grade text looks very worthy to me for college prep, but what did you think once you actually had used it with that age group?

UGH,yes!!!! We did WG this year, and half of R&S 7 as recommended. I don't think there is a more thorough English program in existence, and some of the lessons make my brain hurt! My ds went to the local high school and got credit for freshman English after taking their test. (He was thinking of transfering but I don't know anymore) He said they didn't even come close to requiring the amount of information he's learned in R&S over the years. I have an acquaintance that happens to be an English teacher at another local high school. She said they aren't doing transitive verbs or anything like that, but rather are working on sentence structure because so many students can't communicate in their written work with complete thoughts. This could be the school district we live in, though.

LovingJesus wrote:Have you found your students to be well prepared for the SAT or ACT, if you took them, after using HOD High school?

We haven't done this yet.

LovingJesus wrote: *Do the plans leave you time for and personal goals (for example, my oldest wants to do some computer science as an elective in HS; is that possible with HOD HS)? The 140 days plans are very attractive to me because I think it would leave days for other interests, but, it is hard to know without having been there.

Why wouldn't you be able to do a computer science class? You just need to find one that fits your needs and is credit worthy. Maybe I wouldn't "add" anything, but I would certainly substitute a class. The high school guides are a lot of work, and makes for a long day.

LovingJesus wrote: *As you travel through HOD high school, or have reached the end, are you pleased with the education your child has received / is receiving so spiritually and academically.

Yes,yes, a thousand times yes. And to be honest, we're just an average home school family. I know some that are completely out of our league. Here's a recent example of how HOD has worked in my son's life. He was offered a ministry opportunity over the summer and had to go away to camp for training. The staff was impressed with his abilities and surprised to learn it was his first year because he did so well. He gives credit to HOD for the narration skills he's learned, and promises to work even harder next year. I also give credit to the youth group our kids are involved in. God works it all together for His glory!

I have turned a few families on to HOD, and they've stuck with it as well. My kids seem to be able to retain a lot of the things they've learn in HOD.

LovingJesus wrote:What is your favorite part about using Carrie's plans for High school?

It's difficult academically but manageable AND it's all planned out. This isn't an easy ride, and it's going to take determination to complete the day. I just have to say that.

After our experience with the local high school, I do believe HOD is college prep work. It's a difficult decision to make, and I know the good Lord will steer you in the path you are to take. Best of luck!

Thank you so much kidsforHim for bumping me up! I don't mind you following this at all, and I hope it is helping you as much as it has helped me!

Thank you LynnH for your post. It helped much to read through your experience with HOD. I have been looking at your blog and Julie's posts on week-in-review and I have found them both inspiring and helpful as well. I Love seeing all of the variety both of you have in your HS days with HOD! Thank you also for the writing sequence. This paragraph made it make more sense and clarified the 9th - 12th plan for me.

Thank you sinceLHFHG! Your post helped me so much too. I am glad that you joined the board. It helped me a lot to read your post, and it inspired me for home schooling High school. Thank you!

Carrie and Julie, if either of you read this thread I would still be curious to hear of what you have thought of R&S 8 for 12th now that you have both used the last guide. And, I must add: Congratulations to you both for completing the last guide!

Hi there - good to have you here, LovingJesus - missed you! Yes, yes, and yes again to R & S 8 English being difficult enough. It is more than my English course entailed in college, and I had an excellent professor, though everyone in college thought the class to be impossible. Ironically, I loved it! But I digress. The language arts in HOD's high school have been rigorous, yet still held true to Charlotte Mason ideals. Our son is a strong writer because of it. I cannot imagine a higher level of grammar being necessary nor being beneficial! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

LovingJesus,

I'll just pop-in to share that Rod and Staff English 7-8 in high school do a wonderful job of teaching and reviewing higher-level English skills that most students never get to during their Senior English classes. When we list the Rod and Staff material in our course list for high school, we simply list the books by title rather than by grade to avoid any confusion about the level of rigor. We also have the course descriptions written for English (and for each subject) for you already, so you don't have to write any course descriptions of your own in high school.

Our two oldest sons did terrific on their standardized testing in high school, and our oldest son has done very well with testing out of college courses in a variety of ways in a big variety of subjects as well as with the college classes he has taken. He is currently a junior in college with an 'A' average. Our next son will be moving on to college courses in the fall, and I don't have any worries about how he will do as he is equally as prepared as our oldest son. Yet, they are two very different types of learners and students!

Since I don't have time to share more thoroughly about the high school right now, I will direct you to a thread I responded to about a living books education. In that thread, I shared quite a bit about my own boys high school and the things I had noticed about using living books. I'll link the thread here, if you want to read my thoughts:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=17500

Blessings,
Carrie