heartofdakota.com

Hi there!

I have an almost-7-year-old daughter (1st grade), a 4-year-old daughter (K4), and a 2 1/2 year old into-EVERYTHING-boy and this is our first year homeschooling. I actually purchased a different curriculum to use with both of my girls this year and THEN learned about HOD. I am so excited to use LHFHG next year with my middle child next year. I had planned to buy the BHFHG program for my oldest, but then a friend gave me her MFW 2nd grade curriculum. #homeschooldilemma I didn't want to be wasteful of a free resource God gave us, but I did go ahead and buy some of the BHFHG resources including the Teacher's Guide and the Emerging Readers books.

I have 2 questions for you all...

1) I am not sure which Phonics program to use with LHFHG. We had started to use another phonics program (another free resource ) that used a lot of auditory drills, but Claire just wasn't enjoying it at all. She loves to have her hands doing something while she's learning or listening to Mama read a book, whether she's playing with play dough or drawing a picture. What are the differences between Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson? What do you like/don't like about them?

2) What are your thoughts regarding the R&S Preparing to Build 2 book? My oldest, Arielle, attended our church's academy and is used to the brightly colored pages in the Abeka curriculum, so R&S would be a COMPLETELY different approach for her. I did show her the spelling words and poems in the back of BHFHG and she got excited about that. She's also looking forward to reading the books in the Emerging Readers set. I am sure the R&S curriculum is fantastic (or HOD wouldn't be offering it ), but I am wondering if Arielle would be bored with it...?? But then, what would I use instead...? Are there writing components to BHFHG that I could also add in?

I'd appreciate any help you experienced HOD mamas can offer.

Thanks so much!
Della

I think I can help with some of your questions. We have recently done LHFHG, Beyond, and Bigger. I have used both Reading Made Easy and the Reading Lesson.

I really liked the Simplicity of The Reading Lesson (TRL), but we finished it in 20 weeks, so it won’t last the whole year and it didn’t quite prepare my 6 year old for the chapter books in the Emerging Readers Set. However, I like it so well I am thinking of using it down the road with my 3 year olds, but maybe do no phonics in Kindergarten and do it in 1st grade. I have heard from several people that older children (7 years old) take to reading easier.

Reading Made Easy’s lessons are complicated with several components, but do involve lots of writing and drawing. You won’t get any of that in TRL. Maybe your daughter would like that better. RME is busy for the teacher too.It requires keeping up with WHAT you need to do WHEN a lot. But RME will definitely provide enough material for Kindergarten ANd first grade (2 years worth) of phonics. It even has optional workbooks. I’ve tried to finish it in one year and it’s not a good idea. If you go with RME I would take your time with each lesson savoring each component with your daughter. Something I wish someone would have emphasized to me is: limit phonics lessons to 15 minutes each day no matter what program you use.

R&S English: It is not flashy, but it is thorough and understandable. My daughter was able to understand it even though it is her least favorite subject. Also the Bible is well integrated into each lesson. There are lots of opportunities to write out answers in the daily lessons of R&S, but most kids and parents have the opposite desire. HOD recommends choosing only one exercise to have the student write out for time and attention considerations.

Hopefully this helps.

dellamarie wrote:Hi there!

I have an almost-7-year-old daughter (1st grade), a 4-year-old daughter (K4), and a 2 1/2 year old into-EVERYTHING-boy and this is our first year homeschooling. I actually purchased a different curriculum to use with both of my girls this year and THEN learned about HOD. I am so excited to use LHFHG next year with my middle child next year. I had planned to buy the BHFHG program for my oldest, but then a friend gave me her MFW 2nd grade curriculum. #homeschooldilemma I didn't want to be wasteful of a free resource God gave us, but I did go ahead and buy some of the BHFHG resources including the Teacher's Guide and the Emerging Readers books.

I have 2 questions for you all...

1) I am not sure which Phonics program to use with LHFHG. We had started to use another phonics program (another free resource ) that used a lot of auditory drills, but Claire just wasn't enjoying it at all. She loves to have her hands doing something while she's learning or listening to Mama read a book, whether she's playing with play dough or drawing a picture. What are the differences between Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson? What do you like/don't like about them?

2) What are your thoughts regarding the R&S Preparing to Build 2 book? My oldest, Arielle, attended our church's academy and is used to the brightly colored pages in the Abeka curriculum, so R&S would be a COMPLETELY different approach for her. I did show her the spelling words and poems in the back of BHFHG and she got excited about that. She's also looking forward to reading the books in the Emerging Readers set. I am sure the R&S curriculum is fantastic (or HOD wouldn't be offering it ), but I am wondering if Arielle would be bored with it...?? But then, what would I use instead...? Are there writing components to BHFHG that I could also add in?

I'd appreciate any help you experienced HOD mamas can offer.

Thanks so much!
Della

Hi Della, and welcome to the HOD Board!

Jan already gave some good answers based on her experiences! I'll just share a few additional thoughts that may be helpful. First, below you will find a link to a blog post recently posted about these two phonics programs...
https://www.heartofdakota.com/blog/2019 ... r-phonics/

In general, you could use either phonics program successfully with Claire. It is just a matter of preference, though I'd say Reading Made Easy is more hands-on. However, The Reading Lesson is easier and provides a good first trip through phonics otherwise as well.

Second, R & S English is outstanding! It does an excellent job of teaching grammar within the context of learning to also write well. It covers so much, so well, that it is hard to replace with just one program. It is not flashy, but grammar is intended to be a disciplinary subject and is best kept as one (see Charlotte Mason's thoughts about this in the posts below)...
https://www.heartofdakota.com/blog/2018 ... -subjects/
https://www.heartofdakota.com/blog/2018 ... mason-did/

Third, our family here at HOD thanks you for ordering your guide and ERS from us! Should you decide to order the rest of the Bigger Hearts Economy Package from us later, let us know you already got the Bigger Hearts guide from us. We'll verify that purchase and then happily still apply the $21 Economy Package discount. If you have any other questions, please let us know!

In Christ,
Julie Grosz, M. Ed.
Heart of Dakota

Hi Ladies ~

Sorry for the late reply! I just thought to check my post again yesterday and was so excited to see your responses.

Thank you for your encouragement and advice! As for the phonics program, I found out our local library had a copy of The Reading Lesson so I borrowed it and really enjoyed the simple format (they didn't have Reading Made Easy). I showed the first couple of pages to Claire to see how she interacted with the simple phonics approach. It worked like a charm! While it certainly could be that developmentally she was just more ready, I was so impressed that she STILL remembers all of the sounds for C, O, S, A, and T just from that one short lesson! Nothing else had "stuck". I'm looking forward to using TRL with her when we start school back up in August.

As for the R&S English, thank you for your insights about it being a disciplinary subject...that definitely helps keep it in perspective. I think the "rule-follower" part of Arielle will actually cause her to enjoy R&S grammar (like her English-loving mama). I am going to trust the intentional thought and research Carrie has put into her wonderful curriculum choices and go with the HOD curriculum as written.

Thanks again! So happy to be a part of the HOD family. I've been giving out catalogs to all of my homeschooling mama friends! Haha

Warmly,
Della

Loved reading your response, Della! I hope you have a wonderful year with TRL's phonics and HOD!!! Thanks also for sharing HOD with your friends - our family greatly appreciates you spreading the word about HOD!

In Christ,
Julie