heartofdakota.com

My daughter is on week 19 of WG, and she has enjoyed it immensely. She loves reading, so HOD has always been a great fit for her.

As we look to move forward with the high school guides, I have a question regarding *HOW* the learning is done.

Is the learning guided, or is it all independent interpretation?

What I mean is, when she reads Trial and Triumph, Courage and Conviction, the PAC books, and other history books, will she be guided in her learning? Will she be specifically helped to make the proper conclusions in her learning, or will she simply be asked to interpret and narrate what she reads?

We've used HOD for 9 out of 10 years of homeschooling for my daughter, so we are quite familiar with oral/written narrations. Yet, as she starts studying deeper into history and how it affects what is going on all around us today, will the HOD guide GUIDE her in her learning?

I *know* that self-education is true education, and I know that Charlotte Mason wanted students to embrace their own learning. However...one look at today's culture shows that many students are coming to false conclusions about how to interpret life, history, and God's role. Much of this can be blamed on the secular public schools and universities that blatantly hate God and Christianity, but it can also be attributed to the immaturity of young people being easily swayed by their own interpretations. I want to make sure that since my daughter is so independent in her learning that she will be guided towards TRUTH. (14/15 years of age is still very young.)

I really want to make sure that my daughter learns that history unfolded in relation to *how* rulers and societies viewed God, that national decisions have consequences, and that those consequences affect generations to come. I'd say that is difficult to expect a young teenager to pick up on his/her own.

I hope this all makes sense!!

I feel completely inadequate to answer your question so just had to comment that I LOVE your question!

Looking forward to hearing how Carrie and Julie respond.

Blessings,

I am so glad to hear you and your daughter are enjoying World Geography, Amber! I've enjoyed using all of our high school guides nearly twice now, as my second son will graduate this year. What a blessing! So, in answer to your question, Heart of Dakota's high school guides include both guided learning and independent interpretation. I have loved this through the years, as Charlotte Mason's more open-ended skills which require independent, creative, more individualized responses are balanced with more guided learning with guided responses. You can see both represented in World History and in its assignments. Let’s take a look at the World History credit, for example.

In the first few weeks of plans, there are written narrations in response to the readings (more open interpretation), but there are also critical thinking questions from Short Lessons in World History (more guided learning). There are annotating, highlighting assignments that are shared in response to the readings (more open interpretation), but there are also detailed labeling/questioning history activities responses (more guided learning). There are key word narrations (more open interpretation), but there are also critical thinking questions from Short Lessons in World History again (more guided learning). There are talking points narrations (more open with guided points), but there are also in-depth review questions that must be answered (guided).

There are also what I’d call a meshing of open interpretation and guided learning assignments. For example, the Literary Synthesis Sheet for the Living Library includes guided components but also includes open interpretation. Likewise, the guided discussion of People, Places, and Events of World History includes cross references between The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible with a discussion that is definitely guided. Topic narrations are also a meshing of skills (narration open interpretation but with guided topics to address). We found each day to have a balance of open interpretation, guided learning, and a meshing of the two.

Interestingly enough, my oldest son’s Liberty University courses follow suit. There are readings with guided learning (questions with more exact answers, quizzes, tests). But there are also ample assignments with open interpretation (entrepreneur business ideas, opinion responses to readings shared with instructor, logged responses to other students’ posts, opinion essays, etc.). For all his essays, he needs to cite the Bible – definitely like HOD! He is in his junior year and has received all A’s thus far, taking 18 credits per semester. HOD prepared him well! Not only for college courses, but for applying his Christian faith in his daily life! Anyway, I hope this helps!

In Christ,
Julie

Good morning! I just have a moment before homeschooling USII and MTMM, but I also wanted to share links to Carrie's Introductions for each of the high school guides! Carrie poured her heart into these Introductions, which number about 25 back-to-back pages of details about each high school course. There is a wealth of information that lays out exactly how students are learning in both guided and independent ways. Each guide's Introduction fully describes how each credit is earned.

Likewise, Carrie spent countless hours in each guide's sneak peeks on the the message board. These links to each high school subject are windows into the 'heart' of specifically how each guide was designed and how depth - both academically and spiritually - is breathed into each page. Carrie asked me to include those links for you as well, as they will give a much more in-depth answer to your questions and will also benefit others. Carrie is currently completely consumed with the website redesign with her son, Shaw, so she asked me to share these links for her.

I know of no other author who has gone to such lengths to share her planning, thoughts, faith, and heart that went into the writing of each part of each guide - such a blessing to have available for all to see! They are printable, and they should fully answer your questions with more detail than one could ever need! Enjoy the reading and seeing how your remaining high school years will unfold to be a beautiful homeschool journey - God bless, Amber!

High School Guides' Introductions (in order of use):
https://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/wg-overview.pdf
https://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/World ... uction.pdf
https://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/US1TOC.pdf
https://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/US2-introduction.pdf

High School Guides' Sneak Peeks (in order of use):
https://heartofdakota.com/board3/viewto ... =6&t=12933
https://heartofdakota.com/board3/viewto ... =6&t=14776
https://heartofdakota.com/board3/viewto ... =6&t=16145
https://heartofdakota.com/board3/viewto ... =6&t=16977

In Christ,
Julie

Julie,
Thank you for sharing the links and the "how's" behind each portion of the World History guide. I feel like I have a clearer idea of how it will all unfold -- and I haven't even looked at the links yet! I appreciate your response. Now I'm off to do some reading!!