Week 1 of New Guides

[Norrfam0506]

We got started with CTC and MTMM this week and had wonderful starts to the new guides. How is everyone else doing?

[Rice]

DD is in last few weeks of 12th, using WH, different science, LA (due to Irlen Syndrome), and math. She has worked really hard to get done this early in the year! Hard to believe #2 is almost done HOD!

15yo DS is making his way through his courses. While I miss having him in HOD, the more workbook style courses he has chosen are a good fit for him and are much easier for grading!

13yo has a really good start in RTR and is on track to finish early for the first time in his school career! He is really growing into the independence of HOD and finally starting to get it done in a reasonable length of school day!

10yo is just powering through and has about 2 weeks left of CTC! (My calendar says he'd finish at the end of March.) He's already at this age got his sights set on finishing each guide earlier and graduating by the end of 11th!

9yo is still struggling with reading, but should finish Sound Bytes this week and is ready to try tackling the ERs again.
7yo sped through phonics and the ERs in just 13 months, is ahead of the 9yo in reading, and is asking for more school. We just do 3Rs and Storytime in the early years (with so many older kids to keep moving forward) and I'm hoping to start both these two in Preparing next fall. I am hoping I'll be able to combine them long term, but based on my previous experience, I'm guessing I'll have to separate them eventually.

By the time the 3yo is ready for school, since 2 more will have graduated, maybe he'll actually get to do LHFHG!

[The2youngs]

Norrfam, that must be a sweet encouragement to your mama heart to have a week that went so well!

We came back to HOD from Ambleside at various points during last semester. Our days were beginning to get fairly monotonous and our family was at a point that I couldn’t put in the time to keep things going.

DS13 is cruising through AO7/8. Despite a rocky start to the year (hormones/attitude), he opted to continue with what he started and has done well to adjust his attitude. Teenagehood has been an interesting adventure with this one! We did make some adjustments to his science so he’s doing RTR’s science with his brother. Next year he’s doing WG and I’m just itching to get started with him!

DS12 moved from AO6 and is now in RTR unit 18. He’ll get through about unit 30 by the end of the year. The workload was a real challenge for him, and sometimes still is, but despite the daily struggles, I’m really encouraged with how he’s starting to own his education and complete his tasks faithfully. We also switched his math this year so that was another hurdle, but I began to see the fallout of a mastery program for a kid who desperately needs consistent, daily review. I was able to talk with him this week about what he thought about math and was encouraged that even he was able to see that he’s succeeding because of the repetition and review. He’s doing really well!

DD10 held out the longest in AO3 but is now in CTC unit 13. She is my little worker bee, even though school isn’t necessarily easy for her; nonetheless, she is faithful and joyful. She LOVES the Apologia Land Animals book as she is a huge animal lover. She doesn’t do well with change so it took her awhile to adjust to CTC, but is now moving along swimmingly. She really struggled with WWTB, despite loving to write so we’re backing off with “formal” writing and she’s enjoying just giving me (very lengthy!) written narrations on a near daily basis.

DD8 is my spitfire in unit 22 of Bigger, coming from AO2. She is much like my firstborn in that she’s very independent (although she is fiercely so!) so we had some battles early on over her wanting to blitz through things when I had my back turned helping a sibling! Invariably something was missed or moved through TOO quickly so we had to regroup and figure out what would be our daily routine. We handle LA, Poetry, and Storytime together; then she more or less does the rest independently, sometimes bringing me her history book if she’d rather have me read.

We’re missionaries overseas so it’s nothing short of a miracle that I was able to piece together every guide and needed books from what was already available in our mission’s homeschool library. Aside from Student Notebooks, everything was here! When I was originally debating making the switch, I talked to the Lord about it and basically said, “Lord, this can’t happen if we don’t already have everything here.” Covid has made international shipping a nightmare these days. After some hunting in the library, I found almost every single book! Then, I found a way to get the student sheets in under 2 weeks! HOD rushed my order and we dove in!

Our weeks have settled into a good solid routine, despite our constant upheaval (missionary life!). I’m happy with the way we’ve adjusted and with what and how my kids are learning and developing. We’re already all looking forward to the next guides and what they get to study next!

[StephanieU]

We only did three days this week, as we went downhill skiing one day.
And school did not go smoothly this week! My younger three all had attitudes at one point or another. The oldest only had her "regular" frustration with math (showing work, challenging topics cause a little moodiness but nothing that prevents her from getting work done). My girls completed Unit 26 and my son completed Unit 10, even through the attitudes.

[The2youngs]

Stephanie,

So sorry to hear about the rough week!

Our school week had a major bump in the road as well, quite unexpectedly. Tuesday afternoon, one of our base workers (a national employed on our small mission base and a dear brother in Christ) fell from a ladder while tree-trimming and nearly severed his arm on the security fence. Because it was afternoon, almost all of the kids were outside so most of them either saw the fall or were around when the entire base flew into action in attempts to save his life. It was pretty traumatic for everyone. We weren't sure he was going to make it, but managed to get him to the local clinic, my husband driving while three others kept him propped up and conscious in the back. Needless to say, no one on base slept much that night after the ordeal, so school on Wednesday was not even on the radar. Everyone was quite a bit distracted this week, but by God's grace we made it.

Long story short, his right arm had to be amputated on Thursday, but his laser focus on the Lord and His goodness has been an incredible testimony and encouragement! We are continually humbled when we see our western-American worldview brought into stark contrast with those who seemingly have so little and yet, in their physical poverty, their walks with the Lord are often times far richer than ours.

Praying for all of us Mamas to keep pouring into our kiddos the life-changing Word of God! Thankful that He has provided HOD as another tool to do so!

[Norrfam0506]

Norrfam, that must be a sweet encouragement to your mama heart to have a week that went so well!

We came back to HOD from Ambleside at various points during last semester. Our days were beginning to get fairly monotonous and our family was at a point that I couldn’t put in the time to keep things going.

DS13 is cruising through AO7/8. Despite a rocky start to the year (hormones/attitude), he opted to continue with what he started and has done well to adjust his attitude. Teenagehood has been an interesting adventure with this one! We did make some adjustments to his science so he’s doing RTR’s science with his brother. Next year he’s doing WG and I’m just itching to get started with him!

DS12 moved from AO6 and is now in RTR unit 18. He’ll get through about unit 30 by the end of the year. The workload was a real challenge for him, and sometimes still is, but despite the daily struggles, I’m really encouraged with how he’s starting to own his education and complete his tasks faithfully. We also switched his math this year so that was another hurdle, but I began to see the fallout of a mastery program for a kid who desperately needs consistent, daily review. I was able to talk with him this week about what he thought about math and was encouraged that even he was able to see that he’s succeeding because of the repetition and review. He’s doing really well!

DD10 held out the longest in AO3 but is now in CTC unit 13. She is my little worker bee, even though school isn’t necessarily easy for her; nonetheless, she is faithful and joyful. She LOVES the Apologia Land Animals book as she is a huge animal lover. She doesn’t do well with change so it took her awhile to adjust to CTC, but is now moving along swimmingly. She really struggled with WWTB, despite loving to write so we’re backing off with “formal” writing and she’s enjoying just giving me (very lengthy!) written narrations on a near daily basis.

DD8 is my spitfire in unit 22 of Bigger, coming from AO2. She is much like my firstborn in that she’s very independent (although she is fiercely so!) so we had some battles early on over her wanting to blitz through things when I had my back turned helping a sibling! Invariably something was missed or moved through TOO quickly so we had to regroup and figure out what would be our daily routine. We handle LA, Poetry, and Storytime together; then she more or less does the rest independently, sometimes bringing me her history book if she’d rather have me read.

We’re missionaries overseas so it’s nothing short of a miracle that I was able to piece together every guide and needed books from what was already available in our mission’s homeschool library. Aside from Student Notebooks, everything was here! When I was originally debating making the switch, I talked to the Lord about it and basically said, “Lord, this can’t happen if we don’t already have everything here.” Covid has made international shipping a nightmare these days. After some hunting in the library, I found almost every single book! Then, I found a way to get the student sheets in under 2 weeks! HOD rushed my order and we dove in!

Our weeks have settled into a good solid routine, despite our constant upheaval (missionary life!). I’m happy with the way we’ve adjusted and with what and how my kids are learning and developing. We’re already all looking forward to the next guides and what they get to study next!

It was an encouraging week! We’ve used HOD on and off, but I’ve been so captured by “grass is greener” syndrome so many times. I really wish we would have stuck with HOD for a more seamless homeschool experience. We always end up coming back to it after all.

It sounds like everything worked out for you guys to switch back! That’s an amazing story!

[Norrfam0506]

DD is in last few weeks of 12th, using WH, different science, LA (due to Irlen Syndrome), and math. She has worked really hard to get done this early in the year! Hard to believe #2 is almost done HOD!

15yo DS is making his way through his courses. While I miss having him in HOD, the more workbook style courses he has chosen are a good fit for him and are much easier for grading!

13yo has a really good start in RTR and is on track to finish early for the first time in his school career! He is really growing into the independence of HOD and finally starting to get it done in a reasonable length of school day!

10yo is just powering through and has about 2 weeks left of CTC! (My calendar says he'd finish at the end of March.) He's already at this age got his sights set on finishing each guide earlier and graduating by the end of 11th!

9yo is still struggling with reading, but should finish Sound Bytes this week and is ready to try tackling the ERs again.
7yo sped through phonics and the ERs in just 13 months, is ahead of the 9yo in reading, and is asking for more school. We just do 3Rs and Storytime in the early years (with so many older kids to keep moving forward) and I'm hoping to start both these two in Preparing next fall. I am hoping I'll be able to combine them long term, but based on my previous experience, I'm guessing I'll have to separate them eventually.

By the time the 3yo is ready for school, since 2 more will have graduated, maybe he'll actually get to do LHFHG!

Sometimes you just have to do what works for each student. I’m glad what your 15 year old is using is working for him.

My 13 year old is chomping at the bit to do World Geography. She just turned 13 and is technically still in 7th. I told her she could start World Geography before 9th only if she completed all of MTMM.

My 11 year old is using CTC. She probably could have started with Res to Ref, but I really wanted her to benefit from the narration guidance in CTC first.

[my3sons]

Stephanie,

So sorry to hear about the rough week!

Our school week had a major bump in the road as well, quite unexpectedly. Tuesday afternoon, one of our base workers (a national employed on our small mission base and a dear brother in Christ) fell from a ladder while tree-trimming and nearly severed his arm on the security fence. Because it was afternoon, almost all of the kids were outside so most of them either saw the fall or were around when the entire base flew into action in attempts to save his life. It was pretty traumatic for everyone. We weren't sure he was going to make it, but managed to get him to the local clinic, my husband driving while three others kept him propped up and conscious in the back. Needless to say, no one on base slept much that night after the ordeal, so school on Wednesday was not even on the radar. Everyone was quite a bit distracted this week, but by God's grace we made it.

Long story short, his right arm had to be amputated on Thursday, but his laser focus on the Lord and His goodness has been an incredible testimony and encouragement! We are continually humbled when we see our western-American worldview brought into stark contrast with those who seemingly have so little and yet, in their physical poverty, their walks with the Lord are often times far richer than ours.

Praying for all of us Mamas to keep pouring into our kiddos the life-changing Word of God! Thankful that He has provided HOD as another tool to do so!

Oh my! Praying for your friend! What an incredible testimony his response to his amputation is to others! Also joining you in praying for all of us who are homeschooling our children - praise that we are able to homeschool our children in a Christian way and a prayer of hope that our children will continue to soak up the Word of God until their hearts are overflowing with it!

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

I loved reading about your homeschooling days in each of your posts! Our lives may be different in some ways, but we are so interconnected because we all homeschool with Heart of Dakota. I love those connections and am thankful for them, especially lately! This world can feel disjointed and disconnected. It's great to come here and feel 'at home' with all of you!!!

Both of our sons are in Unit 24 of their guides. My 17 year-old, Riley, is doing USII, and my 13-year-old, Emmett, is doing MTMM. Both have birthdays in March, so they will soon be 18 and 14. We are having a great year! I love listening to Riley's narrations, oral and written. Today, he had a persuasive narration and yesterday he had an opinion narration. His narrations often include visual aids he needs to show as he is narrating. He used to forget to include the visual aids but has now learned to plan ahead for how to incorporate them at the right times within his narrating. We are also really enjoying our discussions about Finance and Economics. Great tips for future budgeting for Riley!

I also really enjoyed listening to Emmett's oral narration today. It was on his reading of I Am David. This is such an interesting historical fiction Storytime book. It is about David, who is a young boy whose only memories are of growing up in a concentration camp. He understandably looks at the world in such a different way. He spent a long time just looking at all the colors of the fields and flowers - he was used to seeing gray and brown only in the concentration camp. He also has a faraway detached look in his gray eyes that people who meet him notice and wonder about. He has a hard time trusting anyone, rightfully so. He often thinks German soldiers are following him. Amidst all this confusion though, David is growing up to lean on God. He frequently has the thought to try to do good deeds to 'repay' God, as he knows only God could be behind his escape from the concentration camp. I have not read this book, other than skimming through it as Emmett narrates. All of these thoughts are Emmett's thoughts. He is really touched by this book, and he is really pulling for David to find happiness and to find a place to call home. It was a foreign thought to him that a child could grow up only knowing life in a concentration camp. Anyway, I just thought I'd share as his narration was really special today. It touched my heart and his.

In Christ,
Julie

[Norrfam0506]

I loved reading about your homeschooling days in each of your posts! Our lives may be different in some ways, but we are so interconnected because we all homeschool with Heart of Dakota. I love those connections and am thankful for them, especially lately! This world can feel disjointed and disconnected. It's great to come here and feel 'at home' with all of you!!!

Both of our sons are in Unit 24 of their guides. My 17 year-old, Riley, is doing USII, and my 13-year-old, Emmett, is doing MTMM. Both have birthdays in March, so they will soon be 18 and 14. We are having a great year! I love listening to Riley's narrations, oral and written. Today, he had a persuasive narration and yesterday he had an opinion narration. His narrations often include visual aids he needs to show as he is narrating. He used to forget to include the visual aids but has now learned to plan ahead for how to incorporate them at the right times within his narrating. We are also really enjoying our discussions about Finance and Economics. Great tips for future budgeting for Riley!

I also really enjoyed listening to Emmett's oral narration today. It was on his reading of I Am David. This is such an interesting historical fiction Storytime book. It is about David, who is a young boy whose only memories are of growing up in a concentration camp. He understandably looks at the world in such a different way. He spent a long time just looking at all the colors of the fields and flowers - he was used to seeing gray and brown only in the concentration camp. He also has a faraway detached look in his gray eyes that people who meet him notice and wonder about. He has a hard time trusting anyone, rightfully so. He often thinks German soldiers are following him. Amidst all this confusion though, David is growing up to lean on God. He frequently has the thought to try to do good deeds to 'repay' God, as he knows only God could be behind his escape from the concentration camp. I have not read this book, other than skimming through it as Emmett narrates. All of these thoughts are Emmett's thoughts. He is really touched by this book, and he is really pulling for David to find happiness and to find a place to call home. It was a foreign thought to him that a child could grow up only knowing life in a concentration camp. Anyway, I just thought I'd share as his narration was really special today. It touched my heart and his.

In Christ,
Julie

Oh wow! That does sound like a special narration. I just love getting to see the books through my girls’ eyes. MTMM is going to truly bring out some great discussions for us. We’re only on unit 2 and I can already see that. I do love that we are all connected through HOD! I love hearing about others experiences as well!!