heartofdakota.com

Hey ladies! What HOD guides are you using, and what are your favorite parts of them?

I am down to one guide - World History with my son, Emmett. We are on Unit 26, and the year is flying by!

My favorite parts are...
*hearing Emmett read aloud his history written narrations (so improved and full of his personality - and pretty much zero editing on my part these days)
*discussing The Count of Monte Cristo (what an AWESOME book - so good my oldest son, who is now 23 and working full time at a sales job - is rereading it again on his lunch breaks just for fun!)
*reading/discussing health journal topics, just really good things to address in high school
*correcting Biology - I know that sounds weird, but at the start, he just didn't read carefully and answered some fill-in-the-blank and true/false questions wrong - especially the true/false ones, it seemed those were always wrong! But now, straight A's! I know this will help him in online college later, which he plans to do, so this progress is a 'happy' for me
*fine arts - I love displaying his completed art projects on stands on top of our armoire! This from a kid who did NOT enjoy coloring or anything artistic earlier on.

So, what guides are you using? What are your current 'favorites'? Let's celebrate them here together!

In Christ,
Julie

Hello!

We’re using Little Hearts for His Glory for my 6 year old. We’re on unit 23 this week. It’s been a fabulous curriculum for 1st grade I’ve got 3 more little girls behind her, so we’ve got many years ahead of us to go! I love all the history and read-alouds. My daughter loves the activities, Going on Eagerly and Just Thinking and Choosing. She’s always happy to pull those out and work on them!

I have four guides going.

My oldest is on Unit 26 of WH.
My second is on Unit 10 of MtMM.
My third is on Unit 26 of RtR.
And my youngest is on Unit 11 of Beyond!

For Beyond, we are doing some books we hadn't read before with the older three, and I am enjoying the variety. I am missing time with my oldest, especially since we are using local classes for Bible, literature, and art. But, she is enjoying WH, and she wants to be a history teacher! I think HOD is a large reason she loves history so much. I am excited that #2 is to The Elements, as that science is SO fun. And for RtR, I am looking forward to the last three storytime selections! My daughter is happy that the last one is about a girl.

nm

We are using:

CTC with DD9 (almost 10)
Beyond with DS6 (almost 7)
LHTH for the 2nd time with DS5

CTC - So many things to love! My daughter definitely loves the poetry painting as one of her favorite things. We are currently doing Jashub's Journal for storytime and I love that. I've been looking forward to it because I've been a fan of SCM from the start of our homeschooling journey 5 years ago (before I found HOD). We've used several of their products (picture studies, music studies, nature studies) so I was really happy to see this one included in CTC.

Beyond - So much to love too! I love that we are reading Stories of the PIlgrims, which I read with my daughter when she was 7 for 2nd grade, but we are experiencing it much for richly with coordinated activities Carrie wrote. I also really love the poetry studies as I've wanted to include those but have not been very good at incorporating it on my own. So again, the activities Carrie includes for it are right on for his age.

LHTH - I love seeing my son really learning the Bible stories this time around and I see him growing in his knowledge of letters and their sounds. I'm really looking forward to starting Little Hearts with him in the fall!

Blessings,
Jaime

We are using 3 guides currently.

My two older boys are in Resurrection to Reformation. My oldest loves the science. He has been looking forward to doing the astronomy study for a couple of years now. My second son loves History and especially enjoyed Peril and Peace. They are on Unit 12 currently and both are loving the illustrated book of knights. They had fun leaving clues for me to go on a crusade with them I am loving their ability to be so independent! I am so grateful for the way HOD trains kiddos to learn independently. And the quality of their work is really improving this year. It's a life saver for this busy mama! Also, we all love the amazing notebooking pages. Such a wonderful keepsake! My husband is doing the Boyhood and Beyond study with the boys and that has been a really special time for them as well.

My next pair, a boy and a girl, are beginning Bigger Hearts this coming Monday! They just finished Beyond and I spent today putting together all the books and 3 ring binders and materials they will need. They are very excited! We spent a lot of last year really working hard on reading and they are now just about done with emerging readers and will be beginning DITHOR with their brothers soon. Beyond is one of my very favorite guides so it was a really special year and they have grown so much. My favorite book in Beyond is Stories of the Pilgrims. The kiddos loved the art projects. And they especially like it when their project involves something they can eat! They are excited about having real notebooking pages this year like their brothers. My oldest saw the pages come out today and he was like, "Oh, I remember doing all these pages!"

My little ones will be doing the second half of Little Hands to Heaven this year. We made it from A to M last year! My 2.5 year old has been joining in now as well. They love the rhymes and want to do them multiple times each day! And we enjoy building the letters on masking tape on the floor. It's such a sweet and simple Preschool/Kindergarten and I love it every time. This is my 4th time through it. I recommend Little Hands to everyone I know with little ones! My 5.5 year old has been asking for more so we are slowly adding in The Reading Lesson, Math, A Reason for Handwriting and the R&S Workbooks from Little Hearts.

Our days are full, but happy. We love homeschooling with HOD!

MomOfLittleWomen wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 23, 2023 9:58 am

Hello!

We’re using Little Hearts for His Glory for my 6 year old. We’re on unit 23 this week. It’s been a fabulous curriculum for 1st grade I’ve got 3 more little girls behind her, so we’ve got many years ahead of us to go! I love all the history and read-alouds. My daughter loves the activities, Going on Eagerly and Just Thinking and Choosing. She’s always happy to pull those out and work on them!

Our sons especially loved the activities in Little Hearts! The workbooks were fun too - I appreciated all the fine motor skills they developed and the includes lots of great critical thinking skills too. Sounds like your 6 yo daughter is a happy little gal with a can-do-it attitude! She is setting such a good example for her younger three sisters. My oldest son always did that too - such a blessing. Four little gals - how fun - thanks for sharing!

In Christ,
Julie

StephanieU wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 23, 2023 11:45 am

I have four guides going.

My oldest is on Unit 26 of WH.
My second is on Unit 10 of MtMM.
My third is on Unit 26 of RtR.
And my youngest is on Unit 11 of Beyond!

For Beyond, we are doing some books we hadn't read before with the older three, and I am enjoying the variety. I am missing time with my oldest, especially since we are using local classes for Bible, literature, and art. But, she is enjoying WH, and she wants to be a history teacher! I think HOD is a large reason she loves history so much. I am excited that #2 is to The Elements, as that science is SO fun. And for RtR, I am looking forward to the last three storytime selections! My daughter is happy that the last one is about a girl.

Our high school kiddos are on the same units in WH - go figure! I loved reading she wants to be a history teacher - we need more of those who are Christian and who are passionate about history being told well! Our sons enjoy history as well - so much more than I did as a public school student - I do think HOD lit that fire in each of them. The Elements in MTMM was FUN! Ellen McHenry truly fits that description of a living books' author who loves her subject matter dearly. She has such a unique way of teaching the elements that makes the science content as memorable as it is fun. RTR - just really good Storytime books. So glad your daughter is looking forward to The Tinker's Daughter (and she will NOT be disappointed - that was so good), and your youngest in Beyond on Unit 11 - good job of keeping that little kiddo moving along too. Sounds like a busy but good year, Stephanie! Thanks for sharing!!!

In Christ,
Julie

Mgs - sounds like you are moving right along with the portions of CTC, Bigger and CTC that you are using! I was glad to read in another post that your younger child was doing well paired with your older child in CTC. So happy that transition went well! I really appreciated the books and the narration helps for teaching as well. Rod and Staff did a wonderful job of preparing our sons for college level English Comp/Lit and for just being all around good writers in general. The dictation really helped our son who was a preemie make incredible gains in spelling properly within his own writing. We actually did dictation every single day (rather than 3 days a week) for him, and I was so glad to see him gradually improve over the years to eventually become a good speller who rarely misspells things today (at 23 yo).

In Christ,
Julie

Jaime - I was able to see your daughter's poetry painting via pic you posted - she is doing a lovely job with her watercolor paintings! We really enjoyed Jashub's Journal too, especially trying to choose what to do based on the Bible. We had SUCH good discussions about each scenario! There IS a lot to love about Beyond! The coordinated activities Carrie wrote bring the history theme all together so nicely, and Stories of the Pilgrims is a great living book to set the theme. I'm like you - I wouldn't have been good about incorporating poetry study on my own, but I enjoyed it so much in the plans. It really did fit well with my sons' ages when we did Beyond. LHTH - oh, I miss having little ones so much some days! Yesterday at church two little children from two different families were pouring over The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. They were just so precious - took me back to when each of my sons lovingly paged through that Bible. So glad your son is learning so much from his Bible stories and learning his letters/sounds too - he will be ready for Little Hearts in the fall! Great job - thanks for sharing!

In Christ,
Julie

CookFamilyHomeschool - RTR's Astronomy study was so good - loved marveling at the universe and our Lord the Creator! Our sons stargazed with more knowledge after RTR's science. Sounds like your second son is learning to love history, and Peril and Peace was such a good book. So much depth there! There was much jousting and a little chivalry after the boys read the Illustrated Book of Knights. I remember the Crusades and clues like yesterday. What an adventure and fun I got to be a part of it with them!

You are so right - kiddos learn independence so successfully in HOD - with consistently doing what's in the plans in their guide! I too found using the guides as they are planned made this busy homeschool mama's days better too. The notebooking pages are so lovely and have given us such beautiful memories of the work completed in each guide! I still love to pull them off the shelf and just visually see all they have done from year to year, so much growth there! The Boyhood and Beyond study - such a great way to discuss that topic. Everything Bob Shultz writes is pure gold. I think that is really special that your hubby is doing that study with them.

Congrats on finishing Beyond Little Hearts with your next pair! Stories of the Pilgrims was a favorite at our house too. In fact, each summer break I'd set out my HOD tubs of books for each guide that they'd completed, and they could choose any books we'd finished to read on their own. Both American Pioneers and Patriots AND Stories of the Pilgrims were often chosen first by one or another son. Good news though - Bigger Hearts' little red Eggleston books were often chosen first by one or another son too! So, you have equally narrative and inspiring books ahead in Bigger! So glad they will get to enjoy the notebooking pages - I know my sons would have loved having them. Hope I get to use them with grandchildren some day! Yes, our boys too loved anything involving food - hands-on math lessons, science experiments, and history projects that involved food made all of them happy. Some things never change!

Little Hands - love that start to homeschooling little ones. Four times through, great job!!! How special your 2 1/2 yo can join in now! I loved using it with my 3 sons and also loved teaching it to 2 to 5 yo children at our church. Little ones and mamas alike love Little Hands! I still could say the rhymes from memory, and our sons enjoyed them as much as your do. Precious! The bigger the masking tape letters the better, right? They enjoyed the letter activities and redid them long after I was done teaching them. I bet your 5 1/2 yo is loving the camaraderie with his younger sibling(s) while also spreading his wings with his phonics, math, and fine motor skills. Sounds like a great way to teach them!

I feel like I'd love being a part of your homeschool day - such joy there. Kiddos mimic us as homeschool moms in their attitudes and work ethics within homeschooling - your cheerful attitude and hard work shine - and the fruit can be seen in your children. Pretty special! Thank you so much for sharing here!

In Christ,
Julie

Okay, I got all nostalgic remembering our Crusades in RTR, had to find those pics I snapped and share them...



Now these three are all over 6 feet tall! Time sure does fly. Thanks CookFamilyHomeschool for bringing to mind that happy memory! Sure have loved my journey with HOD. This has been such fun to read about each of your guides and favorite memories you are making in them. Thanks for posting!!!

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks for sharing these pics Julie!

I was intrigued when CookFamilyHomeschool mentioned Crusades and Clues. It sounds like something will enjoy immensely and RTR is our guide next year with my daughter so I am excited!

Our 15yo finished MTMM and is doing a year of Canadian studies so that I can combine him with younger brother next year for some parts of WG (LA, IPC Science, Logic). They've combined for some subjects before (and are still for LA this year), but the younger one wasn't ready for high school last year (specifically BJU and counting credits), so this gives him, time to grow for that. He's also doing ACE Bio (from WH) this year and doing really well in it (pleasant surprise!).

Our 12yo (7th) has worked ahead a bit each year since he started Preparing so just finished Rev2Rev this month. He's almost done MTMM Unit 1 and is going to do just fine with it, I think, with different/not-lined-up-with-the-guide LA. He's glad written narrations are back on Day 4. We're also behind in Boyhood and Beyond (he combined with older brother to hear the Who Is God books the last couple of years), so we'll finish that book before summer, too.

Our 9 and 11yos did Preparing half speed last school year and full speed this fall, finishing in January and are now in Unit 5 of CTC. They are doing SO well! I am so thankful for the way HOD increases kids' skills from one guide to the next. DS did vision therapy last year and is about up to grade level in reading (almost done DITHOR level 2 after spending almost 3 years in the ERs!), but Story of the Ancient World is a bit beyond him yet, so I'm reading Reading About History aloud at this point. I have no doubt they'll take over and be doing History independently by Unit 18. DS doesn't love the "work" part of school, but does love Storytime and Science. DD (just turned 9 in Nov., but is a keener) is thriving with the independence and often tries to do most of her independent work before we work together (while brother is still waking and eating). They are both enjoying the watercolor painting.

And, last, but not least, the 5yo is excited to start phonics at his birthday in April and LHFHG next fall. I'm not "doing LHTH" with him this year, but he's started getting the guide out during school time and having one of us read the boxes for a random day aloud so he can pick what he wants to do, OR following along with the 2 in CTC (sitting in and giving answers in grammar, for example). I'm not sure I'm ready to start my "last time" through yet!

Nm