heartofdakota.com

Hi!
Just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Karen and I have a DS that is 2 yrs. old and a wonderful DH that is very supportive of homeschooling our son. I just purchased LHTH this week and I can't wait to start it with my DS when it arrives. He is quite a little "wiggle worm" so I am hoping that I can use LHTH to start teaching him some basics. I am not sure how I am going to fit this into our schedule because I work 30 hrs. per week which is Monday thru Thursday at noon. So I plan to do it when I am home for my long weekends and possibly at night. My DH and I are trying to get things arranged so that I can be home full time with DS (my mother keeps him during the day right now). We are preparing to sell our home and downsize so we can make it on his salary alone. I keep praying about this daily that the Lord will lead us to where we need to be so that we can homeschool DS over the coming years. I just have to have faith that He will work it out. I look forward to getting to know all of you and using HOD in the future!

Karen

Welcome!

I have just joined the board myself. I'm sure your income issues will work out. God can, and does, do amazing things!

Welcome! How exciting and can I tell you how envious I am that you are starting out with HOD right from the get go. You are going to love it. Welcome to the board. I look forward to hearing of your little one growing with HOD.

Hi Karen!

Welcome, it is so nice to have you here!

Candice

Hi Karen - Welcome to the HOD board! LHTH gives such a happy, enjoyable start to homeschooling. I know you and your ds will enjoy it. You sound just like me - hardly able to wait to homeschool. I was so excited to begin as well, but my dh and I also had finances to work through. It took my dh and I a few years to sort through how to be able to afford for me to stay home. We also chose to live in an older, downsized house, and it has been so worth it! Our Lord is amazing and can work out a wonderful plan for you! By choosing HOD, you're honoring God because you will be teaching your child about Him as you homeschool. Keep praying, and the Lord will show you His marvelous plan for you and your family.

In Christ,
Julie

Welcome Karen!

I'm so glad to meet you. I love your enthusiasm! I'm sure that you're going to have a great time with LHTH. My younger ones just LOVE it and are learning so much. (Actually, I'm excited to see what we get to do everyday! )

Kathleen

Welcome to HOD Karen

You will love LHTH! I now wish I had started out with HOD. I had a different idea about what I wanted my homeschooling to be but now that we have a couple of years under our belt I wish I would have started with LHTH.

Enjoy your time with it. I have a 2 year old also but I decided we would wait a bit to start LHTH. We will see where's he's at after this school year and then decide again.

Blessings to you,
Paige

Welcome Karen. It's nice to meet you! I know you're gonna love LHTH, it is so precious.

Hi Karen
Just thought I would "pop in" to say hi too!!

We have just finished our first week of LHFHG, and have LOVED it!!!

I think it is wonderful that you and your husband are looking at ways for you to be able to stay at home with your lovely little one, it is such a blessing to catch them grow up

I am so grateful to God, that I am able to stay home with mine, even if it means we have a much smaller house than most of our friends, and ALL our furniture is "pre loved"!! We have found that God has always provided just in the nick of time,what we "need" and it has been wonderful to live trusting Him, and not always ourselves.

My husband says we are investing in eternity!!!!

Welcome to the board, I will be praying for you as you look to the Lord with the current choices you are making.
Love Deb

Deb

I'm not trying to hijack this thread but these words

My husband says we are investing in eternity!!!!

are what I needed to hear this morning...what an amazing and powerful way to say it....LOVE IT...I'm off to post them on my bathroom mirror!!

Thanks for the pick me up I needed....may God bless you and your family!

Hi and Welcome!
You are going to love HOD! I congratulate you on making the hard sacrifices to be home with your child. You will never regret it! I quit teaching three years ago when my dd was born. Sometimes, in moments of insanity, I stop and add up the lost wages over the last several years. Wow, that is a shocker! But I wouldn't trade my time with my children for all that money. Enjoy your little one. They grow so quickly!
Laura

Karen,

I just wanted to welcome you to HOD and to encourage you as well! When we first started homeschooling my oldest son for preschool, I was still teaching supposedly half-time (which was actually like 3/4 time)! I did preschool on my two days off one week and my three days off the next week. While not ideal, it did work for us and kept us from having to have my little guy in a preschool away from home. Little did we know that that decision would lead to us homeschooling him for kindergarten and me taking a leave of absence from my job to "try homeschooling and see if I could still stay sane"! Now, my oldest is in 7th grade and all my kiddos have always been homeschooled! Where does the time go!

I also wanted to share that a lady who was a fellow teacher once said that her best memories were when her kids were young and she and her husband were broke, lived in a cracker box of a little house (eating a lot of mac and cheese and beans), so she could be home full-time with her kiddos. She said her older daughter (who was then grown-up) always remembered how much "fun" that time was in their life and how much she loved having her mom at home with her every day. She didn't remember the tight finances, the small house, or the mac and cheese and beans! This teacher really encouraged us to stay home with our kiddos, so we wouldn't miss out on that fleeting time in life! No matter what you have to give up, it isn't as much as what you'll gain in the long run!

Blessings,
Carrie

Thank you all for the warm welcome and word of encouragement!

I got my box in the mail on Saturday! (Thanks Carrie & Mike. It looks wonderful!)

Now I am ready to get started. I think DS will do great with it. I am not sure if he is ready for everything yet but, we give it a try. I think he will do great with the fingerplays because when I was describing the first lesson to my mother he overheard us. He said, "I can do that!" Then he got down in the floor and starting crawling like an alligator! He is so funny. I think we will have great fun with LHTH!