heartofdakota.com

Okay, I've been pouring over everything on this website for days. I do not understand what to get for my children.

* William - age 7, almost 8 - 2nd grade
* Caroline - age 6 - 1st grade

We will be starting whatever we choose as soon as we get it. We have been using My Father's World Adventures, but I do not like it. So we are changing mid-year. I will probably just keep schooling through the summer until we finish.

We have already read History for Little Pilgrims (well, we have a little bit left to finish). And we already have our Math in place (MUS).

I will probably get Reading Made Easy or The Reading Lesson for Caroline. She can read 3-letter words and a few sight words, but needs a lot more phonics instruction.

I think I will do All About Spelling for William and try the Lang. Arts in whatever HOD book we choose.

Okay, I keep trying to figure out what grade goes with what HOD book. I know they go by ages. And I've poured over the placement chart. But I still can't decide. I keep gravitating toward "Beyond" since we've already read History for Little Pilgrims. But, when we get done with that, Caroline will just be starting 2nd grade and just turned 7. Will she be ready for "Bigger"??? Is "Bigger" a 2nd grade curriculum?

Please help! My head is about to explode from thinking about this! I want to place my order tonight and hopefully get it this week!

Thanks so much!

Blessings,
Jacquelyn

I don't really have any advice for you, I just wanted to add that I was concerned about my dd doing Bigger for 2nd as well in the future. Carrie gave me a really great response. You can read it on the link below.

http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=214

HTH!

Gina

Thanks, Gina! That does help to see how the books build on one another. Now I'm wondering if I should do "Little Hearts" now? Is it critical to do "Little Hearts" to build the foundation for "Beyond" and "Bigger"?

Jacquelyn

Carrie? What do you think?

I think one thing that is confusing me is when I look at "Bigger", I see cursive scheduled in. And I learned cursive in 3rd grade, not second. So that is making me think "Bigger" is 3rd grade, which would be too hard for Caroline. Ugh! I am going nuts trying to figure this out. LOL!!

Jacquelyn

babybryte wrote:Carrie? What do you think?

I think one thing that is confusing me is when I look at "Bigger", I see cursive scheduled in. And I learned cursive in 3rd grade, not second. So that is making me think "Bigger" is 3rd grade, which would be too hard for Caroline. Ugh! I am going nuts trying to figure this out. LOL!!

Jacquelyn

Hi- I'mnot Carrie but... Just from what you said in your post, Beyond looks like a good place to start-listed as ages 6-8, it would be appropriate probably for most 1st to 3rd graders, perhaps with some adjustments in language and math if your 3rd grader is advanced. You don't have to worry about doing cursive when your daughter is grade 2 with Bigger if she's not ready for it-the great thing about Carrie's curricula is they are so flexible-if she's not ready for cursive at the time, then simply don't do it.
By the way, spelling is already scheduled in Beyond, but if you found both spelling lists too easy for your older child, you could add a different spelling.
I hope that helps a little, and check back again, I'm sure others will chime in.

Thanks, Lourdes! That helps me a lot!!

I was considering using All About Spelling for my 2nd grade DS because while he is a very good reader, he is an atrocious speller! LOL! He spells "of" like "uv". But he can read very well. He did do Saxon K phonics in Kindergarten, but has done MFW for 1st and we tried Sonlight LA 2 this year. In both of those, he never got good phonics instruction, like rules. I thought All About Spelling would teach him the "whys" of spelling rules. I hope that makes sense. LOL!!

I also started Adventures with my 2nd grader and didn't like it. We are using Beyond for him. In some ways he could have done bigger this year, but the writing would have been too much for him (that was one of our problems with Adventures).

My two are 5 and 7.5 and will not be able to do the same program. My 5yo doesn't like listening to the history stories or sitting still for much but she is enjoying The Reading Lesson. So next year I will be doing Bigger for my 3rd grader and Little Hearts for my 6yo who would be K or 1 (I'm not sure yet).

You know your first grader better than anyone else. Would Bigger be too must of a writing challenge for your 1st grader next year. If you want to keep them in the same program, you might consider doing Little Hearts this year and then moving to Beyond next year. Little hearts has plans in it to let you tailor it for both children's levels. They would both enjoy it. There are supplemental booklists in the back to expand the program a bit and you could draw in some of the read alongs that came with Adventures.

Just my thoughts,

Jacquelyn,

Lourdes and Gina did such a good job of pointing you in the right direction! And it looks like LeeAnn and I were posting at the same time! The ladies on the board are so good about helping each other process through things.

I would agree that "Beyond..." is the right placement for your kiddos for several reasons. Your 8 year old is beyond the ages we really recommend for "Little Hearts...", so it would seem like a step back for him. There's such a difference between ages 7 and 8 it seems. Since your two kiddos are close in age it makes sense to teach them together. Also, Beyond would finish out the American history you've already begun this year.

As far as what you'd need to teach the program... you'd need the items in the Economy Package. You may already have American Pioneers and Patriots from MFW, if so just buy the rest of the items individually to complete the Economy Package.

You would also need a phonics program. You can use your own or one that we carry. Your ds will probably need the Emerging Reader Set, if he is ready for that. It is scheduled in the Appendix with daily reading assignments for him to read aloud to you and also has questions to ask. Unless he's still finishing phonics, then just do that first.

As far as the Basic Package, you would probably want those items also except for the Singapore Math, since you'll be doing MUS. So, again just order the items you need from the Basic package individually.

Last, you'll need to choose what you wish to read aloud. You can choose one of the Deluxe Packages (either Boy Interest, Girl Interest, or Classic Package) or choose a mixture of them as long as you have at least one read-aloud from each genre. The plans do not require certain books, although we do highly recommend those we have listed.

Here is a link to the packages on our website: http://www.heartofdakota.com/byd-little ... ckages.php

I hope that helps! We pray you'll enjoy Beyond... like we have. We really enjoyed it last year, although I am very biased!

Blessings,
Carrie

Jacquelin,

I think Beyond would be a good fit for you two kids for all the reasons previously given, plus you'd be using some of the same books you were using in the Adventures program. There would be some continuity for your kids.
My 3 will be about the same age as yours when we do Beyond and there are several others here who will have 2nd graders in Bigger. You can teach cursive to your dd whenever you feel she's ready.
I, too, have looked long and hard at All About Spelling and really considered it. I decided to go with Phonics Pathways, as it has all the spelling rules in one book and lots of word lists for practice, but I do sometimes wonder if AAS would be more fun.
There was something else I was wanting to say, but for the life of me I can't remember... Maybe it will come to me in the moring...

Anyway, welcome to the HOD board and I'm sure Carrie is pondering a great answer for you!

Disregard the last part of my post....we ALL posted at the same time! Did everyone else just finish cleaning up and sit down to veg out?

Jacquelyn,

I realized I didn't address the concern that your dd may not be ready for "Bigger..." next year. First off, it will take a year to finish "Beyond...", (and I wouldn't force myself to school all through the summer unless I really wanted to, just to finish the program).

That being said, you will probably have to go into next school year some to finish "Beyond...". By then, your kiddos will be quite a bit older and more ready for "Bigger..". Even if you have to adjust the writing in it for your dd, she can dictate to you or write what she can, but both your dd and ds will fall within the recommended ages of "Bigger..." which is ages 7-9. They are actually the target audience it was written for.

As to the cursive, the ladies are right that you can also choose not to do that for your dd. In the past, cursive writing was always taught in 3rd grade, but it has actually been moved to 2nd grade in most public school classrooms today (for better or worse). We still wait until third grade to teach it to our boys though.

Hey Melanie, you and I must have been posting at the same time too! Yeah! the kids are finally in bed, and I'm just getting to the board to chat with you kindred spirits!

Blessings,
Carrie

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to answer my questions and ease my mind!! I really appreciate it.

I had no idea cursive was being taught in 2nd grade in public schools. There is NO WAY my 2nd grade son could have done cursive this year! I am even having him go through the 1st grade Reason for Handwriting book for practice this year. Boys usually take longer than girls to develop their fine motor skills.

Anyway, thank you again to everyone! I am definitely going to buy "Beyond"!

Blessings,
Jacquelyn