heartofdakota.com

Hi, I'm new here and am seriously thinking about trying HoD for my 8yo DS next year. I tried Sonlight this past year and while I liked the books, I did not like the schedule/TM. I was going to write off all "boxed" curricula. . . until I heard about HoD.

Anyway, I'm thinking about doing Bigger Hearts. I think Preparing would be more on his level but we just did two years of world history overviews, so I would like to do some American history with him. Because he is an advanced and voracious reader, I'd like to add the extensions in. My question is how are they scheduled? Would it be feasible to get these through the library? Are they read in the 2-4 week time span that libraries typically allow?

We just finished core 3 with 7,9, and 11 year olds and now we are doing Bigger. I found it at my homeschool store and I liked the layout so much better than SL. It has a lot of little extras that make it really special and different. Anyway, I do not think that Bigger would be too easy--my 11 year old is really enjoying it and he is also reading his SL core 4 and 5 readers with Drawn into the Heart of Reading.

Even though we did core 3 which is American History, Bigger is different enough that my kids REALLY like it. Also, we have already read a lot of the extention books this past year and I am having no trouble adding in some core 4 books I have instead. The extention package is scheduled in the back so substitutions do not "mess up the daily plan" so to speak. I don't think it would be hard to use the library for extentions. Also, I have printed off some chapters to try from www.mainlesson.com from different American history books. I have my oldest read and narrate, but frankly, I haven't felt the need to "extend" too much. With DITHOR on his level it seems just keep things at his level without too much modification.

birchbark wrote:Hi, I'm new here and am seriously thinking about trying HoD for my 8yo DS next year. I tried Sonlight this past year and while I liked the books, I did not like the schedule/TM. I was going to write off all "boxed" curricula. . . until I heard about HoD.

Anyway, I'm thinking about doing Bigger Hearts. I think Preparing would be more on his level but we just did two years of world history overviews, so I would like to do some American history with him. Because he is an advanced and voracious reader, I'd like to add the extensions in. My question is how are they scheduled? Would it be feasible to get these through the library? Are they read in the 2-4 week time span that libraries typically allow?

Welcome to the HOD Board, Birchbark! I think you would LOVE Bigger Hearts! We did it last year, and it was such an incredible year for my ds. The books are so living that it just seemed as if each author was sharing the stories with us personally around a campfire - we felt like we really KNEW those American heroes by the end of Bigger Hearts, and we were PROUD to know them. The extension package has reading levels ranging from 4th - 6th. grade, 7th. month - only you will know if that fits your ds well. These extension pack titles are scheduled to take longer than 4 weeks: A Child's Story of America, Once on This Island, Exploring Planet Earth, The Story of Thomas Alva Edison (the last 2 titles are to extend the science - I'm not sure if you are interested in those as well). Otherwise, all of the other titles are read in 1-4 weeks. Most of the titles would probably be available at your library if you have a well stocked library. The schedule in the back makes it super easy to pace these books, and your ds could use the schedule as a checkoff to independently read the pages each day. If you haven't take a peek at the placement chart, you'll want to do that as it really helps with accurate placement. It only takes a moment, and it is so worth the time:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Thank you. Very helpful!

HI Birchbark

WELCOME! Recognize you from the WTM boards!