heartofdakota.com

Hi everyone,

My name is Heather and am so happy to be here. I have 3 bright, wonderful, creative boys. They are almost 4 (July bd), almost 7 (July bd) and 8 1/2. In terms of grades they are entering pre-K, 2nd and 3rd for the fall.

We are just completing our first year of homeschooling. I formally taught elementary school and never dreamed I would homeschool my own children! After just a couple years of having my children away at school all day, the Lord brought clear conviction to my husband and I to bring them home. I can hardly describe what a miracle it was that He broke through my stereotypes and wrong thinking in regard to education and homeschooling. It was like I had blinders on and He so kindly removed them so I was finally able to understand His vision for discipling our boys at home. Thank you, Lord!

Overall, it has been a good, yet challenging year. I used MFW's Adventures for both my two oldest boys this year. They were in 1st and 2nd grade. We have really enjoyed studying American history in depth and really seeing God's providential hand in the formation of our nation. However, my middle son at times has balked at the work (especially dictation and copywork) and my oldest son has been under-challenged. My middle guy is so very bright, though young for his grade (summer birthday). I think a lot of the problems have stemmed from me expecting the same level of work from him as I did from my oldest (BIG mistake looking back). I should have used the 1st grade curriculum for my middle guy instead of pushing him to play catch up in Adventures.

My original plan was to proceed with MWF next year and do ECC together, again. Then I was introduced to HOD at the Kansas City convention. I so enjoyed getting to visit with Julie and observe Carrie in action. I purchased LHTH for my little guy and DITHOR to use regardless of other curriculum decisions. Now that I have spent time looking deeply into HOD, my heart is drawn to this curriculum and it's writer. I need help figuring out what to do for next year. Let me describe where my boys are and what my concerns are:

almost 7 year old son (2nd grade in the fall): very strong natural speller, has completed Growing with Grammar level 1, completed Singapore math 1A and 1B, very strong in mental math and math concepts, loves read aloud (with or without pictures), strong independent reader (enjoys Ramona books, Boxcar, etc. with good comprehension), very good at memorization, doesn't really like copywork, narration or dictation , he can copy 2-3 sentences without a major fuss, has a lot of trouble summarizing for a good narration. He is a bundle of energy, never without an idea to share, strongly dislikes sitting still for extended periods of time, loves to talk, talk, talk. He seems to need my attention the most of all 3 boys.

my 8 1/2 year old son (3rd grade in the fall): average speller, completed Growing with Grammer level 2, excellent at narrations and copywork, average at dictation, completed Singapore math 2A and 2B, loves read aloud (needs no pictures!), voracious reader (would spend 3-4 hours reading alone a day if I let him). He's really into historical fiction, missionary biographies and reading his bible. He keeps one bible in the back of the van and reads 4-5 chapters a day just as we're driving around!, very strong in history and science-he reads so much independently I often don't know what his background knowledge is on a subject anymore! He is very hard on himself, very driven and often unaware of those around him. He is my easy child who is easy to unintentionally overlook because he is so independent and responsible

My hope is to get the boys in the same program, eventually. However, looking at the chart is looks like my middle son would be Bigger and my oldest son would be Preparing. I would love to do Preparing for my oldest next year as it seems right up his alley. He would LOVE the independent work boxes! And I want so much to give him something that challenges him more appropriately this year. However, I just can't convince myself that my middle son could handle Preparing. If I forced him into Preparing it would be another year of trying to keep up for him. No fun!

I have 2 concerns about using Bigger next year with middle son. #1 is we convered much of the exact same material this year in Adventures. I don't know if he or I would enjoy a repeat of history. #2 if I start them off in different guides how would I ever get them back together? Maybe they're far enough apart in ability I should just keep them apart. But I hate not to do the learning through history page together. I would like to conserve time and energy while teaching.

One thought I had is to just wait on HOD for a year. Stick with my original plan and use MFW's ECC for both boys next year. Then in another year put them both in Preparing. By that time my middle son should be ready for it. However, is that fair to my oldest who seems ready now? My husband has suggested doing BOTH- ECC and then Preparing with just my oldest. I don't think doing two full curriculums sounds like a good plan, do you?

Can anyone help me? I'm sorry I have typed so much! I have been thinking and praying about this since the Kansas City conference a month ago. I want to do what the Lord wants for our family.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and respond.

Blessings, Heather

Hi and welcome to HOD! I've used several levels of MFW myself and just let me say, I'm a forever HODie! I am so glad I found it. I also want to mention that I think ECC is not wonderfully geared for the ages of your boys-- it's more or less geared for 4th-6th and has to be tweaked to work for older and younger. Great for large families, but there is better our there and you've found it! (IMHO )

My first thought is to start them together in Bigger and add the extensions for your older if you feel that would be fitting-- you could do this each year to keep things tailored to them both since each guide starting at Bigger has extensions. You would have the plans for Singapore 2a/b in the guide for the younger, and the schedule for 3a/b for the older in the appendix. There are also plans for R&S 2 that you could use for both if the grammar they've done is not quite rigorous. I know you think it would be a repeat in American History, but even in HOD, the guide before Bigger is American History. Bigger moves into a new perspective and focus on American history using a biographical approach. It is very different from HOD's Beyond as well as MFW's Adventures.

Hello Heather!

You could do ECC this year and just do Preparing next year with both of them using the extension package for your eldest at that point so he would get more of a challenge out of it.

I wouldn't want to cover the same subjects again if you have already covered them. Besides at the rate you are going (barring any unforseen reasons that you might have to take a break from homeschooling) you'll have a year to fill before high school anyway. I'd say go ahead and fill it now with a geography year or something like that and then put them in Preparing. You would still be doing DITHR with them so they'd be introduced to HOD this next year.

However, will your youngest be capable of doing ECC? Have you thought about doing Bigger for the left side of the guide with both boys in their own levels, including Bigger's art, Bible, Science, and poetry and perhaps reading MOH or Story of the world for history with both. I may be booed for that idea but it is a thought. Then you'd just start them in Preparing the next year.

Others may give a different opinion as they have actually used Bigger but that is my take on it. Have a good day.

Thank you so much for your responses Jessi and M2M. You definetely have given me some good ideas to ponder. I had considered placing them both in Bigger. I really want to challenge my oldest, but at the same time I want my middle son to feel successful and not playing catch up again next year. I'm praying, praying, praying.

I'm still hoping Carrie or Julie might add their thoughts.

Thanks,

Heather

Heather,

Hi from a fellow Kansan! (Well, maybe you're from MO, but we're still neighbors. )

From your descriptions of your boys, I'd say that they'd fit great into Bigger with the extensions. The spines for the history in Bigger are totally different from MFW Adventures and HOD's Beyond, so I really don't think you'd find your study redundant. We have absolutely LOVED our year with Bigger! The history takes on a biographical focus as you look closely at the lives of the men and women who made it. The Eggleston books are so well written. And, we just finished The Wright Brothers and Their Sister. Inspiring is my word for our study of these great men and women!

I used Bigger this year with my 8 yo (who just turned 9) who is a strong learner in all areas. He sounds like your 7 yo in that talking is his passion...and writing isn't. We did Bigger without the exensions and it has been plenty to challenge him (even though on the placement chart I could have put him in Preparing in some areas). I'm confident that if you did it and added the extensions for your oldest to read independently that it would be a full year of learning for him, and fill his love to read. The activities in Bigger have been the highlight of the year for my ds. (Probably because mom didn't skip them. ) The balance of sitting and listening and talking and writing and doing has made for a very enjoyable year for us. If you're wanting to combine your boys, Bigger with extensions is the option I would suggest.

Now, my other thought reading your post is that maybe your 7 yo doesn't like narrating because your 8 yo is better at giving a more "polished" narration than he is. If he likes to talk, I'm guessing that he'd probably like narrating if something isn't making him feel like he's not doing it right. You'll be the best judge as to whether it's best for your family to combine them. How they work together or if the younger feels like he's in the oldest's shadow is only one consideration, I know. Your time as mom and teacher is a huge consideration, too. So, I know that's a personal decision. If you were wanting to split them, Preparing sounds like it would fit the oldest well, and Bigger the middle one. (But with being able to extend Bigger and then Preparing the following year, you shouldn't feel like you'd be "holding back" your oldest in his learning at all.)

Figuring out where to start is the hardest part. I'm praying right now that God will give you and your husband wisdom to sort it out and make your plan for your family.
Kathleen

Heather,

Welcome to the HOD Board! We're glad to have you here! From what you've shared, it does sound like your kiddos would fit well within Bigger Hearts for the younger and Preparing Hearts for the older. However, when you have two kiddos that are fairly close in age and would fit in two guides right next to one another, we would look toward combining within one program for the history/storytime/geography portions of the plan, and then look toward separating for the 3 R's. So, in this scenario, we would look toward combining your kiddos within Bigger Hearts with extensions for your older child and then having your older child also do DITHR Level 2/3, Rod and Staff English 3, Math 3A/3B, and the dictation passages in the Appendix of Bigger Hearts. Your younger son would do Rod and Staff 2, the spelling list 2, math 2A/2B, and DITHR Level 2/3 with different books from your 3rd grader. Since the target age range of Bigger Hearts is 7-9 with extensions for ages 10-11, your kiddos fall within the range for Bigger Hearts.

Since you've just finished Adventures, you are actually right on the rotation that we would recommend at HOD with Bigger Hearts. As far as HOD goes, we do a year of early American history in Beyond (somewhat similar to MFW Adv. in history content only) and then move into a one-year overview of American history done biographically in Bigger. So, there would be little overlap between Adventures and Bigger Hearts. There would be more overlap between Beyond and Adventures.

Anyway, if you get a chance to pop back in and share your thoughts, we'd love to hear them.

Blessings,
Carrie

Jessi,

I had to pop-in and address your post as I don't think we've ever had anyone booed on our board. However, in keeping with the point of having an HOD focused board moderated by the author, we do keep our recommendations and comments directed toward placing moms within HOD.

Blessings,
Carrie

Just a comment about repeating material...
We did Adventures last year and ECC this year with my girls. I now have Bigger with extensions for next year (as well as the Preparing manual). It is quite different from Adventures. If i had it to do over again I would have done Bigger this year and Preparing next, but we had not yet discovered HOD. We have some wonderful memories from ECC (and I don't doubt that God will use this year in our lives) but it was really not geared toward 2nd/3rd grade so we dropped much of the program, and as a result their skill development really halted. Fun but not complete. Also, I really like how Geography is woven into the HOD programs from what I've seen so far.
This is just our experience, however, so praying for the Lord to guide and direct your path!