heartofdakota.com

Hello ladies,

I have been homeschooling for 9 years now, yet feel like a newbie in so many ways still! We have 4 children, 3 are older, internationally adopted children, aged 11, 14, & 18. The 11-yr old has been home for 5 years, while the other 2 have only been home for 1 1/2 yrs. English is their second language and they did not have very much in the way of formal schooling in Haiti.

I have tried a variety of workbooks to get their reading comprehension and vocabulary up, and it is very slow. The 11 yr old reads at about a grade 4 level, the 14 yr old boy at about a gr.3/4 level, and the same for the 18 yr old girl. The hardest thing I've found with choosing curriculum for them is finding something that works for their academic level, but isn't too "babyish". At 14 & 18 they hate the cutesy little pictures and sentences that are in so many early elementary books.

So, I stumbled upon this website and have looked the curriculum over and really like what I see. I am wondering if trying the Preparing level for all 3 of them might work??

If anyone has used this level with much older kids like mine, I'd love to hear your experiences.

Thanks,
Andrea

Hi Andrea, and welcome to the HOD Board! We have lots of moms using HOD in all different kinds of situations, with dc with all different kinds of needs, and still all loving it. So, I do think we can talk through ideas here and figure something out for your dc! If you could please take a moment and check out the placement chart, that would be great. The placement chart will help us chat about ideas that would work well for your dc's needs. If you could please look at the first page of the chart (about reading, writing, grammar, and math), and share a bit about each of your dc, and also which program(s) they might individually place in, that would be very helpful. Here's a link to the chart:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

It makes total sense that since English is a second language for your dc, age will not be as big of a factor right now in choosing. So, this other information will really help all of us be better able to advise you. HOD has outstanding curriculum, and I know whatever program(s) you choose - you'd enjoy HOD, and so would your dc.

In Christ,
Julie

Hi there. I am also a mom that has adopted children internationally however mine were adopted much younger but I do have one with special needs that has learning delays. From your description I think HOD could work for you. The advantage is that you can read a lot for them so they can get the information. I think it would depend though on placement. I could see it possibly working for the older kids. I think it would somewhat matter at where they placed on the placement chart. But one advantage is you can read to them beyond their reading level. That has been huge for my dd. She reads about beginning third grade level but was about second when we started and she is 11 1/2. HOD has allowed me to get her age appropriate material even though her reading level is far below her age. I think HOD would be really worth taking a long look at for your family. Welcome and praying you find the best solution for your family!

Thanks Julie & water2wine for your thoughts. I'll try to give the further information you might find helpful.

Dd 11 - for reading would be Preparing Hearts, writing would be Preparing Hearts, grammar would be Bigger Hearts, and math would be Preparing
Ds 14 - reading Preparing, writing Creation to Christ, grammar Preparing, and math Creation to Christ
Dd 18 - reading Preparing, writing Preparing, grammar Bigger, and math Creation to Christ

See?? Lots of different levels!

What do you think?

Andrea

ann71391 wrote:Thanks Julie & water2wine for your thoughts. I'll try to give the further information you might find helpful.

Dd 11 - for reading would be Preparing Hearts, writing would be Preparing Hearts, grammar would be Bigger Hearts, and math would be Preparing
Ds 14 - reading Preparing, writing Creation to Christ, grammar Preparing, and math Creation to Christ
Dd 18 - reading Preparing, writing Preparing, grammar Bigger, and math Creation to Christ

See?? Lots of different levels!

What do you think?

Andrea

Thanks so much, Andrea! I am thinking from reading this, that Preparing Hearts seems to be the best fit overall, if you'd like to combine. We just finished PHFHG, and it is a super program - I think you and your dc would love it as much as we did. Grammar and math will be easy to alter for each of your dc as necessary. You may want to get the Creation to Christ guide just to use the right side of that for a convenient way to up the writing for your ds 14 yo (he could do the Write with the Best curriculum), math for ds 14 yo and dd 18 (there are 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B math schedules included in it). For Drawn into the Heart of Reading, you would choose either Level 4/5 or Level 6/7/8 for the Student Books and plans - Level 6/7/8 will have more writing. You can look inside the student books and see which you think would fit better (these are reproducible for your family). Then, you can either choose your own books or some of the book packs. Either would work great! Keep in mind the Student Book/plans should be chosen by considering the writing level, and the Book Packs or level of difficulty of reading books you choose should be chosen by considering the reading level. They need not be the same. Hope that makes sense! The extension package is meant to be added to extend the history for more mature children to read independently. Since English is a second language for your dc, you can check that out and see if that's something you'd like to do or not - you'll know best because you know your dc best! These are just some ideas I had, you will know what best fits your goals. I think PHFHG is great fun to do, and gives an awesome 1 year sweep of history - which was very memorable for my ds and it will be for your dc too I'm sure! Be sure to keep posting until you come to a peace with your decision.

In Christ,
Julie

Andrea,

It sounds like the ladies are doing a good job of helping you sort through your options, so I'll just pop-in and let you know we're glad to have your here! If you have other questions, ask away. The ladies on the board are so gracious with their time.

Blessings,
Carrie

Andrea,

I was just wondering if you'd had a chance to think on this? How are you feeling now, and what are you thinking? It would be wonderful to hear back from you whenever you have a chance.

In Christ,
Julie