heartofdakota.com

Hello. I am learning how this board design works and am very illiterate with computers. I have 2 left at home. The 5yodd will be doing LHFHG and my 11yodd will be doing CTC. The older found the box with the few books of hers in it and peaked. She was really excited with what she saw. My question is for Carrie, when she has time. I read in the archives that you were considering tying some research with maybe an USBORNE book with the CTC program. I see it is not included as a resource. Did you tie in research another way? I am thrilled with your programs but need to know if I need to add that component to the program.I am not looking for anything too heavy, just a gentle beginning. Also, we are using Queen's LL with her this year. She has had her own timeline to read and grasp concepts and I like the gentle approach for her. But, next year I am planning to use the R$S grammar with her. I was considering starting at level 3 and just let her work her way through at her own pace. I felt like this would build her confidence. You have seen both programs. Would it be too redundant? Any recommendations? Anyone like to comment?
Sharyn Kelly

Ooh! I'm so glad that your daughter got a chance to peek at her books and liked what she saw. You'll have to find a new hiding place!

As far as research goes, we have scheduled it on Day 1 of each week in the "Reading About History" box of CTC. We went to allowing your child to use the reference material(s) of her choice when researching, allowing the student to use the internet, the Bible, or any combination of history encyclopedias. You can view the research questions and a sample of a research topic on the Weekly Sample of CTC here: http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/CTC-first-week.pdf

We will continue to cover research in our guides as we go!

Blessings,
Carrie

As far as grammar goes, I'm not sure which of the Queen's books your 11 year old used this year? If you are desiring a gentle grammar route, you could easily go with Rod and Staff 3. However since your daughter is 11, I'd lean toward having her do English 4 at half-speed instead, either spreading one lesson our over two days or only doing it two to three times weekly. You'll know your daughter best though.

Blessings,
Carrie

Hi Sharyn, and welcome to the board! You are going to love doing HOD so much. It has truly blessed our home with a joyful, Christ-filled way to homeschool. We've done 2 programs for 3 years running now, and enjoyed that so much. I'm so glad your dd was excited about the CTC books - I am too! We'll be doing CTC and Beyond next year, along with LHTH half-way through or so. We're very excited, but are making ourselves take a break this summer.

As far as research, I liked so much how that was done in PHFHG, and CTC looks like a great way to approach it too. This is a necessary component of learning for this age, and I'm amazed at how my ds from just doing one year of PHFHG knows how to use reference materials well. He views the Bible as an excellent research resource as well, and I know CTC's research will continue to reinforce that excellent thought. We used the free internet site www.wikipedia.com last year and enjoyed that. We also used the Bible when applicable to the time period. Next year, I'm ordering The Usborne Internet-Linked Ancient World to use as a resource as well (this is in the PHFHG extension package) at this link:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/preparing- ... ckages.php

This book really is not necessary, and if funds were an issue, I'd always order all of the CTC packages first. Then, if I had more funds, I'd order the Usborne book. We thoroughly enjoyed doing our research in PHFHG with just the Bible and the Internet. I just thought we'd enjoy adding this book for fun this year. My dh and I have talked about how important it is to set aside enough money for homeschooling to be the best it can be for our dc. This is a new development for us - as before my dh used to wonder if homeschooling would be the best for our dc at all. Now, we are united in wanting to homeschool our dc, and we've decided to set aside money each year so that we can afford to do it well. Anyway, I share this to say, had it been a few years back, I'd order only the packages for the guide and I'd have been very happy with that.

I'm so glad you are here, Sharyn, and I think you'll find this board to be a wonderfully encouraging place to visit!

In Christ,
Julie