heartofdakota.com

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry to vent here but I'm getting last minute jitters about being able to do this! As multiple children enter the picture in my homechool mileau I get more and more nervous. I have researched HOD since February I think and keep getting impressed by the positive reviews you all give it.

Looking at it I think it's fabulous. The thing that makes me nervous is "me" With several children and several different boxes, plus DITHOR thrown in I don't know if I can keep it all organized and keep us on a shedule each day. My daughters and I just went through our book choices yesterday for DITHOR (level 2/3, 4/5) and then I had to pick for all the genres for Bigger storytime. I was getting confused!

My plan is my 9 and 10 yr. old do Bigger, adding extensions for my oldest. My 6 yr. old will either tag along (I've bought several I Can Read books for American History) or do Little Hearts. My four year old will do Little Hands very casually and learn his letter sounds! My oldest to beef it up with do Apologia Botany, some other writing program (not sure yet) and GWG. I just feel that all this tweaking is going to once again leave me doing all the scheduling and planning. I wish I could just accept a program "as is" and go with it.

The other thing is I might do Rod and Staff LA (reading, phonics, spelling) with all the kids to help with their reading skills. I love CM approach but I feel like my oldest who was a natural reader is hitting a wall with her reading level and needs to work on some reading and comprehension skills. Has anyone used this program with their kids?

So after I've tweaked everything, I'm wondering if it's still HOD I'm doing?

Sorry for venting, just frustrated with myself!

Shannon

Sometimes we need to tweak. Be it b/c we want to be sure that we are doing enough, b/c we have a dc that needs extra to really get it, b/c we just can't help looking at curriculum and seeing everything great and being indecisive. We are all guilty of it to some point. I think it is natural to doubt yourself before a huge undertaking such as the education of your children. Even when things are going great you will ask yourself if you are ruining them.
I don't think tweaking for the right reasons makes it not HOD. At the root of it all, it is HOD. I have to tweak to remediate some things we didn't fully get before starting HOD. I think it makes it better b/c I can tweak if I need to. In ps or private school that doesn't happen. No one can say ok you need to redo this you just didn't get it, but you got all the rest and need to move up with those. You can't specifically say until High School that you are behind or ahead in just one thing. You see that your children may need some more language arts. I think it is great that you see the weak areas and want to help fix them and make them stronger.
Maybe you could start out with just the HOD part of the programs. If you feel after a few weeks that R&S Language Arts would benefit them, add it in slowly. I would slowly add in the extras or the tweaking to the programs...one "tweak" at a time. I didn't start out with DITHOR. We are about to start it 6 weeks in. It did seem overwhelming, but I think taking it slowly and adding it in now that we have our routine down and we have tweaked what needs to be tweaked that it will go better than if I would have tried to start it all when we were just starting the programs.
Anyway, I hope this helps you some. Everyone feels overwhelmed sometimes and wonders if they are doing what is right for them and their children.
Val

I am a big tweaker in general. I love HOD because it can take my tweaking and at the same time I do not need to tweak because it works. You can change things to fit your families needs and have a very smooth running program. I would just suggest doing it as written for the first couple of weeks to get in a groove and get a feel for the program. Then if you decide for your family you need to add something then do that. Just hearing some stress and wanting that not to be there for you is all. I think too much tweaking can lose the beauty of the program which is a nice easy flow. I try to hold off all my obsessions and tweaking until I know what it is supposed to look like then add them more slowly and it has helped me see that really I had a lot less tweaking to do than I thought right from the start if that makes sense. The blessing of HOD is peace so I am saying just give yourself a chance to see that and you might be surprised it is very thorough as it is. Having said that for some of our kids we are using different LA and Math and still find HOD is the perfect fir for us. So relax, you're going to love it!

You must be doing SOMETHING right, because you used the word "mileau" in a sentence. I am also brand new, so the only thing I can say is kudos to your large vocabulary, and I want to know how it actually goes once you start. Blessings, Kelly

Shannon,

You can do it! Last year I started with HOD, and it really is much easier for me to implement than anything else we've tried. I just love the little boxes that lay the day out in front of me and break it into nice little bite-sized pieces. So, personally, I can say without a doubt that doing several HOD programs would be much easier than big scripted lessons in text book or something that I have to plan all by myself! The open-and-go lessons in HOD will be your friend this year.

I really think you'll find that DITHOR will move your girls along with reading. (And they'll really enjoy it.)

Now, I'm not saying HOD comes with a magic wand when you order it, and you wave it over yourself and your children and "POOF" you're suddenly disciplined and productive. You will have to get it done in the day-to-day (which is sometimes easier than other times). But, for me, the predictability of the time needed for the boxes, the short lessons, the balance of everything covered in HOD makes it SOO much easier to schedule. All the necessary stuff...and the fun stuff...is doable! I've found that we can get it all done, and truly enjoy ourselves in the process! I'm praying you'll find the same to be true as you dive in this year. I want you to make the same kind of wonderful, eternally-significant memories that I have this past year with my kids!

Kathleen

Shannon,

I just want to encourage you that you can do this. I can tell you are a very capable person, and you have prayerfully considered HOD for some time, asking good questions and fine-tuning it to fit your goals. I would try to tweak as little as possible because it makes running several programs so much easier and more convenient. I really feel it is easier in our home to run 2 (soon 3) HOD programs because of our goals and our dc's personalities and ages. It may help to start slowly with one program and then add the next, and so on. But however you go about it, I do think HOD makes it very manageable and enjoyable to do several programs. I'm excited for you to begin - and this Sunday I remembering you right now in prayer to uplift you that God will richly bless your school year with your dc!

In Christ,
Julie

Shannon - I am getting the jitters as we move from LHFHG to Beyond and add in LHTH.I think it will get easier once we actually start .I believe when we get into our new routine it will become plain sailing .So I think some apprehension as we take on a new role is normal .I will be praying for your family as you find your groove with HOD