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Hi everyone! I am new here - I am Nicole in Western Australia *waves*

Just wondering if anyone here has used WP and if you could give me a run-down on the pros and cons of both programs, and a comparison of them both. Thanks!!!!

I really think it depends what you are looking for.
Do you want to combine your kids? While this is doable with HOD due to the age ranges on the manuals, if you have a large age spread, WP has programs with older and younger learning guides allowing you to combine a large age range.
Do you want to have an open and go teacher's manual? HOD is very open and go. It even gives you key ideas so you know where you are going with the lesson. WP does not give you a lot of extra help besides the actual schedule.
Do you want all your subjects included? HOD has it all laid out in their manuals, yet you can easily substitute if it fits your family needs better. With WP you need to buy each subject separately, although a few programs do include both history and science.
How do you like your Bible? HOD has the Bible woven into each lesson usually tying into the history for the day. Though science often has Bible to go with it too. With WP, Bible is more of a separate subject.
Those are the biggest differences I've seen.

I have used both. I used Animals and their Worlds and American Story 1. We fizzled out in the middle of AS1.

There were a lot of things I liked about WP, and HOD has all those things. Like the way all the subjects fit together. Right now in Preparing, we are finishing up studying the Ice Age and are also doing the Arctic tundra in science. We also really enjoyed the books in WP, especially the read alouds. We didn't care much for the encyclopedias they used as a "spine," though (they may have changed some of them, but I'm not sure). It was hard for dd to learn by reading "snippits" of information. Like little sound-bytes.

Here are the big differences for me:

1. The way the TM is put together, there is never any question when you read a book for HOD what you are supposed to take away. There is a "key idea" and always discussion questions. Sometimes, there are facts to take away and sometimes a large reason for the reading is to practice a skill (such as narration, relating to the story, putting yourself in the story). Whenever you read something, there is always directions for what to do with what you just read. In WP, we did a lot of reading that I felt like we were just supposed to absorb "something" but not sure what. Sometimes, I would have a lightbulb moment while doing the notebooking pages, like, "Oh, THIS is why we read that book." And I was very impressed with the intentional way the authors put the program together. It was just hidden--left for me to figure out. I never have to wonder with HOD (and am also very impressed with the intentional way Carrie put the program together!).

2. The activities in WP are advertised as "more than you can do" and you are instructed to pick which ones work best for your family. For ME, this was not a good thing. I used it as an excuse to skip some activities, then more, then more, and then we were hardly doing any. There is nothing to skip with HOD. You simply open the book and do every box. I also like the way the weekly project is broken into multiple days, so we're not spending one day of the week on a time-consuming art project while the other subjects suffer. It's wonderfully paced and easily do-able. That has been the biggest hit with my kids--they have never done so much art and hands on stuff!

I really liked WP--I don't want to make them sound like a bad program. It just wasn't what fit for my teaching personality. I've found that while it's important to use a curriculum that matches your children's learning style, it's just as important to find one that matches your teaching style!! Otherwise (unless you are extremely disciplined and never overwhelmed), you will stop teaching it. And it was also important to my dd especially to know WHY we were reading something. That little "key idea" is what first led me to HOD, and I'm so glad because everything else has been wonderful about it too!

Hi Nicole,

We used WP so I will do my best to give neutral pros and cons to both WP and HOD. Both Programs are family friendly Charlotte Mason style programs and you can communicate with the owners/authors of the Programs. (A+ on that for both HOD and WP!)

WP pros:
Great book selection - usually very visual!
Lots of fabulous Hands On Activities.
Lots of internet links given.
You can combine several children of different ages depending on the program
Great discussion board available
You can easily choose their Math and English or your own.

WP cons:
Bible is an "add-on" so if you don't care for this it is easily eliminated.
Too many things to do! This can be frustrating because you either find yourself behind in the schedule OR skipping so much that you feel like your missing point of purchasing the entire curriculum!
You really can only combine different ages to a point that you are boring your older children or talking write over the heads of your younger ones.
Expensive & you are not "allowed" to sell and WP exclusive items such as the Guide & notebooks.

HOD pros:
Bible and God are interwoven in almost everything!
Well thought out book selection.
You still can combine ages, but it's limited to a smaller range.
You can choose the suggested Math & English or choose your own program.
Open the Guide and Go curriculum - very little prep.
Getting "school done" is very achievable & that itself is exhilarating!
Hands on activities are simple & achievable in a short period of time.
Great Discussion board.
Fun use of audio resources.

HOD cons:
If you don't want the Bible - than HOD is just not for you!
The Science Part does not have a lot of hands on experiments, but I am finding this true for a lot of Charlotte Mason style curriculums. (I am anxious to see what is up and coming for HOD in the High School years - if that is even a goal - I don't know.)
If you buy it all it can get expensive too.
No high school curriculum.

Having said all that I can only base that list on the programs we've used. We have ONLY used 1/2 of Bigger w/ Extensions as we switched 1/2 way through the year from WP - All American & Animals & Their World. We are still enjoying all of our WP books, but ditched the Guides & they were expensive - $80-90 per Guide! We are continuing on with HOD - Preparing w/ Extensions. We do other math programs and grammar programs. We LOVE the Bible. We love the Music. We love the book selections. I love that I can open up the Guide and GO! I love that we can get it done. I'm adding a more science for my "extension" users. IF I hadn't found HOD I would still be using WP & would have recommended it to you!

Hi Nicole! *waving from Florida*

From my experience (I've used LHFHG, BHFHG and DITHOR as well as Animals and Their Worlds), I find HOD to be more fluid. I go from box to box and carry over ideas and thoughts. With WP, I felt it wasn't quite as cohesive. I love both programs and am using both. I just find HOD to be more user-friendly for open-and-go kind of people (like me!). Both are definitely meaty and engaging. The activity level of HOD is fantastic for my wiggly worms.

Really, both are winners in this family. HOD is just a bit easier to implement for me.

I'm not the best at comparing, but if you have specific questions, I can try to help you that way. My WP knowledge is limited to AW though...

Wow- you are all such beautiful, helpful people!!
I really, really appreciate your comments. You know, one of the main problems I have (and one that causes me to live and breathe homeschool catalogues and discussion boards...) is that all of the great hs programs out there have such an American history slant to them (and, to tell you the truth, if I was allowed to, I would be quite happy to include a lot of it in my hs teaching as I find it really interesting and inspiring... so many Godly leaders, etc ... anyway, I'm not allowed to (being in Australia and all)...) and so I am always having to pick and choose from curriculums rather than being able to do all the programs they offer.
So, with HOD, I couldn't do LHFHG or BLHFHG or BHFHG as they all have American history. Preparing, though, is world history, so that is why I am interested in that program.

So, to cut a LONG story short (sorry everyone!) do you think that I could use WP and HOD? For eg, WP Animal Worlds one year, HOD Preparing the next, etc. Would that work? They do seem quite similar in their programs (I guess it is the hands-on aspect that Sonlight doesn't have, etc). Boy, I really am rambling tonight...

ALSO: We are quite a conservative Christian family, we choose our books that we read as a family with a fine-toothed comb. Do you think that HOD chooses books that would fit us a bit better than some that WP chooses? Just from browsing at the HOD catalogue, it seems that that might be the case.

Thanks for reading and replying to such a long winded post! Nicole

NicoleJ wrote: ALSO: We are quite a conservative Christian family, we choose our books that we read as a family with a fine-toothed comb. Do you think that HOD chooses books that would fit us a bit better than some that WP chooses? Just from browsing at the HOD catalogue, it seems that that might be the case.
Nicole

Welcome to the HOD Board, Nicole! I can respond to this part because we are a conservative Christian family as well, and I am careful what our dc read. HOD has done the work for me - Carrie is very careful with her book selections, and I've been thrilled with the books. They represent the genres or historical time periods accurately without stepping away from being quality books character-wise. Mature content is left for mature readers, and even then it does not glorify bad morals, as other books from different companies I've looked at have. Rest assured, HOD has a passion for choosing excellent books with attention both to accurate representation of history (or genre) as well as books the Lord would be alright with us reading. And, whenever humanly possible, HOD includes God in the daily plans of as many subject areas as possible.

In Christ,
Julie

Here's a past thread that may be helpful. I haven't read it all through, but from the title I think it might be of benefit:
viewtopic.php?t=578
In Christ,
Julie

WP's animals one has a bit of overlap with Preparing, at least with using the One Small Square books for Arctic Tundra, Desert and Coral Reef. I guess that would still leave you the other 4 habitats to do with AW, which would mean it wouldn't last quite a year (unless you go on lots of rabbit trails) and then you could start up with Preparing.

If you are preferring the HOD selections for storytime, you could maybe use one of the storytime sets from Bigger Hearts instead of the books recommended by WP. I see a couple of the storytime selections from Bigger are American history but there are many that are not. WP doesn't have any narration or other questions for what they call Adventure Reading, so it really doesn't matter which book you use. Then I would also recommend Bigger Hearts manual to at least use the right-hand skills side (minus science), even if you are skipping the history portion. Though you may even be able to add the poetry and Bible study boxes from the left-side too, if desired.

NicoleJ wrote:So, to cut a LONG story short (sorry everyone!) do you think that I could use WP and HOD? For eg, WP Animal Worlds one year, HOD Preparing the next, etc. Would that work? They do seem quite similar in their programs (I guess it is the hands-on aspect that Sonlight doesn't have, etc).

You're right - Nicole - they do have that Charlotte Mason literature rich style - plus the fun hands on stuff. However, WP like Sonlight just has a lot for you to do so be ready to cut some stuff. Since they both use the One Small Square Series what about doing AW - Science Set from WP and Preparing together - just skip the Preparing Science. These are the WP AW books that we liked best. Many AW users did not care for the flow of AW but loved the resources that is now the new AW Science set. Then you will be ready for CTC....
What are the ages of your children?

juliekay wrote:You're right - Nicole - they do have that Charlotte Mason literature rich style - plus the fun hands on stuff. However, WP like Sonlight just has a lot for you to do so be ready to cut some stuff. Since they both use the One Small Square Series what about doing AW - Science Set from WP and Preparing together - just skip the Preparing Science. These are the WP AW books that we liked best. Many AW users did not care for the flow of AW but loved the resources that is now the new AW Science set. Then you will be ready for CTC....
What are the ages of your children?

Hi - my children are (all girls!) 6, 3 and 1 at the moment. I am a long term planner! I like to know what I will be doing in the next couple of years (am I the only one that does this???)
I wasn't really wanting to combine the WP and HOD together on the same year (ie. using AW AND Preparing for Grade 2) but rather, using WP AW for Grade 2, and the HOD Preparing for Grade 3 and then maybe switching back to WP for Children Around the world for Grade 4 and then back to HOD for Grade 5 with Creation to Christ. Would that be too chop and change, do you think? OH I WISH I COULD FIND A CURRICULUM THAT I COULD USE FOR EVERY YEAR WITHOUT HAVING TO CHANGE! And sometimes (shh, don't tell anyone) I wish I was an American so I could use something like HOD every year, INCLUDING all of the American history portions!!!
I was a bit worried about doing AW for a whole year, and then having the OSS books again in HOD Preparing. I think I would have to switch some books, or add in some to HOD.

NicoleJ wrote:Welcome to the HOD Board, Nicole! I can respond to this part because we are a conservative Christian family as well, and I am careful what our dc read. HOD has done the work for me - Carrie is very careful with her book selections, and I've been thrilled with the books. They represent the genres or historical time periods accurately without stepping away from being quality books character-wise. Mature content is left for mature readers, and even then it does not glorify bad morals, as other books from different companies I've looked at have. Rest assured, HOD has a passion for choosing excellent books with attention both to accurate representation of history (or genre) as well as books the Lord would be alright with us reading. And, whenever humanly possible, HOD includes God in the daily plans of as many subject areas as possible.

In Christ,
Julie

Hi Julie - thanks so much for your message! It really is nice on this board - I feel quite at peace here! So often I am a square peg that doesn't fit into a round hole as far as our home standards are concerned. I really do LOVE the Godly aspects of HOD that I feel other programs lack. I am praying about my curriculum choices (as I always am) and I am feeling a real leaning toward HOD - really, what are we homeschooling for? Is it just for a good academic record? They could get that at a nice private school. I am after Godly character training that could only happen at home. Praise God for homeschooling! Oh, rambling again...

The only thing I found very different between WP AW and Preparing is the language arts (we used WP's LA 1 and 2). If you think you might be switching between the 2 programs, you might consider buying one of the lower HOD manuals and using it for the language arts portion. That way, you would stay on track and wouldn't miss out on any skills building up to what is used in Preparing.

Oh, we are doing the One Small Square books twice, with AW and now with Preparing, but have still really enjoyed it. While you read them in AW, there are actual assignments associated with them in Preparing. It's been great review for us...we were introduced to a lot reading the books in AW, and now it is really been solidified through the deeper study in Preparing. We did have 1 year between the programs, though.

Nicole,
Just curious what requirements you would need to meet that HODs American history programs would not meet? Could you do complete HOD programs (in sequence) and just add or substitute some interesting read-alouds that could cover Australian history? Or do a summertime unit-study that might cover any other requirements? I would assume HOD would meet your requirements for Math, LA, Science etc. And it's really only BLHFHG and BHFHG that are focused on American History, right?
I was just thinking that if you are really feeling pulled to HOD there might be a way to make it work

Aren't there some folks from other countries here...Canada or the UK? They might have some helpful thoughts if you start a thread about adapting HOD for use in places other than the US.

I agree with you - if we have given our children solid academics but failed to give them solid Christian values, what has been gained? HOD has satisfied both of these needs solidly for us.

I can see your reasons for not wanting to do multiple years of American history. Normally, I'd never recommend skipping guides or messing with the order of them because they build upon each other very nicely (and they're all awesome ). But, considering your unique situation, I'd say you could easily do LHTH, LHFHG, choose to do either Beyond or Bigger, and then be able to do PHFHG and on up from there for HOD guides. Praying for you to have clarity about your decision!

In Christ,
Julie