heartofdakota.com

Hi Everyone!
I'm very new here. I'm a mom of 6. Two have grown and flown the coop, 4 are still in the nest. Actually the 4 in the nest are new additions. We adopted 2 last yr and are in the process of adopting 2 more this yr (oldest 2 are also adopted). So, I was "mommy" , became "mom" (more like moooooooommmm) and now I'm "mommy" again! My kids are DD 24, DS 23, DD 6, DS 5, DS 18mos and DS 6mos.
Anyway, I didn't find HOD in time for this yr , but I plan on using it next yr (and hopefully for many years!) It looks SO wonderful. I've been lurking and reading and lurking and reading........ I'm so disappointed with the WP Animal Worlds that I got this yr. I've got my DD 6 in K this yr. She has some auditory processing problems and most of the books (ALL of the read alouds) go over her head. So I'm at the library every week getting picture books. I would also like a program that is more Christ-centered. I also didn't take into consideration my own personality when I impulsively ordered. It's a whole year of ANIMALS! A WHOLE year of animals.................a whole YEAR...............OF ANIMALS!!!!!!!! So I bought Galloping the Globe to go with it. I plan to do a lot of lapbooks from homeschoolshare and work in the geography and animal habitats as we go. The important thing this year is learning to read and count (she has the HARDEST time remembering how to count!). The rest is gravy.
I look forward to getting to know everyone. I probably won't have a lot to contribute until I actually get HOD, but I hope you don't mind me being a "fly on the wall" for a while. I do have a question. Do any of you have any suggestions for some good transitional, short chapter books that I can start to use to kind of "wean" my daughter off of picture books exclusively? I don't want to use any of the HOD scheduled books (I've already started to collect some of the readers ) and she's the type of kid that needs a long transition time and a LOT of repitition.
Thanks so much ladies. I've already been so blessed and inspired by these postings!

Cheryl
Mom to Laurie and Andrew
Mommy to Mollie, Aaron, Brendan and Tyler

Hi I just want to welcome you to the board. We are pretty new to HOD also but are loving it so far. I am also an adoptive parent

Welcome Cheryl!
I am so glad for you that you found HOD!! Here is a link to a post that might give you some ideas for books:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4420&p=32447&hilit= ... ons#p32447

I hope that works, it was July 25 and was entitled "picture book suggestions for K/1 grader" or something like that. HTH !
and now I will attempt my first -quote- from ahngele's reply

ahngele wrote:Hi I just want to welcome you to the board. We are pretty new to HOD also but are loving it so far. I am also an adoptive parent

DITTO!! (Yeah, it worked)
CONGRATULATIONS Cheryl I'm so happy for you! I look forward to sharing the journey with both of you ladies
Blessings,
Victoria

Welcome, Cheryl! I will recommend The Wisdom of Solomon by Wanda E. Brunstetter. It is a wonderful little book that both my younger dc love. It is divided up into different stories each beginning with a scripture followed by a story that illustrates that verse. The first story is "Wise Guy" using Proverbs 2:6 "For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding." There are 12 different stories in the book. I only read one story each day which leaves them begging for more! (I actually have to hide the book!) This might be just the thing to help wean your daughter off of picture books because it is laid out so that you can use it as a chapter book by only reading one story a day. But the cool thing is, there is a full color picture on each page which would still give her the picture book feel. She wouldn't even realize that she would be taking a step toward chapter books!!

This book was just published this year. You could possibly find it at your local Christian book store or could order it online at http://www.cbd.com. My dc are so excited because the author is going to be at our Christian book store next month!! FIELD TRIP!!

Hope this helps and welcome!!

Thank you for your responses, ladies! I'm so glad to see other adoptive parents homeschooling out there. What better way to create strong family bonds than homeschooling!!
The "Wisdom of Solomon" book looks great! Thank you happy@home!!

Looking forward to learning and growing with you all!
Cheryl

Hi Cheryl! Your post is making me laugh... animals... animals... animals - Oh, I do understand where you are coming from! I like change, and yet HOD gives me that because each year is somewhat different. I'm so glad you are going to be using HOD and also glad you are going to be a fly on the wall. I've been that before too, and it's a good place to be sometimes. My ds loved the Blaze horse books series, they have some pictures on each page but more text than the average picture book. We also liked The Littles series, and one of my dc liked The Boxcar Children series.

In Christ,
Julie

Hello Cheryl! Just wanted to say hello from another adoptive mommy! In my sig. line, the middle 3 are adopted - 2 from Guatemala and 1 from Bulgaria. Welcome to the HOD boards!

OOH My dd-12 loved Galloping the Globe, of course she's my animal fanatic..*ponders where could she possibly have gotten that, 2 horses, 7 dogs, 2 cats, 30+ homing pigeons, bed full of stuffed animals*... don't have a clue where she could have gotten the love animals from

DD loved being able to learn where the animals lived and I knew she was getting a good dose of geography.

We are new to HOD too and are doing CTC this year. So far we've had a great first week.

Have fun with it!

Cheryl,

I just wanted to pop-in and welcome you! We'll look forward to getting to know you better and are glad you've introduced yourself!

Blessings,
Carrei