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In January, I ordered BLHFHG, for my 6 yr old son. He had previously attended Kindergarten the year before but ended up with anxiety issues when it came time for recess. Anyways, it just seemed to simple and I felt like we weren't doing "enough" school. Before this we were signed up with K12 curriculum thru California Virtual Academy, which is exactly like the public school work (long story there). So we continued with BLHFHG for a while (my son loved me reading to him) and I thought I wasn't doing enough, so I decided to redo 1st grade this year. I looked for a box curriculum that I thought would be the right match and paid $1000.00 for Abeka (we're still making monthly payments). Don't get me wrong, I like their language arts and Math but not for $1000.00.

Did any of you struggle and feel like HOD wasn't enough? If so, how do I overcome this because I feel such a pull to come back to it. Any help is much appreciated!

Sincerely,
Pam

Pam,

I'll just move your post over to the Main Board so that more moms will see it. All new posts begin on the Main Board.

Here's a link to a past thread that may be of help: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=234

Blessings,
Carrie

Well...I haven't personally worked with my kids yet in BLHFHG but I am a former 1st grade teacher so I can comment on it from that point a view ( I don't know how much that will matter:) I know PS is often the enemy j/k:):) Anyway, The curriculum that is taught in LHFHG and BLHFHG far excced what a typical first grade class would cover. I am VERY confident that your child would be excedingly above other students at his age/grade level. That being said I also just want to say that I really feel that HOD is balanced. Carrie has written a very thorough program that considers the WHOLE child. Some programs consist of all videos and worksheets but Carrie has a program that allows a child to experience learning! I think as moms we often second guess ourselves and question if we have made the right decision but I really think that you will find you have made the right choice in using this program. You are not only going to teach him the content but you will teach him a love of learning and most importantly a love for the Lord...those things will carry him far beyond this year. I hope that helps. God Bless

won't get to BLHFHG til next fall , but my son turns 6 in October and we are working on are 2nd year of LHFHG for kindergarten(we did half of it last year). it is plenty. we have time to do other things that interest us and to play. i can not even imagine my son being at school for so long. i believe he would be bored, in fact, because of reading and math levels. Learning should be fun and as long as your child is progressing every year that is what matters.

i have been gleaning so much from fellow homeschool moms in my area and have really discovered what matters most for our family.

while we play and enjoy our other interests we are learning. My son (and probably everyone else's) needs time to move around and just play and use his imagination or he gets fustrated with the school part of our day.

i understand a little about the whole K-12 curriculum thing. i was just informed about this at a local homeschool group meeting where our lobbyist for homeschooling in Florida, Brenda Dickinson, spoke.

so enjoy learning with your son. Don't worry. Jesus will take care of it.

Jenn D.

Yes, it's enough! I used BLHFHG last year for 2nd grade for my son, then 7.

I used A Beka for K and 1st and I can see how you would think HOD is not enough after that. A Beka is good, we're still using their math, but it is SO much busy work!

You can always add extra fun things in if you want.

Katherine
ds8 Bigger
dd4 LHTH
dd2

Beyond is above what a first grader would be doing in ps. The manuals are so rich and full!

My son will be 6 in September and we started with Beyond and stepped back to Little Hearts! My son is well ahead in the basics, too. It is not a lack of intelligence - it is just that these manuals are so rich and full that I wanted him to really absorb what we were reading and doing and have fun while doing it.

Another thing is that HOD is a CM style curriculum. It sounds like you are thinking more "classical education" style with tough academics. I used to think this way too - then I realized I had a 5 year old who was NOT having fun school days. There was not nearly enough coloring and playing because I was pushing him to be advanced across the board. While he is reading on about a 3rd grade level, finishing 1st grade math, and doing the 2nd grade spelling words from Beyond, he is also having fun learning about history, science, and the Bible.

His ps peers are learning sight words, playing on the playground, having an hour worth of lunch a day, going to the bathroom 3 times as a group, doing a worksheet in math, and learning "social studies." I worked in the school system for about 5 years. Trust me when I say that even Little Hearts is far superior to what ps is doing in 1st grade! Beyond is...well..."beyond" 1st grade. LOL

Sorry about posting in the wrong area the first time, Carrie! Thank you for also posting the previous discussion as well as all the replies here! I think until my kids are doing well in college, I'll never rest easy with homeschooling...sure wish I could though!

Pam

I just have to tell you that my two oldest (whom I definately pushed) are continually commenting, "Hey, why didn't we get to do fun stuff like that?! I literally made my oldest son have "scissors school". His preschool teacher said that his scissor skills were poor (GASP!). Note, that there was nothing else, so they were probably just picking something to have him improve on, but I was mortified, so we went to WORK on those scissors. My oldest still teases me about this to this day. All this to say, Yes, it is enough. I really like Abeka, and truthfully it is my default curriculum if we can't find just what I want. However, it is my default only because I know it is solid and will get the job done. We have never had "great" discussions with it or memorable moments. Again, I still use their phonics, and my older boys are using their spelling and vocab. and health for high school this year, but HOD has them beat in my book for making school memories.

I just wanted to say that I have homeschooled my 7 yo dd since she was pre-K 3. Yes, I said it. Pre-K 3. I used Abeka and other sources thinking that since I planned on homeschooling, I wanted to make sure she got a good start. Well, it backfired (as all of you experienced homeschoolers knew it would) and she hated school from the word go. Well, I kept doing it 4, 5, then at 6 we started with Christian Liberty press (good curriculum) for 1st grade but you basically do your own plans... so there I was pushing her again with worksheets, drills, etc coming out of her ears! Poor thing. Then second semester last year (1st grade) I enrolled her in the Georgia Virtual Academy which is the public school online. We had some serious family things going on that were way beyond my control, and I was afraid I was going to have to put her in PS, my younger two in daycare and go back to work so I wanted ds to be ready for PS in case. I did not trust the Lord as I should have. Well, she did well with reading (learning nothing new, but maintaining what she had previously been taught) but she took so many steps backwards in math that she forgot everything she had already learned and began counting on her fingers. This was a child who could previously look at a complex word problem and give me an answer almost immediately. She learned nothing in that program because all they did was teach to the test every day. I ended up making my own lessons for the science and the history in order to teach the concepts she needed to know to pass the test because the details within the lessons themselves were so worldly, I could not teach it their way with good conscience. Anyway, I type all of that to say. HOD this year has been such a blessing. I have put her in Beyond and we are going back through 1st grade math with Singapore and she is regaining her confidence and doing great. She loves school this year and even gets disappointed most days when I say the lesson is over. More is definitely not better. There is more information undoubtedly with other curriculums, but the children do not retain half of the information that they "learn". HOD can adapt to all different learning styles and doesn't smother them with worksheets and drills. Most importantly, their character is being built and they are growing in the Lord. I love this curriculum and I am so thankful for the Austins being sensitive to the Lord. He brought our family through something terrible last year and our family is in tact and even thriving. He is faithful. I hope I never fail to trust him. SDG!

I can add that it is exactly right! We did BLHFG with my 1 and 3 grader last year...and I did have moments (at first) of wondering if it was "enough." But my girls were having such a good time and retaining SO much of the information, that I really let that feeling go and was able to just enjoy our year last year. Now, I am doing Bigger with my now 2 and 4 graders and I totally get it...I see how everything we did last year, prepared them for the awesome things we are doing this year in Bigger. And I will also tell you that my 4th grader (which I am ashamed to say I pushed in the early years with NO success)...came to me on Unit 1, Day 1 and gave me a giant hug and thanked me for finding HOD....that she can't BELIEVE how much fun school is, how science and history are her ABSOLUTE favorite subjects and us sitting on the couch together reading is hands down THE BEST thing about homeschooling. So, the answer to your question....is yes, 100%....it is exactly the right amount for them at this time...and it builds with them!!!

We will be doing Beyond this year. Last year I did LHFHG and Bigger so I have done the in between. I have read through Beyond in preparation though to make sure actually it was not too much for my youngest. But I am the type of person who by nature struggles with is it enough. In fact I am selling off a lot of stuff that has been on my shelf since the beginning because I so feared whatever I used would not be enough. I actually just answered a long post on another board about basically how do you find peace and stay with a curriculum. It kind of goes with is it enough because to me the two are really the same. What has really helped me with that struggle is to write out what I thought my child needed and then next to it what I thought God would care about. I crossed out everything that did not match on what I wanted with what I thought from scripture and prayer would really be God's focus. This is actually what led me to HOD as our curriculum. And I was wary at first about would it be enough. I am not by nature a CM type it was just that clearly HOD really hit all the things that I felt God would care about all the things He would ask of me in the end when I stood face to face and gave an account of how I educated the children He entrusted in my care.

I used to suffer for the comparison thing a lot. The neighbor's kids are doing Latin or playing violin, all good things nothing wrong with them. It's a real insecurity thing for me am I doing a good enough job and in the end will I realize when it is all over that I blew it. Because of this I focused so much on the fringe things of are the things we are doing enough or challenging enough that I was missing the core of was I honoring God in it all and were they learning to honor God in it as well. And am I so focused on getting every little last should thing in that we miss the big things in Bible and character that will ultimately serve them more in whatever their call is for God later in life. Don't get me wrong we are career and college minded actually. I have just found that HOD really does take care of all the need to do's and it does it in a different way than I would do it (praise God) but it is definitely enough. It is more than enough. And it does all that while focusing on the most important things that tend to get lost when we are worrying about if it is enough and that is true relationship with their Savior. My kids are blossoming and truly learning to love to learn. You can never teach it all but if you can teach them to first love Him and seek after Him and then second love to learn, it will be more than enough.

Everyone has to find their own peace and their own perfect fit but for us HOD is more than enough. I think if you really did it and saw the results you would find the same is true for you as well. HTH

Hi, there!

I just wanted to chime in a little bit. I know what you are saying with HOD being enough. We are new to homeschooling this year, and until summer of 2008, when I thought of homeschooling I thought A Beka. Everyone I had known who hschooled used A Beka. I grew up on A Beka in all of the christian schools I went to. It is a great curriculum--BUT....It is written specifically for classroom school. So, LOTS of busy work, and I would say that their approach to education is almost the opposite of that of Charlotte Mason-the "gentle' approach to learning. Our hschool year began Aug. 31 this year. We are using Bigger Hearts and my 4th grade daughter loves it and is going with flying colors. She has learned more in the last week than she would in months of ps. Its been astonishing and exciting!! I absolutely LOVE HOD, but it is taking me some time to get used to it too! It just isn't the way I learned in school, so I've really had to review and get used to dictation and narration and so forth. But the way HOD has you doing school is very powerful and effective, and after just one week with this curric I am HOOKED!! My daughter has not done any worksheets and she's absorbing everything--WHAT??!! LOL. I hope this helps!! By the way, I hope I didn't offend you or anyone else about A Beka! To each his own, I guess!!

Wisdom to you,
Liz
dh of 11yrs
dd9,ds7,ds3,ds8months

Thank you so very, very much to all of you for your comments and suggestions! I'm ready to restart HOD and supplement with Abekas phonics and math! I just need to receive the "peace" that Gods given me to homeschool and like one of you mentioned, stop comparing with other homeschoolers (oh my goodness I need help there!!)!!

Blessings,
Pam

Hey Pam, it's Candice!!!
Waving at you from across town!

You can "compare with me" if you like!
We are using HOD, as you know , I would be happy to cheer you on and reassure you that not only is HOD enough but, it is so much more than enough!
I am here if you need me (you know that!)

Love,
Candice