heartofdakota.com

I just started homeschooling my first last year. I used LHFHG, and I liked the book choices. In looking at the book choices for BLHFHG I'm thinking of going with Heart of Dakota again but I wanted to find out from others if they are going over pretty much the same stuff in the science book, social studies etc... and just going into more detail with it? I loved the Little Pilgrams book from this last year and I saw they did it again for the next year up. Just wanted to get a better feel from those of you who have used it. Honestly I didn't stick with the day to day lesson plan.... I just did what worked for us each day..... I just couldn't get that organized maybe? Did anybody else have this problem? Anyway my son is 5 and will be 6 in August. Some of it was a little hard for him to sit through a lot of it he did great and learned a lot. I would like to just keep using it for each of my four kids ages 5,4,3 & 1 but want to make sure it's not repetitive.

Thanks,

Diana

Hello! We are using LHGHG as well, with my 6 yo dd. The "Stories of the Pilgrims" used in Beyond is actually a totally different book than "History for Little Pilgrims". I haven't done Beyond yet, but the history should be pretty new. Instead of the biblical history that we had for much of the year in LHFHG, we will be getting more detailed into American History. The science, etc. really should be new, or a deeper look at some of the same topics. All of the books are different, and Beyond is written for an older child who is capable of understanding more than they could in LHFHG. Hope this helps!

Diana,

I'll just move this post over to the Main Board as all new posts begin there. We're glad to have you here!

Blessings,
Carrie

Hi Diana, and welcome to the HOD Board! I'm glad you had a good year with LHFHG! We've done LHFHG twice now, and I'm looking forward to doing it a third time soon. As far as your question - Nope. The history/science in HOD is not repetitive at all. In fact, you just touched on one of my very favorite things with HOD; each year feels fresh and exciting. I am learning so much as I teach these guides. We've done LHTH on up through CTC (10 weeks left of CTC), and each guide is like opening a new treasure. I so wish I'd learned this way in school, as although I always did quite well in school, I rarely loved learning anything. HOD is making our dc love learning - and we have all boys - not an easy thing to do.

I want to encourage you that HOD strives to put together new materials each year, while still making sure to incrementally build skills through the years. So, we get the familiarity of CM style skills each year - like dictation, copywork, etc., as well as the familiarity of a daily Bible time, notebooking times, etc. BUT, each year the Bible time or notebooking or poetry, etc. is different - sometimes focusing on character traits, sometimes focusing on watercolor painting, etc. So, what I'm trying to say is, HOD is new enough each year to be exciting, but familiar enough to feel like you're not relearning how to teach it every year. Enjoy Beyond - we just finished it, and had a blast! It did a super job of preparing my little guy for Bigger Hearts too. I'd encourage you to try to do each of the boxes in the plans routinely, as I've found as the dc move up through the guides, the better I've done with that, the better they do with their increasingly demanding academic skills. I'm glad you are on the message board, and I look forward to getting to know you here!

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks so much Julie! Getting ready to order away!