heartofdakota.com

Forgive me for the repeat. I did add a few things. Since many had already viewed the 'Charlotte Mason' topic, I thought it may soon pass by and I wanted to share my heart with as many as possible. I trust that most who read this will understand why this is important.

The formation of a child's character and his/her habits is an overlooked topic in Classical education, as the pursuit of wisdom, knowledge, and education is supreme.

This quote by Carrie in the post that she mentioned (HOD-CM and/or Classical viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2453)in the 'Charlotte Mason' topic sums it all up. I truly believe that the character of our youth (or lack of it) is the reason society is in the state it is today. I've told many people that the Christian character of my kids is more important to me than how far they go academically. Sure, I want them to succeed in the things that they do. But, it is like what was said by a special speaker we had in church Sunday. Our 'people skills' are more important than how much we know. Proverbs 1:6 starts out, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge....". So, that tells me, if knowledge is going to benefit, we first need to know how to conduct ourselves in a way that pleases God.

I never really did a CM education with my kids, but HOD is exciting me even more, now that I know that the philosophy behind it is exactly what I have desired for my dc all along. I encourage all of you moms with young children to take this to heart when using HOD.

Only by the grace of God can I be thankful for the Christian character my older 3 dc have, but I know they would have benefited even more with an approach like Carrie has used. I'm grateful that I have an opportunity to implement this with my youngest dd God bless you, Carrie

"I've told many people that the Christian character of my kids is more important to me than how far they go academically."
That sums up exactly how I feel! What good is giving your child the world if they loose eternity?

So true, ladies. Homeschooling with Christ-centered materials is our number 1 goal. I think it does more to equip our dc for life than anything else - this life, and the next . I am deeply saddened by homeschool materials that are Christian that are willing to take "God" out of their curriculum and sell secular versions alongside their Christian versions (I even know some curriculums that have separate catalogs they send out - one Christian, and one secular). . HOD has been asked to sell secular versions of their guides on numerous occasions, especially DITHOR. However, offering a secular version would be in direct opposition to the entire purpose of HOD writing the curriculum in the first place. Financially, business-wise, it would obviously be a better decision to offer secular versions of materials for HOD.

Mike and Carrie have promised the Lord He will always be center in HOD, and they have promised not to cave in and try to generate additional funds by taking the Lord out of their curriculum - though believe me, it would be easy to do. It makes me question Christian curriculums that don't mention the Lord much, or that design their curriculum in ways that obviously make it easy to take Him out of the days' plans if you want to. It is a red flag to me when I can pick up a manual and just drop the Bible part easily, for example, if only one part of it was called Bible and I could order the curriculum without it, or if only one portion of the plans was called Bible, and I could just easily not do that part. If you tried to drop the Bible boxes in HOD, you'd still have the Lord in the history materials, in the Science materials, in the Storytime discussions, in DITHOR, in R & S English, in the notebooking, in the copywork, even in the Key Ideas in the plans!!! In short, with HOD you can't get away from learning about the Lord even if you want to! Thank you Pam for this thread, as it focuses on the true purpose of HOD. It is a God-given, not man-made, purpose, and it's a blessing to us all as we can then use HOD and glorify the Lord by fulfilling a portion of our purpose - to homeschool to train up our dc to know and love the Lord, so when they are old they shall not depart from it.

In Christ,
Julie

There is a quote in The Latin-Centered Curriculum - A Home Educator's Guide to a Traditional Classical Education (quoting from another book, Climbing Parnassus) that summed up, albeit in secular/pagan terms (the topic was the Greeks after all), what we wanted in and out of our homeschooling (parentheses are mine), " "[T]he supreme goal of education was happiness (I can agree with this because I consider the chief end of man to be to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever), which was conceived of as health of soul, the ultimate good man can hope to attain during his lifetime." (sadly the Greeks didn't have the wisdom of God to know how to achieve true "health of soul") Plato defined education as a process by which the student is "rightly trained in respect of pleasures and pains, so as to hate what ought to be hated, right from the beginning to the very end, and to love what ought to be loved." " -- I found that neither traditional nor neo-classical education could implement this philosophy for us who desire a Christ centered and saturated home since our goal and hope is not in the secular and temporal but in the eternal - I'm not training my children for "membership in [this] culture" but bringing them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. The definitions of what is valuable change significantly.

I share that just to say my heart is with yours and this is also why I changed my plans for my children from following one of the "classical" curriculum plans to using Heart of Dakota. Many of the things that I loved from reading LCC I also read on the HoD website in some form or other such as the concept of Multum no Multa (Much, not many) - the idea of not filling our days with academic pursuits but spending our time wisely on what is most important (academically) and what is best so we have plenty of time for family, etc. The great difference is in HoD, the Bible is part of one's whole day in all that's done and very purposely guides the selection of texts used and recommended. My heart just sung as I looked further into HoD. THIS is what I was deeply longing for (quoting from the HoD website "A Look At Each Subject") :

We want our children to know that the Bible is special and that it’s more important than anything else. To do that, we realized the Bible needed to be integrated throughout our day as much as possible.

Our programs weave God’s word throughout our readings, our poetry, our history, our science, our writing, our music, our study of English, and our memory work. Using this method, our children are reminded to measure their thoughts, words, and deeds all throughout the day with God’s word. Our programs also have a daily Bible study time, which we pray will train our children in the habit of seeking God’s word daily.

In the hustle and bustle of the school day, it is easy to forget that our most important goal is to help our children glorify God with their lives each day. Our programs strive to be a daily reminder of that goal. Glorifying God is the only goal that matters for eternity.

I'm early looking forward to beginning our homeschool journey with HoD.

Hello,

I have to say, we haven't began our journey with HOD and yet I'm completely encouraged! God has definitely called me to HS our girls and I know for certain that God has lead me to HOD! I used to think that having my girls home from PS was enough in itself. I knew for certain that I was protecting their hearts and minds, but having found HOD and the philosophy it stands for brings HSing to whole other level! I feel so very blessed about this board, HOD, the Austin family It was such joy to find out this week exactly what Charlotte Mason learning is!!! Praise GOD!!! Looking fowrard to starting in the fall!!!
Thanks Stacey

We were blessed that the Lord led us to HOD from the very start of our Homeschool journey as I was in search for a Pre-school curriculum that was written from a Godly perspective.
I am very grateful for the Austin family who is taking there time as a ministry to put together these Christ-centered guides.
Here is a quote from my ds (than 6) while doing Beyond last year: "Mom, I think all Christians should use these manuals to teach their kids, because everything teaches us about the Jesus".
To this day now doing Bigger, LHTH 2nd time around; I very much agree with him

"HOD has been asked to sell secular versions of their guides on numerous occasions, especially DITHOR. However, offering a secular version would be in direct opposition to the entire purpose of HOD writing the curriculum in the first place. Financially, business-wise, it would obviously be a better decision to offer secular versions of materials for HOD."

"Mike and Carrie have promised the Lord He will always be center in HOD, and they have promised not to cave in and try to generate additional funds by taking the Lord out of their curriculum - though believe me, it would be easy to do."



Thank you, Julie, for sharing this. ".....Only what's done for Christ will last." Mike and Carrie, what a wonderful testimony! Your eternal rewards will be great

Christ at the center. A godly education. That's why I'm using HOD this time around. I can't wait hardly wait to get started.

I definitely agree with this and am so thankful to HOD for taking a stand and writing a Godly curriculum. My son and I both enjoy "doing school" each day and he is learning so much about God. He wows everyone at church with his knowledge of the Bible. I love that HOD gets him in the Word daily, even though he's only 5, and then gets him thinking about it throughout the day. Thank you HOD and Carrie!

Ladies,

As I'm just popping in to the board late this evening after an evening of writing, I must say I was very blessed by this thread. You have no idea how much this encourages my husband and I as we are working hard on our newest guide, yet striving to keep our eyes on the Lord. We are always reminded during this busy season that it is truly the Lord that allows us to finish the things that must be done when it seems there is no way to accomplish it all.

Thank you for sharing from your hearts with me tonight! The Lord blessed us with each of you.

Blessings,
Carrie