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Hi, I am new to homeschool this Fall... I just ran across HOD and am SUPER intrigued. I was excited at first to see the book I needed and the sample lesson plan at being only $55 but looking into obviously I need to purchase other books. Is it really going to cost an avg of $450 to get started with this program or is there a more economical way? Just curious because I don't have alot of money to do this, so if I can't afford this program I will be dissappointed.
Thanks for helping the "newbie"
Alicia

Alicia,

Did you look to see what your library has available? If you really need to, you can always piece the program together with used books. Another option is to buy the books in stages; such as 1st trimester books, 2nd trimester books, 3rd trimester books. You would need to contact Carrie to find out which books to purchase first.

Michelle

Hi Alicia, and welcome to the HOD Board! I am wondering if you've checked out the placement chart and have figured out which HOD guide(s) you'd need for your child(ren). If you could take a moment to do that at this link, we can help you figure out a plan to use HOD that fits your budget:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

I think HOD will continue to intrigue you and tug at your heartstrings too. It is a very satisfying, joyful way to homeschool! Once you share a bit about the HOD program(s) you need, we'll all chime in and be glad to help.

In Christ,
Julie

I'm thinking in typing, so let me know if I'm way off! LOL! The catalog says that if you are on a budget you could just do the Economy package with science add-ons. That is not very much. If you have a less expensive LA's or math that would work too (although R and S is very cost effective). I know I'm looking at the economy package with science, R and S LA's, either R and S math or Spectrum workbooks (works well for only $9.00) and either some or all of the basic package (must talk to DH about budget, but it's less then what we spent on Adventurs in MFW last year.) Then IF DH agrees, I will get the reading program bc it's good and reuseable, but use our own books or the library for it, otherwise I will do what we have been doing and have them read our or library books on thier own and have them write reports or have oral discussions on them. This is what we are doing to fit budget. My budget last year was $100 per student, I had 2 to teach of the 5 last year, and we hit about $300, with DH's ok. This year I have 3 to teach and I need to budget as much as we can when we can.

Julie, you are so awesome! Just so wonderfully helpful, what a blessing for those of us new here and looking around!
Do you think it's possible to do LHFHG (K and 2nd) and Preparing (4) with a $300 budget? I'm sure if I went over a bit, it's ok, but I need to follow my husband and although he hasn't given the budget for next year, last year he said $100 per child, he was ok with us going over last year so I wouldn't have to plan.

lisaha wrote:Julie, you are so awesome! Just so wonderfully helpful, what a blessing for those of us new here and looking around!
Do you think it's possible to do LHFHG (K and 2nd) and Preparing (4) with a $300 budget? I'm sure if I went over a bit, it's ok, but I need to follow my husband and although he hasn't given the budget for next year, last year he said $100 per child, he was ok with us going over last year so I wouldn't have to plan.

Oh thanks, I'm glad to be of help if I can. Well, homeschooling 3 dc is what I'm doing too, and I also have a dh who is very budget-conscious. I will say that each year as the dc have grown, we have talked about the need for our budget for homeschooling to grow. As they get older, their schooling just gets more rigorous, and they need more things than they did early on. I think you could be close to $300, but I'll let you decide what things you need/want by putting them in an order for you. For LHFHG, you'd need...
*Economy Package ($78.83)
*The World God Made ($9.45 or just do the science experiments)
*Math ($22)
*A phonics program (The Reading Lesson $27.95)
*A Handwriting program (Italic $8.45)
NOTE: You can sub in your own phonics, math, or handwriting if you want, but these are excellent choices that are planned in the LHFHG manual, and they are quite economical.

For PHFHG, I think you'd need...
*Economy Package ($114.85)
*Either the Science Economy Add-on or your own science ($72.90)
*Either "Drawn into the Heart of Reading Level 2/3" or your own reading ($75.12)
*Either "R & S English 3 ($14.95) or your own grammar
*Either Singapore Math ($36) or your own math

The above things would give your child a very well-rounded day that includes the skills needed for this age level. But, you could just get the economy package too. For example, you could try to get the science books from your library, and you'd be able to do all of the experiments regardless of whether you had the books or not. You could just have your child reading, and there are probably less expensive maths too. It just depends on what you and your dh decide. You CAN do HOD with just the economy package as long as you have something for LA and math too. Extras you could consider trying to get from the library would be the Storytime books and the Deluxe History Package for the Newly Independent Reader. It may be helpful to show your husband the HOD catalog and explain what each package does so he can better determine what to spend funds on and how much to allocate for it. I know it's tough to decide, but I know for my dh it was all just about numbers until I showed him what we were spending our money on and how it would educate our dc. That really helped us better decide what to budget for homeschooling over time. HTH - I've prayed for you as you talk through this with your dh!

In Christ,
Julie

The up side of this, you will either be able to sell it at the end of the school year or if you have younger children, reuse. Reducing your purchases for the next year. Very little of each year is consumable, so either option is very viable. We just love this curriculum though and I'm sure you will too. Also, we were able to cut almost $100 from our RTR purchases utilizing our local library system, if one particular book wasn't available looked for something very similar, length and message, and substituted it.

God Bless and I hope your able to find what you need, this board is a great resource and all of these ladies are very helpful.

For the reading program (DITHOR) you don't have to go in the order story time boxes are with genre (biography first, etc.) from what i understand... my plan is to use the library for getting the books for DD to read for that. And fortunately, except for math and handwriting, I have plenty of kids coming after to use the material. Each year after this one all I have to buy is the new stuff for the oldest.... that REALLY helps... not so much this year, but most of my friends have to buy EVERYTHING each year.

Thank you for the prayers! I'm thinking my husband might increase budget on the thought that with the new baby it would be easier to have as many books as we can on hand, plus we have more children to use it!

lisaha wrote:Thank you for the prayers! I'm thinking my husband might increase budget on the thought that with the new baby it would be easier to have as many books as we can on hand, plus we have more children to use it!

We recycle our HOD programs and use most of them three times. Truly it is a bargain because it is non consumable. Having said that if it were twice the cost I would find a way make a way eat beans and rice if I had to to get it. It is just that good. Hope you can find a way for youor family to be blessed by it!

Due to the portion of the board rules posted below (which are outlined in the Welcome on the Board's Main Folder) several posts on this thread have been removed. The posters have been personally notified with an explanation.

Section of the Board Rules:
This is the only "official" Heart of Dakota" board moderated by us. Since this board is sponsored by Heart of Dakota, we ask that you do not post links to other companies or other boards, promote other boards or groups, reference posts or threads from other boards, or post for the purpose of promoting a product that is not scheduled within the HOD guides. We also ask that you do not post for the purpose of buying, swapping, or selling items or curriculum.

On a sidenote, our company is unique in that we provide a board with complete access to the author. Carrie spends countless hours of her personal time guiding and directing each customer to find the best plan for their family. For families to purchase books used or for a few dollars cheaper elsewhere and then expect to be fully serviced by our company through email, phone calls, and on our board, with extensive personal attention and time provided is something that would not happen in any other business. In the business world, customers are only serviced by the company from which you purchase the product or by the manufacturer who made it. Yet, our board is our ministry as well as our business, and we feel the Lord has called us to help people use Heart of Dakota without factoring in whether they support our business financially or not.

However, on the HOD Board to promote used book buying or to recommend or post links to other companies from which you can buy things more cheaply crosses the line from our business standpoint. We have designed our packages so that you can truly get by with the Economy Package if needed and still make the core of our programs work. We spend extensive time writing our guides with that in mind. We price our items competitively by offering solid discounts on packages and offering many different packages each with their own discount. We are glad to discuss how to meet your budget through HOD, but will remove posts that stray from that position. This is our family business and one in which we hope you will find the laborer to be worthy of the hire.

In Christ,
Mike and Carrie Austin

THANK YOU for all the responses
so, Julie, with what you suggested...
For PHFHG, I think you'd need...
*Economy Package ($114.85)
*Either the Science Economy Add-on or your own science ($72.90)
*Either "Drawn into the Heart of Reading Level 2/3" or your own reading ($75.12)
*Either "R & S English 3 ($14.95) or your own grammar
*Either Singapore Math ($36) or your own math

...will that teach 2? I have 9 and 10 year old girls.

It is actually a very good price considering that has everything included. Other programs are that much just for history, and it is all non-consumable!

I just wanted to mention that the story time and DITHOR are both very flexible so if you have some books you already own or can borrow from friends or the library you can substitute some of those instead of using the books listed. I am saving a little bit that way. Some of the science books are at our library too. I thought I would check and see how long they are needed.

so, basically, we are saying I could do the BASIC package and a math program and I can just substitute everything else with library books?

alliedawn wrote:THANK YOU for all the responses
so, Julie, with what you suggested...
For PHFHG, I think you'd need...
*Economy Package ($114.85)
*Either the Science Economy Add-on or your own science ($72.90)
*Either "Drawn into the Heart of Reading Level 2/3" or your own reading ($75.12)
*Either "R & S English 3 ($14.95) or your own grammar
*Either Singapore Math ($36) or your own math

...will that teach 2? I have 9 and 10 year old girls.

Yes, that will teach 2 dc! The only thing you'd need 2 of would be the Math Workbooks, which are cheap. HOD lets you copy the DITHOR Student Book for your family's use, so you can either do that or purchase one more Student Book. You'd need to have the books for DITHOR, but this is not hard to do, as you can use books you have on hand or from the library, just making sure to have at least one book for each genre. Other than that, you're set!

In Christ,
Julie