New here- lots of questions/ intro

[lovekids1983]

Hi everyone, my name is Brenda. I have 3 fabulous little ones, Dylan (6), Christie (4), and Noah (18mo.). In the past I have completed MFW K, 1st, and this past year Adv. as well as P4/5 from another company. I am really drawn to HOD, it is everything that I want in a curriculum. I am so excited! I really would like to combine my oldest two children, but I doubt that in the end that it would be best. My oldest is extremely bright, he began reading at 23 months old (taught himself), and could tell any state by the shape, and give the capital at 3 (taught himself)! He is advanced in every subject. He should have been a Ker this year according to public school, but I called him 1st grade, and he completed Adv. R+S 2, homemade math (he tested into Singapore 3a for this coming year or teaching textbooks 4th grade- I am thinking of doing both because we love math here), Natural Speller (he can spell any of the words through 8th grade- as long as he claps multi-syllable words), his narration skills could use improvement. I am not sure what level to use with him, as he age-wise places in Beyond or Bigger, but we did American history this year (although I am not opposed to doing it again this year, because there is still much more we could learn). He has not done any cursive writing yet, and really wants to this year- so part of me leans toward Bigger with extensions. I bought the Core K and 1 for school this year, but he has read those books at least three times apiece already. I will hide whatever books I choose for this year! Would you put this little guy in Bigger with extensions or Preparing? Little Christie should not be a Ker until next year, but I am contemplating, putting her in K (she is reading, and passed all of Abeka K test- a friend gave me her extra student set for this year and she asked to see them- and she sure shocked both of us!) I haven't done much formal schooling with her, but she has learned alot listening in to her bubbys lessons. She has completed MFW K (which since she could already read was light), Earlybird Math A and B, but I don't think she is ready for Singapore 1a and b(I may be underestimating her), and she is working through Phonics pathways/ Alpha phonics (just short daily lessons). Would you just let her be a PreKer one more year- she is advanced, but not nearly as advanced as her brother, or go ahead with K. Any options on combining them? These are alot of questions, please help me place my babies into this curriculum. I really appreciate all answers! Thank you! Thank you!

[my3sons]

Hi Brenda, and welcome to the HOD Board! I'm so glad the Lord has lead you to HOD, and I do think it will be as satisfying of a way to homeschool for you as it has been for me. Thanks for telling us about your dc - they sound precious. I am wondering if you got a chance to look at the placement chart? That has been very accurate in placing my dc for HOD. If you just really focus on the first page of the chart, you should have a pretty good idea of where your dc place. Here is a link to that:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

I'm also wondering if your oldest has had much experience with dictation, copywork, and narration? These are Charlotte Mason language arts type skills, and it is helpful to consider when pondering placement. If you could tell a bit about your 6 yo's writing and how well he can listen and pay attention to more classical sounding (though narratively written) books with fewer pictures, that would be great too. Finally, if you get the chance to mention a few book titles your ds has read independently lately, that would be a huge help too. Are you really leaning toward wanting to combine the 2 of them, and if so, are you willing to shoot more for the middle of the 2 of their abilities? Or, would you rather teach them separately more to each of their own abilities. Just a few questions I had. You'll find this board is very helpful and full of Christ-like encouraging ladies. I'm so glad you've come here, and we'll all chime in with better advice when you get the chance to answer back.

In Christ,
Julie

[lovekids1983]

Julie,
Thank you for your reply. Dylan has done weekly copywork, mainly from the Bible, but also from other books he has read. He has recently read through A childs history of the world, Uborne World HIstory, many of the books from the Creation Museum (the ones used in Preparing as well),Harriet Tubman go free or die, Doctor Doolittle, James Herriots Treasury for Children,Charlottes Web, Stuart Little - he has literally read 500 - or more books this year! He is really not normal- he has read all of Dave and Neta Jacksons trailblaizer stories (over and over because he loves them)- If I listed all the books he has read I would be here all day- he has also read the majority of the Bible this year. At three he read all of Genesis- when it came to Adam and Eve being naked he started laughing, so I asked him why he was laughing- he just couldn't get over someone being naked! I believe that his narration skills need work because he can give great summaries, but they are not usually in the right sequence. He has done 2 or 3 page reports on each main event or person in Adv. this year, with very little help from me. He would narrate to me, I would then write them down(because he cannot write as fast as he thinks), then I would dictate back to him his sentences, of which he would write down. He almost never spelled something incorrectly or messed something up grammatically. He has read so much, that writing correctly comes naturally. He took the California Achievement test for 1st grade and was in the 99th percentile in everything. I then gave him a 2nd grade practice test, and he didn't miss anything on it either.
Christie is not narrating well yet though, she is easily distracted when something doesn't interest her. She does listen to stories well though.
Noah is my busy, sweet baby- but he knows 4 of his sounds (because he sits next to sissie doing her lessons)
We don't have t.v, video games, or computer games (outside of math games)- so reading is their favorite pastime!
Thank you so so much! I like the idea of combining children, but with the wide span of ages I think making school the "special time" with mom is the best bet. Thank you so much!

[momofgreatones]

I just wanted to say welcome and wowsers ! Your little guy's is reading and writing ability is impressive! How fun! I'm not even going to venture to try to give any placement advice, I'm leaving this one to the professionals! Just wanted to say welcome and that you will love HOD!

[lovekids1983]

momofgreatones
Thank you for your kind reply. I have thought about taking a year to work on character and focusing everything else around that as well. I like Bigger because it does that as well. I had thought about doing lapbooks about various missionaries as well, but I would do that when I completed Preparing. I also figured that I could beef-up Bigger with more books for his appetite, this would also lend to HOD being completed in 8th grade,but knowing me we would probably never quit doing school, as we school year around so we will probably finish earlier than 8th anyways. I Love doing school with the babies. I wish though that they would quit growing up so fast.
Brenda

[my3sons]

Wow, Brenda! Your little guy is a voracious learner, and that is so exciting! I almost never recommend placing someone under 7 yo in Bigger Hearts as it is a challenge for the target age range already. BUT, your little guy is ready for it! I think the 2 of you would love doing Bigger Hearts together, and he could probably read the extensions too if you wanted more books for him to read on the topic. Or, since he won't be doing Beyond Little Hearts, and that is also American history, you could look at any books within Beyond and get them to happily feed his reading appetite as well. For your Christie, I think you'd enjoy LHFHG. This would set you up for a very nice rotation of teaching as well, as you would have a year in between teaching guides rather than teaching back to back guides - not a very important consideration when compared to placement - but a nice plus for us as the teachers! I think you will find HOD is such a blessing because it just continues to foster a deep love for learning - and the book choices make it such a joy to both teach from and learn from. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[momofgreatones]

Amen to the growing up too fast! Just yesterday we were looking at pictures from last year at this time, and I was shocked at how much some of the children have changed this year, one of my youngest lost the last vestiges of his baby look this past year, and my oldest is almost 15. They are growing up before my very eyes and I have to remind myself each day to appreciate it despite the everydayness of life's routine (and the mess! Oi!) Makes me grateful to be homeschooling, and using HOD.

One of the many things that is nice about HOD is that the lessons are rich and meaningful, yet short and sweet, so your ds will have plenty of time to read as many books as he wants in his free time, as it sounds like he has a huge book appetite! So cute!

Monique

[crlacey]

Welcome! Sounds like Julie has a good plan for your kids. It does sounds as though your kids would need to be separated so that you weren't holding your son back or dragging your daughter along for the ride. For this year, I'd just let the littlest be little and not worry about trying to place him or doing anything formal with him. He'll learn little bits just by wandering in and out of the room while you school the other two.

[Carrie]

lovekids1983,

Welcome to the board! We're glad to have you here! Julie has done a great job of giving you advice, so I'll just chime in to concur with her ideas.

I also wanted to mention that for a voracious reader like your little guy it will be great to have the slower, more thoughtful type of reading Charlotte-Mason style which allows kiddos to live with a book for a period of time in order to really dwell upon it and have it really become a part of them. So, with my own boys who are voracious readers, I allow them to read as much as they want as quickly as they want in their own free time. However, we keep our books reserved for school in a separate location, and we don't allow the kiddos to go through them any more quickly than what is scheduled. The two types of reading serve different purposes and work on different skills.

Blessings,
Carrie