heartofdakota.com

Hi,I recently discovered HOD. I feel like it is an answer to prayer! I have read the website and catalog from beginning to end. I also taught public and private school and have homeschooled my children since the beginning. This will be our eighth year of official school. We have 5 children,12, 10, 5, 3 and 8mos. After reviewing Heart of Dakota, I still have a few question before I order. I appreciate your help.

We have used Singapore Math since the beginning. I have a rising 7th grade daughter. She has completed levels 6A and 6B of Singapore Math. Do you recommend or sell something for the next level of math?

I am thinking about placing my rising 7th grade daughter, age 12 and my rising 5th grade son, age 10, in Creation to Christ with the extension package for the 7th grader. Would I use the extension package for Drawn into the Heart of Reading for her? I didn't see a 6,7,8 group of books for DITHOR.Would she also need another "interest set" to read during the "storytime" in the planner? Or is this when you would do DITHOR? Is DITHOR scheduled in the HFHTT or is it a total separate program? Also, is the science challenging enough for a seventh grader?

On a separate note, I also have a almost 4 yr. old and a 5yr, old. I initially thought Little Hands To Heaven. They both know most letters and sounds though. I planned on teaching that this year for K. From what I read the K does a quick review of letters, then moves on. I'm concerned that the K program might be to hard for the 4 year old and the preschool program might be to easy for the 5 year old???? I want to keep them together.

Thanks for any suggestions. I want to be sure before I order. I have used Sonlight for the past 4yrs. I am changing bc some of the books were not what our family wanted. I appreciate you seeking out Godly resources.

In Christ,

Taryn

Hello,
This thread is where Carrie explains what her oldest son does for Math.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5400&p=40206&hilit= ... bra#p40206

I'm enjoying using LHTH as a K program for my 5 year old ds. I knew he wasn't yet ready for LHFHG. If you want to combine your children, LHTH would work well, and you could use the right side of LHFHG for your oldest.

I can't answer your DITHR questions, but I'm sure others will reply.

Enjoy HOD!

Hi Taryn, and welcome to the HOD Board! We used CTC and LHTH last year (along with Beyond Little Hearts), and loved our homeschooling year so much. We've used the HOD placement chart to place our dc each year and found it to be very accurate. Here is a link to that in case you didn't have a chance to look that over yet (though it sounds to me like your placements are probably good matches for your dc) :
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Taryn wrote:We have used Singapore Math since the beginning. I have a rising 7th grade daughter. She has completed levels 6A and 6B of Singapore Math. Do you recommend or sell something for the next level of math?

The link the pp provided was going to be the one I tried to find. I like the advice Carrie gives there, and I think that would be a good plan to consider for your dd.

Taryn wrote:I am thinking about placing my rising 7th grade daughter, age 12 and my rising 5th grade son, age 10, in Creation to Christ with the extension package for the 7th grader. Would I use the extension package for Drawn into the Heart of Reading for her? I didn't see a 6,7,8 group of books for DITHOR.Would she also need another "interest set" to read during the "storytime" in the planner? Or is this when you would do DITHOR? Is DITHOR scheduled in the HFHTT or is it a total separate program? Also, is the science challenging enough for a seventh grader?

Your 10 and 12 yo could definitely do CTC together. You would just use the CTC Extension Package for your 12 yo to extend the history. I think the science is enough, but you can add more if you would like. You'd also choose the higher levels of dictation found in the Appendix of CTC for your dd. For grammar you could do R & S English 5 with your dd, though you may want to do it daily, so you can finish R & S English 6 with her by the end of eighth grade (a recommendation by HOD, as R & S English 7 and 8 are high school credit worthy) . I know you may have a different grammar you are using, but R & S English is excellent, so I thought I'd throw that out there.

I've used "Drawn into the Heart of Reading" for multiple years, and have loved using it each and every year. It has helped my dc to continue to have a passion for reading year after year, while also teaching them solid academic reading skills. What a great program! For "Drawn into the Heart of Reading" (DITHOR), you would just use the DITHOR Teacher's Guide with both of them, as it has all of the levels of instruction in it for 2/3, 4/5, and 6/7/8. You'd use the 4/5 part of the plans in the DITHOR Teacher Guide and DITHOR 4/5 Student Book with the fifth grader, and the 6/7/8 part of the plans in the DITHOR Teacher Guide and the 6/7/8 Student Book with your seventh grader. As far as books, you can choose your own books or use DITHOR book packs. I have done both and prefer just using the book packs at this stage in my homeschooling (plus HOD's book choices are excellent). For your ds, I'd use the DITHOR 4/5 Boy Interest Book Pack, which has a fourth grade through fifth grade, seventh month reading level range):
http://www.heartofdakota.com/DITHOR45-boys-pack.php

For your dd, I'd use the DITHOR 5/6 Girl Interest Book Pack, which has fifth grade first month through sixth grade eighth month reading level range):
http://www.heartofdakota.com/DITHOR56-girls-pack.php

Even though the books could be a tad below your seventh grader's reading level, doing DITHOR for the first time and coming in at the 6/7/8 level should be challenging aplenty. If you'd rather choose your own books, you could certainly do that instead too.

Taryn wrote:On a separate note, I also have a almost 4 yr. old and a 5yr, old. I initially thought Little Hands To Heaven. They both know most letters and sounds though. I planned on teaching that this year for K. From what I read the K does a quick review of letters, then moves on. I'm concerned that the K program might be to hard for the 4 year old and the preschool program might be to easy for the 5 year old???? I want to keep them together.

Thanks for sharing so concisely about your dc here, as this helps with placement so much. We're on our third trip through "Little Hands to Heaven" (LHTH), and it is hands-down the best way to start homeschooling little ones! They love school. I love I get my "mommy time" in with my little one while still getting enough time with my olders. If I were you, I'd do LHTH with both your 4 and 5 yo, but I'd get the "Little Hearts for HIs Glory" (LHFHG) teacher's manual for your 5 yo's LA and math. You can use just the right side of LHFHG for your 5 yo to up the fine motor skills, reading skills, and math skills. Many, many moms do this so they can happily combine dc yet still meet the older child's needs in the 3R's. So, you could get the LHTH guide, "The Singing Bible", and the older resources suggested for LHTH which are "The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes", and "My ABC Bible Verses". Then, you'd get the LHFHG Teacher's Guide, "Do It Carefully/Finding the Answers", "A Reason for Handwriting K" or "Italic A", "SIngapore Earlybird Kindergarten Math 2A/2B", and one of the phonics programs or your own.

The following school year, your 2 would move into LHFHG, but you'd have your older child do LHFHG's "Grade 1 Thinking Skills", "A Reason for Handwriting A" or "Italic B", and "Singapore Primary 1A/1B". You could decide at that point if your older child was reading well enough to need the "Emerging Reader's Set" in the "Beyond Little Hearts..."(BLHFHG) Teacher's Guide, and if you wanted to start her with spelling list 1 and the 1A/1B hands-on math plans in BLHFHG at that point. Clear as mud?!? I just wanted to show you how easy it is to progress this way. I probably made this sound difficult, but it is truly an extremely easy way to combine.

Keep asking questions here as they arise! You'll find this board to be full of encouraging, helpful ladies. Carrie, the author, is a big part of this board herself, but as it's her busy writing season, she gets to it as she can. HTH, and I'm looking forward to getting to know you here!

In Christ,
Julie

Taryn,

The ladies have done a terrific job of helping answer your questions, so I'll just pop-in to welcome you! We're glad to have you here and look forward to getting to know you even better.

Blessings,
Carrie

Dear Ladies,

I want to thank each of you for your very helpful responses. What a wonderful board! I am so thrilled to have found HOD! I just placed my order!!! I will be doing LHTH with my 3yr.dd and my 5yr.ds. I will be doing DITHOR and CTC with my 10yr.ds and my 12yr.dd adding the ext. pack for my 12dd. We are all sooooo excited to start school! Thank you Carrie for putting together such a Godly program.

To Him be the glory.
Taryn

Hi Taryn!

I wanted to pop in here and welcome you, too! We have been using HOD the past 2 years, and it has been a HUGE blessing to our family! I love that I can accomplish homeschooling happily! With the HOD guides, I'm able to focus on the Lord and have great discussions with my kids about HIm as we move through our day. We're learning and growing spiritually and academically. And, we're having FUN! The activities in the guides are easily doable - which means I don't skip them - and my kids love the hands-on they get!

We're going to be headed through CTC and LHTH, too. (As well as having Allison finish out LHFHG and begin Beyond.) You'll have to check out the week-in-review posts when you get started and share your journey there. I love to read about other's weeks and share ours.

Kathleen

Taryn,

I'm so excited that you have your products on their way to you! I hope they may be a blessing to your family this year! We look forward to sharing your HOD journey along with you this upcoming year.

Blessings,
Carrie