heartofdakota.com

I'm asking for some advice hoping someone maybe has been in my situation and can offer some godly suggestions. My husband got a new job starting back in January and it is comission. Well, it has been tough and we do not have enough money to purchase the HOD that we need for this year (CTC and LHTH). We had a garage sale and almost had enough and then we needed the money for other bills. My husband sold his weight set and it is almost enough but we don't want to use credit cards for the rest. So we are trying to wait for God's provision.

My idea was to purchase the TM and some of the books we will need to get started. Then buy as we go. But, I know we will spend a lot more on shipping and handling as we go. Does that make sense? Or should we continue to wait until we can purchase the whole thing? Then, I don't know what to do about the art supplies for poetry. It will be around $75 for 2 kids. I don't want to give up on HOD this year. Last year was our first year using it and we loved PHFHG!!

Any help or new ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

In His Love,
Tara

Hi Tara,

Have you thought about the idea of your older 2 kids getting some work to help pay for some expenses? If they love the program, maybe they would be willing to do a paper run for a while to help pay off some books. My mum did this with me and my 4 sisters a lot when we were younger to help contribute as mum is paying for the time and gas to get us around but we did the leg work.

Or maybe a one off cake stall at your church? Or in the local area? (I am not sure if you are into cooking.)

Maybe just getting the TM and using your local library until you get the remaining funds would be fine for a while.

Just a few suggestions....

'Where God guides, He provides'....

blessings,

Corrie

If waiting till the middle of August would mean you would have the full amount then you may want to wait. Otherwise, I think buying what you need to get started would be a good idea. As far as the paint supplies go, each pack of paper has 12 sheets at Miller Pads and Paper. You could buy 1 pack to start and then get the rest later. I was able to get all the supplies at my local Hobby Lobby for 2 kids for $43 but the paper was on sale.

Tara,
I'm praying that God provides what you need at the right time. While you're waiting, , maybe just do lots of reading from library books (check the HOD bookshop for ideas?), and get some free math resources, writing activities (story-starters etc.) and preschool activities off the internet? PM me if you want some suggestions... I have lots of bookmarks When you finally have the money to order it all, you will be even more grateful to use Carrie's plans If you've got some of the money saved, I'd wait and just order it all at once. I don't like the thought of spending an extra $25 on shipping when money is tight either

You could always check around to buy things used. homeschoolclassifieds.com has used items that people post. You may want to check there for some of the books to save you some money. I have bought several items from there before and they have been in great condition.

I would order the Teacher's Manual and use it to guide you for a few weeks until you can order the rest. The library has some of the books, so maybe you can use those until you can order the rest. I think it is definitely worth buying the whole set from HOD, encouraging their growth and sustaining it, is important.

Tara, praying that God will provide what you need. Also, LHTH tg is really all you need if you have some Bibles around the house so maybe you could start with that. Or, since your young ones are still quite young, you could order what you need for CTC and wait on LHTH. I think it would be much easier to put together some preschool type activities than it would be to put together something comparable to CTC. HTH

I understand what you are saying here so well! HOD truly makes an effort to set up Economy Packages for this exact purpose, so I would try to order the CTC economy package if you can, and just start with that. This would allow you to use the bulk of the guide, these boxes specifically: Reading about History, History Project, Geography, Bible Quiet Time (using your own Bible), Independent History Study, Bible Study, Poetry, and Dictation. These part of the plans have a ton of skills in them! You would have a very full meaty school day with them. Oral Narrations, written narrations, research, prophecy fulfillment chart, timeline, copywork, hands-on history projects, Bible passage memory work, prayer ACTS instruction, step-by-step sketching of history images, creation of a history notebook, mapping, personal Bible quiet time study of Old and New Testament stories, a lively audio review of history by Diana Waring, classic poetry study, spelling study in the form of dictation, Bible Study of Genesis 1-11, and a study of the geography of the Bible Lands are ALL covered within these boxes and with just the Economy Package. I wanted to list these out to show you ALL you can do just by purchasing the Economy Package! Carrie tries to make the bulk of the guide able to be done with just the Economy Package so everyone who wants to use HOD can. Mike works hard to save us as much money as possible by trying to package the economy package for as little as he can too (i.e. CTC's has almost $30 off list price!). I know we can sometimes feel like our kids are missing so much if we can't have all the bells and whistles, but the way HOD does it, you really can do so much without having to buy so much. So, just by getting the Economy Package, you will be on your way to giving your dc an excellent, full education.

To do Storytime, you can easily utilize your library, as you only need 1 thick book to over 1 genre a month. To do Science, you can just get the "Land Animals..." book to begin with when you are able, as that will last you through Unit 14. I don't know if you have your LA and math yet, but if not, you could get just the first semester of math when able. Singapore is super cheap, so that's a plus. For Grammar, you could get that later when able and just do it daily to finish half by the end of the year or so, you can finish out the other half of it next year, so you won't have to buy that again the following year. Do you have DITHOR yet? When you have saved up enough money, that is well worth it as you can use it year after year with all of your dc eventually - never having to buy more than the next level of a Student Book again. If funds permit, I'd get Write with the Best and just get as far as you do. Last, I'd get the paint supplies for the paintings - though I love them. This may be an area a family member could "gift" your children with as it's more the "cadillac" version of doing the guide.

I had to provide the bulk of homeschooling funds when I began homeschooling and still have to work part-time from my home to pay for anything "extra" for living. I bet you could have someone drop off their dc for you to babysit 1 day a week, and have enough funds pretty quickly. If you make even $5 an hour, and babysat just 1 day a week from 9 to 5, you'd be making $40 a week, and have enough money for the entire economy package in just 5 weeks. You could delay starting by a month if need be. You could babysit on the fifth day off in CTC so you didn't have to work around homeschooling. You could put it in your church bulletin, that you would like to babysit dc 1 day a week if anyone was interested. You could just choose 1 family to babysit for, and you could have a standard day and standard times on that day to do it (much easier than always talking about that). I did something similar and tutored for 2 afternoon/evenings a week when we needed extra money to be able to homeschool. It was well worth the little time it took to be able to have what I needed to homeschool. I continue to have to raise funds. It is important to how my dh perceives homeschooling. Another option would be to clean 1 house a week, if that's more your thing.

Otherwise, in case this may be helpful, here are the books used in the first 9 weeks of CTC:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6389

I would get the LHTH teacher's manual only to begin with, for your little one. You can use your own Bible, and do all of the plans except for the music box and the once a week devotional. Perhaps some of your relatives would get either the music, Bible, or devotional for your little pumpkin's b-day or for a holiday eventually? We went to suggesting books/CD's in lieu of candy for Halloween, Valentine's Day, Stocking Stuffers, etc. The candy is just gone in a heartbeat, and the books and CD's get used all year long! But if this isn't a possibility, LHTH is still a wonderful program, and you can still do all of it except 1 box of plans (the music) a day.

HTH! I want to encourage you that you are not alone in this need, but that with a little creativity and time, you can easily homeschool the way you want to without really changing your day-to-day life all that much in the process. This is a freeing thought to me, and I hope it is to you too.

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you for all the great advice. I think we are going to get what we need for the 1st 9 weeks. I will be ordering soon. I checked and Hobby Lobby and the art supplies are on sale this week. So I will make sure to get over there and get those. We serve an amazing God and we are trusting Him to provide for us. It is hard for me not to purchase everything right now, but it is a good lesson in patience for me. Thank you all again.

God Bless!