heartofdakota.com

And I am so stinkin' excited!

Previously, my older son did level 3A and 3B of Singapore Math. We enjoyed it, but I thought it was too "light." Boy, was I wrong. I was just starting out homeschooling and I was used to that ps approach (drill and kill), so I put my son through 2 years of CLE math. This year, it finally got to be too much. I have done weeks of research seeing where I went wrong. Here is where: I have a mathy child who loved thinking and working problems, and I squshed his love of it with drill and kill and long lessons. I went through the Singapore placement tests and glanced and "assumed"my son tested out of the levels. Then, today, I went back and actually had him take the placement tests! He tested in 4A...right where we left off! Things he learned in CLE with drill and kill, he couldn't remember at all! Oh my goodness! What have I done????

So, I placed an order today with Carrie and Mike! We are going back to Singapore, following the way it is scheduled in CTC and that is that! Never again will I drill and kill with my kids. We will utilize my husband to help us in math if we need to (he is an Engineer), and I will resolve to learn math myself if I have to. I started my younger son in Singapore 1A with Beyond and I can't even tell you how quickly he went from a child who HATED to see CLE math come out to a child who adores seeing his Singapore come out of the box!

I love the Charlotte Mason style...I wish I had never seen the inside of a ps and had never gotten the "ps mentality." I feel God leading me each day to follow HOD as written and now, we are! We are doing every.single.box! The only thing I add is French because I love to speak the language and I love teaching it to my kids! And, if something gets "put back" sometimes, it is French and not HOD.

I can't thank you enough to the person who made the sticky thread of all the philosophies behind what HOD uses. I am SOLD! Dictation, Singapore, the whole nine yards. We love it all! And just like with math...understanding WHY it all works is like opening a door for me!

LOL! I loved reading your post! I especially love this:

I will resolve to learn math myself if I have to.

Now that really shows a mother's love It's all so true what you are saying about the CM method and HOD too. I am so glad that I found HOD and so fortunate that I found it early on. It has made my life so much easier!

I am excited to start back with Singapore. We loved it when we did it, but I was doing exactly what Carrie warned against...I was assigning too much work to him and it was overwhelming. I remember he had the workbook, the text, the intensive practice, and a book of just word problems and I would load him down every day. I was new to homeschooling and had not found HOD yet, so I did the best I could at the time...but now I know so much better! Poor oldest child always has to be the guinea pig, huh? My little 6 year old will never know the struggles with curriculum that I have put my older on through - we found HOD last year when he was in 1st grade and the difference is so apparent. Goodness! But God is guiding me - I know it and I feel it. I am so glad for it!

Rebecca,

I had to smile when I was reading your post, as your route sounds so much like what I did with my oldest son in math (and more other areas than I'd care to admit)! Blessedly, my poor practice child is still smiling most days in spite of me!

I pray that you will enjoy Singapore. I agree Singapore takes a bit of time to come around to the beauty of the program and the way it is written. It is one of those subject areas that I become more sure of the further we travel down the Singapore path.

Thanks for the update! It takes much time for me to share our thinking on each area and the reasoning behind why we choose what we do, and it blesses me to know it is helpful!

Blessings,
Carrie

I am so glad you saw this Carrie. You are such a blessing to me. We are loving HOD so much this year. Each day, as we go through these guides, I smile to myself and consider coming on here to post how much we love HOD. I figure you all would get tired of me constantly posting "I LOVE HOD!!!!"

This was such an uplifting post and an encouragement to me today, Rebecca! Our oldest dc ARE the guinea pigs, aren't they? I read "Child's Story of the World" to my 5 yo - yes FIVE yo! I was worried when we read it again for PHFHG he might not want to read it again - no worries there though - he didn't remember a lick of it. He kept saying, "Mom, we never read this!" Then, when we did it for PHFHG, he loved it, especially reading it along with "Grandpa's Box". So, I guess all was not lost. I did the same thing with spelling for him. I doubled it up because it was harder for him due to speech concerns. The day I went to just dictation was a relief for the both of us. Anyway, I'm glad your ds is doing Singapore again, but don't be too hard on yourself - the kid's gonna be okay. You're a good mom, and you love him to pieces - he'll be just fine.

In Christ,
Julie

Tree House Academy wrote: Then, today, I went back and actually had him take the placement tests! He tested in 4A...right where we left off! Things he learned in CLE with drill and kill, he couldn't remember at all! Oh my goodness! What have I done????

I did it too. No more switching for me. My poor Guinea Pig Emily. Jake will likely be a good year ahead of her at this age because I will have my act together.