heartofdakota.com

I am currently not home educating, although I believe we'll be doing it by next year. Next fall, my 3 kids will be 11, 9, and 7. My 2 older kids are currently reading at the 7th grade level and my Kindergartner is reading at a 2nd grade level. We live on one income (my husband is a pastor of a small church) and so we need to economize. So here are my questions:

1. Will Bigger Hearts work well with all 3?
2. What exactly should I purchase for a well-rounded curriculum? My kids love to read, so I don't mind buying lots of books!
3. I was considering using Apologia for science instead. Will Bigger Hearts' science program be okay to use though?
4. I'm confused as to what is included with the Math package.
5. If I'm understanding correctly, DITHoR doesn't include anything pertaining to any of the books HoD recommends. This program is for other books I may choose to buy. Or can I also use it for the HoD recommended books?

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Have you checked out the placement chart on the main page of the website? I know it's pretty hard to do a year in advance, but it's a good starting point.

With Bigger Hearts, as well as their ability to read, you have to consider their writing and their ability to listen to you read.

I would imagine that your 9yo would fit perfectly and your 11yo could do it with extensions and that the question would be mostly for your 7yo if he can do the writing and listening (mostly the writing) or if he would need to be in Beyond.

As far as math, if you use Singapore math, you'll want your kids to take the placement test on the singapore website to see where they would place. You have 2A/B scheduled in Bigger, and you need to use the textbooks with 3A and up (if I'm remembering correctly, we are just in 2A) the 1A/B hands on activities are in the Beyond guide.

I'm not sure about the science questions... my dd is in the lower age range for Bigger, and I don't know how the extension packages work.

For science, the Bigger extension package includes Exploring Planet Earth and The Story of Thomas Alva Edison. For history, there is A Child's Story of America, along with 13 wonderful historical fiction books. These are intended for the child to read independently, and in addition to the history and science work that is scheduled in the daily lessons. The reading schedule and instructions for the Extension package are in the Bigger Hearts guide appendix.
For math, hands-on activities are included in the Bigger guide's daily lesson plans for Singapore Primary Mathematics US Edition 2A and 2B. You would only need the workbooks for this level. If you use level 3A/3B or higher, you do need the textbooks plus the workbooks. There is a schedule for daily lessons for 3A/3B in the Bigger appendix. If you use 1A/1B, buy the Beyond manual for daily math activities, and the 1A/1B workbooks.
Absolutely, before you order Singapore Math, administer the Singapore Math placement test to each of your children, especially the older two. They should have no assistance from you, as this would inflate their placement. If they are coming from "traditional school", expect them to place 1 or more levels below the stated "grade". Singapore Math is very different, and in the country of Singapore 1A is begun at age 7.
When it is closer to the time you will begin, take a good look at the Heart of Dakota placement chart here http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php weighing the areas of age, reading, writing, grammar and math most heavily, and using the rest for fine-tuning.
Be aware that Rod and Staff English also moves quickly at the higher levels. Carrie recommends planning to finish the "Grade 6" book by the end of grade 8, as the "Grade 7" and "Grade 8" books are high school credit-worthy. To that end, she has scheduled "Grade 2" in Bigger at full-speed, "Grade 3 and 4" in Preparing at full-speed, but "Grade 5 and 6 " at half-speed in the higher guides.
Lastly, for DITHOR, you can successfully use the optional book packs, the sample book list, or your own choices.
I hope that helps

sahervey wrote:I am currently not home educating, although I believe we'll be doing it by next year. Next fall, my 3 kids will be 11, 9, and 7.

Welcome to the HOD board, and I think you are making such a wonderful decision to homeschool here! HOD is used by many families who are pastors in churches or missionaries out in the field. We have used HOD for many years with our 3 dc. There are many things to love about HOD, and one of our favorites has been its Christ-centered focus. I think you'll find the same to be true. This board is full of encouraging, Christian women, and I especially appreciate going through my homeschooling journey with these ladies here. I don't feel alone, but instead like I have a whole be group of ladies to turn to who are like-minded in faith, though from all walks of life and every kind of possible situation. It's a neat group to be part of - so we're glad you are here.

sahervey wrote:My 2 older kids are currently reading at the 7th grade level and my Kindergartner is reading at a 2nd grade level. We live on one income (my husband is a pastor of a small church) and so we need to economize. So here are my questions:

1. Will Bigger Hearts work well with all 3?

The placement chart is your best bet here. Placement is important, so it's worth consideration. According your dc's ages, all could do Bigger Hearts, and the oldest could do the extensions. However, we all know age is not always the best indicator of dc's growth in maturity and in skills. So, spending some real time looking at the placement chart with each of your dc in mind will be important to do for proper placement.
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

sahervey wrote:2. What exactly should I purchase for a well-rounded curriculum? My kids love to read, so I don't mind buying lots of books!

If you love books, you are sooooooo the right place! HOD has the best book selection. In general, if you click on the guides, you can see the packages of books available. Then within the packages, there is a little lightbulb at the top of the screen that gives "Helpful Tips on How to Order" that walks you right through book choices. Once you share what you figure out about your dc's placement after checking out the placement chart with us here though, we can chat about what fits well for them specifically.

sahervey wrote:3. I was considering using Apologia for science instead. Will Bigger Hearts' science program be okay to use though?

The extensions include science for them, so yes it should be enough, unless you are wanting to go a more rigorous route. If so, you can easily do Apologia, though we have always loved HOD's living book and hands-on experiments approach to learning.

sahervey wrote:4. I'm confused as to what is included with the Math package.

There are always several math options in every HOD guide. In Bigger Hearts, Singapore 2A/2B workbooks can be used along with HOD's hands-on plans in the Bigger Heart's guides. Or, another option is to use the 3A/3B Textbooks and the 3A/3B Workbooks schedule in the Appendix of Bigger Hearts. Of course other levels of Singapore or another math program entirely can be used too. So, your best bet is to make sure your dc are accurately placed in math. A pp already shared about the Singapore placement test, and I think that she gave excellent advice about taking it and not helping dc as they do it. It is advanced by a year usually, so don't be too worried if they test lower than you were thinking they would.

sahervey wrote:5. If I'm understanding correctly, DITHoR doesn't include anything pertaining to any of the books HoD recommends. This program is for other books I may choose to buy. Or can I also use it for the HoD recommended books?

DITHOR provides the reading instruction. We've used it for so long and still love it! It's excellent. You can either choose books of your own, just being sure they match the genre being studied (i.e. historical fiction, biography, etc.). OR, you can use DITHOR book packs which HOD has. We've done both and enjoyed both, though as I am homeschooling 3 dc now, I have come to prefer the book packs - excellent books, conveniently picked and paced out for me already. Here are a few links to that:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional.php
http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional4-5.php

HTH, but we'll all chime in more with specifics if you get back to us about placement! We enjoy HOD so much. I think you would too!
In Christ,
Julie