heartofdakota.com

My name is Elmeryl and I have 4 boys ages 12, 9, 7, 7. I am originally from Freetown , Sierra Leone but moved to England as a teenager. I have been in New Jersey for 15 years now.
I started homeschooling my eldest 6 years ago ( I joking say I am probably the only Sierra Leonean homeschooling, I don't even tell friends and family that I am doing it. My mom only found out last year ) and I have been mainly following a classical education with him( Well Trained Mind). With the other 3 , it has been mainly 'doing the next page thing' with them. I just got tired of planning for 3 grades . I want someone else to do the planning for me and I think I have found it in HOD.
I ordered Bigger with a couple of the books for my 9 year old 3rd grader( we have most of the books already at home and he has read a few on the list already ) and I have been looking through it and plan on starting next week. I wasn't sure if I should do Bigger or just wait for Preparing but he really wants to do American History so we will finish it and do Preparing after. He has nearly finished Growing with Grammar 3 and he is also in CLE maths 4 , so I thought Bigger might not be meaty enough for him. We will do Rod and Staff 4 in August since GWG is great but I don't think he is retaining as much as I would like him to.But reading through Bigger, I have found that it is enough. He is a very good reader though and even though he has read a few of the recommended books for fun, we will use them as part of the storytime session. I am still not sure about DITHOR though. I really want something easy on me ( my eldest is doing TOG) and I am tired.

My 12 year old will not be doing HOD though. He is doing TOG 3 and Journey to Africa next year. He will also do BJU Earth and space Science or Life Science next year.

My twins will start Beyond in August for Grade 2. They are the ones I feel the most guilt about because I haven't spent as much time teaching them as I did with the others. They are doing great in spite of all my failings though. They love CLE maths also and we will stick with this since they are doing great in these. They are nearly finished with the grade 2 light units but I want them to slow down a bit so we will just do some math games and drills for the next couple of months. They will also do Rod and Staff 2. We did Reading made Easy for phonics and I am also not sure what to use for reading.

Well, after that very long introduction, I think I will stop now. I have been reading the board for 3 weeks now but I am not much of a poster. (I was on the WTMboards for 3 years as a lurker before finally introducing myself, so to introduce myself after 3 weeks is kind of a strange thing for me).

Elmeryl

Well, I'm glad you came out of lurkdom! Welcome to HOD!!!

Elmeryl,

Welcome! I am so glad you did not wait three years! I think you are really going to love Bigger. We are just starting to implement DITHR pretty regularly and I am finding it to be fairly easy. But I completely understand that feeling that just one more thing is going to be too much. I have heard the the TOG that are not redesigned are very labor intensive. One thing I might suggest is to just add things one at a time getting used to it for a few weeks at a time. That keeps it fun and not so overwhelming. I went that route. I have been finishing up some old stuff but wanted to start with Bigger. It's really worked well for us.

Welcome!

I loved your intro and I hope you decide to post more often. I am going to show my geographical ignorance here....where is Sierra Leone? I've just got to know now! I think that is very cool that you have lived in so many different places!

My 2nd grade twins will be doing Beyond next year as well! I love having something in common with someone.

I have drooled over TOG in the past, but it does look like a lot of work. I hope you enjoy HOD as much as the rest of us!!

WELCOME!!!
Mel

Melanie wrote: I am going to show my geographical ignorance here....where is Sierra Leone? I've just got to know now! I think that is very cool that you have lived in so many different places!
WELCOME!!!
Mel

Here you go:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Leone
It really does sound cool, doesn't it!!

Hi, Elmeryl! I love your unique name! I wanted to chime in here as well. I am also a lurker on other boards, but have joined in the discussion here at HOD. There's just something different here and I've been blessed by the ladies who have taken the time to respond to my questions.

I have a 10 yo dd and twin 7 yo's, too (boy/girl)! They will be turning 8 in April. I also have my twin 18 month old nephews living with me off and on again while my brother is in Iraq - so we are all about twins here!

I will be starting Bigger in August - if I can wait that long! I will be doing it with all three of mine and using extensions for the older. So, I can't offer any actual advice or guidance yet, but just wanted to welcome you. I think a true treasure is found here at HOD!

Thanks Susie! Oh my, that country has a very interesting history! Do you plan to study Sierra Leone with your children, Elmeryl? That would make a great unit study!

I forgot to mention this Elm....there are many of us using a different math. It's perfectly fine to use what you like.

You can use the emerging readers with your twins, they are great and right on a 2nd grade level. They are just perfect after completing RME.

Even if your 9yo has finished GWG 3, R&S 4 may be too difficult....it's very advanced. Just an fyi so you're not surprised. There are some other moms on here who can give good advice on placement with R&S.

You could do R&S 2 with your twins, but there is plenty of grammar built into the Beyond manuel and there are many of us who don't plan to start R&S until Bigger and use R&S 2 for 3rd grade. (hope that made sense!)

Sorry this got so long! I was just realizing that I got hung up on Sierre Leone and never answered your HOD questions..

Mel
(I hope it's ok to call you Elm. You have a lovely name!)

Elm in NJ wrote:My name is Elmeryl and I have 4 boys ages 12, 9, 7, 7. I am originally from Freetown , Sierra Leone but moved to England as a teenager. I have been in New Jersey for 15 years now.
I started homeschooling my eldest 6 years ago ( I joking say I am probably the only Sierra Leonean homeschooling, I don't even tell friends and family that I am doing it. My mom only found out last year ) and I have been mainly following a classical education with him( Well Trained Mind). With the other 3 , it has been mainly 'doing the next page thing' with them. I just got tired of planning for 3 grades . I want someone else to do the planning for me and I think I have found it in HOD.
I ordered Bigger with a couple of the books for my 9 year old 3rd grader( we have most of the books already at home and he has read a few on the list already ) and I have been looking through it and plan on starting next week. I wasn't sure if I should do Bigger or just wait for Preparing but he really wants to do American History so we will finish it and do Preparing after. He has nearly finished Growing with Grammar 3 and he is also in CLE maths 4 , so I thought Bigger might not be meaty enough for him. We will do Rod and Staff 4 in August since GWG is great but I don't think he is retaining as much as I would like him to.But reading through Bigger, I have found that it is enough. He is a very good reader though and even though he has read a few of the recommended books for fun, we will use them as part of the storytime session. I am still not sure about DITHOR though. I really want something easy on me ( my eldest is doing TOG) and I am tired.

My 12 year old will not be doing HOD though. He is doing TOG 3 and Journey to Africa next year. He will also do BJU Earth and space Science or Life Science next year.

My twins will start Beyond in August for Grade 2. They are the ones I feel the most guilt about because I haven't spent as much time teaching them as I did with the others. They are doing great in spite of all my failings though. They love CLE maths also and we will stick with this since they are doing great in these. They are nearly finished with the grade 2 light units but I want them to slow down a bit so we will just do some math games and drills for the next couple of months. They will also do Rod and Staff 2. We did Reading made Easy for phonics and I am also not sure what to use for reading.

Well, after that very long introduction, I think I will stop now. I have been reading the board for 3 weeks now but I am not much of a poster. (I was on the WTMboards for 3 years as a lurker before finally introducing myself, so to introduce myself after 3 weeks is kind of a strange thing for me).

Elmeryl

Hi Elmeryl! I'm doing Bigger now, and believe me, it is going to be very easy to implement. We are loving it! Have you had a chance to check out the weekly check-in? I've been trying to share pictures or descriptions of our favorite activities from Bigger, DITHOR, and LHFHG, since that's what we're doing this year. That would be a fun place to check out if you haven't yet!

DITHOR isn't hard to do - really! We do it 3 days a week, doing half the genres each year, and it's a favorite of ours! I'm going to post some past links about DITHOR, in case you might find that helpful:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/view ... ight=#1137
http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/view ... ight=#2600
http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/view ... ight=#2330
http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/view ... ight=#1609
http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/view ... ight=#1365

As far as Beyond, we've done that too, a few years ago, and we'll be doing it again next year. Can't wait to do it again! It is a fun program, and only takes about 2 or 2 1/2 hours to do, so very easy to implement. Have you gotten a chance to look at the Emerging Reader's Set yet? If you finished Reading Made Easy, I'd guess your dc would be ready for the Emerging Reader's Set. Remember you can always start "anywhere" in the list. It is a continuum of books, ordered from easiest to most difficult. You can easily see if your dc are ready for it by reading the first few books, and even if your dc are twins, I'm sure they may be different at reading levels - if so, you can start them in different books very easily. Of course, if you are blessed with the being "twins" in their reading levels too - great! Take turns reading and run with it!

What other things are you wondering about? I'd love to hear your thoughts after checking out the DITHOR posts and the Emerging Reader's Set! So glad you are here!!! Please stay out of lurkdom - as Tansy says - "we don't bite"! Promise!!!

In Christ,
Julie

Elmeryl,

Welcome, it's great to "meet" you!

Candice

Hi Ya Elm.
welcome to the boards!

I do DITHOR one one month off the next. It can add 30 -60 min to your school day but I find its is very worth it. it can be labor intensive for us but i have a child that when asked a question sits for 30-50 seconds just looking at you then looks at the top of the page they are reading and reads off the top line...

example
Mom: Who is the main character in the book?
DD: err umm bats eyes reading from book "He found a shell...???"

Mom: bangs head against wall.

But then other days she is much more co-operative and the work is done very quickly.

Welcome to the boards Elmeryl! We're glad to have you here! The ladies are wonderful about helping, aren't they!

I just wanted to pop-in and mention that the Emerging Reader set is all scheduled out for 170 days of instruction in the back of your "Bigger..." guide in the Appendix, so you can take a look it at since you have the guide!

If your kiddos are beyond the Emerging Reader set, then they're ready for DITHR. Here's the link to the Emerging Reader Set, so you can see the books used in it: http://www.heartofdakota.com/emerging-reader.php

Also, if you haven't had a chance to check out the placement chart, you may want to do that, as it may be possible that your 7 year olds could do "Bigger..." with your 9 year old. The best way to tell is by checking the chart. Here's that link:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

If you have other questions, feel free to ask. We love to help and hope you'll stay out of lurkdom.

Blessings,
Carrie

Welcome to the boards and to HOD. I hope you feel "at Home" here. This is a wonderful group of women with lots of good ideas!