heartofdakota.com

I have two daughters, ages 8 and 5. I'm wondering if there's any way to purchase one program to use with both of them. My 8 year old is working at grade level (She'll be 9 at the beginning of the next school year.) My just-turned 5 year old is working at a first grade level. She's reading three and, sometimes, four letter words, without help, and doing Kindergarten Math. I really would love to use something that we can all do together. Plus, I don't enjoy the idea of doing two separate activities every day. Advice would be much appreciated. I looked at some samples of the curriculum and got really excited about what I saw! It's so simple and non-threatening (HA!) and I love how poetry is included in the daily lessons. We tried My Father's World for my daughter in 2nd grade, and it didn't really fit us very well. How is this curriculum in relation to MFW?

I already have a separate curriculum planned for Language Arts and Spelling for both of them, so I would be using this mainly for Bible, History and Science.

Thank you for whatever advice, comments, instruction you have to give!

Welcome to the HOD Boards! We'd be super happy to help you figure this out. If you don't mind, would you let us know how the place on the placement chart if you were to place them individually, so we can talk through combining options better? The placement chart is amazingly helpful in getting the right train of thought going for this

My initial thoughts are to combine in Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory, but your input about their placement will help fine tune! http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Welcome to the HOD Board, and you are right, HOD is non-threatening, has pretty much no prep, and is academically sound - plus fun to boot! If you get the chance to check out the placement chart and share about each of your dc with the first page of the chart in mind for sure, we can give different placement options for you to ponder and help answer your questions until you come to peace with your decision. I'll check back!

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you for the welcome.

After looking at the placement, I guess I should go with "Little Hearts for His Glory." She's reading, but isn't ready to copy sentences. She's more on a Kindergarten level with Math, too.

I'm not sure where to my 8 year old, especially since everything relates to writing or grammar. As far as skills, I think she's in between Bigger Hearts and Preparing Hearts. We already have a Grammar curriculum, and we have her signed up for an IEW writing class for next year. We use Teaching Textbooks for Math. I'm really not sure which option is best for her. Should I err on the side of caution and go to the lower level? Would this work well, even though I'm using my own LA and Math? I'm nervous about purchasing after my awful experience with a packaged curriculum the year before last. It said it was for 2nd - 3rd graders, but it felt more like it was suited for a 1st grader; I was constantly supplementing.

If your child is in between guides, it's usually better to go with the lower guide. HOD guides are simple to use, but really rich on content and results.

It sounds like your younger dd will do great with LHFHG! I'm so glad she will get to do that - we loved doing the 1 year sweep of history LHFHG gives first. As Charlotte Mason would say, it gave our dc "pegs" to hang their subsequent history upon. Not to mention it gives a solid start as it's also rich in the Bible. When first beginning to teach CM style skills to my dc, it felt like it was easier for them to learn because they were first learning these important new skills with a subject matter they were somewhat already familiar with - the Bible - an excellent start for introducing LA CM style skills.

When choosing between Bigger Hearts and Preparing Hearts, you are right on track thinking about writing skills. Dc truly do need to be able to do everything on that placement chart to start a guide. This past thread that compares the writing in BHFHG to the writing in PHFHG may be helpful as you choose:

Amount of writing in Bigger vs. PHFHG:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3602

Also, printing off each of the 1 week samples of BHFHG and PHFHG and comparing the 2 will help. Keep in mind PHFHG's "I" boxes are meant for the student to do completely independently, and the "S" boxes are semi-independent and meant for you to teach a bit and then for them to finish on their own. The "T" boxes are teacher-directed. Also, in PHFHG students begin to take over some of their content area reading, starting with Science. They read their science on their own, complete the experiments and lab sheet follow-ups on their own, as well as their science notebooking. This is in keeping with Charlotte Mason's wise philosophy of once dc are able to read on their own, they need to be doing so more and more for their schooling, as when we read something ourselves, we retain it better. There is SO MUCH that dc gain from this independence! And HOD really holds their hand and eases them into it. My dc are thrived with this, and continue to grow in their academic skills by leaps and bounds each year with HOD! Here are links to the 1 week samples, so you can check them out:
Bigger Hearts:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/BHFHG-first-week.pdf

PHFHG:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/PHFHG-sample-week.pdf

Your child's LA skills of reading and writing are important when choosing between BHFHG and PHFHG. For PHFHG, dc need to be reading well independently, ready to write creatively, ready for short written narrations, beginning to be quite adept in oral narrations, ready for dictation and daily grammar including diagramming, comprehending what is read to them and what they read well, and able to follow clear step-by-step directions independently. Some 8 yo's going into PHFHG can do this, but most of those 8 yo's can do it because they have done BHFHG first. That is NOT to say that an 8 yo coming into HOD will not be able to do PHFHG, it's just that you will want to be sure he/she can. Let me encourage you that doing 2 HOD guides is NOT hard! We do 3 and love our homeschooling days together! Not to mention we are finished in a very manageable amount of time. When dc are accurately placed, doing multiple guides IMO is far easier than combining dc who are so far apart in skills that it is not in their best interests to combine, nor mom's best interest, as mom will be tweaking or skipping things all of the time. HTH, and I'd love to hear back from you about your oldest!

In Christ,
Julie

I think Beyond Little Heart would be a great fit for you. If your older daughter needs more challenge, she could do the extension pkg., but I don't really think it will be necessary. My oldest just turned 10, and we do Beyond without extensions, and he is having a great, full year in my opinion. Next year with Bigger, I will use extensions with him though.

I really love the Beyond guide (it's my first one). It was a great choice for this year for our homeschool. I am so thankful to the Lord for His Spirit leading us to go with this curriculum. I think you will really enjoy it.

B

But the other options are probably great too... I just read all of the posts following, so I wasn't trying to say that you shouldn't do those. I was just stating my opinion. I totally respect Julie's opinion. She always gives wonderful advice. She was actually one to advise me on doing Beyond with both of my boys, based on our unique situation. Every family is different for sure! Plus, this is our first year back homeschooling after the last two in Christian school.

So, just wanted to say that. All the ladies advice here that I have ever read has been so constructive and helpful. Bless you all.

Thanks so much, Tina! I actually love this facet of the board, where ladies give different opinions about placement - so I'm so glad you gave yours! I think that somewhere within all the placement options and ideas we talk through here - that is where a mom finds her own perfect placement for her dc. Different placement options resonate with different mom's goals, and it is in fact why Carrie and I actually try not to read each other's placements before determining our own advice to give. That's why our advice is sometimes the same, but sometimes not. I am so thankful for ladies like you Tina, who give their time and thoughts to help other ladies with placement, questions, prayers, or with whatever they are needing help! That is what makes this board an incredible resource - all these great minds of neat ladies like yourself working together to help others in this homeschooling journey - so thank you for your advice here too! It is appreciated.

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you for all the advice and suggestions! Wow, I have a lot to digest! I'll definitely be comparing the two teacher's manuals. I have to admit, the idea of using two at a time makes me want to hide under my kitchen table, but you're using three?! Maybe I'm just drawing from past experience with packaged curricula, which made me want to hide under the table, and retire... and throw some books out of a movie car window... but I digress.

Also, is this a five-day curriculum?

I agree, Julie. Thank you for that insight...

Yes, Daph, it is laid out for 5 day use per week.

Daph wrote: Also, is this a five-day curriculum?

All guides up to Bigger are scheduled for 5 days a week. From Preparing upward they are scheduled for 4 days a week!
This year I am doing Bigger and LHFHG and those two are very manageable together. Next year I will move onto 3 guides, but the grace of God will be there to show me how to make it work for my family.
There are many threads on the board to help you with scheduling once you decide what guides will work for your family. So keep the questions coming as they come up:D
I pray that HOD will be as much of a blessing in your family as it has been in our family.
Success

That's so sweet. Thank you.

Is there any way that I can see a weekly plan for Little Hearts? I think that would really help in making my decision. I can't seem to find it anywhere, though.

Never mind. I found the link.