heartofdakota.com

Hi there,
I'm new to the board. I joined because I am interested in learning more about the HOD curric's.
We have been homeschooling for almost 4 yrs now and have always used MFW, supplemented with R&S.
For those who have used MFW and made the switch to HOD, can you tell me what you like better about HOD?
And some of the differences between that and MFW?

I have a son-5th grade & daughter-1st grade.
Currently we are doing MFW Creation to Greek and MFW first grade.

I really am liking what I see in the Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory curric.
Now I need to study the programs available for my son

Thank you!! It's nice to be here
Jana

We switched because it was very hard for us to get the supplemental books from our library (Interlibrary loans went to $2.25 a book!) and HOD has all the books you need in a package. I felt it was very complete this way and if I didn't want to darken the doors of my library we weren't missing any learning. Carrie's program and book choices ensure that. Also, HOD's teacher guide is SO MUCH easier to work with and follow. Everything I need to know and do is in the box instead of having to flip over to another page for the details. Sometimes when I would go to the other page I would realize I was missing something, needed more time, etc. The guide also just seems to flow better for us and I prefer the books HOD has chosen as well. Just my 2c, but we are very happy with HOD and now that it is going into high school, we will stay with it for the long haul.

We used MFW thru Countries & Cultures and switched over to HOD Preparing when my two oldest were 3rd (8) and 5th (10). One of our biggest goals was keeping my oldest 2 together and the "fit" with HOD has been so much better for both of my children. I was beginning to feel that my younger son was just being drug along to keep up with the other in MFW and I wanted to change that. The HOD placement for my younger son has been right on track and the extensions for my oldest have made it a great fit for both. HOD is also so teacher/user friendly ! I don't need to add anything to make it work for us which was the second biggest reason for switching. I had begun to realize that some of the things I liked best about MFW were the things I was "adding" to it to make it work better for us. All that said, we have truly enjoyed both MFW & HOD. We are so blessed to have so many choices out there to find what suits us best. I am so happy to have found HOD for us .

Hello, I just wanted to pop in to say WELCOME! I have not used MFW but i do know that I have seen threads on this before. So you might type MFW into the search engine and see what others have said in the recent past... I do know that since we have started HOD I have not second guessed this choice once!! It is soooo GOD that brought us here after many years of being elsewhere! It has been absolutely perfect for our family

Welcome! I know you will love HOD. I think the main difference is the depth of content, thoroughness of the teacher's manual, the exhaustive coverage of everything!!! In the younger manuals, Carrie even remembers gross motor skills -- to make sure your child is not missing out on learning how to do specific hopping, somersaults, freezing games (gym class stuff) while he/she is memorizing Bible verses. Then the poetry study, the amazing depth of the thinking skills. The simple activity in Beyond each Monday (day 1) where the child has to title the poem read. This makes him think through the essential message of the poem. Some of my child's titles were amazing and were always dead-on to the essential meaning of the poem. If you look at MFW first grade program,,,, you can see that the author got tired about day 100 and just left off any extra activities and lessons. Kind of like just keep repeating what you've been doing. You'll see what I mean if you take a look at it. There is NO one out there that covers the thinking skills, depth of literature, copywork, dictation, drawing, hands-on fun coverage like Carrie Austin. No one.... I am essentially a classical educator that teaches from a Charlotte Mason perspective and I have told families, Charlotte Mason (and Carrie) puts the joy back into Homeschooling. I hope you will be blessed,
Laura

We used MFW for three years before switching to HOD mid-year. I've used ADV, ECC & 19 weeks of CTG. I really enjoyed ADV & ECC. I looked carefully at MFW K for my up and coming Ker. I have not been impressed with MFW younger programs. The TM requires allot of time on the teacher's part to collect info, present etc. We loved the mission focus of ECC and used our library extensively. Then when we got to CTG we had a hard time finding library books and the material seemed very different from the previous year.

I switched to HOD in December. My dd 9 is using Preparing and my ds 4 is using LHTH. I have been extremely pleased with the change and love the differences. I feel like having the guides written out for smaller age specific increments works better for us. The work designed in Preparing is just perfect for us. I love the preschool program and already have everything I need to move into HOD K program LHFHG.

I really appreciate how the guides in HOD move gradually toward independence. I like that the TM (AKA Guide) is written with everything you need to know to teach each subject. The science is always enough. I love having poetry included in our Preparing program. I never would have done poetry otherwise. I know that is not something that is really structured into any MFW programs. And come to find out my dd is really good at the poetry! MFW tends to leave things more open for you to add in things or take out things as you wish including adding in extra literature, poetry etc by the book basket. The problem comes when you don't have time to add or tweak the program because you are trying to keep up with other little ones, challenging life circumstances, family emergencies etc. I had to adjust the program so much in CTG for my 4th grader and I was not having any time left for little guys or house work etc. Then a major health issue arose and put our house at a halt. God led me to HOD and the change has been amazing! I now have enough time to work with each child, get my house work done and not spend all of the time schooling my oldest while shooing my little away.

If you want to read more about comparing HOD to MFW, you might check out Julie's post about it. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1446

I also posted another response to someone else about our experience here- viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8468#p61804

I could say more but I need to run and make my hubby his lunch!


Edie

Welcome! You are going to love HOD! Praying you find the perfect fit. I have really found the one size fits all thing is much harder to make work than just meeting them exactly at their level the way HOD does. Enjoy looking through the programs. Make sure to check out the placement chart. http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

We used MFW from Adventures, through ECC, CTG, RTR, etc., and it was fine for us at the time, but the higher level guides (including high school) just lacked something for us.

HOD is so "warm" and Christ-centered and thorough and FUN! Everything is covered so well, and it works on skills such as oral recitation, oral and written narration, art, watercolor painting, Bible quiet-times, etc., etc. It is so RICH! I cannot really put into a short description how great HOD is and what a perfect fit it is for our family. But, the main thing is that it teaches the child's heart as well as their mind, and it always points them back to Christ, Who is all in all.

Jana,

I just wanted to welcome you too! We're glad to have you here! If you have any more questions, just ask away. The ladies are so gracious about helping one another and are so encouraging. We pray you will find the fit you are seeking.

Blessings,
Carrie

Here is what I have to offer on this matter....hope it helps a little!

We used much of ECC.

Here are some of the reasons that HOD is a better fit for us than MFW.....

--HOD truly includes ALL subjects/lessons into their guide. For example, I don't have to schedule in the recommended Language Arts lessons myself into blank boxes on the lesson plans page.

--HOD helps me make the mental connections with God's word as the teacher so that I can relate that to my children with each lesson. HOD really connects everything back to God's word in each lesson box.

--Like someone else said, I do not have to do book basket. All of our reading is close at hand for those times when the weather is too bad to go to the library, or the kiddos are sick (which happens a lot in our house during the winter ).

--Everthing is truly at my fingertips with HOD- no hunting the stores for extra project supplies. That is not always a bad thing to have to do, but there are just too many times for me when I don't have time to "hunt and gather".

--I found that with each level of HOD the books in the package are really true to that particular age level. Whereas in MFW ECC, I found some of the books to be too old for youngers and some of the books to be too young for olders. Not to criticize MFW....its just that it did not work for us.

--I found that HOD guides contain a wider variety of activities and assignments, and appeals more to the different learning styles. HOD seems much less "worksheet" oriented to me.

--Last but not least, the HOD book choices are just wonderful! That's a major "bottom line" for us!!

--There are several other reasons, but these are just a few!!

Also, I want to say that I really respect MFW. They are a great company! These are just the differences that popped out to me, and why HOD is the better fit for us!

Hope this helps you!

Thank you ladies! I appreciate the genuine thought you put into your answers.
What a warm and welcoming bunch you are....love that!
Thanks again for all your input
Jana

Here is my blog post on switching from MFW 1st to HOD - http://onelittlewordsheknew.blogspot.co ... ching.html

and after our first couple of weeks - http://onelittlewordsheknew.blogspot.co ... eek-2.html

Hope that helps.

striving2Bprov31 wrote:Here is what I have to offer on this matter....hope it helps a little!

We used much of ECC.

Here are some of the reasons that HOD is a better fit for us than MFW.....

--HOD truly includes ALL subjects/lessons into their guide. For example, I don't have to schedule in the recommended Language Arts lessons myself into blank boxes on the lesson plans page.

--HOD helps me make the mental connections with God's word as the teacher so that I can relate that to my children with each lesson. HOD really connects everything back to God's word in each lesson box.

--Like someone else said, I do not have to do book basket. All of our reading is close at hand for those times when the weather is too bad to go to the library, or the kiddos are sick (which happens a lot in our house during the winter ).

--Everthing is truly at my fingertips with HOD- no hunting the stores for extra project supplies. That is not always a bad thing to have to do, but there are just too many times for me when I don't have time to "hunt and gather".

--I found that with each level of HOD the books in the package are really true to that particular age level. Whereas in MFW ECC, I found some of the books to be too old for youngers and some of the books to be too young for olders. Not to criticize MFW....its just that it did not work for us.

--I found that HOD guides contain a wider variety of activities and assignments, and appeals more to the different learning styles. HOD seems much less "worksheet" oriented to me.

--Last but not least, the HOD book choices are just wonderful! That's a major "bottom line" for us!!

--There are several other reasons, but these are just a few!!

Also, I want to say that I really respect MFW. They are a great company! These are just the differences that popped out to me, and why HOD is the better fit for us!

Hope this helps you!

We are using ECC this year and are switching to HOD this fall. I just wish we would have found it last year. MFW-ECC has just about killed my kids love of learning. I found we would get through the basics and then try to rush to get to the MFW stuff which made for a very unhappy year. I want to start HOD now but the kids still want to finish MFW. I am so proud of them for that. Maybe if my kids were closer in age or less competitive it would have worked better. I missed all the CM stuff we did the previous year with Ambleside Online, that's what drew me to HOD. I think my boys did too. My original plan was MFW because we could combine and I had just had a baby but it ended up not being a good fit and my kids are now constantly arguing. I see now they were to far apart to successfully combine (7 years). So between now and the fall we will be working on heart issues and just doing MFW when the kids are interested in part of it and of course the basics.

Welcome to HOD Jana! I too pray that you find the best fit for you and your family. I have owned and done some of MFW K, 1st, and Adventures. None of those, like so many other curriculum, worked for us even though it's a great curriculum. I don't know that I'm good at making a comparison but what I will do is tell you why HOD works for us when so so many other curriculum including MFW didn't work for us.

Everything in HOD points the child to the Bible. I've used other curricula that also do that to some degree or another but I haven't found anything with the depth of integration that HOD provides. I love it because the Bible is taught as history and there is plenty of factual type information given but the lessons also focus on the child's heart. There is alot of discipling going in within the context of everything else that is covered. The child is continually asked to take what he is learning and apply it to his relationship with God. There is alot of verbal interaction going on and that always leads the child to examine how to apply his head knowledge to his heart.

One thing I especially appreciate about HOD is that the science is always taught, always, from a creationist perspective. History is thoroughly Christ-centered. For example, the child may learn about an historical figure and then contrast how that figure may have behaved/thought with a Biblical figure and how he behaved/thought.

I just love the way it's working but I especially love the Christ-centered education that they are getting. HOD does a really good job of discipling the child in the faith. That is the #1 most important goal of the curricula.

Hi, Jana! Welcome to the boards! I haven't used MFW, but there have been a lot of posts, and even lately, on the distinctives of both MFW and HOD. If you search the forum using MFW as your keyword, I bet you'll pull up several of those threads. I haven't been on the forums long so I'm not sure how to do it, but I just saw a great thread just a week or two ago.

Glad you're here!