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This may be an odd or obviously answered question, but here goes.... In reviewing the materials for LHFHG and BHFHG, I feel as though we are submerged in a literary, historical world but lacking in the area of practical, scientific, day to day, real world exposure that kids need to , well, live in the real world. Maybe I have missed the emphasis in the guides or this is just naturally that moms do - correlating things to the present application. Or maybe there is less emphasis in younger years in order to build ideals and foundations. I hope this does not sound odd or offensive. I am a person that did not learn to cook and clean from my mother. So I just sort of get by in the household duties.(I purchased Pearables Lessons in Responsibilities for Little Girls(for 6 yo) - which is basically housekeeping - and I know I will learn along with her. ) I would so much rather read a great work of fiction than to read non-fiction. I almost never watch the news or read the paper and usually have to have someone else help me navigate when I travel outside my normal living area. I lived a fairly sheltered life growing up. I am currently in my 6th year of college (with many breaks in between) and can do alright with 'book learning', but unfortunately don't have the greatest common sense. It is not my intention to be 'down on myself' or anything, but I know the struggling I've had to do trying to get along in life and how much growing up I'm having to do at a late age. I want to homeschool and give my children a Christ centered education. My vision is to help prepare them to be able to function spiritually and in the world, to be able to have the resources to make good judgments and make a life for themselves with their hearts focused on godly principles and the plans God has for them. I am just concerned that I am going to make the same mistake of focusing on the long ago and far away and create cycles of functional hardship for them.
In short, my ? is... can someone help point out from the curriculum simply how HOD correlates the historical, literary, biblical focus to the practical? And some ideas that may help me to better enable me to prepare myself to teach and reach my goals for my kids. Of course, prayer is # 1. But any thoughts would be truly appreciated.

LivinNandByHim wrote:In short, my ? is... can someone help point out from the curriculum simply how HOD correlates the historical, literary, biblical focus to the practical? And some ideas that may help me to better enable me to prepare myself to teach and reach my goals for my kids. Of course, prayer is # 1. But any thoughts would be truly appreciated.

I don't know if I can answer this. It's late and I'm pretty new to HOD. But, I will say one thing I've learned using lit based history for 5 years now is we need to know history to understand HIS-story. Everything that has happened is all connected and molds what is happening.

One of the greatest things about HOD is how it shows me how real history works with the bible. Before I started HOD I did not like the Old Testament as I had never been taught it in context or in relevance to history. It was a bunch of stories and I did not understand. I now see how much history repeats itself. I honestly believe understanding history helps us understand today because history works in cycles....the human race is pretty slow and we don't learn very quickly!!! Lol.

In a very practical way, HOD asks questions in the history storytime box and in the bible box to make children think about how the reading is relevant to their current life. It asks them to think about how their life is the same or different to those who have lived before. It asks how the stories and verses can help us in our everyday walk. It asks them to make personal connections to what we study. This is a great skill to have!

I love how HOD also makes the science and history hands on activities relate to events that have really happened. It shows how it works today.

I don't think you could possibly be disappointed in any way if you chose HOD....it is a very cleverly written and crafted curriculum. So much thought has gone into the 'why' of everything! Enjoy your research,

Blessings,

Corrie

I agree with the posters and I guess I would add that you need to know who you were in the past to know who you are in the present. If you think about it, how do we learn about God? We study the Bible, which is most definitely history. If our children do not know the past world, what shaped it, how our country came to be, the role of our country, etc., they really have no basis on which to lay the present. This is one of the many reasons we homeschool, we do not feel this is being taught in public schools. Another reason we homeschool is so we, the parents, will be the ones to impart the practical to our children. I live in a state where the first 4 years of social studies includes outcomes such as "will learn how to make a decision." I honestly feel dh and I are the only ones that should be teaching our children how to make decisions. Of course present day history is important, and the later guides will cover that time period. We are only in Beyond, and yet we have done a lot of activities that are relevant and practical for today. I wish I had more time to present my thoughts better, but unfortunately I am off to a conference for the day. Hopefully that helps a little and I am sure others will chime in.

I agree with all that has been said already. I think HOD does an excellent job of teaching dc to really think about how what they are studying applies to them. They really have to think. One example I can think of from CTC is that every week on day 4 of story time the assignment is to get the book of Proverbs and find verses that apply to what we have just read. I do it with my ds and it isn't easy. It has been amazing to watch the connections he will make and the life lessons he is learning from this. Also when doing oral and written narration one aspect is that you encourage kids to make connections in their narrations. My ds will say things like "this makes me think of how I made a bad decision when I ...." .

On a more practical note starting in at least Preparing and on up (I didn't do the guides below that) there is a big emphasis on becoming more independent and responsible for following the directions correctly. The craft activities often require making dough or cooking a simple project, and even planning a meal and because of this my ds is learning how to cook and how to clean up. I see his confidence building more each year as the guides build to more and more independent boxes and less teacher led boxes. Also when you get to RTR you do a study either Beautiful Girlhood or Boyhood and Beyond that from my understanding are great books to help your dc grow to be Adults who are striving to follow God in all that they do.

I think the early programs make a tremendous impression on our dc as we study the struggles of the early "Americans" and how their faith and resolve allowed them to overcome great difficulties. We also learned the importance of observation of the world around us and applying ourselves to the task on hand. With today's blinky-blinky distractions, children have a hard time slowing their minds down and focusing on a simple thing and admiring its beauty or function. It is not so much that we apply the techniques of making a sampler, for instance, but the effort and care and perseverance that went into the task. We take that work ethic and apply it to our modern duties. The character and fortitude of the many groups of people and individuals that you will study will make a lasting impression.

Thank you all so much for your responses. I can see that feeding my dc with a healthy, meaty mental / spiritual diet of strong ideas will give them a solid foundation on which to build. The rest will come. This is truly part of the reason I want to homeschool - to get them away from the shallows of the modern day and fill up their depths with good and strong building materials of the mind, heart, and spirit. And I see what you mean about the connections and associations and applications from the curriculum.

I am so excited and can hardly wait to get into the programs. Especially to see how my ds is going to do with HOD / Bigger. I am sure he is going to thrive.

HOD lends many learning opportunities that are practical yet put God first, but everyday life provides many opportunities before and after the school work is done. One thing that I have done this year is just to have my children help me. If I am cooking, I include one of them and show them how to do certain age appropriate things. Having them at home means they are a part of everyday life... the cooking and the cleaning. HOD doesn't generally take all day, so there is time to just include them in making dinner. My 17 yr old dd learned to make home made bread last year. We then made loaf after loaf and sold them at a farmer's market to help pay for her senior year's homeschool curriculum. In doing that, we learned how to not only cook but label the bread correctly for sale, how to calculate the profit, and how to figure the sales tax we had to pay. Everyday life will provide tremendous opportunities that a child in a classroom may never have.

I just wanted to specifically address this portion of your post:

I am a person that did not learn to cook and clean from my mother. So I just sort of get by in the household duties.(I purchased Pearables Lessons in Responsibilities for Little Girls(for 6 yo) - which is basically housekeeping - and I know I will learn along with her. ) I would so much rather read a great work of fiction than to read non-fiction. I almost never watch the news or read the paper and usually have to have someone else help me navigate when I travel outside my normal living area. I lived a fairly sheltered life growing up. I am currently in my 6th year of college (with many breaks in between) and can do alright with 'book learning', but unfortunately don't have the greatest common sense. It is not my intention to be 'down on myself' or anything, but I know the struggling I've had to do trying to get along in life and how much growing up I'm having to do at a late age. I want to homeschool and give my children a Christ centered education. My vision is to help prepare them to be able to function spiritually and in the world, to be able to have the resources to make good judgments and make a life for themselves with their hearts focused on godly principles and the plans God has for them. I am just concerned that I am going to make the same mistake of focusing on the long ago and far away and create cycles of functional hardship for them.

As much as my mom entertained, cooked, cleaned, and sewed, I am also one who did not seem to learn much from her own mother. ;{ She's a wonderful lady and we have a great relationship today, but I guess she did not see the need to teach me practical things such as housekeeping and cooking. And though our family was a 'christian' family, there was not anything to it really besides going to church on Sunday each week, and of course the monthly potluck. I have had to learn a lot of things since getting married and leaving my parents' home. And it has led me to really consider the things that I want my children to know before they go out into the real world alone (or into a spouse's home). So even though I wish I had been taught many of the things that I wasn't, both practical and spiritual, God has used my shortcomings to help me understand in which direction I want to go with my own family. I have had to learn, and I am still learning, to stick to things because I was always allowed to quit. My parents watched the news but we never spoke of what we saw and heard there amongst the family. They wanted me to get good grades but school really didn't seem that important to them. I was told if I wanted to go to college I was going to have to find my own way because they couldn't help me, etc. I only say all of that to encourage you that your weaknesses can help you determine what is important for your family. And you are absolutely right, you will learn right along with them! I am loving history now that I'm an adult and have found some engaging books. Science is much more interesting, poetry, etc. And of course learning God's word is at the top of the list.

HOD does help so much in leading our dc to the Lord, pointing to him, and all of their books are wholesome and engaging, in my opinion.

On the practical side, the chores we have had our children do...sometimes learning the best way right alongside them.....is helping to prepare them for life as well. All of my children will have hands-on experience doing many things that I had to learn at the age of 20 (and since) when I got married! They are ahead already, as yours will be. So, trust God to guide you in the things He has for your family. He will reveal it all to you in His timing.

This verse comes to mind in answering. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!" Psalm 111:10. HOD to me bases their program on this very concept. In that your children will be wise of the ways of the world, both good and bad, and know how to deal with things they may have not seen just because they have wisdom. Truly there is nothing new under the sun. So I really see that my kids are very much able to apply the wisdom gained in HOD accurately even to current events. They get what is going on in the world better than a lot of adults who are very worldly just because they have taken time to gain some godly wisdom. I think you will find the same.

I think the other ladies have great suggestions on learning those skills right along with your children. I was raised with a great deal of cooking and baking knowledge as well as home keeping. But I was not raised with wisdom in a lot of areas and unlearning things I feel is a lot harder than learning. So I think you are going to find God is really going to honor your efforts. I think a lot of us moms are teaching our children much that we did not learn as children. You are in good company.

Ladies,

This thread is filled with such wise counsel and so much heartfelt sharing! Thank you for uplifting and encouraging one another as we each strive to be more like Christ in our daily lives. There is no greater calling!

Blessings,
Carrie

@inHistiming --Are you sure you weren't a fly on the wall watching me as a child???? Seriously, everything you stated about your past fits me to a tee! Did you have a mother in the Baby Boomer generation? I was born in 1972. I think this was an era when many mothers were not "into" teaching their children much about household duties, not generally anyway. I am sure there were many who were, but I didn't know very many personally. Most of my friends' mothers were just like mine. It really does handicap a person. When I got married, I literally could barely boil an egg!! Thankfully my husband could cook more than I could! He had worked as a chef assistant in a restaurant. So, amazingly, he showed me many things and helped me. To this day, I am still not at ease and happy cooking in the kitchen, unless I am by myself. I DO let my children help me one at a time though, but it just doesn't come naturally to me though. Yet, my oldest and youngest son can make a good breakfast! Eggs, toast, juice, all on their own. They can do a lot more already than I ever could at their age. They even do their own laundry! Yay!

@LivinInandbyhim --- I think there is great value in our children knowing the history of the past and of America in particular. This nation has been so blessed and was God-ordained from the very start. For our children to make connections on how people lived "back then" and now, to learn the character of the great men and women of the past, is priceless. They can serve as an inspiration for us today. I personally love to read biographies and missionary biographies of great Christians of the past. I get so encouraged and inspired to do mighty things for my God, and to see how He has always been there throughout history. I think you and your children will enjoy it so much. It is very relevant to life here and now. You will find this to be true, I am sure.

Making life practical is basically just requiring them to learn to pick up and clean up after themselves, to do household chores, laundry and (in my opinion) basic, functional cooking (like boiling eggs for starters ), how to interact with all types of people, and to grow in godly character. One thing I have been doing each morning during breakfast is to have my children and I listen to a chapter of Proverbs on www.biblegateway.com It will play it audio and we listen and have a short discussion about the meaning of that particular chapter. You might want to do this as well. Proverbs is a very practical book of wisdom. Bless you!

Just stepping in on the housework type things. One advantage to homeschooling is that your children will get to SEE and HELP you do all the household responsibilities! I know one reason I struggle with household stuff is because I was an only child, we had a very small house, and my mom did all the housework while I was at school. She worked until 2 and then was home until I got home at 3:30, so she had an hour and a half to clean a fairly tidy 800 at the most square foot house! My dad was a truck driver so he was gone at least a week at a time, so the work she had to do was minimal at best! WAY WAY different than my 1900sf house with 4 children and a dh who is home the majority of the day! But the biggest thing was, I rarely saw her do anything. It was always just clean. Even things like laundry... she did three loads a WEEK! My dad's clothes when he came home, towels/sheets depending on the week, and our clothes. I do at LEAST one load per DAY, generally two loads per day.

In order to better prepare my children, they help me. They see me. I make sure they see my daily list of to-dos. I make sure that I talk to them about the budget and how much things cost and they know how long it takes to do things. They also know that it takes less time overall to do a job well than to just skip through it...

Agreeing with all the previous posters. Having a history-rich education will not handicap your child, it will do the opposite. I think it is one of the most important things we can teach our dc. "Those who do not know history are destined to repeat it." Don't know who said this but I hear it all the time. Our children are the future leaders of our communities and our nation, and to know and understand the truth about history is the foundation for this. This is one reason why I so treasure HOD's books. Full of truth, not watered down, or twisted by modern day agendas. And interesting and engaging to boot.

Just teach your children alongside you the practical aspects of your day, and they will integrate these skills into their lives and be successful, well-rounded adults!

I remember first getting married and hearing ladies at my church discussing their Bible Quiet Time. I thought, "I should be doing that... but what is it?" I think my parents had Bible Quiet Times, looking back, but we never talked about it, and I think it was usually before I got up in the morning so I never really saw it. I knew my parents each had their own Bibles, and loved reading them, and knew a lot about the Bible. But, I didn't know about their Bible Quiet Times, therefore, I never had one until later in life. This is just one example of how our parents can have excellent habits we may not necessarily pick up on or learn on our own. It is a good reminder of how important it is to teach my dc the habits I want them to have, while also making sure I have those habits myself.

When you say the words "present application", I think HOD has it to the "nth" degree. However, to apply something, you must first see how others applied it, made it their own, learned from it, and then turn around and apply it to your own life. HOD chooses amazing people for our dc to learn from, and then carefully plans discussions, activities, and follow-up assignments to further help our dc apply what they've read to their own lives. We are doing Bigger Hearts and RTR right now, so I'll try to point out a few examples from these guides as they are fresh in my mind.

For example, in Bigger Hearts, the Bible Study box focuses Godly character traits along with memorization of Proverbs. Day 2 has personal application of that Godly character quality, Day 3 has a devotional reading that corresponds to that quality, Day 4 has a practical application of that quality, and Day 5 focuses on a Biblical passages showing that quality. The plans are very specific in asking dc to apply what has been learned in the here and now. Guiding questions ask them to apply the Godly character trait to their own lives. Activities ask them to specifically plan how they will model that trait "today". Just yesterday, this was my ds's present application for this... "Choose one way that you can be more honest and delight God. Make sure to do it today." My ds chose to be honest about what he had really played with his little brother. (He'd tearfully confessed he'd lied to me about this before.) But, he decided to fess up after we had studied the Godly character trait of "honesty" in Bigger Hearts - he told me he wanted to be honest, and choose not to lie about that anymore. He felt a huge weight had been lifted, and I felt glad he'd changed his heart (a.k.a. practically applied what he'd learned).

In Bigger Hearts Storytime box, he has to compare the book characters to a Biblical person with a Godly character quality in mind. The quality we just studied was "joy". We talked about troubles he has had, and what he could do in times of trouble to still be joyful about the faith he has in Christ. He came up with pray, sing happy praise music, and whistle. I heard him whistling the other day when he accidentally dumped the dustbuster contents all over the floor. He winked and said, "I'm just finding some joy, mom!" Personal application strikes again.

In history, we talked about soldiers and how they gave so much for this country. He said to me the other day, "Mom, American soldiers give up so much for our freedom, still today, don't they?" I said tearfully, "Yes, they do, and so do their wives and their dc. They are not only incredibly brave men, they are incredibly brave families."

In "Drawn into the Heart of Reading", we've been studying the genre humor. When the boys were watching "Lion King 1 1/2", they both decided that while it was pretty funny, the body noises parts were probably ill humor for real life. In DITHOR, we'd just talked about how burping loudly was ill humor, and humor not appreciated by any mature person within hearing distance.

We are doing "Resurrection to Reformation" with our oldest ds. The practical application is HUGE at this stage of learning. I am finding the more my dc age and move through HOD guides, the more their learning just becomes a natural part of their life.

For example, Wyatt just built a glider for science. He showed Bernoulli's principle by adjusting the fuselage, as well as changing air flow patterns by altering curved and flat surfaces to gain more lift. Riley came over and they were deep in conversation about what alterations to make. Riley shared what he knew about planes/air flow from what he'd read about the Wright Brothers, and Wyatt said, "Oh yeah, I remember that, let's give that a try, buddy."

The present application of "Boyhood and Beyond" is so plentiful, I hardly know where to begin. One example - Bob Schultz told a story about Mr. Slothful and Mr. Industry. When Wyatt was working hard on cleaning his room, he said, "Just call me Mr. Industry, Mom! Mr. Slothful moved out and isn't welcome back!" He just finished his RTR guide as of today, and he is choosing to have a Bible Quiet Time each morning still (a mixture of application from "Boyhood and Beyond" and RTR's Bible Quiet Time box's influence). When watching a movie, Wyatt came out and said, "I think there's a better use for this time for me, Mom. I think I'm going to work on a project I've got going instead." (Application of good use of time lesson we had in HOD.)

We just finished "God's Design for My Body", and Wyatt had a newfound sadness for 2 young teenagers we know whom are expecting a baby soon. He said, "Mom, their lives will never be the same." They are thinking about adoption and Wyatt said, "Don't you think they will look at that sweet little baby's face they made together and think, let's get married, let's raise this child of ours together."

The other day Wyatt quoted Emily Dickinson's poetry out of the blue. He seemed to think the book fairs were full of people who actually knew me personally. I had said something to the effect, "Oh honey, no one even knows who I am. I'm just a homeschool mom helping other homeschool moms." He said, "Well then, mom, I'm nobody. Who are you? Are you nobody too? Well then there's a pair of us - don't tell. They'd banish us, you know. Don't worry though mom, it's dreary to be somebody. Sort of like a frog talking all day to a bog." I laughed and hugged him and told him, "Well, yes, a happy pair of nobodies we are then my dear, in good company with Miss Emily Dickinson."

In church, we sang a hymn by Isaac Watts. Wyatt whispered to me, "Did you know Watts wrote over 600 hymns during his life?"

Today Wyatt told me he is going to copy the recipes he made out of RTR this year, so he can add to his collection of recipes. (He already copied the Egyptian pastries and a bread recipe from CTC from last year.) On his deer hunting trip this year, he baked bread for everyone that was going, and that was his contribution to the meals.

Wyatt pulls out the directions for everything we buy him and follows them to a tee with no problem. We got the boys Rokenbok for their b-days, and within an hour they had all of it set up and running perfectly. Wyatt has built shoe racks, toys, and home project type things for me, all due to the skills he learned in the History Project boxes of HOD.

Well, it's getting late, but here's a funny grand finale to this practical application post. It's bedtime, and Emmett is sleeping. Wyatt and Riley are having their quiet time together. Riley just now, this very instance, came down and showed me a page that says "Kon-keree! Kon-keree!" in his Rascal book. He said, "Mom, I think this is the bird call we heard last night at the fire pit. I know what bird it is now - it was a red-winged blackbird." We had heard a strange bird call last night while sitting outside, and guess what I saw on the lawn today - 2 red-winged blackbirds. How's that for some practical application?

I hope this has helped you see how HOD is extremely adept at encouraging practical application in the here and now. It becomes more and more evident as dc grow and mature, but rest assured, it's there. Hats off to you to recognize you wish you'd had more practical application growing up, and now want to be amply sure you give your dc those skills! Often times, the things we wish we'd been taught as a child but weren't, are the very things we become passionate about teaching to our own dc. I think you have a very wise wish for your dc here - HOD will be your partner and best advocate in accomplishing that goal.

In Christ,
Julie