heartofdakota.com

Hello to all!! I am new to this site and to the curric. I have yet to purchase it as I am struggling with some questions that need to be answered before I can buy anything. I am, however, excited about HOD because the curriculum and all of your posts about it sound so wonderful!!I just get this wave of peace everytime I think about this curric. And I love that it is centered on the BIBLE!! Don't you wish that everything in this day and age was?!...

Anyway, let me give you a little background before I ask my questions. I am currently working with my 6 year old on Kinder. work. She has learned to read quite well and is doing well in math. She can print all of her letters and I've even had her do a little bit of copywork these last few months and she's done well with that. I have a 4 year old dd who has always joined us for our "school time" and has picked up all the letter sounds, most all of the formations of the letters and can read one vowel words. We have a 2 1/2 ds who takes a nap during school time!!

I had next year all planned out. We were going to stick with the same curric. for phonics, math, language etc. because I wanted to be sure that my daughter was well grounded in the reading and I felt that staying with the same curric. would be "safe" and would not cause any confusion. I did make that decision back in Jan. when she was struggling with reading but she has made excellent progress these last 3 months and has improved dramatically. The curric. we use now is very popular, and very, very good however it is intense.

We just found out that we are expecting our 4th in Oct. We are so excited and the children are beside themselves with anticipation however, I know that I need to replan my nicely planned out new school year. (Isn't that how things happen?!!! You plan, and then have to replan!!) I know that with a new baby things are going to be moving slowly for a while and the curric. we use now just won't allow us to do that. But HOD, I believe, is going to be a much gentler choice without sacrificing the scholastics!!

Now, finally for my questions:

1. I've checked the placement chart and I know that my 6 year old (who will be 6 1/2 in the fall) will do excellent in LHFHG but I think that she is ready for the grammer, spelling and math activities in Beyond. I don't want to short change her education and want to place her correctly but am not sure exactly where because...

2. I also am considering schooling my 4 1/2 year old dd (who will be 5 in the fall) as well. I want to do them both together but know that my she would best fit in LHFHG. How could I work it for the both of them?

I would also love to do LHTH with my ds but wonder if that would be too much with a newborn in the house?

And of course money is a concern as well. We don't have a lot of it!! So I'd like to be as econimical as possible.

If you can understand my ramblings and can offer any help please do, I'm in NEED of it!!

Thanks a bunch!!



Krissy, wife to my love for 8 years and mom of:
dd '02
dd '03
ds '05
?? '08

Hi Krissy and welcome!

I'll just throw out a couple options for you that came to mind when reading your post.
1) Do Beyond with dd and Little Hearts with your ds. (This would be most expensive and most time consuming choice, but very doable.)
2) Do Little Hearts with both of them and use the LA and math suggestions for your dd from Beyond. (Only if you're wanting to move into HOD's language arts/reading and Singapore math.)
3) Do Little Hearts with both and continue your phonics/reading program with each child on their respective levels and math on individual levels. You could always add the emerging readers to any program, including Little Hearts. (This would be my favorite choice b/c everything would be combined except reading/phonics and math.)

I'm sure you'll get some other ideas from other ladies here as the board warms up on Monday!

Hi Krissy!

Welcome!! I am just going to be starting myself this year too. I have a 5, 4 and 2 1/2 year old right now. We will be starting in the fall with LHFHG with my two older kids and LHTH with my younger one. So, I don't have any experience yet,:D but I will give you an idea that you may want to consider. This is what I plan on doing.... When we start my son will just have turned 3, so we are going to go through LHTH for 2 years.... doing a half of page a day. Then when he turns 5 we will go onto LHFHG.
For you, that might work as well, and it wouldn't be so overwhelming.

Anywho, just a thought. Hope that helps a bit.

You could do Little Hearts... with both...adjusting Math & Language arts for each child's skill level. This would enable you to keep them together through out your time with HOD. The History, Science, Bible, etc. could easily be done together. We will do this next year using Bigger...with a 10 and 8 yo. They wil each have their own level of Math and L.A., and do the other subjects together. My older child will use the extension pack books for History and Science, as well. HTH. I'm sure you'll get more suggestions soon!

Krissy,

Congratulations on baby number 4, how blessed you are!
Welcome to HOD!

Candice

I have an idea I think I will be using. I am going to combine my 2 children (7dd-2nd grade & 6ds-K) on BeyondLH for everything except the math & language portions, and then buy the instructor guide for Bigger to have lesson plans for my 7dd's math & language. Because we did Little Hearts this past school year, I already have math plans for my son at a K level. I think each guide is around $40, but if you really like HOD than you won't be wasting money as you'd need the guide eventually for an upcoming school year. Does that make sense... after a long day I can't tell if my thoughts are coming across well!! I am also going to start my soon-to-be 4 year old on Little Hands... we'll see how it goes!

Thank you ladies for all of your help!!! Your many ideas have been a blessing!! I do believe that you are all right in saying that combining for all but math & L.A. would work best! And when I first emailed Carrie she suggested the exact same thing!! So, that is what I"m leaning toward doing.

I will continue praying just to make sure that this is what the Lord wants me to do but it is all a little clearer now in my mind thanks to all of you!

May the Lord bless your homeschooling endeavours!!

Krissy, wife to my love for 8 years and busy Mom to
dd '02
dd '03
ds '05
?? '08

Candice wrote:Krissy,

Congratulations on baby number 4, how blessed you are!
Welcome to HOD!

Candice

Thank you Candice!! Yes, we do feel quite blessed!! Busy and blessed!!

Krissy, wife to my love for 8 years and busy Mom to
dd '02
dd '03
ds '05
?? '08

LeAnna wrote:Hi Krissy!

Welcome!! I am just going to be starting myself this year too. I have a 5, 4 and 2 1/2 year old right now. We will be starting in the fall with LHFHG with my two older kids and LHTH with my younger one. So, I don't have any experience yet,:D but I will give you an idea that you may want to consider. This is what I plan on doing.... When we start my son will just have turned 3, so we are going to go through LHTH for 2 years.... doing a half of page a day. Then when he turns 5 we will go onto LHFHG.
For you, that might work as well, and it wouldn't be so overwhelming.

Anywho, just a thought. Hope that helps a bit.

LeAnna,
Thank you for your thoughts! I hadn't thought about going slowly...I can handle slow!!!! I might just steal your idea!! Our kiddos sound about the same age (my ds will be 3 in Sept.) so they would fit in kinda the same schedule...at least age wise...my little guy is a wiggler so taking it slow would probably be best that way I won't be horribly overwhelmed once the baby arrives.

I really want to do something with him cause I feel like sometimes he gets neglected because I'm so busy with the girls. This would be a great way to spend some quality time (and fun time) with him.

Thanks for your idea!!!

Krissy,

I'm so glad that the ladies are chiming in to help you! Aren't they wonderful!

I also agree that doing LHTH over 2 years is a winner. There's no pressure that way, and yet you have something easy to pick up and do for those little ones begging for "school" time with mommy!

We did LHTH over 2 years with my third little guy and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Blessings,
Carrie

HI there, I just read your post and had to reply. I just discovered HOD and fell in love with it, there are so many things that give me great peace about it to do it with my kids. I feel we are much in the same boat for the fall. I will have a 6.5, 5, and 3 yo's and like you my oldest is reading pretty well, copying and writing well. The middle one is learning to read and can write all UC letters well. I had great debate about what level to do b/c I want to do the 2 older together and not bore one or challenge the other to much to be frustrated. I think beyond would work better for my oldest b/c of her reading level, however there are also things in LHFHG that I don't want to miss out on. I think I have come up with a plan, I will do LHFHG with the oldest 2 (incorporating the youngest with the motor skills and rhymes etc) I will do each their own level of math (we like horizons), and phonics (Explode the code and reading books). I was thinking of doing a simple spelling program with the oldest as well as doing LA (First language lessons for the well trained mind) with the oldest and some with the middle. They both seem to be ready for some of the LA/spelling stuff yet it is not started in LHFHG yet. We are also on a very tight budget and we can not afford to do parts of LHFHG and beyond or purchase the emergent readers yet. I think this worked out best for our budget as well as working with children that are ahead in some areas and on target for others. I hope this helps and if anyone else has any great suggestions to my "tentative" plan please let me know!!!
Congrats on #4 , we do not have that in common.
rholliday@indy.rr.com
Renee