heartofdakota.com

Good morning;

I am considering using HOD’s CTC next year for two of my boys, who will be 11-year-old 5th graders. I have several questions I wondered if anyone might be able to help me with. First, I notice that many of the samples of teacher’s guides in the HOD catalog have instructions that tell the child exactly what to write in which spots. I am wondering if all of the notebooking is so directed, or whether there are assignments that require the children to think more deeply about the material, to own it themselves. I ask because I have one child in particular who struggles in this area and needs a bit of a push, and I am keeping this in mind as I select a program for them.

Secondly, I have a son who will be in 8th grade. We are just completing a four-year history cycle, and he would very much like to start with ancients again. We have a possible plan of doing Ambleside Online year 7 the following year, but I feel AO year 6 is too light for him, history-wise. He is a prolific reader who loves a challenge, and yet many of the books I see in CTC look like they would still be interesting to him, and that he could learn from them. Do you think this program could be appropriate, with the history portion only (plus the extensions), for this child? Would you recommend enriching further with something like Oxford First Ancient History or Streams of Civilization? He will have his own science, math and literature programs.

I am also considering using Bigger with ds8 in the fall. He struggles with attention and auditory processing issues, and HOD was suggested to me by moms who love CM schooling, but struggle with the same types of issues. I hear great things, the books all look fantastic, and I am hoping we can make this work for our family.

Thanks and blessings,
Aimee
Mom to 6 great kids ages 7-20, some homegrown, some born in Korea, all born in my heart

Hi Aimee,

We're using CTC w/ extensions for our 13yodd (8th grade) this year, and it's been a perfect fit.

As far as the notebook, it does direct the student what to put in many of the boxes, (which I love), but it also gives some independence in many boxes, too, such as written narrations (5-8 sentences) that they do weekly on their history readings. They do small illustrations for these, too, which they make up on their own related to what they've written. I see it as structured, with opportunities to add their own creative touches all along the way.

One way to look at the notebook is as a timeline book, with spaces for the CM exercises of copywork, written narrations, mapwork, and sketches from Draw and Write Through History. There is not a lot of analytical-type work in the history portions of CTC. You will see it more in Science, Bible Study, and occasionally in Storytime.

There is a post by Carrie here where she describes the methods of higher-level thinking in HoD.

And here is a thread about beefing up the programs for older children.

The HOD notebooking activities are a favorite of my dc. They provide enough instruction to help dc organize a neat entry and portray a good academic connection to what they've read, but they still offer enough flexibility for dc to put their own stamp of creativity on them. I prefer this so much over sticker timelines or runoffs or lapbooks that are put together in such a way that every child's looks the same.

I have 3 sons, and one of the fun things about reteaching guides (as my dc are all too many years apart to combine well) is that each of my son's creations within HOD look quite different from each other's. HOD lets their personalities and own special bent of creating shine.

The CTC Photobook shows how students can do the same assignment, yet have very different looking results. Have fun checking it out here:
http://heartofdakotasphotobooks.shutterfly.com/31

We did CTC last school year with our oldest ds and had an awesome year! It helped him grow in so many areas, and I enjoyed the our time together in the ancients so much. I think your older dc would love their year in CTC!

We are doing Bigger Hearts right now for a second time with our middle ds. What fun! Bigger Hearts provides the tools for dc to learn so very much, while still keeping that learning incredibly interesting. We can hardly wait to read what's happening next... in history, in science, in DITHOR, in Storytime - such excellent books. Here is a link to the Bigger Hearts Photobook, so you can get a peek what your ds 8 yo will get to do:
http://heartofdakotasphotobooks.shutterfly.com/28

HTH!
In Christ,
Julie

Ok, you are really selling me on these! Thanks so much for the replies! Another question: should I get notebooking pages for my 8th grader as well? I had assumed I'd give him more indepth writing assignments and skip the notebooking pages for him (using them only with the 5th graders), but now I'm wondering whether they'd be appropriate for him as well. I am starting to get really excited about using these materials, they look wonderful.
Thanks again,
Aimee
Mom to 6 great kids ages 7-20, some homegrown, some born in Korea, all born in my heart

I would DEFINITELY get the notebooking pages for your 8th grader. The notebooks are one of the best parts of HOD, and they provide such a beautiful record of all that the kids have learned over the year. Plus, if you do all 4 years of the history cycle, you will have a wonderful, thorough picture of history from creation to the present. (And, they are great to show grandparents, friends, etc. as a record of all they're learning and doing in HOD!)