New to this board and have some ?'s

[stawnasalas]

Hello! I have recently received the HOD catalog and am interested in finding out more about the curriculums typically used for a 1st and 4th graders. I am very interested in this program and have read lots of good reviews. I like that it seems academically sound yet incorporates the Bible into the lessons. I am pretty sure I am going to start hs my kids this fall and did the placing your child chart. My daughter was 6 in November and in K now in public school. She is doing very well academically and is reading on a 1st/second grade level. She also does adding and subtracting. My son just turned 9 and is in 3rd grade at public school. He seems to be average in most areas. He was doing ok up until the second semester but seemed to start falling behind after Jan. Things go over his head and he gets frustrated. He is a good reader and likes to read though. Its taking him a bit longer to "get" multiplication and fractions, but the teacher said that is more for 4th grade anyways. I thought if I do go ahead and order from HOD, I would start my daughter in Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory, for 1st and second graders and my son in Preparing Hearts for His Glory for 3rd-4th graders. Does this sound right to you guys? Thank you for any other advice you can give me, especially as a new homeschooling family taking kids out of ps. Oh, I also have 2 and 4 yr old sons and am expecting in Dec :O. Thank you!
Stawna

[holyhart]

Welcome to HOD!

If I were you I would probably start your 1st grader in LHFHG with 1st grade options (math, emerging readers, etc). It is really such a great program and so much fun! I also think it might be a more gentle transition into homeschooling as the guides do pick up speed quite quickly skill wise. BEYOND is great though too, so I don't really think you could go wrong either way there. Just be mindful, that you ds will always be on the young side of guides if you start there. That hit us this year as we had to slow BIGGER down as what was expected in written work and such would have just been more than my dd was ready for. Slowing it down for her this year and finishing it up for her 3rd grade year (we continued the 3 R's full speed to keep those on level for grade), will put her in the middle age for each guide which I think is a great fit. But then, each child is different.

I also think that Preparing probably sounds like a good fit for your ds. Don't be discouraged if some of the skills seem very different for him though. Things like dictation can take a while to pick up and he probably hasn't had much, if any, practice with dictation/narration.

HTH

[my3sons]

Hi Stawna, and welcome to the HOD Board! I'm glad you are going to homeschool your dc, and HOD is such an awesome way to homeschool! Thanks for sharing about your dc. Because HOD has age ranges dc can fit in different guides based on their needs. This flexibility in placement is our friend as homschool moms, as it helps our dc learn the skills necessary to move well through the guides. Would you say that your dd will be able to read books like "Frog and Toad", "Amelia Bedelia", etc. and be able to answer a few questions about them orally? If so she is ready for the Emerging Reader's Set in "Beyond Little Hearts". Would you say your dd is ready for spelling words and a gentle introduction to basic parts of speech of grammar one time a week? If so, she is ready for the LA box in Beyond. Would you say she is ready for some copywork of poetry? About a line or two a day to begin with? If so, she is ready for the copywork in Beyond. Would you say she is able to listen to you read books with fewer pictures and still listen quite attentively, being able to answer some questions after you've read? If so, she is ready for the history and science in Beyond. If these skills seem too difficult for dd, then your dd would be better placed in "Little Hearts for HIs Glory".

As far as your ds, in PHFHG, the boxes of plans are marked "T" for "teacher-directed", "S" for "semi-independent", and "I" for "independent". These really help indicate if a child is ready for a guide. In PHFHG, the parent reads half of the the history aloud (the Economy package books), and the dc read the other half of their history (the "Deluxe" package of books, which is used in the "Independent History Box" of the plans). The dc also all of their science books independently (the Economy Science package of books, which is used in the "Science Exploration" box of plans) . They also are to follow the directions for completing follow-up assessments such as "Draw and Write Through History" entries and experiment lab sheets, etc.. Could you take a minute and read through the "I" boxes in the plans at the link below, and see if you think your ds would be able to do these boxes well independently? Likewise, if you could read through the "S" boxes of the plans, and see if your ds would be able to have you start him off on these assignments, but then be able to follow the directions in the box quite well using the guide as his own to complete the assignment. I am just thinking that this is important to check before choosing placement...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/PHFHG-sample-week.pdf

If you are thinking this looks like a stretch for ds, then he may be better placed in "Bigger Hearts for His Glory". All of the HOD guides are wonderful, so whatever guide your ds places in, will be a good choice as long as it's a good fit. When you get a chance to share your thoughts on this, I'd love to hear more about that! We'll chat over ideas with you here until you're set. This board is full of wise and encouraging ladies - you've come to a good place! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[KristinBeth]

Hi Stawna!
It's me Kristin (Sonora Mama) from the other board. I just wanted to pop over and say hi! I'm glad you're here, I've been hoping you'd show up on the HOD board. Hope I wasn't too pushy! I'm no good at placement questions since I'm such a newbie, but I wanted to welcome you. The ladies here are full of good advice.

[Carrie]

Stawna,

The ladies are doing a great job of talking through options with you! We're glad to have you here. If you get a chance to pop back and share a bit more about your kiddos or what you're thinking, we can advise you even better!

Blessings,
Carrie

[stawnasalas]

Thank you so much for your help. I am a bit confused I guess on placement! I think my son is more at a mid-third grade level now and would do better at the 3rd/4th grade curriculum, so I could choose third or 4th grade options with some of the subjects in PHFHG? He will need some direction at the beginning and help from me but I think as we get along in hs, he will catch on to be able to do more on his own. He is a very high energy kiddo, easily distracted, and needs to be told to focus alot right now esp. in math, his teacher tells us. I was reading through the catalog and thought my dd would do well in BLHFHG, but now not so sure. I think she is more advanced than most in her class, as does the teacher, but would it be better to place her in the level below BLHFHG using mostly 1st grade options for subjects since we are just start hs? She does listen well and can answer questions about stories. She can copy sentences, etc. She reads level 2 books as far as the Scholastic readers go, but does need prompting or help sounding out the bigger words in them. I noticed in testimonials in the catalog that most kids were in the K level for LHFHG, so thats why I was thinking BLHFHG for her. She was 6 in November. Before I order, should I call the company to ask for help as well with which books, etc? Oh, and my husband wants to know if we could get a sample of some of the curriculum that the kids could try to work on before we order? I told him I had no idea if they did that but I would ask! Thanks again for helping me, everything is so new and I'm clueless! Hi Kristin!!
Stawna

[tnahid]

Welcome Shawna! I don't have a lot of advice on the curriculum placement other than you might want to consider doing Bigger Hearts with your son for this first year homeschooling. You can always use a higher level math and LA with him, but I have heard/read/been told that Preparing requires quite a bit of independent type of work. If your son does well with this and won't be too overwhelmed in your opinion, then Preparing would probably be fine. But if your son is like my 10 year old son, and gets easily frustrated and somewhat volatile or emotionally immature at all, then Bigger might be the better option for this year.

I just know that when children come out of the institutional setting, it takes some time for the family to rebond with one another and get used to being together. Working on character qualities the first year has been very helpful for me. I am glad someone told me to take it easy this year, as my children had been in private school for the last 2 years prior. I was advised that there would be a transition period, and that I shouldn't make this year too academically challenging or difficult for my oldest especially. It has been really been the wise choice for us. Next year, my son will do Bigger with extensions, and I think he will be a lot more ready for the independence of Preparing after that.

Just some thoughts for you. You ultimately know your son the best; his personality and his struggles. Just be prayerfully prepared for the changes to come, the beauty that will surface as you go along the year. It takes time to begin to see the fruit. But homeschooling is so much more than teaching academics. So much more. Bless you!

[my3sons]

HOD has samples of the first week of each of the guide's plans, so you can print those off for your dh to look over. Here they are for each of the guides you are considering...

Little Hearts for His Glory:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/little ... t-week.pdf

Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/beyond ... t-week.pdf

Bigger Hearts for His Glory:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/BHFHG-first-week.pdf

Preparing Hearts for His Glory:
http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/PHFHG-sample-week.pdf

I think if you print each of the first week of plans and lay them side by side for each of your dc, you'd have a good idea of where they each place. For your 6 yo dd, it sounds like her LA skills fit with Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory. She is reading Level 2 books and ready for the Emerging Reader's Set of books. She can do the copywork and probably is ready for spelling instruction and 1 x a week grammar. However if in printing the LHFHG and BLHFHG plans, it seems she fits better with the LHFHG history, science, art, etc., then she could still do LHFHG as her main program, but you could get the BLHFHG for her LA plans. Moms do this all the time, and it works well!

For your ds, I think choosing between BHFHG and PHFHG is dependent on his reading and writing skills, as well as his ability to understand more "classical" sounding books. His ability to work fairly well independently with a set of simple directions with the guide is important too (PHFHG requires more of this). You can see the difference in the levels of history books and science books within the guides, but here is a post that may help better explain the difference in the levels of writing skills within the guides:
Amount of writing in Bigger vs. PHFHG:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3602

Please keep asking questions here until you are set! Placement takes some time, but it is so worth it. This is a year of you and your dc's lives - a few days/weeks spent on placement is a good trade-off for dc well-placed all year. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie